MOUTH BREATHING - A MAJOR SLEEP DISRUPTOR!
Switching from nose breathing to breathing through the mouth during sleep is something everyone does. The problem is, if mouth breathing continues through the night it will affect your sleep and how you feel when you wake up. Snoring, dry mouth, sinus pressure & nasal congestion, sleep apnea, poor recovery and CPAP venting are all issues related to mouth breathing.
When a person sleeps with their mouth closed their tongue rests on the roof of the mouth with the base of the tongue clear of the airway and throat. When the mouth opens the tongue drops down and the base of the tongue moves back towards the throat and partially blocks the airway, causing snoring.
MILD SLEEP APNEA.
As with snoring, this may also be caused by the tongue moving back towards the throat, blocking the airway, when nose breathing switches to mouth breathing. It may also indicate the onset of obstructive sleep apnea, which should be discussed with a medical professional or sleep specialist.
One of the first signs of sleep apnea is when a person notices a pause in breathing of their partner, followed by a gasp as their breathing starts again.
CPAP THERAPY
If you suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and sleep with a CPAP mask you probably know that mouth breathing during therapy can cause a dry mouth and throat, sinus headaches and fluctuations in air pressure, which make CPAP harder to tolerate. Maintaining a closed mouth stabilises the air pressure, which may help in lowering the pressure setting while still maintaining a satisfactory AHI.
DRY MOUTH
Breathing through the mouth can dry out the mouth and throat, which can cause a sleeping person to wake up to drink water.
Many medications also cause dry mouth (known as xerostomia) resulting from reduced or absent saliva flow. Keeping the mouth closed all night can greatly reduce the incidence of dry mouth and sleep disturbance.
SINUSES
The sinuses need constant ventilation to stay healthy and pain free. Breathing through the mouth during sleep shuts down the flow of air through the sinuses causing mucus to build up and block the sinus cavities. The result is sinus pressure and a stuffy nose in the morning.
SPORTS RECOVERY
Whether you are an athlete or just like keeping active it’s important to get around eight hours uninterrupted sleep each night to recover properly.
During deep, restorative sleep, natural human growth hormone is released into the blood supply, which is essential for muscle repair and development. Strenuous activity builds up lactic acid that causes tissue hypoxia (cramp) in muscles. Lactic acid build-up is regulated by nitric oxide. Nasal nitric oxide is produced in the nasal and sinus passages only during nasal breathing. Mouth breathing does not produce nitric oxide.
THE GOOD NEWS: For help with controlling involuntary mouth breathing during sleep there is sleepQ+
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