Key Takeaways:
- Airway-breathing issues, including obstructive sleep apnea, are surprisingly common but often go undiagnosed, affecting up to 40% of the workforce and impacting daily performance and overall health.
- Proper nasal breathing is crucial for quality sleep and overall well-being, with mouth breathing linked to various health issues and reduced cognitive function.
- Addressing airway-breathing problems can significantly improve personal health, workplace productivity, and employee satisfaction, making it a worthwhile investment for both individuals and employers.
Are you having trouble keeping your eyes open right now? Breathing through your mouth? Feeling a little brain-foggy?
And have you dismissed all of these annoyances because you think it’s just a result of aging and your crazy-busy lifestyle?
It’s no secret: a bad night's sleep leaves you groggy, unfocused, and lethargic, sabotaging your entire day. If this is you, you’re not alone. It’s the everyday reality for millions of people, and the root of the issue is often right in front of your face…
It’s your nose.
The truth is that 40% of the workforce suffers from airway-breathing issues in the nose and throat, leaving them sleep-deprived and in a constant state of fog. Even worse…80% of these people go undiagnosed and therefore untreated. This significantly impacts well-being, mental acuity, and work performance…and they don’t even know it. If you’re an employer, ignoring these issues affects employee morale, increases absenteeism, and reduces overall productivity, hurting personal and company performance.
Healthy Sleep and Why It Matters
Most people don’t know why they need good sleep…they just know when they don’t get it. When you sleep, your body is hard at work by enhancing muscle repair, heart health, and immune function. Your hormones are being regulated for optimal weight and glucose control. Your brain is clearing the clutter and creating new neural pathways to boost cognitive function, mood stability, and emotional resilience. This all improves concentration, productivity, physical performance, and safety while reducing chronic disease risks and promoting overall longevity…
All this going on, and you thought you were just asleep.
This is why healthy sleep is essential for your physical and mental well-being and directly affects your performance at work.
“Of Course I’m Tired…I’m Busy!”
As American adults - with full-time jobs, bills to pay, houses to manage, kids to corral, events to attend, appointments to schedule, vehicles to maintain, partnerships to nurture, pets to take care of - it's understandable that so many of us are feeling tired, rundown, or all-around feeling just, well…meh.
And with this daily laundry list of responsibilities (oh yeah, there's laundry to do, too), it's easy to write off those sluggish feelings as side effects of our daily busy lives. Even if you’re finding yourself getting the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep, that does not mean you’re getting sound, quality, healthy sleep.
The reality is, there isn't much we can do to slow down life. However, there is something you can do to help you feel better. And it all starts in your head.
No, no. We don't mean that your exhaustion is just all in your mind. We mean literally, it starts inside your head, where your nostrils and throat meet.
The Power of Nasal Breathing
If you're not breathing like you should - if your nose isn't working like it should - you're likely not getting healthy sleep.
Many people do not even realize that there is a right and wrong way to breathe. The correct way is to breathe through your nose instead of your mouth. Breathing through your mouth is not only bad for your body in the short term but can have many adverse long-term effects.
Nearly 50% of adults are mouth breathers – and even more while sleeping. This leads to bad breath, dry mouth, and periodontal disease. Clearly, yes, we are capable of breathing through the mouth; however, we were not designed to. Mouth breathing lacks all of the unique benefits nasal breathing provides us.
Your nose is designed to filter and humidify the air from the 20,000 breaths you take each day. When you don't breathe through your nose, you are bypassing one of the greatest defenses against illness and irritation that your body has naturally.
Plus, nasal breathing improves the volume of your lungs, aids your immune system, reduces coughing, slows your breathing, and increases circulation. Among other beneficial things that, quite literally, keep you alive and healthy without you even having to think about it.
The Breathing Triangle®
Maybe the issue is right in front of your face - literally. Think about it, the holes in your face - your two nostrils and throat - are pretty darn important. This passageway is called The Breathing Triangle®. When even one of these passages is not functioning correctly, serious issues like chronic sinus headaches, congestion, snoring, or sleep apnea can develop.
But you know from experience, that breathing well - or not well -can have a huge impact on you and your daily life. Think about when you have acold, and you're too stuffed up to sleep. Or when you struggle to catch your breath after climbing a flight of stairs. When your Breathing Triangle is obstructed, you can start feeling real miserable, real quick.
One of the first, most common signs of a Breathing Triangle issue is snoring. Snoring indicates airway narrowing and sometimes collapsing, disturbing sleep patterns and signaling serious sleep disorders. Snoring is often obstructive sleep apnea’s (OSA) calling card with an estimated 94% of cases of OSA involving snoring.
What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)?
OSA involves pauses in breathing or shallow breaths during sleep, causing gasps for air, coughing, or snoring. You see, what’s happening is while you sleep, your muscles relax, and your tongue falls back to block your airway. Essentially, your body is strangling itself. That is until your brain goes into 'high alert’ and wakes you up just enough to take a breath.
This can happen more than 100 times per hour, depriving your body of the oxygen it needs. What’s worse is your body becomes accustomed to this nightly assault. It becomes a normal part of your life, when it’s actually unnatural and devastatingly unhealthy.
It’s estimated that 30 million Americans have sleep apnea and up to 80% of those are undiagnosed (that’s a whopping 24 million). There are many consequences of untreated sleep apnea including:
- 2x as likely to have high blood pressure
- Over 50% of people with OSA experience anxiety
- 2x as likely to have a heart attack
- 86% more likely to have a stroke
It’s Not You…It’s Your Nose
Whether airway-breathing issues present themselves as chronic congestion, frequent sinus infections, loud snoring, or obstructive sleep apnea, poor breathing has a ripple effect that seeps its way into every aspect of your daily life.
Unfortunately, all too often these symptoms can be dismissed or overlooked. This can leave you feeling like there is something wrong with you, or that you simply have to live with the misery of a nose that doesn’t work the way it should.
There is hope. These issues can be easy to identify and treat with the right care from physicians who specialize in The Breathing Triangle® issues.
1: Healthy Workforce = Healthy Performance
If you’re an employer or in charge of employee wellness programs, you may be surprised at the impact a workforce not hampered by these issues could have on company performance and employee morale.
Improved sleep and breathing health reduce absenteeism, enhance cognitive function, and boost performance. When employees sleep well, they achieve more, have higher job satisfaction, and contribute more effectively to the company’s success. Motivating employees to get tested for OSA and treating these conditions can lead to a healthier, more productive, and happier workforce.