Evolution and lifestyle changes have exacerbated breathing issues in humans, highlighting the need to prioritize effective nasal breathing for health preservation.

Breathing is often overlooked in its relevancy despite being a critical aspect of human life. While it comes naturally, studies have shown that over the years, humans have become worse at it. Going back in time, early humans had broad and distinctive nasal passages, in addition to forward-growing jaws which facilitated easy breathing. However, the practice of cooking food and the consequential brain growth led to a changed human facial structure, smaller airways and sinus cavities. Over generations, these adaptations have morphed us into the most 'nasally congested' species among all living organisms. A comparison of old and contemporary human skulls shows this shift. While early humans exhibited flawless teeth alignment and spacious breathing room, today more than 50% of humans deal with some form of breathing obstruction. To illustrate this, the effect of blocked nasal passages can be observed. An experiment that involved blocking nasal airways showed a rapid escalation in mouth breathing - an action which led to drying of airways and resulted in inflammation, snoring and sleep apnea. Although some argue that breathing is just breathing, be it via the nose or the mouth, new research provides a different viewpoint. Nasal breathing is now proven to be crucial in maintaining respiratory health and sustaining energy levels, among other benefits. By acknowledging how our physiological functions have evolved, we can take proactive steps towards enhancing this critical life function – breathing.

The experiment demonstrates the adverse health effects of mouthbreathing, yet reveals the promising potential of recovery through nasal breathing.

A unique experiment was carried out by two men to evaluate the different impacts of mouthbreathing as compared to nasal breathing. Picture this: one of the men, sporting pajamas, storms into his friend's apartment with silicone plugs shoved up his nose, making it impossible for him to breathe nasally. The stage was set for the next 10 days, during which they tracked multiple indicators such as blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, and mental clarity. It turned out that mouthbreathing resulted in elevated blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature but caused a decline in mental clarity. They were not satisfied with these findings alone and decided to push the study further by checking the effects on athletic performance. Here's how they did it: they decided to jump on their bikes and pedal hard, all the while breathing through their mouths. After recording the level of exhaustion, they conducted the same test, but this time breathing through their noses. The surprise was that nasal breathing made the activity easier. The reasoning behind this is simple. Nasal breathing enhances endurance since it supplies sufficient oxygen to the muscles, unlike mouthbreathing which engages the body's backup anaerobic system, leading to early fatigue. As they dived deeper into their mouthbreathing experience, they began noticing adverse health effects like sleep apnea, sinus headaches, and dehydration. Interestingly, some monkey research showed that mouthbreathing could even alter airways and facial structure, however, the changes were reversible once nasal breathing was resumed. Optimistically, this suggests that humans too, might be able to restore their normal breathing patterns and regain its health benefits. Therefore, in the final leg of their experiment, the men aim to remove their nose plugs and reverse any residual damage caused by mouthbreathing. This unprecedented experiment didn't just shine a light on the dangers of mouthbreathing but also showcased an intriguing prospect of recovery through nasal breathing.

Nasal breathing, as contrasted to mouth breathing, ensures better health due to filtering and regulation of inhaled air.

Taking a breath through the nose is essential for maintaining good health. The nose acts as a natural filter, warming, moisturizing, and reducing the speed of the air before it enters the lungs. This is due to the erectile tissue within the nose which alternates every few hours between keeping one nostril more open than the other. This phenomenon, known as the nasal cycle, plays a key role in balancing both the body and the brain. However, mouth breathing doesn't provide the same benefits. It allows unfiltered air to enter the body, which over time, can lead to a decline in overall health. This is a proven concept discovered by the renowned 19th-century artist, George Catlin. His time spent living amongst the Native American tribes led him to uncover their secret to excellent health: breathing through the nose. Not just in theory, Catlin implemented these findings in his life, successfully curing his own ailments. Fast forward to today, methods such as mouth taping during sleep have gained popularity to help people restore and maintain natural nasal breathing. The importance of the nose extends beyond just breathing, it is key to ensuring the adequate reception of oxygen, nitric oxide, and other bodily benefits. Following George Catlin's mantra, "shut your mouth" highlights the overarching concept: always and consciously opt for nasal breathing.

