Countless people suffer from great difficulty breathing through their nose. Often, a crooked nasal septum is identified as the trigger, which allegedly narrows the airway. Accordingly, doctors then frequently advise surgical straightening. In fact, surgery on the nasal septum is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in ENT medicine. At the same time, it is probably one of the most unnecessary procedures. Because remember: no operation is without risk! But there is a promising alternative!
The nasal septum is a partition made up of bone, cartilage and a membranous part. The septum divides the nasal cavity into two halves, the nasal cavities. If you take a closer look at the nasal septum, one thing immediately stands out:
The ideal of a straight nasal septum does not exist in reality. Rather, in most people the septum does not grow exactly in the middle and is often crooked. This is perfectly normal. It is the rule, not the exception. As a result, one half of the air channel is smaller and the other half larger. The amount of air that flows through both halves when breathing is correspondingly different.
Typically, the nasal septum is crooked
Only at a superficial glance does it seem plausible that less air should flow through the nose when one half of the nose is narrowed by a crooked septum. The other half is enlarged accordingly. The diagram opposite shows: If, for example, one half can only hold 30% of the air breathed, the other half can hold 70%. In total, the airflow remains at 100%. Consequently, the airflow is only distributed differently between the two inlets.
Tens of thousands of tiny flesh hairs, called cilia, sit on the mucous membrane inside the nose and the air flows over them when we breathe. When you breathe in through your nose, these cilia are pulled backwards by the airflow. When we exhale, they are pushed forward. This is how constant use normally keeps the mucous membrane in shape.
Most of the time, the difficulties arise because the nose has been used far too little over a long period of time. Instead of breathing through the nose, we breathed through the mouth. Mouth breathing is the actual cause of the problem. Often, people have habitually breathed through the mouth since childhood. The breathing problems resulting from mouth breathing are often accompanied by many other symptoms later on.
If the nose is not used, it does not function properly and if it does not function, it is not to be used.
Frequent mouth breathing is the real cause of the problem. If the nose is not used sufficiently when breathing, the mucous membrane of the nose hyperplasises: it swells. The tissue puffs up spongily. It becomes thick and bulging and fills a large part of the nasal cavity. As a result, it becomes increasingly difficult to breathe through the nose.
So if the cause of your breathing problems is not the crooked nasal septum and the surgery to straighten it does not change anything causally: What can you do then?
Insufficient nasal breathing causes the mucous membranes to swell
The most sustainable thing you can do: Tackle the cause. Get rid of the breathing habit that is making you sick. Change your breathing permanently to the natural and healthy behaviour. But how? That is easier said than done!
You could now try to breathe through your nose on purpose. Maybe that will even work at first. But at the slightest effort you will still switch back to mouth breathing. You can make a point of nasal breathing, but you can’t keep it up consistently. And you know now: Mouth breathing is harmful. So it doesn’t work that way.
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The best way to learn how to breathe correctly is with a suitable exercise programme. However, there are not too many of them. FaceFormer therapy has proven to be a very successful exercise programme. The causally effective therapy method directly targets the vital functions of breathing and swallowing. Through regular FaceFormer training, you specifically practice changing your breathing behaviour from harmful mouth breathing to natural and healthy nasal breathing.
Your nasal breathing is not working properly? Do you often suffer from a blocked nose and breathing problems? The crooked nasal septum is usually not the cause and surgery on it is not the solution. Instead, it is best to start immediately with the causative FaceFormer therapy. You will save yourself many health problems!
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