Experts have identified a common and subtle habit that is said to change our faces to make people increasingly less attractive.
According to some researchers, breathing through the mouth instead of the nose could change the shape of your jaw, eyes and nose.
In children, so-called mouth breathing, usually caused by a cold or anxiety, can cause the teeth to crook and cause an overbite.
The theory was most recently published in a viral clip shared on Instagram, which racked up nearly 20,000 likes in less than 24 hours, as well as hundreds of comments.
The video, shared by the user. @puremogfeatures a scientific lecture, supposedly given by a surgeon, that demonstrates why humanity is “getting uglier.”
The anonymous surgeon points to images that compare the facial structures of people who breathe through their mouths with those who breathe through their noses.
Breathing through your mouth can cause a humped nose, a receding jawline, and bags under your eyes, according to the supposed expert in the clip.
This is said to be because breathing this way opens the mouth and drags the tongue downward, pulling the chin back and other facial features downward.
According to the expert in the clip, mouth breathing gradually pulls the cartilage of the nose downward, to create a hump.
The wild theory has previously been touted by other scientists, including popular American health podcaster and neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman.
“People, and particularly children, who overuse mouth breathing instead of nasal breathing, have changes in the structure of their face that make them much less attractive than if they breathed through their mouth,” he told the podcast. modern wisdom.
Naturally, you should be able to place your entire tongue on the roof of your mouth without feeling your teeth, explains Dr. Huberman, whose colleagues at Stanford University wrote about the mouth breathing “epidemic” in the book “Jaws’.
“The characteristic change in the face when one breathes too much through the mouth is that the chin begins to recede toward the neck and the eyes become droopy because there is less use of the sinuses,” Dr. Huberman said.
The eyes may also appear to have larger under-eye circles and take on a downward slant.
This could be because breathing through your mouth also provides less oxygen, Dr. Huberman said.
Although the volume of air is lower in the nasal cavity compared to the mouth, the pressure is higher, meaning air enters the respiratory system faster, according to researchers at Anglia Ruskin University.
American neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman talked about how mouth breathing can change your appearance on the Modern Wisdom podcast.
The upper images show a person breathing through the nose and the lower image shows a person breathing through the mouth. According to Dr. Huberman’s colleagues Sandra Kahn and Paul R. Ehrlich, who published the book Jaws, breathing through the mouth can cause a receding jaw and tired eyes.
They also suggest that breathing through the nose increases the production of nitric oxide, which makes it easier for oxygen to reach the lungs and muscles.
Old habits can be changed and nasal breathing can be improved, Dr. Huberman previously stressed.
He explained that the sinuses are “plastic-like” and can be modified in terms of their shape.
“Deliberate nasal breathing during most of your cardio training will help dilate your sinuses, which leads to better airflow, making nasal breathing easier,” he said.
Breathing through your mouth not only changes your appearance, but it can also make you sick.
The nose filters the air we breathe, which helps prevent materials such as dust, pollen, ash, and other dangerous particles from penetrating deep into the lungs.
Inhaling through the mouth does not provide this filter, meaning toxins can go directly to the lungs.
“People don’t recognize that the way they breathe can have a significant impact on their health levels, sleep quality, anxiety, respiratory disorders such as asthma, sports performance and more,” said James Nestor, science journalist. based in San Francisco and author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, previously told MailOnline.
He claimed that his previous habit of breathing through his mouth was behind his recurring respiratory infections, which he was finally able to overcome after a doctor told him to breathe through his nose.
‘I thought she was crazy. I fixed it. And I haven’t had one of those problems since. That was more than 10 years ago.”
The bestselling author argued that the vast majority of breaths should be taken through the nose at a slow pace, not through the mouth, unless you are sick.
“We should breathe the way we have naturally evolved to breathe,” Mr Nestor said.
“There’s nothing special about it, just look at a healthy baby breathing through the belly and through the nose at a slow pace.”
Dozens of studies have suggested that breathing through your nose will eliminate bad breath, stop snoring, and reduce the risk of gum disease.
According to Néstor, around 60 percent of the population breathes through their mouths while sleeping.
Doing so can dry out your gums and the tissue that lines your mouth.
It can also exacerbate snoring, as air hits the back of the throat directly and causes vibrations, rather than passing over the soft palate, which occurs when breathing through the nose, according to the British Snoring and Sleep Apnea Association. .
However, experts say that taping your mouth during sleep to force breathing through your nose can disrupt sleep by causing irritation, anxiety, and difficulty breathing through your nose.