Mouth breathing and chapped lips
Climbing even higher with my nose
In the previous newsletter, I wrote about breathing through my nose while hiking a volcano. I thought that was a feat (and it was) but we’ve returned from our trek in the Nepal Himalayas, and after 9 days of hiking we reached the summit at 5,416m (17,769ft). Despite the high altitude and the bout of bad air quality complications before we left, my respiratory system really pulled through for me. I maintained nasal breathing for the entire trek, leading to incredibly quick recovery times during rests and lasting endurance as we climbed.
Mouth breathing and chapped lips
Today’s topic is chapped lips and what mouth breathing has to do with it. I was inspired to talk about this because cracked lips are all too common while hiking and so is mouth breathing… both of which I saw quite a bit of over this Himalayan journey.
We all know cold, hot, and dry weather can cause your lips to become chapped but did you know that mouth breathing can also cause or exacerbate chapped lips?
When you’re mouth breathing, air is continuously flowing over your lips which pulls away moisture and prevents them from staying hydrated. Additionally, dehydration happens faster while mouth breathing due to the mouth being incredibly inefficient at retaining moisture and instead, breathing out most of it.
In fact, one study found that when breathing was switched from nasal to oral expiration, the net water loss was increased by a whopping 42% (Sophie et. al, 2006). And I probably don’t need to tell you that dry lips are a tell tale sign of dehydration.
I’ve been asking people recently about when they nasal breathe and when they mouth breathe.
And I’m seeing a common pattern:
They breathe through their nose until they’re exercising and then they “just don’t think about it” and switch to mouth breathing.
They mouth breathe when they’re congested.
Many say they mouth breathe at night.
Use your nose all the time
For the people who say they just don’t really think about it, here’s my advice…
If you want to start nasal breathe under stress, you must make nose breathing the automatic baseline.
How do we achieve this?
Consistent practice of functional breathing exercises
Reminders during exercise
Repetition until it becomes habit
Some people use mouth taping during exercise to reinforce this. It can be effective because it removes the option to mouth breathe.
That being said, this should only be done if:
You can comfortably nasal breathe at rest
You know how to pause and recover when needed
And ideally, it’s done with guidance.
Sleeping isn’t an excuse for mouth breathing
If you wake up with dry lips and/or a dry mouth, it’s likely you’re mouth breathing while sleeping.
Here are a few ways to address it:
Clear your nasal passages as your nose needs to actually be usable.
Short term fixes:
Nose unblocking breathing techniques (ask me about this)
Saline rinses
Nasal strips
Long term fixes:
Buteyko exercises (the method I teach)
Adjust your sleep position
Sleeping on your side can help keep your mouth closed.
When you sleep on your back, your mouth usually opens, your jaw tends to drop and your tongue can fall back, blocking the airway and contributing to snoring.
Walking the walk
I personally struggle to keep my mouth shut at night and as I am quite confident in my ability to nasal breathe 24/7, I tape my mouth shut at night. Again, if you’re thinking about doing this, please talk to a professional first as it is not suitable for everyone.
On this note though, I would like to get to a point where I do not need to tape my mouth shut every night and instead, my mouth just stays shut on its own. My plan to achieve this is to work with a myofunctional therapist who can help me address the root of why it’s falling open and strengthen the muscles to keep it closed.