Breath
James Nestor
GENRE: Health & Wellness
PAGES: 304
COMPLETED: October 17, 2021
RATING: 
Short Summary
James Nestor delivers a scientific, cultural, spiritual, and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe and explains how to master the art of the breath. Nestor reveals why mouth breathing is destructive and gives readers the recipe for ‘the perfect breath.’
Key Takeaways
Breathe Through the Nose — Breathing through the nose cleans air, heats it, pressurizes it, and moistens it for easier absorption. It also lowers blood pressure. Avoid breathing through the mouth.
Breathe Slowly — When you breathe with a nice, slow pace, you boost CO2 levels and activate the parasympathetic system. When you exhale slowly, you lower your heart rate and become more calm.
Practice ‘The Perfect Breath’ — The perfect, optimal breathing rate is 5.5 breaths per minute, which is a 5.5 second inhale followed by a 5.5 second exhale for 5.5 liters of oxygen per minute. Practice this as often as possible — it’s the best way to breathe.
Favorite Quote
Book Notes 
*Did not take chapter-by-chapter notes on this one. Running list below.
- HOW you breath matters
- YOU NEED TO ALWAYS BREATHE THROUGH YOUR NOSE
- Breathe slow, less, and through the nose
- The optimum amount of oxygen we should take in per minute at rest is 5.5 liters.
- The optimum breathing rate is 5.5 breaths per minute. That’s 5.5 second inhales and 5.5 second exhales.
- Quote: “They discovered that the optimum amount of air we should take in at rest per minute is 5.5 liters. The optimum breathing rate is about 5.5 breaths per minute. That’s 5.5-second inhales and 5.5-second exhales. This is the perfect breath.”
- 90% of people don’t breathe correctly, and this area is one that has been largely ignored by today’s medical profession.
- Breathing correctly comes with life changing benefits.
- Visualize this: Breathing in love, exhaling hate.
- The skulls of our ancestors were far different than skulls of modern people.
- Nasal passages were far bigger.
- Ancient people had straight teeth. Modern people have crooked teeth.
- Ancient people never snored or had sleep apnea.
- Faces were wider.
- Ancient people simply had wider airways to breathe.
- Homo Sapiens = us. We first emerged on the African savanna 300,000 years ago and were among many other human species, like the Homo Neanderthalenis (Neanderthals).
- Mouth breathing is destroying our health!!
- Can lead to disease, sickness, and a lot of other stuff.
- It changes the physical body and transforms airways, all for the worse.
- You know you’re breathing through your mouth at night when your mouth is constantly dry and you need water. Mouth breathing decreases the body’s water supply by 40%. You get dehydrated.
- Mouth breathers suffer athletically, too.
- In the 1990s, one athletic trainer for the New Jersey Nets ran an experiment where athletes rode a stationary bike only breathing through the mouth and then only breathing through the nose.
- When they breathed through the nose, the rate of breath decreased as the intensity increased. One subject who reached 47 breaths per minute through the mouth, had just 14 breaths per minute while going nose only.
- Nasal breathing increases athletic endurance!
- In the 1990s, one athletic trainer for the New Jersey Nets ran an experiment where athletes rode a stationary bike only breathing through the mouth and then only breathing through the nose.
- Two ways body makes energy from air and food:
- With oxygen = aerobic respiration
- 16-times more energy than anaerobic when we run our body aerobically with oxygen.
- Aerobic is so much cleaner and efficient.
- Quote (P. 25): “The key for exercise, and for the rest of life, is to stay in that energy-efficient, clean-burning, oxygen-eating aerobic zone for the vast majority of time during exercise and at all times during rest.”
- Without oxygen = anaerobic respiration
- Glucose (simple sugar) only. Easier and quicker for our bodies to access. It’s a “turbo boost” for the body.
- Inefficient and toxic, creates EXCESS lactic acid.
- It’s a backup system for the body when your lungs and respiratory system aren’t getting the body enough oxygen.
- Ex. The beginning of an intense workout.
- The body has fewer anaerobic muscle fibers than aerobic. So if we use the anaerobic muscle fibers too much, injuries and breakdowns occur.
