Breath by James Nestor: 3 Things I Now Do Everyday
“One thing that every medical or freelance pulmonaut I’ve talked to over the past several years has agreed on is that, just as we’ve become a culture of overeaters, we’ve also become a culture of overbreathers. Most of us breathe too much, and up to a quarter of the modern population suffers from more serious chronic overbreathing.”
-James Nestor
When Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor first came out I listened to a double-digit number of podcast interviews with him. Never have I ever listened to so many interviews by one guest and never did I think I would have so much interest in inhaling and exhaling. Each interview was full of interesting information that bridged ancient wisdom and modern science.
Every interview went in a different direction. He spoke about his self-experimentation on mouth breathing and the repeated medical testing he did to show its significant impact. And he talked about the practice: breathing techniques, sleep strategies, etc. So, hook, line, and sinker I bought the book—and it didn’t disappoint.
In fact, I highly recommend that everyone read this book. The old and the young, the inactive and the athletes, and therapists and their patients. Anyone who breathes should put some value in their breath because it is more important than just in-out.
Integrate “the perfect breath” More Often
Nestor defines the perfect breath as a 5.5 second inhale and a 5.5 second exhale. He writes that this breathing rate has “the most efficient breathing rhythm” with a “spooky symmetry.” When you breathe in this pattern you breathe at a rate of 5.5 breaths a minute and use about 5.5 liters of air.
This breathing rate is called coherent (or resonant) breathing. I’ve used this breathing pattern when I catch myself taking shallow breaths when I’m distracted, on car rides, or as a reset during my meditations. You can also use one of the many apps to help with the timing.
2. Chew On Hard Things
When you chew on hard things it restructures the facial bones, increases the size of the mouth, and encourages proper jaw alignment. All of this improves breathing. Starting this from a young age is important for lifelong effects since the body of a child is still in a massive transformational phase.
It’s worth pointing out that this advice is counter to what the renowned dentist and researcher, Weston A. Price (“the Isaac Newton of nutrition”) observed. He notes that “Facial narrowing can be detected in babies at birth, before they have ever chewed anything.” So while there may not be a direct link, I’m under the impression that our jaw and facial muscles associated with chewing are generally weaker than our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The main reason is that our ultra-refined food consumption—the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.)—has only aided this evolution with soft foods being the norm, especially from a young age.
I’ve heeded this advice by eating more hard and crunchy foods and not shying away from giving my kids foods with tougher textures and chew necklaces (with the string removed). Some simple ones are whole and raw foods like apples, carrots, celery, broccoli, meats, nuts, and (aspartame-free) gum.
3. I Stopped Mouth Breathing…With Help
Nasal breathing is a huge topic in the book. Nestor did an experiment where he plugged his nose and strictly mouth breathed for 20 days. The results were instant sleep apnea and snoring among many other issues.
Breathing only through the mouth increases the risk of respiratory ailments and negatively impacts the structure of your face as you age. Breathing only through the nose during exercise improves VO2 max and cuts exertion in half. And breathing only through the nose during sleep means you pee less at night since mouth breathing causes the brain to release adrenaline and vasopressin which triggers the need to get up during the deepest stages of sleep and pee. Given the popularity of the topic and the research behind keeping those lips together is well-proven and I’ve even begun to make my kids aware of their breathing tendency’s to instill some early habits.
As I read this book I became fully conscious of my mouth-breathing tendencies and immediately forced myself to only breathe through my nose when I talk. It took a while to get used to this during exercise but, aside from short and intense sprints, my mouth is always closed when I work out. I also put a small strip of tape vertically over my lips at night to make sure I breathe through the nose.
SomniFix mouth strips
These sleep strips by SomniFix are great because they’re easy to apply and actually stay on. Bonus: get 10% off using the promo code MINDBODYDAD.
The biggest benefit (aside from looking less like a Neanderthal with an open gape) was that my sleep quality improved immediately. The tape was weird at first, and may always look weird if you’re caught in that midnight pee walk by your spouse, but I wake up feeling more refreshed and my watch reflects better sleep. As for my running economy, I haven’t noticed any significant changes in this department but I’ve also curbed any chronic bouts of endurance to try it with.
For more on my self-experimentation with sleep see these sleep tools that I use and these effective behavior tactics for better sleep.
