Benefits of The AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece

The quality of your breathing has a massive impact on your athletic performance. The AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece is a scientifically-backed device that optimizes your airway and improves muscular endurance.

This article breaks down everything you need to know about how the AIRWAAV works and reviews the research conducted on the positive effects custom mouthpieces have on athletic performance. 

What is AIRWAAV?

The AIRWAAV is an athletic mouthpiece that helps optimize the opening of your airway while you are breathing through your mouth. 

It does this by directing the tongue down and forward when you bite down on the mouthpiece – according to CT scans, opening up the airway up to nearly 10% on average.

The increased width in your airway creates an environment for more airflow and better oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange to occur during intense exercise. 

How The AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece Works

Your tongue is a muscle. And just like any other muscle in the body, you can train it to improve its function. The AIRWAAV helps train and position your tongue for optimal performance by improving the width of your airway.

To use the AIRWAAV, you move your tongue forward to place it underneath the intake bar of the mouthpiece on the inside of your lower teeth.

When you gently clench down on the mouthpiece, it causes your tongue to flex and move itself and your jaw into the correct position for improved airflow. Opening this airway improves the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, which in turn lowers your respiration rate.

Benefits of Training With AIRWAAV

AIRWAAV’s patented design to improve airflow provides athletes with a wide range of potential benefits:

1. Reduction of respiratory rate to enhance endurance
2. Improved muscular endurance to increase strength output
3. Reduction of cortisol buildup after intense exercise to accelerate recovery
4. Decreases lactate levels during heavy resistance training

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Prices Updated 12/2/2021

Does the AIRWAAV Work?

The theory behind how AIRWAAV works is excellent, but the best way to determine if a device actually improves athletic performance and recovery is to examine the scientific evidence from respected journals.

Review of the Science

The design of the AIRWAAV mouthpiece is founded in the research conducted in oral appliances’ effects on athletic performance. We will review the results of a few studies based on the significant benefits of training using the AIRWAAV and devices of similar function.

Anaerobic Ability

In 2015 the scientific journal Human Movement Science conducted a study measuring the effects of a customized mouthguard on anaerobic ability. 

The study took twenty-eight healthy male subjects to perform the Wingate Test (a test conducted on a cycling ergometer to measure anaerobic capacity and power) and a spirometer test (a test that measures how well and how much air you can breathe in and out of your lungs.)

They split the participants into two groups, one that would use the custom mouthguard and a control group that would not. 

The study found that the group using the mouthpiece improved both their anaerobic ability as well as their forced expiratory volume. Specifically, they found significant differences in average power, peak power, time to reach peak power, rate to fatigue, and lactate production. 

Reduced Cortisol Levels

In 2011 the Journal of Strength and Conditioning research conducted a study on the effects of mouthpieces on cortisol levels during resistance training.

The study took 28 Division-1 football players and randomly assigned the use of custom mouthpieces during two identical bouts of intense resistance exercise to complete one session with a mouthpiece and one session without.

They took saliva samples on the athletes before, during, and after the training sessions. The study results revealed a significant difference in cortisol levels using a mouthpiece versus no mouthpiece. 

The sessions completed using a mouthpiece did not experience the typical increase in cortisol levels that were present in the no-mouthpiece group from pre-training to 10 minutes post-exercise.

Improvements in Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Exchange

In 2011 the Journal of The American Dental Association conducted a study to assess the effects of custom mouthpieces on oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production.

The study took sixteen physically fit college-age students to perform two 10-minute treadmill runs. The participants were randomly assigned a mouthpiece and no-mouthpiece for each of their sessions.

The study’s results showed significant improvements in V02 and VC02 gas exchanges during the training sessions where they were assigned the mouthpiece versus the no-mouthpiece sessions.

Why Not Just Use Nasal Breathing?

We’ve discussed at length in previous articles the benefits of nasal breathing and its effects on athletic performance. 

However, we also discussed that during bouts of increased intensity, there is a natural switch that occurs where you can no longer sustain nasal breathing and shift to breathing through your mouth.

During exercises of higher intensity where you need to breathe through your mouth, it becomes vital to have the ability to optimize your respiration performance. Using a performance mouthpiece like the AIRWAAV helps accommodate various performance improvements that impact your overall athletic ability.

Final Thoughts on The AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece

The AIRWAAV takes decades of research on the effects of dental appliances on athletic performance and has constructed a device that helps improve respiration, muscular endurance, and cortisol levels. 

When your training requires you to shift over to breathing through your mouth, using the AIRWAAV can help you capitalize on untapped performance that you may have otherwise left on the table.

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