Breathing is free, and how we breathe is under our control. Yet 90 percent of us are breathing incorrectly, and this has a negative impact on our overall health. Thus my first holiday book suggestion is Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by journalist James Nestor.
Prompted by his own respiratory difficulties, the author set out to discover how and why breathing in different patterns can enhance wellbeing. Each chapter focuses on an aspect of breath, beginning with Nestor’s own experiment, under a doctor’s supervision, of breathing only through his mouth for 10 days. The result – elevated blood pressure, increased snoring and sleep apnea episodes, fatigue, irritability. The conclusion – we should all breathe through our noses, not our mouths!
Subsequent chapters examine techniques for improving breathing. Many of these techniques were discovered by what Nestor calls “pulmonauts,” amateurs who stumbled onto the powers of breathing because nothing else could help them.
The book is a personal journey, because Nestor describes his experiences as he tries these different breathing techniques. Beyond the personal, Nestor tracks down and interviews researchers to shed light on healthy breathing. An Appendix provides simple directions for the various breathing methods discussed, along with video and audio resources.