Mr McKeown, the bestselling author of The Oxygen Advantage, told MailOnline: ‘Breathing through your mouth leads to lower quality sleep. Many studies have shown that poor sleep is linked to increased appetite and a higher chance of obesity.
‘It’s also associated with a higher risk of a range of health issues including higher blood pressure, poor cardiovascular health and even dementia.’
Noses are for breathing, mouths are for eating
‘Breathing through the mouth causes people to wake in the night if they aren’t getting enough oxygen,’ explains Mr McKeown.
‘Mouth breathing is proven to significantly increase the number of occurrences of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.
‘This is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths – leading to chronic interrupted sleep.
‘But breathing through our noses increases oxygen which gives us a better night’s sleep.’
Poor sleep, many studies show, leads to an increase in hunger and weight gain. That’s partly due to the connection between sleep and the peptides that regulate your appetite: ghrelin and leptin.
Ghrelin – the ‘hunger hormone’ – goes up when you don’t get enough sleep .At the same time, leptin – the ‘satiety hormone’ – which sends ‘full’ signals to the brain, decreases.
Mr McKeown says that breathing through our mouths has become so commonplace it is now ‘endemic’.
‘Another common side effects of mouth breathing is dehydration,’ he said.
‘Nose breathing is harder work than mouth breathing, resulting in 10 to 20 per cent more oxygen uptake too.
‘This provides energy, lessens fatigue and creates better sleep patterns.’
TIPS FOR BETTER BREATHING
