What does Nestor have to say?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
1. Humans are terrible breathers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, he says, we\u2019re the worst breathers in the animal kingdom. Hopelessly inefficient. He posits that the evolution of our breathing to its current level of inefficiency is responsible for a cavalcade of poor health outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Shut your mouth \u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nestor and a colleague conduct a horrid-sounding experiment in which they tape up their own noses for ten days and then their mouths for another ten. The unpleasant effects of ten days of mouth-breathing are swiftly reversed (and then some) when they switch to nose-breathing, a result that Nestor backs up with a historical lit review, numerous case studies and more reliable science. The benefits of nasal breathing are the result of numerous factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Breathe out better<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of us are not used to emptying our lungs completely when we breathe, so stale air sits around in the lungs. Fuller exhalations allow us to take in more fresh air. Also, using more of the diaphragm\u2019s capacity (we typically only use 10%) takes pressure off the heart and stimulates gastrointestinal activity, as we\u2019d expect with the autonomic emphasis on the parasympathetic nervous system that occurs during exhalation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Breathe slower<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The finer details of this one I admit are somewhat beyond me but basically: taking fewer breaths per minute helps to balance the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in our bodies which, Nestor argues, prevents numerous chronic health problems, improves athletic performance and extends longevity. He does cover breathing techniques like Tummo<\/a> and the Wim Hof method<\/a>, which use rapid, heavy \u2018overbreathing\u2019 therapeutically, but rightly points out that they need to be used cautiously and deliberately. For your regular, day-to-day breathing, he draws on research<\/a> suggesting the \u2018ideal breath\u2019 is 5.5 seconds in and 5.5 seconds out \u2013 just under five-and-a-half breaths per minute \u2013 in a smooth wave-like flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Chew more.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s where it gets evolutionary. Nestor shows how, because our diet has evolved to favour soft cooked and processed foods, the physical make-up of the human skull has changed. Our mouths, generally speaking, are smaller and more cramped, our jaws more misaligned, and our airways narrower, creating a perfect environment for all manner of breathing obstructions. The solution? Well, maybe dental or surgical interventions, yes. But more conservatively: more hard chewing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s the gist of it. (He covers a number of other specific breathing approaches but I\u2019ll let you read about them for yourself.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Nestor\u2019s arguments are to be believed, we could be making better use of respiratory science in our work as massage therapists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re in the privileged position of being able to observe, up close and over an extended period of time, just how our clients breathe. We can see if it\u2019s deep or shallow, rapid or slow, easy or laboured. We can see how it changes over the course of a treatment. We can see if different positions \u2013 supine, prone, side-lying \u2013 impact on the way our clients breathe. We can see if the breath is going into the belly or the chest. We might be able to tell if it\u2019s going through the nose or the mouth, or even if the client snores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can draw our clients\u2019 attention to their breathing. We might offer them solid research on specific problems they\u2019re experiencing, or we might simply pique their curiosity to learn more about their breathing and to give it the same kind of attention they give to exercise, diet and sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can factor in to our clinical thinking the potential for a link between inefficient breathing and other presenting conditions such as insomnia, anxiety, fatigue, hypertension and chronic respiratory problems. We can certainly refer our clients for further investigation if we suspect they might have obstructed breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During COVID-19 conditions, we can encourage and model nasal breathing as a way of dealing with the obstruction caused by mask-wearing. Intriguingly, nasal breathing may also provide a line of defence against the virus by reducing the viral load inhaled. (James Nestor interviews expert Patrick McKeown about both of these topics here<\/a>.) And fresh research from Sweden<\/a> suggests that nitric oxide from nasal breathing might even play a role in fighting coronavirus particles in the lungs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps most importantly, we can do our own research and become more informed on the subject. While being neither the first nor last word on the topic, Nestor\u2019s book is a great place to start. While it\u2019s a little embarrassing to admit, his discussion of mouth-taping made me curious enough to try it and I\u2019ve now been taping my mouth before bed every night for nearly two weeks. It\u2019s a weird look, I\u2019m sure, but during that time my restless leg syndrome has left me alone completely, and the only time I had a nightmare (to which I\u2019m usually very prone) was one night when the tape came loose and I woke up mouth-breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, I\u2019m not going to extrapolate anything of too much clinical significance from that \u2013 not here, anyway \u2013 but at least my eyes have been opened to possibilities I had not previously considered. I hope down the line I\u2019ll be able to do the same for a client or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAbout the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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