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James NestorJames Nestor
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Breath: Improve your health and wellbeing by discovering the lost art of breathing Kindle Edition
by James Nestor (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 27,690 ratings
#1 Best Seller in Extreme Sports
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No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you're not breathing properly.
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat 25,000 times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.
Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren't found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of Sao Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe.
Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance, rejuvenate internal organs, halt snoring, allergies, asthma, and autoimmune disease, and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is.
Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.
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Print length
281 pages
Language
English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher
Penguin
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The right nostril is a gas pedal. When you’re inhaling primarily through this channel, circulation speeds up, your body gets hotter, and cortisol levels, blood pressure, and heart rate all increase.
Highlighted by 12,014 Kindle readers
They discovered that the optimum amount of air we should take in at rest per minute is 5.5 liters. The optimum breathing rate is about 5.5 breaths per minute. That’s 5.5-second inhales and 5.5-second exhales. This is the perfect breath.
Highlighted by 11,655 Kindle readers
The perfect breath is this: Breathe in for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds. That’s 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 liters of air.
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From the Publisher
About the book
There is nothing more essential to our health and wellbeing than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat 25,000 times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.
The answers aren't found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo, Brazil.
Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test longheld beliefs about how we breathe.
Product description
Review
'This book is awesome. Most people have no idea how to do breathing exercises and how beneficial they are. I learned a lot from James Nestor's book. Over the last few weeks I've been using the methods I learned and I can tell you there are absolutely some real benefits to be had from this' -- Joe Rogan, on Instagram
'In the past few years, there have been several potentially life-changing books, from Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep and Shane O'Mara's In Praise of Walking, to Norman Doidge's The Brain's Way of Healing. Breath deserves a place alongside such volumes. Read it, and I guarantee you will want to change the way you breathe' -- Evening Standard
'James Nestor's fascinating new book is playful and optimistic' -- Spectator
'If you breathe, you need this book. When we undervalue anything, including something so basic as breathing, bad things always happen-and Nestor makes it clear how awful it's gotten. But he also provides a clear airway back to better, deeper, stronger respirations' -- Wallace J. Nichols PhD, author of Blue Mind
A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe - and how we've all been doing it wrong for a long, long time. I already feel calmer and healthier just in the last few days, from making a few simple changes in my breathing, based on what I've read. Our breath is a beautiful, healing, mysterious gift, and so is this book -- Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
'A transformative book that changes how you think about your body and mind' -- Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein
'Super interesting' -- Emma Gannon
'I highly recommend this book' -- Wim Hof, on Instagram
'I would have thought that breathing was pretty simple and well understood. Then I read this book. Now I know it's a hugely complex and wondrous process which we need to understand much better. Fascinating and provocative stuff' -- Daniel M. Davis, author of The Beautiful Cure
'A really, REALLY interesting book' -- Ella Woodward, Deliciously Ella
'I don't say this often, but when I do I mean it: this book changed my life. Breath is part scientific quest, part historical insight, part Hero's Journey, full of groundbreaking ideas, and a rollicking good read. I had no idea that the simple and intuitive act of inhaling and exhaling has taken such an evolutionary hit. As a result, I figured out why I sleep so badly and why my breathing feels so often out-of-sync. With a few simple tweaks, I fixed my breathing and fixed myself. A transformational book' -- Caroline Paul, author of The Gutsy Girl
'Breath is an utterly fascinating journey into the ways we are wired. No matter who you are, you'll want to read this' -- Po Bronson, author of What Should I Do with My Life and Nutureshock
'A wonderful book that reminds and enlightens us about how breath and mind are intertwined' -- Rahul Jandial, author of Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon
'If you want to read a book about the power of the breath, this is it!' -- Patrick McKeown, author of The Oxygen Advantage
'An eye-opening, epic journey of human devolution that explains why so many of us are sick and tired. A must-read book that exposes what our health care system doesn't see' -- Dr. Steven Y. Park, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and author of Sleep, Interrupted
'Breath shows us just how extraordinary the act of breathing is and why so much depends on how we do it. An enthralling, surprising, and often funny adventure into our most overlooked and undervalued function' -- Bonnie Tsui, author of Why We Swim and American Chinatown
It's an incredible book, I absolutely loved it -- Tim Lovejoy
About the Author
James Nestor has written for Scientific American, Outside Magazine, Men's Journal, National Public Radio, The New York Times, and more. His book, Deep- Freediving, Renegade Science, and What The Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves, was a finalist for the PEN American Center Best Sports Book of the Year and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Nestor has appeared on dozens of national radio and television shows, including ABC's Nightline, the CBS Morning News and NPR. He lives and breathes in San Francisco. More at mrjamesnestor.com.
Product details
ASIN : B07Z49Z32V
Publisher : Penguin (21 May 2020)
Language : English
File size : 1443 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
Print length : 281 pagesBest Sellers Rank: 5,105 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)1 in Extreme Sports (Kindle Store)
2 in Scuba Diving
2 in Biology (Kindle Store)Customer Reviews:
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 27,690 ratings
About the author
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James Nestor
James Nestor is an author and journalist who has written for Outside Magazine, The Atlantic, National Public Radio, The New York Times, Scientific American, Dwell Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, and more.
