#143

Professional Grade Supplements for WiseAthletes (us.fullscript....)
We all want a healthy heart, lungs, and brain. Can you guess at the single behavior that connects the dots on solving: the ability to run or ride at the same speed using 25% less breathing, reducing the occurrence of the so called exercise induced asthma or bronchoconstriction (EIB), eliminating side stitches while running, avoiding frequent sinus infections and bronchitis, and even dodging aFib and dementia?...and what if it cost you nothing but your attention? Well, listen to this: The latest science is showing us that while breathing with an open mouth allows for an increase in ventilation, increases work capacity (think: vo2max), and actually feels more comfortable and normal, doing so also predisposes us to a variety of potential health problems over time. Right, today we are going to talk about nasal breathing.
while nasal breathing may have fallen off the internet talk circuit as a popular biohack, wise athletes should always pick the low hanging fruit.
so coming back to our show on episode 143, the one and only Dr George Dallam walks us through his personal benefits from adapting to nasal breathing nearly 20 years ago, and the latest research into the health and physical performance benefits available to us all...without ingesting any chemicals, or changing our diet, or buying a single thing. All you have to do is breath through your nose. Its a simple prescription; ....if only it was easy to learn.... i say since i have failed to fully adapt in the two years since i first spoke with dr dallam...
All right, let's talk to George Dallam, author of the just published book, the-nasal-breathing-paradox-during-exercise (www.barnesandn...)
George Dallam PhD
Dr. Dallam holds the rank of Distinguished Professor in the School of Health Science and Human Movement at Colorado State University - Pueblo (CSUP). Dr. Dallam has been involved in numerous research studies examining various aspects of triathlon performance and training, diabetes risk factor modification, and the effects of functional movement improvement on running. His primary research interest recently is focused on the capability of human beings to adapt to nasal only breathing during exercise as a way to improve both health and performance.
Dr. Dallam has received both the United States Olympic Committee's Doc Counsilman Science in Coaching award (2004) and the National Elite Coach of the Year award (2005) for triathlon. Finally, Dr. Dallam has been continuously training and competing in triathlon since 1981.
Bullet points -- The Nasal Breathing Paradox
Benefits of nasal breathing:

• Better filtering of particles and viruses (less nasal infection, bronchitis). Filtering becomes even more important when exercising because we take in so much more air.


• Less water lost though breathing


• Less energy spent on breathing (more energy for locomotion); higher O2 extracted per breath (higher efficiency)


• Recovery from “EIB” exercise induced bronchoconstriction (exercise induced asthma)


• Provides a powerful training stimulus to improve fitness…make you faster even if you go back to mouth breathing in high intensity efforts, such as races


• Improved stress management


• Better sleep, and overall improved recovery from exercise (lower stress, avoidance of snoring)


• Better posture and movement ability with improved diaphragm activity


• Functional movement benefits -diaphragm is a major core muscle that is under strength when we mouth breathe.


• Avoids possible damage to the heart from over breathing (a hypothesis from Dr Dallam)


• Effect of nasal breathing during exercise on brain health (digitalcommons...)

Myths about breathing:

• I feel the need to breath faster when I need more oxygen - mostly false. It is the presence of higher than usual CO2 in the blood that causes the “air hunger”


• CO2 is bad, and needs to be removed as fast as possible - false; CO2 is necessary for normal bodily functions. Too much AND too little CO2 are bad for the body.


• Breathing faster brings in more oxygen (superoxygenation) - no; red blood cells are generally 95-98% oxygenated after passing by lungs. You don’t get more oxygen into red blood cells, you just lose more CO2 from blood plasma, which creates problems for the body
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[@lavellejoe]

Nasal breathing improves CO2 tolerance, and allows the same physical output with 25% less breathing. And it provides better oxygen to the brain and heart during exercise.