Proper breathing techniques, often overlooked, significantly enhance lung capacity, contributes to overall health, and may extend life expectancy.

Understanding how to breathe correctly is vital for overall health, though it’s something that most folks often overlook. The vital connection between breath, lung capacity, and life expectancy has been demonstrated in both ancient and modern times. For instance, Tibetan monks practiced "Five Tibetan Rites," which encompassed back bends, neck bends, and twirling exercises that allowed for greater lung expansion. The underlying concept here is fairly simple - the larger the lungs, the longer the life. In a more recent development during the 1930s, Carl Stough, a choir conductor, observed that singers would often gasp for air in between their phrases. To address this, he initiated breath training sessions that encouraged participants to exhale fully to strengthen their voices. What was noticeable was that not only did their voices improve, but their lung capacities also expanded, leading to improved health. Building on this success, Stough decided to work with emphysema patients who were at the brink of succumbing to their illness. Through a combination of chest massages and exhalation coaching, he was able to restore their ability to talk and walk. This exceptional recovery was documented on film, greatly surprising the medical community. Stough’s expertise was also sought after by Olympic athletes, helping them to break records by teaching them the power of full exhalation. Despite the apparent effectiveness of these techniques, they were considered unconventional and eventually lost their prominence in contemporary times. In essence, the key to vitality, lung health, and extended life expectancy lies hidden in the overlooked yet fundamental act of proper breathing. Transition of these ancient practices and Stough's techniques into daily routines can unlock these potential benefits.

Slow, controlled breathing, demonstrated in numerous faith and meditative practices, promotes optimal body coherence, stress relief, and enhanced health.

Many overlook the vital role breathing plays in our lives. Yet, consciously focusing on breathing in a slow and controlled way carries numerous advantages. Picture the act of inhalation and exhalation as a journey within our body. Oxygen is embarked onto red blood cells, voyaging through a system of tubes, nourishing cells before finally collecting carbon dioxide. This exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide occurs roughly every minute. Adapting a slower, nasal style of breathing equips our bodies to absorb higher quantities of oxygen within each breath. It is worth noting the underappreciated role of carbon dioxide in our respiratory process. Going against common misconceptions, carbon dioxide is not entirely a waste product. Early 1900s research by scientists like Christian Bohr and Yandell Henderson revealed that carbon dioxide facilitates the efficiency of oxygen delivery to our organs and tissues. However, if carbon dioxide levels plummet too low due to overbreathing, it ironically results in oxygen deprivation for tissues. Evidence suggests that slowing our breathing to approximately 5-6 breaths per minute induces positive transformations. Variables such as heart rate and blood pressure lessen, regulation of the nervous system improves, anxiety is alleviated and there's increased circulation of blood to the brain. Even patients suffering from respiratory conditions such as ground-glass lungs could benefit from slow breathing. Interestingly, this specific rate of breathing is a common element across various meditative practices from Yoga, Buddhism and Christian prayers like the rosary. These all incorporate breath cycles that last around 5.5 seconds and have independently found this rhythm to optimize the body's coherence. Thus integrating the heart, circulation, and the nervous system for maximum efficiency. Ultimately, a thorough look into the research reveals how slow, controlled breathing can promote better health. It not only fosters improved oxygen delivery and reduced blood pressure but also acts as a robust stress reliever. Inspirations from different religious and meditative practices showhow they have harnessed this inherent healing rhythm. Even such a simple act of controlling the pace of our breaths can lead to significant and transformative impacts on our health.

Controlled, reduced breathing links to improved health, aligning us closer to metabolic needs and reinforcing natural body function.

