Rating:		5/5	Health

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

by James Nestor

While it’s pretty obvious that we need oxygen to survive, who knew that the way we breathe can have such an enormous positive or negative impact on our health. Nestor is a science writer who came to the topic of breathing after researching free diving; the practice of holding breath for minutes at a time and diving tens of metres below the surface of the sea.

The book is a fascinating story describing the changes that we have undergone over the centuries due to diet and other environmental factors which mean we no longer breathe as efficiently as our ancestors; plus the fact that we have even forgotten how to even breathe correctly for the most part too.

The book describes the author’s personal journey researching the topic and provides many studies from other eminient scientists, researchers and ‘pulmonauts’. Some are so incredible that one wonders why they haven’t been more thoroughly researched by the medical community. Perhaps the fact that improving one’s health by changing breathing habits is not something the medical or phamaceutical industry can make money from and that this explains their lack of interest.

One criticism is that some of the suggested exercises and advice seems contradictory; one chapter advocates breathing in a shallow gentle manner another advocates breathing deeply with slow long exhales. In spite of this reservation, I absolutely commend this book as one of the most eye opening that you are likely to read.

It is well written, well paced and is hard to put down once you start. If you read one book this year, make it this one. Highly recommended.