In his book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, James Nestor mentions that “...just as we’ve become a culture of overeaters, we’ve also become a culture of overbreathers.”
Mouth breathing — keeping the mouth open at rest — is a telltale sign of overbreathing.
If you can use your nose for breathing, you should breathe that way all the time.
If you can’t use your nose for breathing, you should look into the reason and try to find a solution.
What happens when you breathe in more air than necessary?
The volume of air you breathe in determines the volume of air you breathe out.
The volume of air you breathe out determines the carbon dioxide (CO₂) left in the lungs.
The CO₂ in your lungs is about the same as the CO₂ in your blood. Hence breathing out more CO₂ than necessary reduces CO₂ in the lungs and CO₂ in the blood.
Reduction of CO₂ in the blood leads to:
❌Constriction of the blood vessels
❌Oxygen (O₂) not being released from the blood into the tissues and organs
In other words
➜breathing more air than necessary results in reduced blood flow and reduced oxygen delivery to your organs including the brain.
⚠Do you often feel like you're not getting enough air in and need to yawn or take a big sigh?
This might be your body's response to overbreathing: by taking a big breath your body is trying to convince your brain that there's enough O₂.
In reality though a big inhale results in less oxygen delivery to your organs.
Stay healthy, stay happy.