Book Review by John Dawson
Every day on average we breathe in and out 25,000 times, that's a lot of breaths! Mostly we are somewhat aware of how we are breathing but all too often we are unaware of the way in which we are breathing because it is an automatic process, it will happen whether we are conscious of it or not. Do you think the quality, the amount of breaths, the volume of breath and whether you are breathing through your nose or your mouth make a difference?
After years of research, speaking to many experts, travelling far and wide, and participating in a bizarre experiment to find these answers, journalist James Nestor wrote a book on the subject that became a NY Times bestseller with some astounding revelations. I found this book fascinating on so many levels and after reading I would guess you will never look at the simple act of breathing quite the same again. James Nestor's writing style is very engaging and full of wonderful stories yet all information and claims are well backed by solid scientific evidence without being science heavy.
It’s referred to as ‘the new science’ because for the first time modern technology can measure what seemed like outrageous and impossible feats and are reproducible and not confined to the superhuman but everyday people becoming in touch with their breathing and learning these ancient techniques to produce astounding results.
“What the vast majority of us are doing is we are breathing too many breaths, we’re breathing too often and too much air,” Nestor told Jesse Mulligan in a radio NZ interview.
Mouth breathing afflicts up to half the population, and is particularly bad for us, he says.
“Mouth breathing can cause all kinds of neurological damage, respiratory damage, it can even cause some metabolic problems.”
It is fascinating that by just shifting the passageway through which you breathe air can cause such rapid and immediate damage to your body (mouth breathing) and yet by breathing mostly through the nose the reverse occurs and with beneficial changes to our heart rate, blood pressure, reducing stress hormones, calming anxiety and so much more all well documented and easy to measure.
The nose, he says, is the “silent warrior, the gatekeeper of our bodies.”
“When you breathe through the nose you are forcing the air through this maze and as it goes through this maze that air is treated, it’s heated, it is humidified and it’s conditioned so that by the time it gets to our lungs our lungs can better absorb it more efficiently.
“So, nasal breathing alone will give us about 20 percent more oxygen than equivalent breaths through the mouth.”
The most important thing when it comes to breathing is to become aware of it. We’re lucky enough that breathing just runs in the background like a software programme. Just spending a few minutes a day to consciously check in with our breathing is a good first step. Then take another moment to focus on breathing through the nose, breathing less, breathing more slowly and you will actually be delivering more oxygen to your body.
Conscious breathing and breathing through your nose allows you to ‘biohack’ into the autonomic nervous system and literally alter your physiology going from a state of ‘fight or flight’ sympathetic (long term unhealthy and damaging) to more of a parasympathetic state that is more about healing, growth and repair. It’s that simple yet can take time to practice and become the norm.
There is an optimum perfect breath that is ideally about 5-6 seconds in and 5-6 seconds out where your body is working at its most efficient, most coherent and this is worth trying to achieve. However initially baby steps are best when creating a new healthy habit and many people find it easier to start with maybe 4 seconds in and 4 seconds out.
Learning to breathe less is learning to breathe right, Nestor says.
“You’re not breathing less air, you’re breathing the right amount of air, we are reconditioning ourselves to breathe the way we were designed to breathe.”
Check out this book from our lending library and also our weekly breathing workshops at Equilibrium mentioned in this newsletter.
To learn more about different breathing techniques you can also click on to James Nestor’s website where you can view an ever expanding instructional video library.