One of the Most Critical Molecules For Erection, Energy, and Performance
And one you have never heard of: nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide is a compound your body produces naturally and which influences how you process nutrients and oxygen, how your brain functions, and how you perform in bed and on court.
But nitric oxide isn’t just about performance — it’s about survival. This small, fleeting gas is also a frontline molecule for killing viruses and bacteria, regulating immunity, and supporting healing.
The Role of Nitric Oxide: The Body’s Circulatory Signal
Nitric oxide’s main job is to regulate blood flow and nutrient delivery, ensuring that every organ — from your brain to your muscles — gets the oxygen and energy it needs.
That makes it central to an incredible range of body functions:
Energy production: It signals your mitochondria — the power plants of your cells — to work more efficiently.
Cognition and focus: Improves memory, learning, and mental stamina.
Recovery and repair: Mobilizes stem cells to heal and regenerate tissue.
Sexual health: Acts as a vasodilator — relaxing blood vessels — the very mechanism that inspired the creation of Viagra.
When nitric oxide levels drop, the opposite occurs: muscles receive less oxygen, energy declines, endurance fades, and recovery slows.
You begin to underutilize oxygen, setting off a cascade of fatigue, poor performance, and even metabolic imbalance. In other words, your body becomes inefficient and unproductive.
When Levels Fall
A deficiency in nitric oxide affects nearly every system in the body:
Cardiovascular health: Blood vessels constrict, forcing the heart to pump harder through narrower pathways — raising blood pressure and reducing circulation.
Brain function: Reduced blood flow can contribute to neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, now understood in part as a vascular issue.
Metabolic health: Nitric oxide supports insulin signaling; without it, cells can become resistant to insulin, leading to metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.
Immune balance: Low nitric oxide is linked to oxidative stress, inflammation, and protein misfolding — hallmarks of aging and chronic disease.
Nitric Oxide As We Age
Unfortunately, as we age, our natural nitric oxide production declines. One study suggests a decrease of 10–12% per decade, while another indicates that by the age of 30, we may have already lost up to 40–50% of our nitric oxide levels.
Either way, it’s clear that we experience a gradual loss of our body’s ability to repair, regenerate, and protect itself over time.
This decline may help explain age-related drops in energy, endurance, and libido — and why maintaining nitric oxide is now recognized as a key pillar of longevity science.
The Longevity Molecule
The significance of nitric oxide for health, and its importance in almost every aspect of physiology, became widely recognized after groundbreaking research that earned the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (Louis Ignarro, Robert Furchgott, and Ferid Murad).
Improved glucose uptake, helping regulate metabolism
Reduced inflammation and oxidative stress
Supported immune system balance
Promoted mitochondrial biogenesis — the creation of new energy-producing mitochondria
Activated telomerase, the enzyme that preserves telomere length (a key marker of longevity)
“Nitric Oxide is possibly the most important yet overlooked molecule for human longevity.” Dr. Nathan Bryan
Why It Matters for Breathing
Nitric oxide is also a potent bronchodilator — it widens the airways and increases the lungs’ oxygen-absorbing capacity, which is especially beneficial for people with asthma or respiratory issues.
Studies show that nasal breathing (rather than mouth breathing):
Increases nitric oxide production in the sinuses
Lowers blood pressure
Improves oxygenation
When you breathe through your mouth, you bypass this nitric oxide production — and even disrupt the oral microbiome, altering saliva pH and bacterial balance.
Nitric Oxide, Stem Cells, and Cellular Renewal
Nitric oxide is not just a messenger — it’s a mobilizer:
Stimulating stem cells, helping them move and reach damaged tissues.
Activating telomerase, the enzyme that prevents telomere shortening, a key marker of aging. Telomeres are the ends of our chromosomes, our DNA.
Supporting mitochondrial biogenesis, helping cells make new energy engines to stay youthful and efficient.
This means nitric oxide isn’t only about immediate performance — it’s a foundational molecule for regeneration and repair, playing a key role in processes like wound healing, collagen production, and tissue remodeling.
How to Boost Nitric Oxide Levels Naturally?
You can increase your body’s nitric oxide production through simple, daily habits:
Move more to increase blood circulation, triggering the production of nitric oxide.
Breathe through your nose to naturally enhance nitric oxide levels.
Practice breathing exercises with slow inhales, holds between, and long exhales. This boosts both nitric oxide and carbon dioxide — two powerful vasodilators.
Take care of your oral microbiome and minimize aggressive mouthwashes. (e.g., fluoride-based products). Copper tongue scrapers also support a healthy bacterial balance.
Humming does wonders for opening nasal airways and increasing nitric oxide production.
Deep sleep and rest with the help of mouth taping to restore nitric oxide.
The Bottom Line
Nitric oxide connects breath, blood, and biology — the bridge between oxygen and energy, between healing and performance.
It’s the invisible molecule behind sharper focus, faster recovery, better sex, and longer life.
And yet, most people have never heard of it.
To protect your natural nitric oxide production, breathe through your nose, move your body, and support your cells.
SOURCES
Mauro Maniscalpo at Karolinska Institute
Berkeley Life — Nitric Oxide and Longevity
Dr. Nathan Bryan — Youtube
Dr. Mark Hyman — Episode 165 and Episode 1084
Ruth A. (2015) The Health Benefits of Nose Breathing, Nursing in General Practice
By Marla Hansen, Founder of WellBreathing, with the mission to transform how the world breathes
