How to Breathe for Your Health and Longevity

It’s almost the end of 2020—a transformative, unexpected, challenging, and meaningful year.  And throughout this past year, whatever our experience, I think we have all probably had to remind ourselves to take a deep breath.

Before this year, I honestly didn’t give much thought to the way I breathe outside of yoga or meditation.  It’s automatic – something we all do.  But as I dug deeper, I uncovered an amazing body of research about the importance of how we breathe.  And, shockingly, this research has found that 90% of us breathe incorrectly, which causes (or worsens) myriad chronic diseases.

James Nestor, journalist and author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, embarked on a multi-year journey to discover the history of breathing and breathwork, and why, as he puts it, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.  Research has shown that modern ailments including asthma, anxiety, ADHD, and psoriasis can be improved or eliminated simply with proper breathing, which allows us to “hack into our own nervous system, control our immune response, and restore our health.”  Breath, p. xix. Nestor’s years of research and testing has led him to this concurrently groundbreaking and yet ancient understanding:

“No matter what we eat, how much we exercise, how resilient our genes are, how skinny or young or wise we are—none of it will matter unless we’re breathing correctly.  That’s what researchers discovered.  The missing pillar in health is breath.  It all starts there.” — Breath, p. xix.

So, what is it that 90% of us are doing wrong, and how can we breathe better?

The Importance of Breathing Through the Nose

Nestor delves into a fascinating story about human evolution, which includes the fact that our ancestors had naturally straight teeth and larger nasal airways.  But as we “civilized,” and learned to cook, mash and grill food, we not only saved digestive energy, but released additional calories from our food, which were used to help us grow bigger brains.  Those growing brains had to take up space somewhere, and they altered the previously spacious cavities of our mouths and airways.  This led to crooked teeth and nasal obstruction, and ultimately, a decline in the ability to breathe well. 

All of this “evolution,” in combination with stress, allergies, and modern issues like pollution, has led to today’s reality that 40% of the population suffer from chronic nasal obstruction, and about half of the populace are habitual mouth breathers.  And it turns out that mouth breathing, compared to nose breathing, is no bueno.

The nose acts as a gatekeeper, with the mucous membrane filtering out debris and moving it to the stomach where it’s sterilized and ultimately excreted.  Further, when we nose breathe, our sinuses release “a huge boost of nitric oxide, a molecule that plays an essential role in increasing circulation and delivering oxygen into cells.  Immune function, weight, circulation, mood and sexual function can all be heavily influenced by the amount of nitric oxide in the body.”  Breath, p. 50. Because of this, by breathing through the nose we can absorb about 18% more oxygen than by breathing through the mouth.  That’s a lot!

By contrast, mouth breathing causes the soft tissues at the back of our mouths to become looser, creating less space and inhibiting breathing.  Mouth breathing also contributes to “periodontal disease and bad breath, and [is] the number one cause of cavities, even more dangerous than sugar consumption, bad diet, or poor hygiene.” Breath, p. 49.  And we lose 40% more water breathing through our mouths, which explains why those who chronically breathe through their mouths during sleep feel more dehydrated in the morning.  And to add insult to injury, the more we mouth breathe, the less we use our nose, which will atrophy without regular use, compounding an already serious issue.  Nobody wants nose atrophy.

Fully Exhaling for Lung Capacity and Longevity

But breathing through the nose isn’t the only key.  I was fascinated to learn that the greatest indicator of life span is not genetics, diet, or exercise, but lung capacity.  Starting at age 30, our lungs lose about 12% capacity per year, and continue to decline even more rapidly after age 50.  Bummer.  The good news is we can improve our lung capacity through exercise, breath holds, and by breathing properly.  But the focus for lung capacity isn’t the inhale—it’s the “transformative power of a full exhalation.” Breath, p. 59.

Our diaphragm expands during exhalation and then shrinks back down during inhalation allowing our lungs to expand.  Research shows that most of us only use about 10% of the range of our diaphragm, which stresses the heart and raises blood pressure.  If we fully exhale, and breathe deeply, we will ease the burden on our hearts and increase lung capacity.  And apparently increase our lifespan!  So let it all out!

Slow Breathing to Achieve Carbon Dioxide Balance in our Bodies

When we think about breathing, we think about getting oxygen into our bodies.  But as Nestor explains, we could pump oxygen into our bodies all day long (think oxygen bar) and realize no benefit.  What we need is a balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide.  This sounds a little weird at first blush, because we all know that carbon dioxide is a byproduct that’s contributing to global warming, and when we exhale, we’re breathing it out.  But it turns out carbon dioxide isn’t the enemy.  It actually acts as a vascular dilator, helping oxygen get where it needs to go.  Without it, we can suck in as much oxygen as we like to no (or very little) avail.  Carbon dioxide is our little oxygen usher.  So, when people breathe really quickly to “get more air,” they’re actually doing the opposite.  They’re robbing themselves of the opportunity to build up carbon dioxide in their bodies by exhaling rapidly, and consequently preventing the oxygen from going where it needs to go.  It sounds counterintuitive, but to get more air, breathe less and more slowly.  Nestor emphasizes that a rate of about 5.5 seconds for each inhalation and exhalation (so about 11 seconds for a full breath cycle) is optimal.

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That was a lot of info, I know.  And I don’t even feel like I scratched the surface of everything I read about Nestor’s research.  I already have a breathing part 2 post planned for a specific breathing method that’s all the rage.  But more on that later. 

For now, if you’re interested in improving your breathing, here are some things you can consider:

1.  Reading Nestor’s book (linked above), which includes loads of additional information, and includes specific breathing techniques for calming, decongesting the nose, and increasing oxygenation—too much for me to cover here (and probably better to get it straight from the expert!);

2.  Download a breathing app, like Breathwrk, which guides you in different breathing techniques and can help you start your own breathwork practice.  And you can make it fun! Do it outside while earthing (check out my prior post on earthing here), on a nature walk, or just while cozy in your bed—whatever works best for you;

3.  In addition to exercising and fully exhaling, practice breath holds to increase lung capacity (I always knew there was a benefit to playing the holding-your-breath game through tunnels!);

4.  If you’re having issues with mouth breathing, in addition to breathwork for decongestion and making a conscious effort to breathe through your nose, look into mouth taping at night, which sounds extreme, but has proven really effective for many people (Nestor did this to himself and found a tiny postage-stamp-sized tape did the trick, nothing crazy).  But this is something you should definitely research.

I hope you’re as inspired as I’ve become to start a breathwork practice for your health and longevity!  And as we enter into a new year full of hope, just breathe…