The importance of tongue placement for breathing and stability

Hi everyone,

This week, I want to share a key takeaway from the Oxygen Advantage (OA) teacher training I attended a couple weeks ago.

Patrick McKeown (the founder of OA) is a wealth of knowledge. He’s been researching, applying, and teaching about breathing for nearly 20 years. It’s always an honor to learn from him.

Although I learned a ton, there was one thing that stood out this time: the tongue.

Your tongue should rest on the roof of your mouth, which will open up your airways. If your tongue rests down, it will restrict your breathing.

This is especially important during sleep. But, the only way to keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth during sleep is to make it a habit during the day. (I’m now trying to keep my tongue on the roof of the mouth as much as possible.)

However, knowing this science of tongue placement didn’t actually make me interested. What did was an exercise a physiologist led us through to demonstrate the importance of tongue placement for stability.

Here’s the exercise:

1. Let your tongue fall off the roof of your mouth.

2. Now, let your head fall back and look up at the ceiling.

3. Repeat, but with your tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth.

You should feel more head and neck stability when your tongue is pressed against the roof of your mouth. The physiologist explained how this stabilizes the neck and spine, but most of it was over my head. I just know it worked.

Some others in class noticed that their breathing was significantly easier when their tongue was on the roof of their mouth.

With that in mind, try noticing where your tongue rests throughout the day. Try keeping it pressed against the roof of your mouth. This will help your breathing and stability.

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. One more picture from the training. They say you should never meet your idols, but Patrick (right) never disappoints. In addition to all of his knowledge, he’s just genuinely a nice guy. It was awesome to learn from him again.

Nitric Oxide, Hypoxia, and Batman

Hi all,

Greetings from Lakeland, FL! We live near the east coast of FL, so we evacuated inland. My thoughts are with any of you affected by Dorian. Stay safe!

We learned last week that nitric oxide (NO) is a critical in areas of tissue hypoxia (see review here). With that in mind, what happens when we purposefully induce hypoxia via intermittent hypoxic (IH) training (Principle 3)?

Intermittent hypoxia increases production and storage of nitric oxide

(Read on website)

In this study, mice were gradually adapted to an altitude of ~5000 m over a 40-day period.

After acclimation, their NO metabolites (nitrite and nitrate) increased significantly.

• This indicated that either (1) more NO was being generated or (2) NO was being released from storage.

However, the mice also increased their NO storage considerably.

• The increase in NO storage correlated significantly with the increase in NO metabolites.

All together, these results indicate that adaptation to intermittent hypoxia increases NO production and storage.

The storage rate was higher than the production rate, which was likely a protective mechanism to ensure that blood pressure did not drop too low.  However, the large storage also ensured that NO could be readily released if needed, highlighting yet another benefit of adaptation to hypoxia and intermittent hypoxia training.

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. Speaking of IH training, here’s a shot of me wearing the Oxygen Advantage® Sports Mask at the teacher training last week. Yes, I look like Bane, but it adds a lot of resistance to each breath, which helps improve CO2 tolerance, increases breathing muscle strength, and allows me to drop into hypoxia easier.