Nestor’s book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, was released through Riverhead/Penguin Random House on May 26, 2020. Breath spent 18 weeks of the New York Times bestseller list in the first year of publication and was an instant bestseller in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Sunday London Times, and more. Breath was awarded the Best General Nonfiction Book of 2020 by the American Society of Journalists and Authors and was a Finalist for the Royal Society Science Book of the Year. Breath has sold more than two million copies and has been translated into more than 35 languages.
Breath explores how the human species has lost the ability to breathe properly over the past several hundred thousand years and is now suffering from a laundry list of maladies — snoring, sleep apnea, asthma, autoimmune disease — because of it. Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of Sao Paulo.
Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head.
Nestor's first narrative nonfiction book, DEEP: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What The Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) was released in the United States and UK in June 2014. DEEP was a BBC Book of the Week, a Finalist for the PEN American Center Best Sports Book of the Year, an Amazon Best Science Book of 2014, BuzzFeed 19 Best Nonfiction Books of 2014, ArtForum Top 10 Book of 2014, New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, Scientific American Recommended Read, and more. The book has been translated into German, Chinese, Italian, Polish, and more; the audiobook, read by Nestor, was released by Audible in June 2016.
Nestor also wrote a "little, silly booklet" released in 2009, which he described as "a coffee table thing culled from notes on meditation and other ancient/hippy practices discovered in the crawlspace of my uncle’s retro-mod bachelor pad in the Hollywood Hills. The book combined medical science with humor and illustrations and was given a horrid and misleading title by a dishonest editor, which I soon after—and still—very much regret."
Nestor has presented his research at Stanford Medical School, the United Nations, UBS, Global Classroom (World Health Organization+UNICEF), as well as more than 40 radio and television shows, including Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the Joe Rogan Show, BulletProof, ABC’s Nightline, CBS Morning News, and dozens of NPR programs.
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From Australia
Trevor Baret BDS, PGDipClinOrth
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Informative read
Reviewed in Australia on 28 October 2020
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So you think you can breathe - just because you have been doing it all your life... The fact is that most of us simply don't know how to breathe properly, and their health suffers as a result.
This well researched and entertainingly written book discusses different types of breathing exercises, as well as describing the healthiest way to breathe for life. And for nearly everyone, it is not what you are doing now. It is also not what most of you think it is...
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, after working in the area of sleep breathing disorders for over three decades. My copy is full of bookmarks showing sections I want to return to and refer to. Despite my long experience in the industry, I am still learning, and that learning becomes much more enjoyable what provided in such a well written and entertaining book.
6 people found this helpful
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TTY
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible effects on my sleep and exercise performance.
Reviewed in Australia on 24 July 2023
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This book has been an eye-opener for me! I've learned the incredible art of nose breathing and witnessed its powerful effects on my sleep and exercise performance.
James Nestor weaves a captivating story with solid scientific insights, revealing how our breath influences every aspect of our lives.
What's even better is that, despite being filled with scientific facts, the language is so accessible that even a non-scientific reader like me can grasp it effortlessly.
I genuinely believe this book can empower people to take charge of their well-being through the simple yet profound act of proper breathing.
3 people found this helpful
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Belinda W
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in Australia on 12 March 2024
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Impressive
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Jennifer Marr
5.0 out of 5 stars A Life Changing and Fascinating Must Read
Reviewed in Australia on 11 November 2021
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Everyone who snores, has asthma, sleep apnoea, sinusitis or breathing issues should get read this book!
Breath is not only easy to read, but the life changing ideas and strategies actually work.
Since developing asthma in my late 30s, I have searched for practical ,health based information to remove symptoms and reverse the condition without drugs. By following just a few of the ideas in this book, I am already seeing improvements in my health.
I love this book! Thank you.
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jo
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in Australia on 4 April 2021
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It's an easy entertaining read as well as being super informative. I have lots of takeaways from it and have incorporated practices into my daily breathwork and meditation which feels great. I've done various breathwork for a while e.g. Wim Hof Method, Buteyko from Oxygen advantage, yoga and pranayama but still got a lot out of this book. Really appreciated the research and context. I've recommended it to people and think everyone could get wins out of it.
6 people found this helpful
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ladybug
5.0 out of 5 stars But breathing is natural, right? Think again!
Reviewed in Australia on 24 November 2020
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You don’t know you don’t breathe correctly until something happens to show you, OR you read this book! Amazing that something nobody even needs to think about can impact your life to such a huge extent without you even contemplating that it could - I mean, it’s just breathing, how can something that is such an integral part of your subconscious be so hard to get right? I have had health issues linked to breathing, and ready knew some of gs this book has to say, but the depth and reach in here is definitely far-reaching if you take it on board!
2 people found this helpful
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Neil Caller
4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing read.
Reviewed in Australia on 18 July 2024
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Very enjoyable, I'd certainly recommend. Lots of information.
