Breathe Through Your Nose (Help Protect Against COVID-19)

Can breathing through your nose really help protect you against COVID-19? Yes…well, maybe!

Before we continue, we want to make it clear that we are not doctors or medical professionals and no study has shown that nose breathing will protect you from COVID-19.

However, just like washing your hands, breathing through your nose might help defend against COVID-19. Our nose is actually pretty amazing!

Without getting too science-y (we'll leave that to Nick!), when you breathe through your nose you harness nasal nitric oxide, which has been shown to have antiviral and antimicrobial effects. In fact, it was shown to kill the coronavirus that caused the 2003 “sudden acute respiratory syndrome”, or SARS (see LA Times article, also linked below). Studies are currently underway to see if it can help with COVID-19.

Nasal nitric oxide also enhances the functioning of cilia lining your airways. Cilia are your lungs' first line of defense against airborne particles and pathogens (e.g., viruses or bacteria that can cause disease).

Take away: Breathe through your nose to provide an additional line of defense against COVID-19, even if you are wearing a mask!

If you're interested in the science behind nasal breathing and nitric oxide, you can find scientific research and easy-to-understand summaries from Nick (The Breathing Diabetic) here:

Nasal Nitric Oxide in Man: https://www.thebreathingdiabetic.com/science-library/lundberg-and-weitzberg-1999

Recent Advances on Nitric Oxide in the Upper Airways: https://www.thebreathingdiabetic.com/science-library/maniscalco-et-al-2016

This article was also released on April 5, 2020 in the LA Times (it’s not about Viagra) - How a Discovery that Brought us Viagra Could Help Those Battling the Coronavirus: https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-05/viagra-discovery-could-treat-coronavirus-patients