- Finding the best heart rate for exercise is easy — Subtract your age from 180.
- 180 – 28 = 152 bpm
- This is the maximum your body can withstand to stay in the aerobic state.
- Finding the best heart rate for exercise is easy — Subtract your age from 180.
- Whenever the body’s oxygen levels fall below 90%, the blood can’t carry enough of it to support body tissue.
- This can lead to heart failure, depression, memory problems over time.
- Sleep apnea and snoring are a problem and cause health issues.
- These issues are breathing problems. The body is choking itself because you aren’t breathing correctly — you are mouth breathing.
- Insominia has been long believed to be a psychological problem but usually it’s really a breathing problem.
- Mayo Clinic wrote a long article about this. People with insomnia usually are not breathing correctly through the nose.
- The nose is crucial to breathing!
- It cleans air, heats it, pressurizes it, and moistens it for easier absorption by the body.
- It lowers blood pressure, makes digestion easier.
- It helps heart rate and memory.
- The nose is more connected to the genitals than any other human organ.
- Each nostril of the nose has a different role:
- Right Nostril — Gas pedal
- Breathing though it heats up the body, raises blood pressure, and heart rate increases.
- This is because it’s connected to the sympathetic (fight or flight) part of your brain.
- Feeds more blood to the left side of the brain.
- Breathing though it heats up the body, raises blood pressure, and heart rate increases.
- Left Nostril — The brakes
- Breathing through it cools the body, lowers blood pressure, reduces anxiety.
- Feeds more blood to the right side of the brain.
- Right Nostril — Gas pedal
- Quote (P. 45): “The nose is the silent warrior: the gatekeeper of our bodies, pharmacist to our minds, and weather vane to our emotions.”
- George Gatlin was a European artist and researcher in the 1800s who was a big proponent of nasal breathing.
- He spent 6 years traveling in the Great Plains to observe 50 Native American tribes.
- He found that they all had “superhuman” traits — perfect teeth, tall, etc.
- By living with and observing these tribes, he found that they all placed huge emphasis on nasal breathing.
- Mothers of infants would pinch their baby’s mouth closed so the baby would be forced to breathe through the nose.
- These tribes promoted nasal breathing and practiced it throughout the day 24/7. It was a way of life for them. Part of their culture.
- He also went to Brazil and lived with the tribes there. He found that the tribes there also prioritized nasal breathing in their culture.
- He spent 6 years traveling in the Great Plains to observe 50 Native American tribes.
- Mouth breathing is the No. 1 cause of cavities.
- Dr. Burhenne in Silicon Valley also found it is a major cause of snoring and sleep apnea.
- We absorb 18% more oxygen by breathing through the nose.
- Nasal breathing boosts nitric oxide sixfold.
- Nitric oxide is a molecule that delivers oxygen to the cells.
- Nasal breathing boosts nitric oxide sixfold.
- The key to great breathing is in the exhale
- Emphysema — A gradual deterioration of lung tissue marked by chronic bronchitis and coughing.
- The lungs become so damaged that people with the disease can no longer absorb oxygen effectively.
- In the 1900s, Dr. Stough, a choir teacher, was able to help ‘cure’ patients of this disease by showing them how to breathe fully and correctly.
- He also trained Yale track and field athletes and U.S. Olympians in 1968.
- Dr. Stough was referred to as ‘Dr. Breath’ and has an autobiography.
- As we inhale, negative pressure draws blood into the heart. As we exhale, blood shoots back out into the body and lungs, where it recirculates.
- Blood in our body does a full circuit once a minute.
- The Diaphragm — The muscle that sits beneath the lungs in an umbrella shape. It’s often called the ‘second heart’ because it affects the rate and strength of our heartbeat.
- A typical adult engages as little as 10% of the range of the diaphragm when breathing.
- This overburdens the heart, elevates blood pressure.
- Extending those breaths to 50-70% of the diaphragm’s capacity will ease cardiovascular stress and allow the body to work more efficiently.
- Breathe deeper!
- A typical adult engages as little as 10% of the range of the diaphragm when breathing.
- You can train yourself to expand your lungs through proper breathing techniques
- Free divers have done it, enhancing their lung capacity by 30-40% to prepare for deep ocean dives.
