There is one integral part of performance enhancement that is often overlooked, vastly
under appreciated, and badly misunderstood by most soccer players, athletes, and even
coaches. If you go without this even for a matter of minutes, you die...what is this mysterious
part of performance enhancement most of us are getting badly wrong… the breath.
Two books, Breath by James Nestor and The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown
that have literally changed my life as well as my son’s life. Both books on breath have
numerous exercises and detailed explanations as to why breath is so important for everyday
health, wellbeing, athletic performance, and even facial structure.
The books have a simple, common theme that you can start working on as soon as you are done reading this, that will drastically improve your overall health and wellbeing, as well as improve your athletic performance. It may even make you look better 😊
CLOSE YOUR MOUTH! (BREATH THROUGH YOUR NOSE)
Your nose was made to breath, your mouth was made to eat and talk. Your nose warms
or cools, moistens, and purifies the incoming air. Work on keeping your mouth closed at all
times except when eating and talking. Even when talking, practice breathing through your nose when you need to take a breath. When playing sports or performing an athletic activity, try to nose breath as often as possible, but feel free to breath through your mouth when you feel the need.
After a soccer player sprints the length of the field and is gassed and out of breath. You
usually see them pulling in huge gulps of air through their mouth, inflating their upper chest,
head, and lower jaw jutting forward, trying to catch their breath and recover. Now think about
someone who has allergies, asthma or just a stuffed nose. Often they will be in this same open mouth, extended jaw, forward head position struggling to catch their breath by trying to take large breathes through their mouth.
Now let's talk about what is drastically wrong with this method of breathing, besides of course losing 40% more moisture compared to nose breathing. In both of the above situations the person is lacking oxygen, but for different reasons. The body is attempting to re-oxygenate the blood and working muscles, but in a very inefficient manner. “Nasal breathing alone can boost nitric oxide six fold, which is one of the reasons we can absorb about 18% more oxygen than by just breathing through the mouth.” (Nestor, 2020)
While breathing through your nose is relatively easy to do, the second part is a little
more challenging, but absolutely essential for improving breathing patterns if you are someone that is a mouth breather.
TAPE YOUR MOUTH WHEN YOU SLEEP
When I first read about mouth taping while sleeping, I thought there was no way I
would be able to sleep with tape on my mouth. I used to grind my teeth when I slept, so I have tried sleeping with many different mouth guards literally more times than I can count, and have never been even remotely successful. Additionally, it seemed really weird even to me, who will try just about anything to improve health and performance.
After reading these books, I had to try it because the benefits are literally astounding!
Here what happened when I tried it…Night one, ended with the tape lost somewhere in my bed and gave up trying to sleep with he tape on. Night two, I managed to fall sleep for a couple hours, but woke up with the tape on my hand, and gave up for that night. Night three,
something happened that has not happened to me in my adult life…I slept 8 hours without
waking up once during the night. When I woke I felt energetic and clear headed. For someone who has struggled with sleep since being a teenager, it was amazing!
What happened? Most of us sleep with our mouths open whether we realize it or not.
When we breath through our mouths, we lose 40% more moisture than when we breathe
through our nose! This causes us to wake up in the middle of the night with a dry mouth,
seeking liquid/water and having to go to the bathroom. Our pituitary gland secrets hormones
(vasopressin) during deep sleep, which acts as an anti-diuretic (prevents you from peeing) and allows us to sleep through the night. “If the body has inadequate time in deep sleep (often caused by mouth breathing)…vasopressin won’t be secreted normally. The kidneys will release water, which triggers the need to urinate and also signals our brains that we should consume more liquid. We get thirsty and yet we need to pee more.” (Nestor)
I have been taping my mouth for around 4-5 years now. I sleep much better now than
any point in my life. I also don’t grind my teeth, which I did for around 37 years. I took allergy
pills and nasal spray daily for around 20 years. I currently take nothing for my allergies. While
my results were great, my son’s results were even more significant.
On our first visit to the dentist, we were told my oldest son, Tommy, had a sever
misalignment, side-to-side, of his teeth/jaw as well as v-shaped palate (not good), which was
not a surprise because it was clear to see just by looking at him. We were told that this can
improve in kids, but do to the severity of the misalignment, we should expect a significant
amount of dental work over the next few years. Additionally, Tommy was waking up every
morning and having sneezing fits and terrible allergy symptoms. It was obvious when he slept that he was a mouth breather and due to the allergies he was always breathing through his mouth.
I figured if it worked for me, it would work for him. Of course it took some convincing
and even some bribery to get a 5 year old to agree to this. 6 months later when we went for our next dentist visit, the dentist could not believe what she was seeing. Not only had his teeth/jaw started to align, but his palate had expanded. When we returned a year later, his teeth were perfectly aligned and his palate was broad and U-shaped (good). Even his fascial structure had improved and become more symmetrical. Additionally, his allergies are nonexistent. He sleeps like a rock, and almost never gets sick.
While I know it is a stretch for most of you to start taping your mouth when you sleep, I
cannot recommend it highly enough, especially if you struggle with sleep, asthma, allergies,
snoring, or sleep apnea. Additionally, according to Patrick McKeown, after about 3 months
most people do not need to use sleep tape nightly as their body will have started nose
breathing automatically, which I have found to be true. Both Tommy and I tape our mouths
around a 1/3 of the time now, and that seems to do the trick. We use a 2 inch piece of 3M
Surgical Tape for Sensitive Skin, and place it over the middle of our lips. You can also buy tape specially made for mouth taping, and even mouth tape for kids, at the Oxygen Advantage website as well as on amazon.
Thanks,
Ryan
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