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

by Patrick McKeown

Just as we have an optimal quantity of water and food to consume each day, we also have an optimal quantity of air to breathe. And just as eating too much can be damaging to our health, so can overbreathing.

It is how you breathe during your daily life that determines how you breathe during physical exercise. Breathing too much air every minute, every hour, every day translates into excessive breathlessness during exercise. If our breathing is off during rest, it would be unreasonable to expect it to automatically correct itself during physical exercise. The seemingly innocuous tendency to breathe through the mouth during the day or night and breathe noticeably during rest means you will be more breathless during training and often limits your capacity to go faster and farther.

Overbreathing causes the narrowing of airways, limiting your body’s ability to oxygenate, and the constriction of blood vessels, leading to reduced blood flow to the heart and other organs and muscles.

Most people learn that carbon dioxide is just a waste gas that we exhale from our lungs, but it is not a waste gas. It is the key variable that allows the release of oxygen from the red blood cells to be metabolized by the body. This is called the Bohr Effect. Understanding and utilizing this physiological principle will allow you to stop overbreathing.

When we breathe correctly, we have a sufficient amount of carbon dioxide, and our breathing is quiet, controlled, and rhythmic. If we are overbreathing, our breathing is heavy, more intense, and erratic, and we exhale too much carbon dioxide, leaving our body literally gasping for oxygen.