Why Do We Breathe Through Our Mouth When We Are Sick?

We breathe through our mouth when we're sick because our nose is busy fighting off germs.

Imagine your nose is like a tiny guardian who normally helps you catch the good stuff in the air, like oxygen, and keeps out the bad stuff, like dust, pollen, or cold viruses. When you’re sick, this guardian gets really busy trying to stop all those germs from getting into your body.

Your mouth is like a back-up helper who can also catch oxygen, and it doesn’t care about germs as much when things are tough. So when your nose is too busy fighting off germs, you breathe through your mouth instead.

It’s kind of like when you’re eating a big meal, and you get full, you stop eating because your stomach is full. Your nose gets full of germs, so it stops doing its job as well, and the mouth takes over!

Sometimes breathing through the mouth can feel louder or more rushed, just like how you might eat faster when you’re really hungry.