McLeod Accessories has introduced the AC Performance Systems Sport Band to Australian market, a product used by a number of the sport’s leading riders across the globe.

Breathing through your mouth leads to over-breathing, hyperventilation, dehydration, depleted carbon dioxide levels, vasoconstriction (constriction of the blood vessels), and reduced blood circulation during exercise.

Image: Supplied.

So what does that mean? It means that your body is not getting enough oxygen to your brain or your blood when you’re huffing and puffing through your mouth. You are losing a lot of water when you exhale through your mouth, and your blood vessels are getting squeezed smaller and smaller with each mouth breath you take.

What you need to do is breathe through your nose the way your body was designed to breathe. This creates the proper mixture of gasses coursing through your blood for optimal health and performance. When you breathe through your nose, your body re-breathes the expelled carbon dioxide and the nitric oxide that is naturally produced in your sinuses.

Both of these gasses are vasodilators (blood vessel openers) which deliver more oxygen to the brain and muscles faster. Breathing in and out through the nose actually helps you take fuller, deeper breaths, which stimulates the lower lung to distribute greater amounts of oxygen throughout the entire body.

Image: Supplied.

When the lower lung is stimulated, it triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which calms the body and mind. Mouth breathing only uses the upper lung, triggering the sympathetic nervous system, which activates the fight or flight reaction and stresses the body and mind.

The AC Sport Band is a very simple, but incredibly effective device that allows you to breathe through your nose. It is a non-invasive magnetic band that comfortably sits on the bridge of your nose, pulling your nose open far beyond normal capacity, making nose breathing effortless.

Priced at RRP $45.95, the AC Sport Band can be purchased at participating dealers and online retailers around the country. For more information, visit www.mcleodaccessories.com.au.