- Paced breathing relaxes the body and calms the mind.
- We have 100 times more carbon dioxide in our bodies than oxygen.
- Carbon dioxide is a metabolic waste product. It comes out of coal plants and rotten fruit.
- You should try to balance oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in your body.
- Carbon dioxide is the chief hormone of the body — the one that is produced by every tissue and that acts on every organ.
- Breathe slowly to boost carbon dioxide levels.
- This increases the carbon dioxide in your body, and oxygen levels will stay the same and steady.
- Overbreathing (rapid breathing) isn’t helpful to the body. Seek to increase carbon dioxide levels with slow breathing.
- Our lungs will only absorb about a quarter of the available oxygen in the air. The majority of that air is breathed out.
- By taking longer breaths, we allow our lungs to soak up fewer breaths
- “If, with training and patience, you can perform the same exercise workload with only 14 breaths per minute instead of 47, what reason is there not to do it,” — Dr. John Douillard
- Breathing is like rowing a boat: Fewer, longer strokes get you to the destination faster and is more efficient.
- Even when you’re breathing slow and feel like you have no air/claustrophobic, your oxygen levels will remain steady.
- Strive for 5.5 second inhales and 5.5 second exhales = 5.5 breaths per minute.
- This increases the carbon dioxide in your body, and oxygen levels will stay the same and steady.
- Slower, longer exhales mean higher carbon dioxide levels.
- Our skin sags as we get older because the bones in our face deteriorate and the skin has nothing to attach to.
- This doesn’t have to be the case just because we get old. By chewing hard/chewing gum, we can build bone structure in our face.
- Our airways can be opened and we can add bone to our face at any time by chewing.
- This doesn’t have to be the case just because we get old. By chewing hard/chewing gum, we can build bone structure in our face.
- There are two systems in the nervous system
- Parasympathetic — Stimulates relaxation and restoration
- Activated through slow, deep breaths.
- Produces calmness and relaxation.
- The deeper and more softly we breathe in, and the longer we exhale, the more slowly the heart beats and the calmer we become.
- Sympathetic — Tells organs to get ready for action.
- Activated through short, quick breaths.
- Fight or flight.
- When activated, blood flow is redirected from less vital organs like the stomach and bladder and is sent to the muscles and brain.
- Heart rate increases, adrenaline kicks in, palms sweat.
- Helps ease pain
- Used for short bursts when we need to fight in danger.
- Anxiety
- Parasympathetic — Stimulates relaxation and restoration
- The Vagus Nerve — The power lever in the nervous system.
- It turns organs on and off in response to stress.
- Cuts off blood flow to certain organs when under stress.
- 8 of the top 10 most common cancers affect organ cut-off from normal blood flow during extended periods of stress.
- Willing ourselves to breathe slowly will open up communication along the cavaliers network and relax us into a parasympathetic state
- Breathing less often and slowly increases carbon dioxide in the body.
- Increases in carbon dioxide have been shown to reduce anxiety and asthma.
- Breathing Tip: Hold your breath.
- That feeling of needing to breathe comes from low carbon dioxide levels not low oxygen levels.
- When carbon dioxide and oxygen balance is off, you have the urge to breathe or hyperventilate.
- By holding the breath and training your body, you build up carbon dioxide tolerance and it helps you become comfortable in uncomfortable situations.
- Holding your breath builds the CO2 tolerance.
- Healthy Breathing Guide:
- Breathe through the nose.
- Exhale fully. Slow your exhales. Exhale longer. Get it all out before taking a new breath in.
- The perfect breath is this: Breathe in for 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds.
- That’s 5.5 breaths per minute for an average of 5.5 liters of air.
- You can do this and practice this as much as you wish.
- Google now has an app that trains people to do this exactly.
- Breathing slow, less, and through the nose with a big exhale is what you should strive for.
- You can always practice these perfect breaths anytime and anywhere. It’s always available to you.
- Perfect Analogy — Think of the breath as a wave on the beach. You are standing on the beachline. The wave comes over you and runs past you and up the beach (Inhale). It then turns around and recedes past you again and back into the ocean (Exhale).
