The Oxygen Advantage: The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques for a Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter You by Patrick McKeown.

3/5 rating. 234 pages.

Book #17 of 2022. Read March 31, 2022.

This book talks all about the benefits of nasal breathing. While I appreciated Patrick spelling out the benefits and science, and some techniques to help you breathe optimally, this book could have been about 10 pages and done the job.

The basic idea is that the majority of people are chronically over-breathing. Since your oxygen saturation is between 95-99% normally, breathing more than necessary cannot increase oxygen content, but can decrease your carbon dioxide in your body. Since CO2 is vital in the respiration process, if we have too little, it impacts the oxygen delivery and can have negative effects on your body. Conversely, nasal breathing allows us to breathe the correct amount for our body, and has the following positives:

• “Filtering, warming, and humidifying air before it is drawn into the lungs
• Reducing the heart rate
• Bringing nitric oxide into the lungs to open airways and blood vessels
• Better oxygen delivery throughout the body
• Reduced lactic acid as more oxygen is delivered to working muscles”

I did worry as I was reading through this book that he basically says almost everything comes down to breathing wrong. Just fix your breathing and everything is okay, apparently? I can’t say that this isn’t correct, but I feel like things aren’t that simple.

One quote I liked: “Do not spend your entire life, as most of humanity, with all of your attention stuck in your head. How can you relate to the reality of life if you are too busy focusing on memories, worries, and what-ifs?”

In short, breathe through your nose, not your mouth. This includes even during exercise. If you want some useful exercises, this book has some, otherwise, just breathe through your nose and you will be healthier in general.

Quotes:

“The rate and volume of breathing is determined by receptors in the brain that work in a way similar to a thermostat regulating the heating system in a home. However, instead of monitoring fluctuations in temperature, these receptors monitor the concentration of carbon dioxide and oxygen in your blood, along with the acidity or pH level. When levels of carbon dioxide increase above a certain amount, these sensitive receptors stimulate breathing in order to get rid of the excess gas. In other words, the primary stimulus to breathe is to eliminate excess carbon dioxide from the body.”

“When we breathe in excess of what we require, too much carbon dioxide is exhaled from the lungs and, hence, is removed from the blood. It forces that door to a more closed position, making it harder for oxygen to pass through. Breathing too much for short periods of time is not a significant problem, as no permanent change in the body occurs. However, when we breathe too much over an extended period of days to weeks, a biochemical change takes place inside us that results in an increased sensitivity or lower tolerance to carbon dioxide.”

“Nasal breathing during physical training ensures that you do not push yourself beyond what your body is capable of doing.”

“Having a focused mind is probably the greatest asset in every walk of life, whatever your occupation or lifestyle.”

“It is important to consistently monitor the effectiveness of your thinking. When you begin to notice the same thoughts creeping into your head for the umpteenth time, ask yourself whether these thoughts are actually serving a purpose. Are they helpful for devising a strategy or addressing the situation? Or are they keeping you on a merry-go-round of insanity?”

“A study at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane found that when the breathing volume of adults with asthma decreased from 14 liters to 9.6 liters per minute, their symptoms reduced by 70 percent, the need for rescue medication decreased by 90 percent, and the need for preventer steroid medication decreased by 50 percent. The study found a direct relationship between the reduction of breathing volume and improvement to asthma. The closer breathing volume reduced toward normal, the greater was the reduction of asthma symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and breathlessness. Furthermore, the trial’s control group—who were taught the hospital’s in-house asthma management program—made zero progress. The reason for this was solely due to the fact that there was no change to their breathing volume. Further studies reinforced these findings by showing that people with asthma who practiced reducing their breathing volume had far better asthma control with a significantly reduced need for preventive steroid and rescue medication within 3 to 6 months.”

“Despite the advances of medical science, the diseases of modern civilization continue to increase, and it could be argued that we are passing responsibility for our health to pharmaceutical companies rather than making changes to our lifestyle and diet to prevent illness in the first place.”

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