Breathing is automatic, so it is easy to forget that how you breathe matters. Whether air goes mainly through your nose or your mouth changes what happens in your airways and blood vessels, and some of those changes can influence how your skin feels and functions.
Nasal breathing will not replace sunscreen, a sensible skincare routine, or medical care. What it can do is quietly support three foundations of skin health: healthy blood flow, efficient oxygen delivery, and a stable moisture barrier.
Nitric oxide and your nose
Nitric oxide (NO) is a gas that cells use as a signaling molecule. In blood vessels it acts as a vasodilator, helping the vessel wall relax so that blood can flow more easily. It also participates in immune defense and cell communication.
Your nose and paranasal sinuses are unusually rich sources of nitric oxide. When researchers sampled air directly from human sinuses, they found NO concentrations far higher than in air from the lower airways, and the sinus lining was rich in nitric oxide synthase enzymes that continuously generate this gas.
When you inhale through your nose, some of this NO rich air is carried into the lungs. This “autoinhalation” of nasal nitric oxide helps regulate blood flow in the lungs and can modestly influence how well oxygen moves from air into the bloodstream.
Nasal breathing versus mouth breathing
Several small human studies have compared nasal and mouth breathing. In one experiment, healthy volunteers alternated between nose breathing and mouth breathing while researchers measured transcutaneous oxygen, a noninvasive estimate of blood oxygen. On average, tissue oxygen levels were about 10 percent higher during nasal breathing.
Similar work in patients on mechanical ventilation found that adding air taken from the nasal cavity back into the breathing circuit increased arterial oxygen levels and slightly reduced pressure in the lung circulation.
These studies are small and done in specific settings. They do not mean that switching from mouth breathing to nasal breathing will dramatically change oxygen levels in every healthy person. What they do show is that nasal nitric oxide is biologically active in the lungs and can measurably influence oxygen exchange and blood flow.
How breathing affects the skin barrier
Your nose is more than a simple tube for air. It warms, humidifies, and filters the air before it reaches the lungs. The internal nasal passages are lined with folds called turbinates and a dense network of blood vessels that bring inhaled air closer to body temperature, add moisture, and trap particles in mucus.
Air that travels mainly through the mouth tends to be cooler and drier by the time it passes over the lips and lower face. That matters because one of the key jobs of your outer skin barrier is to slow water loss. Dermatology researchers often measure this with transepidermal water loss, or TEWL, which reflects how much water is escaping through the outermost layer of skin. Higher TEWL usually means a drier, more compromised barrier.
A small clinical study directly compared the impact of nasal and mouth breathing on facial skin. Volunteers were asked to breathe through either the nose or the mouth, and researchers measured skin characteristics on the face. Periods of mouth breathing were associated with higher TEWL and lower capacitance, a measure related to skin hydration, compared with nasal breathing. In simple terms, mouth breathing left the nearby skin drier and less well hydrated.
This was a short term study with a modest number of people, so it does not prove that mouth breathing alone causes eczema, wrinkles, or specific diseases. It does provide human evidence that how we breathe can influence hydration and barrier behavior in the skin that sits closest to the airflow.
What this means for mouth breathing
Chronic mouth breathing is common if you have nasal congestion, allergies, or structural issues in the nose and throat, and it often happens during sleep without people noticing.
From a skin perspective, habitual mouth breathing has two likely downsides: there is less use of the nasal passages and therefore less autoinhalation of nasal nitric oxide for the lungs, and the constant flow of cooler, drier air over the lips and nearby skin can increase water loss and gradually contribute to dryness in this area.
Breathing pattern is only one factor among many. Diet, sun exposure, skincare products, genetics, hormones, and sleep all have major effects on how skin behaves. Mouth breathing is best viewed as one small, modifiable habit that can either support or subtly work against the rest of your routine.
Practical ways to encourage nasal breathing
If you want to experiment with nasal breathing as part of a broader skin health strategy, start small:
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During the day, notice whether your mouth tends to rest open or closed. Gently closing the lips and letting air move in and out through the nose is a good baseline.
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If indoor air is very dry, a room humidifier, saline sprays or rinses, and avoiding smoke and heavy air pollutants can make nasal breathing more comfortable.
If you regularly cannot breathe through your nose, or you have loud snoring, gasping, or suspected sleep apnea, it is worth talking with a healthcare professional. Breathing techniques are not a substitute for diagnosis or treatment.
The bottom line
Taken together, current studies support a modest but useful picture. The nose and sinuses are rich sources of nitric oxide, and nasal breathing carries this gas into the lungs, where it helps regulate blood flow and oxygen transfer. Compared with mouth breathing, nasal breathing can modestly improve measures of oxygenation in some settings, and mouth breathing is associated with higher water loss and lower hydration in nearby skin.
Breathing through your nose will not transform your skin on its own, but it does support background systems that healthy skin depends on, including circulation, oxygen delivery, and a well hydrated barrier around the mouth. It is one more free habit that can sit alongside good skincare, sun protection, sleep, and nutrition.
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Lundberg JO et al. High nitric oxide production in human paranasal sinuses. Nat Med. 1995;1(4):370-373. doi:10.1038/nm0495-370. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7585069/
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Lundberg JO et al. Inhalation of nasally derived nitric oxide modulates pulmonary function in humans. Acta Physiol Scand. 1996;158(4):343-347. doi:10.1046/j.1365-201X.1996.557321000.x. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8971255/
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Holden WE et al. Greater nasal nitric oxide output during inhalation: effects on airway nitric oxide exchange. J Appl Physiol. 2008;105(3):608-615. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01256.2007. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18483169/
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Sahin-Yilmaz A, Naclerio RM. Anatomy and physiology of the upper airway. Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2011;8(1):31-39. doi:10.1513/pats.201007-050RN. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21364219/
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Rogiers V. Transepidermal water loss measurements in patch testing. Contact Dermatitis. 2001;44(2):75-85. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0536.2001.440202.x. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11260234/
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Jafari Y, Kohanteb J, Bazrafshan A. Effect of mouth breathing and nasal breathing on skin characteristics with emphasis on transepidermal water loss and capacitance. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2021;20(6):1699-1703. doi:10.1111/jocd.13747. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.13747
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