My aunt and I were recently discussing sleep issues. I was sharing with her that I’ve been tracking my sleep numbers and trying to improve them for the better. Back in September I had a really poor night’s sleep. I wear a Fitbit to bed every night, and have for several years, but I had not paid any attention to my sleep numbers. After that fitful night, I wondered just how little sleep I had gotten.
What I discovered is that I’ve been getting a poor night’s sleep for longer than I had realized. I was shocked. The Fitbit measures time awake, light sleep, REM sleep (dream state), and deep sleep. The cool part about the app is that it can give you a benchmark to compare your results with other in your age range and gender. It also then gives you a sleep quality number, based on the combination of these factors. My numbers were in the 70’s and rated as fair. That night I scored in the 60’s… and to my analytic mind, I was getting a D in Sleep Quality!
Honestly I’ve not been getting enough deep sleep, and deep sleep is where our organs detoxify. I know that continuing in this way wold eventually lead me to the door of some malady, or potentially set myself up for a disease to take hold. Now I’m a mastery Certified Health Coach studying Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle. I coach people on, and have A Better Night’s Sleep Checklist. So I’ve got my work cut out for me–on my own personal journey to enhance my sleep quality.
After our conversation my aunt forwarded a link to this video. Here the author, James Nestor is being interviewed on his book: Breath The New Science of a Lost Art. He describes how our faces have evolved to be “anatomically predisposed to be breathing improperly.” Our facial structure has been impacted by “industrialized foods” and “lack of chewing in our youth”. As a result our mouths are small, our teeth are crooked, our nasal passages have narrowed. Breathing is not just something we do. He studied the different effects of nasal and mouth breathing in different cultures around the world.
Interestingly science shows us that when you breathe through your nose you get 85% oxygen. When you breathe though your mouth you only get 50% oxygen. WOW. Just watching this I learned that nose breathing is healthy breathing. He also shared that our nostrils have a cycle of being open and closed–some times one nostril is closed, and this is a natural cycle during every day! AND you can enhance your lung capacity, change your face structure, and become a better breather!
I know that at night I breathe through my mouth at night when I am asleep. Hence my interest in learning to be a better nose breather, maybe to the tune of enhancing my sleep quality!
THIS IS A MUST WATCH! We can all learn to become better nasal breathers.
Here is the link for the you tube video: https://youtu.be/13Ae4kuULUg
Enjoy!