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Patricio
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in Australia on 8 November 2023
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A very interesting book and a good price
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Amazon buyer
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read – with scientific inaccuracies
Reviewed in Australia on 17 September 2021
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I don't doubt that James Nestor has devoted over a decade of his life to exploring the simple act of breathing, but it bugs me that he kept claiming that his arguments were "science" when in actuality, there is a lack of conclusive scientific evidence over many his claims (not that is disproves them either, but it's worth mentioning). He seems to try and blend the teachings of religions/spirituality with hard science by combining the two, but instead confuses the two and claims breathing is "the new science of a lost art".
The only scientifically conclusive piece of advice that he gives is to breathe through the nose instead of mouth, because the latter has detrimental effects on health and overall physiological functioning, as he demonstrated in an experiment in which he was a test subject. Although let's be honest, that's should hardly be a surprising fact to most of the population.
The book is also filled with countless anecdotes with an unusual level of detail. For example, he seems to begin every one of his personal stories with a paragraph describing the clothing choices of the people he encounters and the vibe they give off. I mean, maybe his style of writing isn't just for me, but that coupled with the fact that this book spends approximately 200 pages making ambiguous and self-contradicting points packaged and labelled as "science" makes me doubt whether he just elongated what was meant to be a blog article for cash.
I'm still thankful for what this book had to teach me and open my eyes to, but it might be a better use of your time to simply watch one of the author's interviews instead.
16 people found this helpful
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Kerrie Buchanan
4.0 out of 5 stars inovative
Reviewed in Australia on 11 January 2023
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a new and innovative approach to breathing. I have a lung condition and have discovered that using some of these common sense approaches is helpful. It is not a textbook and should not be used as such but it is good
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From Australia
Ben M
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful without all the answers
Reviewed in Australia on 22 October 2023
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Gives enough detail and ideas to explore more with other authors who have gone more in-depth on the science and certain topics.
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Samer AK
4.0 out of 5 stars discover the art of breathing
Reviewed in Australia on 5 February 2023
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too many technical details, but the book does have a lot of wisdom about breathing ...
and yes, you need to think again about how you breath
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LLL
5.0 out of 5 stars Every breath you take
Reviewed in Australia on 4 January 2021
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I have listened to the audible version more than once, and it leaves a lasting impression.
Diet is a very contentious subject when it comes to health - keto, vegan, high fibre, paleo, intuitive eating, fasting.
But breath is so much simpler: in, out, depth, and time; through the nose or mouth. It also has so much more impact.
What was so interesting about the book was the link to modern “ailments” such as obesity, sleep apnea, asthma, mental health and inflammation to the breath. As for crooked teeth and narrow jaws - I would never have made this connection before reading this book. My daughter recently had braces fitted - I wish I had read this book 10 years ago.
An excellent read and highly recommended.
4 people found this helpful
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Daniel
5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what I needed to know!
Reviewed in Australia on 1 September 2022
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This book, particularly the first 2/3 of it is exactly what I needed to know about breathing. I have already made and noticed changes in my body since following some of the exercises in the appendix of the book and switching entirely to mouth breathing. I’m even taping my mouth now at night!
The book also arrived on time and in perfect condition.
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Journey of Breathing
Reviewed in Australia on 13 October 2021
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The author has treated himself as a guinea pig in trying most of the breathing methodologies covered in this book. He has put himself through the rigours of what he has written about. I was taken on a journey that totally surprised me, given me a deeper sense of how we have evolved, and how to use this knowledge in my every day life. That’s pretty special.
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Aza
5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST read
Reviewed in Australia on 30 August 2020
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This book is such an important read. For anyone suffering from respiratory problems, sleep apnea, malocclusion, auto-immune diseases etc.. James Nestor has researched thousands of years of medical texts & studies in all things respiration... & uncovered why we as a race have become so sick, stressed & tired. His journey traces from our healthy ancestors...to the devolution that took place from the agricultural age... & gives essential life saving transformative advice on breathing that WILL turn your health around...in a very short space of time! A MUST read!
9 people found this helpful
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Ceras75
5.0 out of 5 stars Eye opening!
Reviewed in Australia on 26 January 2023
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Fantastic book. I listed to the audio version first but wanted a hard copy. Really well researched and written. I learned so much. Everyone should read this book!
One person found this helpful
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pippa walker
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read!
Reviewed in Australia on 29 November 2020
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I came to this book already interested in the breath and breathwork but this book exceeded my expectations and think everyone should read it! It really could change your life with information that we all need to know and implement. For ourselves and for our children. If you're reading this review don't hesitate just buy! I have recommended this book to all my clients and friends. In fact I really must get on some Amazon reward scheme ;-)
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Carleen
5.0 out of 5 stars Second book from this author
Reviewed in Australia on 4 March 2022
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Having read Deep we got Breath to read next. Loved it and so many great take away points from it that we have used so far. Easy and informative read and I particularly love the in-depth research paper references for additional items to follow further up on.
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Ken H.
1.0 out of 5 stars Substandard item
Reviewed in Australia on 12 April 2024
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Item had spelling mistakes on front and back covers, also had 'For sale on the Indian subcontinent only' printed on back cover.
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