On February 13, a male star's private photos were exposed, and soon rushed to the hot search, along with his sleeping with his mouth open, it also caused discussion, and an entertainment topic suddenly derived from health topics.
If you have friends or family members snoring while sleeping, you may not be unfamiliar with the phenomenon of breathing with your mouth open (instead of closing your mouth and breathing through your nose) when you sleep, about mouth breathing, in fact, there are some enduring Internet questions, through this matter, I will talk to you today.
1. What is the difference between sleeping with your mouth open and breathing through your nose with your mouth closed? Is mouth breathing the same thing as snoring?
Under normal circumstances, when we breathe through the nose, the nose cilia can filter impurities (such as various debris) and allergens in the air, and the nasal cavity can also humidify and warm the inhaled air, so that the inhaled air is moist and closer to body temperature, while mouth breathing cannot provide this protection.
But mouth breathing and snoring are not the same thing. Snoring generally refers to sleep apnea and primary snoring, especially obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome. Mouth breathing is one of the symptoms of snoring, and nasal congestion after a cold can also cause mouth breathing.
2. What causes mouth breathing? Is it harmful to health?
Possible causes of mouth breathing include three main categories: (1) Nasal obstruction. Sleep apnea, nasal congestion (caused by colds, sinusitis, allergies, etc.), adenoid hypertrophy, tonsillar hypertrophy, turbinate hypertrophy, nasal polyps, deviated nasal septum, abnormal head and facial anatomy, etc. (2) In childhood, mouth breathing lasts for a long time, and even if the respiratory tract has become unobstructed through treatment, the patient still breathes by mouth due to habit. (3) Stress and anxiety can cause people to breathe through their mouth while sleeping. Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, resulting in shallow, rapid breathing. To relieve anxiety, people breathe through their mouths. (4) In the third trimester, breathing through the mouth is also quite common.
The adverse health effects of mouth breathing are mainly manifested as:
Increase oral diseases such as tooth decay and gingivitis.
Exacerbates sore throat, hoarseness, burning sensation in the mouth and nasal passages.
Mouth breathing is one of the symptoms of sleep apnea. Lack of oxygen can affect the vital organs of the heart and brain, leading to decreased concentration, fatigue, and brain fog. In addition, sleep apnea is also associated with hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, decreased lung function, heart failure and other diseases.
3. Can mouth breathing also cause people to become ugly?
Children with mouth breathing are more likely to have teeth bite problems, and human appearance is mainly related to genetic factors, but children's long-term mouth breathing is indeed more likely to have "adenoid face" or "mouth breathing face", manifested as a narrow maxillofacial area, retracted jaw, high arch of the palate cover, etc. However, please note that it is long-term mouth breathing that can cause the so-called "ugliness", and this change does not happen overnight. Therefore, parents do not need to be too anxious, early detection and timely correction.
4. How can I tell if I am breathing by mouth when I sleep? How to correct?
Children with chronic nasal congestion are more likely to have mouth breathing. If the child has a runny nose and nasal congestion, parents should be careful. Symptoms such as restless sleep, snoring, and opening the mouth while sleeping may indicate mouth breathing. It can be judged by a simple cotton wool method or mirror method, and the cotton wool or small mirror is placed in front of the nostrils and outside the mouth respectively to see whether the cotton wool flutters or whether the mirror surface has fog, and the nasal and oral breathing states can be roughly judged according to the cotton wool fluttering or the size of the mirror fog.
Mouth breathing can be corrected by:
(1) Clean the nasal cavity before going to bed to solve nasal congestion. A nasal spray can be used to clear the nasal passages.
(2) Treatment of sleep apnea.
(3) Mouth breathing caused by habits, closed mouth breathing training and lip muscle function training, such as pursing mouth training, blowing soap bubbles, blowing paper frogs, playing harmonica or wind instruments, etc. Use a sleep 1/2 mask or chin pocket to gradually correct when sleeping.