The damaging effects of overbreathing are gradually becoming recognized in modern society. This practice, which has escalated significantly since 1850, can disrupt blood pH levels by expelling excessive amounts of carbon dioxide. This phenomenon is associated with health issues including hypertension and inflammation. Exploring the lessons of history can lead to solutions for these problems. For example, ancient spiritual practices and innovative modern medical research have both emphasized the benefits of controlled, reduced breathing techniques. This common thread across millennia underscores the importance of managing air intake for overall wellness. In the medical field, doctor Konstantin Buteyko illuminated the way forward as early as the 1950s. He crafted methods to teach patients to decrease their breathing, which subsequently boosted their carbon dioxide levels. This adjustment demonstrated improvements in ailments such as asthma. The sports world similarly acknowledged the rewards of breath control. Pioneering athletes like Czech runner Emil Zátopek embraced breath restriction training and experienced enhanced performance as a result. Despite experiencing a hiatus, these methods were recovered and revitalized decades afterward. Science-backed evidence is strengthening the link between reigning in breathing rates and significant health advantages. The technique is associated with heightened endurance, improved cardiovascular health, and mitigation of asthma symptoms. Implementing slower breathing and lower lung volume can facilitate these benefits. The "perfect breath" - a resting breath cycle of 5.5 seconds for inhale and exhale, with an intake rate of 5.5 liters per minute - epitomizes the balance of air intake for optimized health and performance. Ultimately, limiting air intake aligns us closer to our metabolic needs, reinforcing the body's natural functioning. Although the adaptation may seem challenging initially, the body responds positively, aligning us with the biological rhythm intended by nature. Through bringing awareness to breathing, individuals can harness control over this involuntary action and guide their bodies towards enhanced health.

Historical dietary changes led to reduced chewing stress, shrinking our mouths and worsening our breathing, but targeted habits may reverse this damage.

Imagine, humans, once, lost the skill to breathe properly. This inability traced back to early agricultural civilizations in Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region around 12,000 years ago. These communities shifted from a diet rich in hunted and gathered foods to primarily farmed foods. As a result, the softer and more processed diet they began to consume did not provide sufficient chewing stress. You might be wondering why this is significant. So, here's the importance - chewing stress drives the formation of wide mouths, straight teeth, and open airways. Lack of it led to common dental and facial distortions. As the world started to industrialize roughly 300 years ago, processed foods became prevalent worldwide. This development saw mouths progressively diminishing in size; teeth became cramped, and faces turned flatter. Consequently, breathing difficulties grew exponentially. Weston Price, a scientist, delved deep into the correlation between traditional and modern diets, drawing a connection with vitamin deficiencies. However, the lack of chewing stress turned out to be even more profound. With softer food requiring less chewing, mouths became smaller than they ideally should be. Casting light on potential remedies, options such as orthodontics and surgical procedures to clear obstructed airways are mentioned. Yet, these often merely address the symptoms and not the root causes. Harder chewing enriches the mouth, stimulating stem cells to create bone. More expansive mouths prevent over-packed teeth and facilitate better breathing. Likewise, suitable tongue placement, good posture, and nasal breathing also prove to be beneficial. Though this scientific understanding might have been overlooked for long decades, it does yield a glimmer of hope. Adopting simple daily habits can help reverse the harm done and help regain the art of natural and comfortable breathing. By understanding and implementing this knowledge, it is possible to bounce back to healthier breathing habits and break free from the chains of past dietary choices.

Breathing+ techniques, like Tummo and Holotropic Breathwork, leverage controlled, intense breathing to tap into the body's survival responses, filter subconscious mind, invite transformative experiences, and unleash breathing's untapped potential.

