I spoke with a good friend yesterday. He’s one of life’s great conversationalists and adventurers, so I am always thrilled to hear what he is up to.
This time, the topic steered towards his latest fascination with breathing through one’s nose, and his disdain for “mouth-breathers”. Fascinating stuff. No, really.
The term “mouth breather” feels like ancient lore; the kind of insult we know means something (dim-witted, knuckle-dragger, neanderthal etc), but have forgotten where it comes from. Don’t we all, at least some of the time, breathe through our mouth? And is it really that bad?
Apparently so.
As my friend explained it; 60% of our face is dedicated to cleaning the air we breathe, but ONLY if we use our nose. Our mouth, due to it’s multiple functions of speaking, tasting and eating, just isn’t built for sucking in air day in, day out.
But facts are not what kept me interested, it was the anecdotes. According to my friend, were he to go to sleep without taping his mouth shut, he would wake up feeling as though he had crushed 19 pints the night before. Anyone can wax lyrical on the anatomical features and how they may or may not affect lifestyle, but a story like that is hard to dismiss.
Am I going to tape my mouth from now on at night? Yes, at least for a month.
I’ll report back my findings.
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