Yes, your tongue posture, the way your tongue sits in your mouth (as well as the strength and function of it) can affect your energy and even symptoms of mental health issues like anxiety.
At rest, the top of your tongue should be pressed up or suctioned up against the top of the mouth. Front, middle and back. The tip of your tongue should be close to the front teeth but not touching. When the tongue is not here and is resting at the bottom of the mouth, on the lower jaw, it is difficult to nasal breathe. This results in mouth breathing. Chronic mouth breathing leads to this kind of tongue posture. It’s chicken AND the egg.
Mouth breathing can cause low tongue posture
Low tongue posture can cause mouth breathing
Are you in this cycle like I was!? I’m not totally out of it yet, but still actively working to correct this pattern. It takes awareness and consistent effort but the benefits are well worth it! (I can teach you how https://ptevolution12.wpengine.com/consult-form/ )
There are many things that can cause mouth breathing and low tongue posture, you need to assess and be assessed to figure out your unique situation. An experienced holistic dentist, structural osteopath, chiropractor who deals with the jaw or a level 4 CHEK Practitioner would probably be the ideal people to scope out for a thorough assessment of your breathing patterns, jaw alignment, tongue function, cervical spine alignment and diet (I do a lot of this too as a level 2 CHEK Practitioner).
Most people have poor tongue posture because of their diet and a lack of awareness of the importance of nasal breathing. A diet high in processed foods, sugar, pasteurized dairy and non-organic foods tainted with glyphosate can all cause inflammation and excess mucous. Excess sugar and probably glyphosate, can also acidify the blood causing the body to over breath, generally through the mouth.
Over-breathing, inflammation and excess mucous can lead to a stuffy or runny nose which leads to more mouth breathing. And I’ve learned from experience more mouth breathing leads to a stuffy nose (not totally sure why..). This is why I clear my nose at night before bed if possible and then use mouth tape while sleeping. I use this brand https://myotape.com/ – no affiliate. If I don’t, I’ll end up mouth breathing while sleeping and creating a stuffy blocked nose. This used to be a daily occurrence for me. Waking up in the morning with a completely blocked nose, dry mouth and tired body. Which lead to more mouth breathing! The vicious cycle.
Now try this. Plug your nose and suction your tongue to the roof of the mouth, can you breathe through your mouth? Likely no. When your nose is plugged, your tongue has to come down off the roof of the mouth in order to use the mouth to breathe. This weakens the tongue over time and increases the workload on the jaw and head muscles, the masseters and temporalis. This can lead to jaw, head and face pain, headaches and TMJD. Your tongue is supposed to support and hold up your upper jaw and therefore your face! When you don’t have this support, especially as a growing child or teenager you can end up with an elongated face, a narrow palate, crooked teeth, a crowded mouth leaving no space for wisdom teeth, a long first third (too long from bottom of chin to the bottom of the nose) and short middle third of the face (from bottom of the nose to between the eyebrows). This small middle third means a smaller nasal cavity making it harder to get enough air through the nose – I remember as a teenager noting that it if I tried to breath through my nose it felt like I had two skinny straws I was trying to breath through. So this was not effective, especially when playing sports!
Ironically, breathing through my mouth made playing sports more challenging as I would get winded immediately. My body and heart could keep going but my wind, my breath, was always very fast and rapid. Hyperventilating really – swimming laps really sucked because of this. When you hyperventilate or over breath, which is what you do when you mouth breath with a low tongue posture, you are releasing too much carbon dioxide from the blood, cells and lungs. Your blood vessels constrict, reducing blood flow and your body will hold onto oxygen because hemoglobin only releases oxygen in the presence of carbon dioxide. This will make you feel tired and heavy and often plug up your nose. Resulting in fatigue and more mouth breathing. Another viscous cycle!
Okay, so how does all this result in anxiety? Well, when you breathe through your mouth with a low tongue posture, you over-breathe. This activates the sympathetic nervous system, our fight or flight system. You are reducing available oxygen to the tissues and creating chronic tension through your muscles and fascial system. So you are literally showing your body signs of fear ie hyperventilation which is usually reserved for actual scary situations or intense physical exertion. Fear is the dominate emotion of anxiety.
An overactive sympathetic nervous system means an under stimulated parasympathetic nervous system, your rest and digest system, so your sleep and digestion will be negatively affected. Nutrient deficiencies and hormonal imbalances will ensue which can also cause anxiety.
Lastly, a low tongue posture and mouth breathing will lead to a forward head posture. This posture can reduce the flow of energy and information between the brain and the rest of the body by pinching cranial nerves and slowing blood flow. A lack of oxygen to the brain is a big fear signal to the body!
There are many other things to dive into in regards to nasal breathing and tongue posture but I’ll save those for a future blog.
Action steps:
- Consciously breathe through your nose
- Practice pushing/suctioning your tongue up the roof of the mouth if that is not your natural resting position
- Be mindful of your head carriage (hold your phone or book up not head down!)
- Try mouth taping at night. Myotape that goes around but doesn’t touch your lips or 3M micropore tape to place vertically over the top and bottom lip.
- Try 4 rounds of 4-7-8 breathing twice a day. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 7, breathe out for 8 through pursed lips while making a whooshing sound. Do this in the AM and PM. Four rounds takes about 90 seconds.
- Get assessed if this is a big issue for you. Sometimes nasal breathing is difficult because of a physical obstruction like a deviated septum
Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if this was helpful and don’t forget to share with your friends ❤