For countless generations, breathing techniques that spur strong physical reactions have been harnessed for both healing the body and transforming the mind. These powerful practices, referred to as Breathing+, go beyond standard slow and gentle breathing methods. They intentionally drive the body to states of high stress or profound relaxation, which might seem counterproductive, but can deliver significant benefits. An example of such a technique is Tummo, a practice from ancient Tibet, which employs intense breathing to induce warmth in the body even under freezing conditions. Long vanished, it was brought back to public consciousness by Wim Hof. Research validates that Tummo can fortify the immune system and modify our autonomic nervous system to our advantage. Moving ahead to the 1960s, Stanislav Grof introduced another intense technique, Holotropic Breathwork. It taps into the power of long-lasting, robust breathing to penetrate the unconscious mind and experience transcendental states. Despite its unconventional nature, this approach has proven quite effective in helping people conquer issues like trauma, addiction, and other psychological illnesses. The connecting factor among all these techniques is their shared belief in conscious breathing control as a way to deliberately trigger the body's automatic survival responses. By mastering the switch to control stress reactions, one can enhance resilience, combat diseases, and venture into new spheres of consciousness. These methods tend to contradict traditional medicine, thus implicating that our understanding of breathing's true potential still has a long way to go.

Manipulation of the carbon dioxide alert circuit through breath-holding training could potentially establish a therapy for anxiety disorders and fear management.

In 1968, a unique experiment by Dr. Arthur Kling comes to light. He removed certain parts of monkey brains which process fear, and observed the effects. The monkeys with such vital portions of their brain removed, ended up dying within weeks in the wild. They could not steer clear of threats or predators, as their fear sensors were handicapped. Synchronously, a girl named S.M. was born bearing a disease that degraded identical portions of her brain. During her teenage years, she demonstrated no fear or apprehension. She unabashedly approached strangers, disclosing intimate details with no sense of embarrassment. Later in 2006, Dr. Justin Feinstein came across S.M., noticing that even frightening elements like snakes or horror films didn't startle her. In an attempt to understand her fearlessness, Feinstein had her inhale carbon dioxide, which instigated a panic attack. Effectively, the panic was not generated in the brain areas that Dr. Kling had removed in his experiment. Carbon dioxide triggered an age-old, unconscious "alert circuit." This link is common among all vertebrates and regulates the breathing rate, primarily to manage carbon dioxide levels. Above a certain threshold, carbon dioxide sparks a profound sensation of suffocation and panic. Feinstein's findings pointed that anxiety disorders could be the extension of this circuit's misguided regulation. The over-breathing of patients with anxiety lowers carbon dioxide level, causing panic when the levels rise only slightly. Feinstein proposed that anxiety could be treated with carbon dioxide therapy by making this circuit less sensitive. Even if the method showed appealing results in the past, it was given up. Yet, modern research by Feinstein and his team reaffirms the potential of this therapy. By consciously practicing breath-holding, it may be possible to train the carbon dioxide alert circuit, thereby increasing resilience. Despite being slightly counterintuitive, the science-backed idea stands - by training ourselves to briefly hold our breath, mastering fears could be achievable. While modern life has intensified our anxieties and made us more distracted – making it harder to practice conventional techniques – such therapy essentially stimulates a controlled panic attack. Patients consistently exposed to this therapy learn to prevent panic attacks, by restoring normality in their breathing.

Breathwork is an ancient, transformative practice connecting us to our life force, anchored in patient evolution and scientific recognition.

