Breathing Tips & Resources

Breathe Less for Optimal Health

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Did you know that while our bodies automatically breathe for us 24/7, most of us are probably not breathing for optimal health and performance? Research continues to validate how better breathing can help improve a myriad of health conditions (hypertension, sleep apnea, asthma, PTSD, chronic pain, and many more) as well as boost our energy, productivity, exercise performance, digestion, mood, and sleep. 

I'll admit that I used to think my breathing was great thanks to my daily yoga practices (asana, meditation and pranayama). However, after diving into the science of breathing and implementing a couple new habits, I quickly saw a marked improvement in both my sleep and exercise performance.

Here are the 3 biggest “breathing lessons” that I’ve learned from experts to optimize health and wellbeing:
   
  1. Always breathe through your nose, not your mouth! Your mouth was designed wholly for eating and drinking and only as an emergency backup system for breathing. To optimize your health, breathe through your nose 24/7 - during work, play, exercise and  sleep.
  2. Slow down your breath! Yes, this means that you should actually be breathing less. Based on the research cited in his book "Breath", James Nestor cites the “perfect breath” as a 5.5 second inhale and 5.5 second exhale. Nestor also promotes (and experts agree) extending your exhales to create more valuable nitric oxide in your body. I recommend not stressing out about achieving any specific metric. Simply begin bringing more awareness to your breath throughout the day, emphasizing slower and fuller breaths.
  3. Practice makes perfect! Spend a few minutes every day practicing different breathing techniques to strengthen your lungs and diaphragm and to improve your breathing style.​​

Breathing Resources:

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Why and how to breathe through your nose:
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Breathing Practices:

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  • Breathing apps:
    • Breathe: Relax & Focus (apple, android) has 3 default breathing exercises and allows you to create your own custom breathing patterns
    • My Cardiac Coherence (android)​
  • Mark Bunn’s Ancient Wisdom for Modern Health podcast, released 1/13/21, “Breath 3: The Simple Steps to Significantly Improve your Breathing (#55)” (apple, stitcher, audible)
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If you prefer the written word, check out Mark Sisson’s 3 Breathing Exercises to Increase Vagal Tone and Reduce Stress which reviews diaphragmatic breathing, resonance breathing and the extended exhale.
Learn more about pranayama and its benefits here.