If You’re Not Following This Simple Protocol, You’re Breathing Wrong

How to breathe through your nose and breathe less.

Alec Zaffiro
In Fitness And In Health

--

lady breathing incorrectly? Unsplash

To breathe optimally, breathe through your nose and breathe less.

This is the essence of James Nestor’s new book, Breath. I read all 280 pages — roughly 70,000 words — on the topic.

In my attempts to distill it down to 1%, I’ll start by telling you breath impacts your heart, your brain, and your face more than you realize.

Breathing is unique in that it’s involuntarily (we never stop doing it), but also controllable (unlike digestion, for example).

To explore the idea, Nestor and his partner embarked on a simple study.

For 10 days, they became mouth breathers; they inhaled and exhaled solely through their mouths (even while sleeping).

Then they tried 10 days of nasal breathing.

Afterward, they ran some tests and compared results. The healthier, winning method couldn’t have been more obvious.

The Benefits of Breathing Through Your Nose

--

--

Alec Zaffiro
In Fitness And In Health

I write to think and organize my ideas. I like psychology, philosophy, and self-improvement—em dashes are my specialty. Not an expert.*