Image: Julie Floersch
Today were discovering how to breathe better– and about how doing so can greatly enhance our general health– with aid from journalist James Nestor. James is the author of the new book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, which covers the extensive research on the numerous methods in which we sometimes struggle to breathe– from asthma, to allergic reactions, to snoring– and what we can do about it. He talks with Lifehacker Editor-in-Chief Alice about the dangers of mouth-breathing, how our detailed nasal cavities enhance the quality of the air we take in and how training yourself to nose breathe can reduce your blood pressure, aid reduce your stress and anxiety and improve your body immune system.
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Highlights from todays episode
From the James Nestor Interview
On why breathing through your nose is a vast upgrade to breathing through your mouth:
[I] f you took a human head and sliced it in half, which is something a lot of researchers have done, you would see that the nose looks a lot like a seashell and it gets its name, the Nasal Concha, due to the fact that it looks a lot like a seashell. So seashells are formed that method to assist keep intruders out. And our nose does the specific same thing. The reason why we have all of these bones in our nose that stretch underneath our eyes which had this labyrinth like pattern in them is to help filter out particulate and bacteria and other problems. And then all of that bacteria and other pathogens have to communicate with nitric oxide, which goes and eliminates a lot of this things along the way. That air is going to be conditioned. Its going to be warmed. Its going to be filtered, so by the time it reaches the lungs, you understand, its going to be a lot easier to submit into the blood stream. You know, people have understood about this for so long, but its still shocking to me that I live so much of my life breathing through my mouth and so lots of other people are doing the very same thing right now.
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I could still breathe through my mouth if I had to. And just by doing this, by breathing through the nose, you get 20 percent more oxygen per breath than breathing through the mouth. You can think of at night, a third of your life, if youre able to breathe through your nose, utilize the nose to filter out particle other problems, get more oxygen.
James is the author of the brand-new book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, which covers the substantial research study on the numerous ways in which we often have a hard time to breathe– from asthma, to allergic reactions, to snoring– and what we can do about it. He talks with Lifehacker Editor-in-Chief Alice about the hazards of mouth-breathing, how our elaborate nasal cavities enhance the quality of the air we take in and how training yourself to nose breathe can reduce your blood pressure, help relieve your anxiety and improve your immune system.
Episode Transcript
To hear more about James approach to improving your health through breathing, take a look at the complete episode!
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On how he trained himself to breathe through his nose:
All you require to do is simply to train your mouth to stay shut at night. I utilize this tiny piece of surgical tape which has this very light adhesive and just put it at center of my lips. I might still breathe through my mouth if I had to. If I wanted to, I could even talk. I was just training my jaw shut. And just by doing this, by breathing through the nose, you get 20 percent more oxygen per breath than breathing through the mouth. So you can think of at night, a 3rd of your life, if youre able to breathe through your nose, use the nose to filter out particle other problems, get more oxygen. Its so useful. And again, theres no doubt about that. We know nasal breathing is far exceptional. Its just a reality. I think a great deal of individuals have been ignoring it.
