BOOK SPOTLIGHT: BREATH

Research and knowledge are key elements in creating our educational campaign to prepare parents and pediatric professionals about preventable childhood breathing disorders. As such, we would like to take a moment to spotlight one of the books you will find on our Recommended Reading List.

In his book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, James Nestor delves into the history and science behind the current state of the breathing epidemic humans currently face.

evolution of breathing

Not only has evolution impacted our ability to breathe, but medical practices and modernization have severely impacted our mouth and jaw development, which in turn, has had an astonishing impact on our ability to sleep and breathe.

When mouths don't grow wide enough, the roof of the mouth tends to rise up instead of out, forming what's called a V-shape or high-arched palate. The upward growth impedes the development of the nasal cavity, shirnking it and disrupting the delicate structures in the nose. The reduced nasal space leads to obstruction and inhibits airflow.

Overall, humans have the sad distrinction of being th emost plugged-up species on Earth.

Drawing on medical texts and cutting-edge studies, Breath challenges the popular wisdom of what we thought we knew about how to breathe properly and the role breathing plays in our health. Once you understand some of the causes of preventable breathing disorders, you will have the power to improve the health of your entire family and breathe like you never have before.

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 twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.

SUMMARY FROM WIKIPEDIA

The Wikipedia review states: The book examines the history, science, and culture of breathing and its impacts on human health. It investigates the history of how humans shifted from the natural state of nasal breathing to chronic mouth breathing.

Nestor explores research that argues that this shift (due to the increased consumption of processed foods) has led to a rise in snoring, sleep apnea, asthma, autoimmune disease, and allergies. It includes Nestor's first-person experiences with breathing. He also worked with scientists at Stanford University whose research suggests that returning to a state of nasal breathing will improve an individual's health.

Nestor wrote the book after ten years of researching the subject.