“Consequently, reported levels of chronic stress, anxiety and illness are higher than they have ever been in recorded history. “Even without a global pandemic, we live in such a fast-paced, world which can often feel very challenging and overwhelming,” he says. But we have a culture where people are working 10 hours in an office every day under blue light, unable to move around and breathe – it’s a recipe for disaster.”īostock agrees. “If you look at the few hundred hunter-gatherer tribes still left, you’ll find there’s zero asthma, zero allergies, zero hypertension and zero lung problems. Modern problems of pollution, stress, obesity and sedentary lifestyles are also getting in the way of better breathing. Now, just look around at all the people with sleep apnoea, chronic sinusitis and all these other respiratory problems.” “Our ancient ancestors had much bigger sinus cavities. Nestor says many modern ailments can be blamed on bad breathing, which in turn is largely a result of how humans have evolved to have smaller mouths, thus smaller airways. With his doctor only offering more antibiotics, he attended a course in breathing to learn the Sudarshan Kriya technique – an ancient practice involving a 40-minute session of intensive breathing, then slow breathing and then hardly breathing at all – and found his wheezing ceased and his concentration improved dramatically. I was eating well, getting eight hours sleep a night and yet I was getting sick all the time,” he explains. He wrote the book after a long history of breathing issues – including two bouts of pneumonia in close succession. The list of benefits is endless,” says James Nestor, author of the bestselling Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. “Controlled breathing will bring your body back into balance, allowing you better athletic performance, better sleep and on and on. Not only can it help ward off infection and illness, but by breathing slowly and rhythmically through your nose you can also help alleviate the effects of allergies and asthmas, as well as other respiratory problems. “Most people are simply not aware that they are breathing poorly and even fewer are aware about how poor breathing habits may be affecting their health and happiness,” adds Bostock.Įveryone can benefit from better breathing, whether you’re a marathon runner or an asthmatic – and it all starts with breathing through your nose. It’s estimated that 90 per cent of us are breathing incorrectly and the consequences, from sleep apnoea to snoring, from asthma to allergies and hypertension, can cause lasting health issues in your life. “And the interest in breathwork and optimal breathing and what it can do for your physical, mental and emotional health has exploded because of its simplicity and effectiveness.” “It has taken a global pandemic involving a virus that can significantly impact the respiratory system for many to start to pay attention to their breathing,” he says. It’s a trend that’s gained even more traction in the wake of the pandemic, as leading breathing coach Richie ‘The Breath Guy’ Bostock explains. The NHS is now recommending diaphragmatic breathing (otherwise known as deep breathing) for stress relief, and breathing control therapy is being used widely to help treat depression, PTSD and insomnia.ĭr Michael Mosley has also recently extolled the virtues of breathwork – dedicating an episode of his podcast to it, and declaring that a deep breath has the effect of “taking a perfectly safe mini-tranquiliser”, resetting your brain and re-tuning levels of the chemical noradrenaline so that you feel more focused and in control. Celebrities from Fearne Cotton to Kate Hudson to Naomie Harris swear by it. There has been an explosion in ‘breathwork’ training in recent years - with growing numbers attending classes, and Fitbits and smartwatches offering guided breathing exercises. Lately, I’ve been trying it too and, I have to admit, it does make a difference I’m even contemplating signing up for breathing classes. She’s done it for years and she says it’s her way of expelling some of the stress of day to day life. Every time we take our dogs for a walk on the South Downs my wife will stop, close her eyes and take a handful of enormous breaths, in through her nose and out of her mouth.
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