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

by Patrick McKeown

In his nineteenth-century travels in North America, the artist George Catlin noticed that the Native American mothers paid a lot of attention to their infants’ breathing. If at any time the baby opened its mouth to breathe, the mother would gently press the baby’s lips together to ensure continued nasal breathing. Catlin also noted that the rate of sickness and illness among the native Indian people was very low in comparison with European settlers. In his aptly titled 1882 book Shut Your Mouth and Save Your Life, Catlin wrote, “When I have seen a poor Indian woman in the wilderness, lowering her infant from the breast, and pressing its lips together as it falls asleep . . . I have said to myself, ‘Glorious education! Such a mother deserves to be the nurse of Emperors.’” In comparison, Catlin described how the babies of the European settlers slept with their mouths open, gasping for breath in stuffy, hot, and unventilated rooms.