“Breath” by James Nestor is a fascinating journey into the generally unknown world of breathing and how important it can be for human health. Nestor is a journalist trying to solve his own health issues with anxiety and chronic sinus problems. His search for help leads him on a world-wide journey to places like the Paris Catacombs (one of the largest underground collections of human remains), to Kalamata Greece to interview free-divers able to hold their breath for up to 10 minutes and globally, to train with and learn from numerous specialty breathing technicians. According to Nestor, breathing correctly will bring in billions of molecules through your nose and can help influence the health of your blood, bones, muscles, brain, and organs.
Some of the claims of the many researchers and pulmonaut “hackers” that Nestor interviews (who are shunned by the medical industry), are widespread and include helping ailments such as:
SLEEP APNEA – SNORING – ASTHMA – AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE – ADHD – SCOLIOSIS – CHRONIC NASAL CONGESTION AND SINUS ISSUES – ALLERGIES – HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE – PSORIASIS – ANXIETY – CROOKED TEETH – MISALIGNED JAWS – OVERBITES – FACIAL DEVELOPMENT – DIABETES – CANCER – ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE – WEIGHT LOSS – LONGEVITY – EMPHYSEMA and more.
Through a guided experimentation in “mouth-breathing”, (with Dr. Jayakar Nayak of Stanford’s Otolaryngology department), Nestor, forced to plug his nose for two weeks, experienced multiple short-term issues such as, high blood pressure, heart rate variability, collapsed soft tissue in his throat, snoring and sleep apnea, fatigue, and anxiety. Nestor claims that as soon as he was able to unplug his nose and stop mouth-breathing, all the symptoms he had experienced disappeared.
Apparently breathing through our nose filters, heats, and moistens the air we breathe and releases chemicals that regulate our heartbeat and blood pressure. Nose-breathing releases Nitric Oxide, a molecule that increases circulation and delivery of oxygen in our cells. Certain physiological functions can be directly affected by our Nitric Oxide levels such as weight, immune function, circulation, and mood.
Nestor shows how many different civilizations and cultures have known about the importance of slow-breathing, fast-breathing, and nose-breathing for thousands of years.This has made me wonder if I could have changed the issues I had growing up with Asthma, allergies, and many trips to the orthodontist, not to mention my battles with sleep apnea and snoring over the years. He states that the perfect, slow-breathing pattern that we should all strive for is 5.5 breaths per minute. This is a 5.5 second inhale, a 5.5 second exhale leading to 5.5 liters of air per minute. The average breaths per minute in the US has been shown to be 12-20! Over-breathing has been linked to kidney buffering where bicarbonate is released into the urine over time, causing the body to be depleted of essential minerals.
Wim Hof, known as the “iceman,” a breathwork and cold plunge hacker, was injected with E coli bacteria that normally causes fever, nausea, headaches, and chills, however, wasn’t affected by the toxin. Wim Hof credited his immunity to his extreme cold plunges and breath-work modeled after the Tibetan monks who practice Tummo, an ancient breathing technique said to give humans the ability to melt snow by heating up the body. Recently, researchers studying these older methods of breathing have reported on the release of certain stress hormones beneficial to our physiology. Hormones such as Adrenaline (boosts energy and immunity), Cortisol (downgrades short-term inflammation), and Norepinephrine (redirects blood flow from skin, stomach, and organs). Top athletes have been able to increase performance through forced nose-breathing during workouts and competition.
“Breath” has many examples of non-medical treatments for a variety of health-related issues based on age-old ideas, customs, and rituals. Nestor does an excellent job of opening the conversation of “non-traditional” healthcare often ignored or completely discounted by doctors and healthcare providers.
If in fact statistics are correct and 40% of the population today suffer from chronic nasal obstruction, while half are habitual mouth breathers as Nestor claims; a case can be made for research into the alternative examples he points out, for possibly helping people that can’t find relief through their doctors or medication. Such concepts as Carbon dioxide therapy, which is the act of using carbon dioxide mixed with oxygen as an inhalant to increase a patient’s carbon dioxide levels. Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, a Ukrainian WW2 equipment mechanic turned medical doctor, claimed that “carbon dioxide deficiency,” can be named as the cause of many diseases ranging from eczema, psoriasis, asthma and bronchitis to heart disease, ulcers and chronic inflammation. Buteyko and his non-traditional methods are thought to be pseudoscience according to his critics.
Nestor explores how our current “lack of chewing” and “industrialized” soft diet can contribute to malocclusion, which is when our teeth don’t align properly (how many people do you know that have had orthodontic work?). Stunted bone development in the dental arches and sinus cavity can lead to chronic nasal congestion, and Nestor makes a strong case for the idea that the industrialization of food 300 years ago has been causing our mouths to shrink, faces to grow flatter, and sinuses to get plugged. Processed foods have had germ and bran removed, while meats, fruits and vegetables are now canned and bottled leaving us with mushy, soft food. He believes that these foods become lower in fiber, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids.
Along with industrialized food and mouth-breathing, Nestor reports on prana, a “life-force energy” that was documented as far back as 3000 years in India and China. It is believed to be energy running through all living things and is what allows us to live through breath.
Yoga is a big part of prana, and has been shown to cure problems by giving the power to heal on command, expand consciousness and control the nervous system. Nestor increasingly brings up the point that breathing correctly and carbon dioxide efficiency have slowly disappeared and have been replaced with pills, creams, steroids and bronchodilators. The question is are we better off or worse with all these medications? Or would we be better off listening to our elders, alternative therapy doctors and pulmonauts who have studied and cured many of these issues over thousands of years, and who would most all likely agree that since there isn’t profit in prevention, the big medical industry has no motive to adapt the old ways.
HEALTHSPAN COACH –
