How to Breathe Properly and Why it Matters

Nǐ hǎo, Happy Minds! Can I ask you a question? How many seconds was that last inhalation you did while reading that? How about the exhale, any idea? I imagine until I asked, you probably didn’t think about it very much. Breathing is (for the most part) governed by the autonomic nervous system, so most of the time we do it without thinking. That’s mostly a good thing, because on average we take about 25,000 breaths a day, so we wouldn’t be able to do much more than sit around and respire if it took a big ‘ole chunk of brain power to do it.

But what would you say if I told you that mastering your breath could be the key to unlocking your health, fitness, mental wellbeing and generally enjoying a longer, happier, more vibrant life? Wouldn’t that just be a breath of fresh air? (sorry, sorry, sorry).

The Himalayas, Nepal. 2022

“Close your left nostril and inhale fully through the right. Now, exhale completely” 

I am at a yoga retreat in the Chandragiri region of Kathmandu, Nepal and my instructor Yogesh is guiding me through a pranayama breathing practice.

“Now close your right nostril and inhale fully. Now, exhale completely.”

Why though, isn’t it all just breath? I can’t help but think. What difference does it make if I close one nostril or the other? We’ve been doing this for 10 minutes and I don’t feel any different. I really enjoy the practice of yoga asanas (postures), but I can’t help but think the pranayama (breathing techniques) doesn’t really do anything. I say the same thing over the phone to my friend, an experienced yoga teacher.

“Have you read James Nestor?” she responds. I answer in the negative. Two days later I’m holding a copy of his book ‘Breath’ in my hands and I’m hooked from the first page.

Why we breathe at all

Let’s grossly simplify shall we, after all there’s a lot to cover here. If you want to know more I recommend you email your high school biology teacher and ask them (goodness me, do not do this). We breathe oxygen because every cell in our body requires ATP energy to do its job. The process of creating ATP energy can occur in basically two ways; aerobically (in the presence of oxygen) or anaerobically (without oxygen). The first system is a lot more efficient, producing significantly more ATP. Let’s imagine we’re walking fast or gently jogging. We are breathing easily and we feel good. We speed up and begin to sprint. We are now unable to get sufficient oxygen to continue aerobic respiration and our body resorts to anaerobic. This second option is way less efficient, can’t be sustained indefinitely and also produces a build up of lactic acid which causes pain in the form of a stitch. We start to feel sick and have to stop, panting because of the effort and cursing our lack of fitness while being overtaken by a smug, lycra clad octogenarian. Voila! Breathing served two ways. I know which one I prefer, right? So fundamentally, the more oxygen we take in, the more we have on hand for producing ATP which we can view as cellular energy stores. If we don’t get enough, we can’t sustain our efforts for very long.

So returning to the question of why it might matter how we breathe, it’s pretty clear that the deeper we breathe, the more oxygen we bring in, the more energy our cells have for doing their thang. But why should it matter if we breathe through our nose or our mouth? Surely it’s all the same as long as we’re getting enough O2?

Shut it, Mouthbreather

Many of us find mouth breathers pretty high up on the old ick-o-meter, but there’s another reason that we probably want to prioritise nasal breathing. If you suffer from asthma, allergies, sleep apnea and chronic obstruction, you’re not alone. This epidemic affects millions of people and we mostly chalk this up to pollution and rising levels of toxins in the atmosphere. This isn’t wrong, but it also may not be the whole story. In ‘Breath’, James describes taking part in an experiment with the chief of rhinology research at Stanford university, Jayakar Nayak. James agrees to have his nose plugged for 10 days and data is collected before, during and afterwards to find out what effect this has on his body and mental state. To summarise, the impact is cataclysmic. James’s stress levels shoot up with a corresponding spike in stress related hormones, blood pressure and heart-rate variability. His snoring increased, as did nocturnal sleep apnea causing him to wake from choking on his own throat. 

Anecdotally, James also reports being incredibly miserable during this experiment, experiencing a rise in fatigue, irritation and anxiety. This makes sense, since nasal breathing brings air deeper into the lungs, stimulating the vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system – the ‘rest and digest’ mode. More than that, the less we breathe through our nose the more we are likely to experience congestion which makes nasal breathing difficult. The problem compounds over time, so before we know it we find ourselves permanently mouth breathing these tiny breaths. Our body isn’t getting enough oxygen, we aren’t getting enough sleep, we feel permanently wrecked and we don’t even know why. In ‘Breath’, James concludes that for most people, the ideal breath is a nasal inhale lasting around 5-6 seconds and a corresponding exhale of around the same.

To thrive rather than just survive

There’s a lot more to breathing than just getting sufficient oxygen in. Believe it or not, there are breathing techniques that claim to allow practitioners to heal chronic conditions such as asthma and autoimmune conditions, raise and lower their body temperature, control their heart rate and survive in landscapes that would be inhospitable to most of us for more than a couple of minutes. Take for example Wim Hoff, who utilises the Tibetan ‘inner fire’ breathing technique called Tummo to prevent himself from freezing while swimming in ice cold water. You can find a lot of these on youtube demonstrated by James and others. But here’s a few to get you started.  

Some calming breathing techniques to try:

1. Nadi Shodhana

Yogic alternate Nostril breathing (as taught by Yogesh above). Excellent for lowering the heart rate, stress, blood pressure and moving into a state of calm before a stressful event, meeting or when we need to sleep.

• Sit comfortably
• Close the right nostril with the thumb of the right hand, inhale through the left nostril slowly and completely.
• Close both nostrils, gently pinching the nose with the ring finger of the right hand and pause for a beat or two.
• Lift the thumb and exhale through the right nostril, slowly and completely.
• Close both nostrils and pause for a beat before lifting the thumb and inhaling through the right nostril..
• Repeat 5-10 times as needed.

2. To clear a blocked nose

• Sit comfortably
• Exhale slowly and fully through the nose if possible or through the mouth if too congested.
• Gently pinch the nostrils shut, resisting the urge to breathe in.
• Move gently to take your mind away from the perceived effort of breath-holding.
• When the urge to breathe becomes overpowering, breath gently and slowly in through the nose (if possible) or through pursed lips if too congested.
• Continue breathing slowly and calmly for 1 minute.
• Repeat all these steps 6 times.

3. 4-7-8 Breathing

Made famous by Dr Andrew Weil. For deep relaxation, this works really well if you need to fall asleep on a long flight!

• Breath in fully, then exhale forcefully through the mouth with a ‘whoosh’ sound.
• Close your mouth, inhale through your nose slowly counting to 4.
• Hold your breath for a slow count of 7.
• Exhale through the mouth with another ‘whoosh’ to the count of 8.
• Repeat as needed but at least 3 more times.

Sure, your neighbour will think you’re a little eccentric as you’re gently ‘whooshing’ through the safety briefing, but you’ll have the last laugh when you wake up 20 minutes before landing!

Curious to learn more about how simple techniques, like mindful breathing, can transform you or your team’s day-to-day well-being? Our Boosting Resilience course dives into practical ways to strengthen your resilience, from breathing exercises to mindfulness practices, that fit easily into your life.