Imagine a lineage of centuries-old cultures harnessing the power of breathing - a practice so simple yet exceptional. Dating thousands of years back, from the poised yogis of ancient India to the tranquil Buddhist monks in Tibet, a unique tool to enhance health, prolong life, and amplify consciousness was discovered - conscious breathwork. Moving into the 1970s, this riveting age-old practice caught the attention of modern science. The powerful impact of pranayama and other pranic breathing practices was put to the test and legitimization of their effectiveness started unfolding. Renowned yogis like Swami Rama mystified the science community by showcasing unprecedented control over their heart rate, body temperature, and brain waves. However, perfecting such breath control techniques isn't an overnight feat. It calls for a blend of patience and flexibility and an open heart to slowly unearth the essence the breath carries. Executed with diligence, these methods induce an influx of energy, or prana, within the body, leading to a state of heightened awareness and tranquility. While the techniques have evolved and adapted different appellations over time, one thing remains constant. They tap into the very life force that brings the universe to life. Breathwork creates a sacred connection - to our predecessors, to the natural world, and to the profound mysteries that life encapsulates. With every inhale and exhale, it's as if we're carrying on a momentous legacy, reinforcing just how transformative the very act of breathing could be. Just imagine, with every cycle of breath you take, there lies an opportunity of personal growth and transformation. Now breathe in, breathe out, and keep the ancient legacy alive.

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Breath - Book Summary (2024)

James Nestor

Breath offers a scientific adventure into the lost art and science of breathing. It delves into transformation occurring inside our bodies every 3.3 seconds during the act of inhaling and exhaling, explaining how the molecules we bring in with each breath can influence our health and happiness.

Key Ideas

Breathing, an easy-to-dismiss part of existence, holds great significance to our wellbeing. It's not as simple as it appears, our breathing patterns profoundly impact our bodies. This concept is supported by modern science as well as the ancient wisdom of various civilizations like those from India, Greece, and China. Take for instance, certain proposed breathing techniques that can decrease high blood pressure, enhance athletes' performance, and achieve balance in the nervous system.

Deliberate breathing techniques unlock unexplored power within our bodies and lungs, showing us the path to better health. There is evidence to suggest that human breathing capacity has evolved and unfortunately deteriorated since the period of the Industrial Revolution. Interestingly, there have been innovative souls who used specific breathing practices to heal and perform extraordinary feats. Despite periods of neglect and being forgotten, these techniques have always found a way back into practice.

Fundamentally, guided breathing allows individuals to regain control over their health. It's surprising how our simple breath influences every single cell in our body, from neural to vascular. Having a deep comprehension of its power paves the way towards a healthier, longer life, transcending genetic make-up or lifestyle constraints. The secret lies in unlocking the full potential of our breath---a feat most fail to achieve. However, with dedicated focus and practice, our breath holds the potential to evolve into a limitless elixir.

Final Summary: The book "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art" by James Nestor delves into the crucial yet often overlooked component of our health and well-being - our breath. Through an engaging narrative, Nestor explores how our ability to breathe has changed over millennia, the detrimental effects of these changes, and the remarkable benefits of revisiting ancient, forgotten breathing techniques. The author calls this chronicle a 'scientific adventure,’ integrating personal journeys, historical exploits and contemporary scientific findings to reveal the 'lost art' of breathing. He discusses practices that can help restore respiratory health, combat sickness, and even enhance physical and mental capacities, all backed by scientific evidence.

10 Specific Actions:

Be Aware of Your Breathing: Mindfulness about your respiration, its patterns, and your breathing techniques is the first step towards improved health.
Breathe Deeply: Deep breathing exercises can help improve lung capacity and oxygenate the body.
Exhale Fully: Nestor highlights the importance of exhaling completely to ensure a good intake of fresh air and aiding toxin removal.
Practice Slow Breathing: The author encourages slowing down our breathing rate to improve blood pressure and nerve function.
Use Your Nose: Breathing through the nose rather than the mouth promotes better oxygen absorption, among other health benefits.
Try Breath-holding Techniques: Practices like intermittent breath holding can have significant health benefits.
Attempt Conscious Breathing: By focusing on the breath, you can better control your body's response to various situations.
Limit Over breathing: Nestor advises against over-breathing as it can lead to alleviated anxiety levels and other health issues.
Chew Thoroughly: The exercise of chewing aids our respiratory health by helping to maintain oral and airway structures.
Continue Learning: Nestor’s journey shares an important piece of wisdom - learning about the potentials of our breath is an ongoing process, but one that holds immense potential for health and happiness.