When ENT specialist Dr Maurice Cottle (founder of the American Rhinologic Society, 1954) identified 30 reasons to nose breathe he did not mention nitric oxide (NO). That’s because the role of NO in regulating biological functions in humans was yet to be discovered. In 1998 researchers investigating the complex roles of NO within the body … Read more
Nitric Oxide (NO) is produced in the paranasal sinuses and carried into the lungs during nasal breathing. NO is known to be broadly antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial. NO is a bronchodilator helping open nasal passages bronchi and bronchioles in the lungs. NO is also a vasodilator playing an important role in the dilation of blood … Read more
Viruses and bacteria are spread through contact with contaminated surfaces and also through the air. Our nose is one of our primary lines of defence against airborne pathogens. It has a very sophisticated system for protecting the whole airway from infection and one of the key mechanisms involves the production of a chemical called nitric … Read more
The mechanism of Covid-19 remains unknown and it is not known whether breathing through the nose can inhibit this virus. However, it is logical to breathe only through the nose given that the primary defense to airborne viruses is in the nose and not the mouth, that breathing through the nose can support the body’s … Read more
Reduce asthma hospitalisations by 50% by 2029 – was the bold goal that we were tasked with last week in Auckland when Glenn White, Felicity Campbell and I, representing Breathing Clinics NZ, joined a group invited from around the country to Auckland by Asthma NZ. This is indeed a bold and ambitious goal given that … Read more
It is often thought that if you breathe through your mouth it is because your nose blocked up first, but typically the nose blocks after you start breathing through your mouth and because it is uncomfortable breathing through a stuffy nose, after a while you stop trying. Once mouth breathing has become an established habit, … Read more
