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

by Patrick McKeown

  • Breathe in—gently allow your abdomen to move outward.

  • Breathe out—gently allow your abdomen to move inward.

  By focusing her attention on her chest and abdomen, Tessy was able to switch from upper-chest to abdominal breathing effortlessly. The next step was to gently soften and slow down her breathing to produce a comfortable hunger for air. Tessy practiced lightening her breathing for 3 minutes before taking a break for 1 minute or so. After 3 sets of this exercise and a short rest, I measured Tessy’s BOLT score again to find it had increased to 23 seconds. This drastic change to her BOLT score took place in a single one-and-a-half-hour session, and Tessy felt calmer, more alert, and in much greater control of her breathing. BOLT scores do not usually increase so quickly, but from time to time it is possible! However, as I explained to Tessy, her sudden high BOLT score would reduce again over the following few hours, but could be regained through the practice of the exercises she’d learned.

  A few weeks after we met, Tessy reported that she had felt extremely thirsty on one of the days, almost as if her body was desperate to rehydrate itself with plain water after months of relying on fizzy drinks. Exhilarated by her progress, Tessy felt calmer, more energetic, and no longer turned to food for comfort, losing ten pounds simply through the practice of quiet, gentle, reduced breathing.

  By practicing Oxygen Advantage exercises and making improvements to your breathing pattern, you will achieve a higher BOLT score and experience a reduction of your appetite. Listen to your body and observe what it is telling you. Get used to responding only to the feeling of genuine hunger rather than eating for boredom or in response to stress or depression. The next time you feel the urge to go to the refrigerator or eat a snack, ask yourself, “Do I really feel hungry?” By eating only when your body actually requires food, you will make the most of your natural suppression of appetite and find losing weight and maintaining a healthy diet achievable and simple. A detailed program for helping to achieve weight loss can be found on page 282.

  CHAPTER 10

  Reduce Physical Injury and Fatigue

  My brother Lee and his wife, Marie, are in their early thirties and live with their two children in the town of Navan in Ireland. Their work life, family life, and social life all revolve around physical training and preparation for long-distance events, and every few weeks they participate in triathlons, marathons, and even ultramarathons. Most people outside their sporting circle regard them as exercise nuts, and every now and again, for a bit of devilment, another of my brothers—Dave, who does no physical exercise at all—sends Lee the most recent newspaper reports describing how too much exercise is bad for your health, increases the risk of developing different conditions, or causes premature death. There is nothing more pleasurable to a couch potato, it seems, than to extol the dangers of exercise to those who do it.

  There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that athletes may be at risk of becoming seriously ill early in life or die younger than the rest of the population, despite being in peak physical condition. And while the benefits of exercising to maintain good health are well accepted by all health authorities, is there ever a time when exercise can simply be too much or too intensive?

  To investigate the relationship between longevity and career success, Professor Richard Epstein and Catherine Epstein from the Kinghorn Cancer Center in Sydney, Australia, analyzed one thousand New York Times obituaries published between 2009 and 2011. Their findings revealed that sports players lived on average for 77.4 years, while longer lifespans could be found in the military, business, and politics, where individuals lived for 84.7 years, 83.3 years, and 82.1 years respectively. And while 77.4 years is a ripe old age, why should athletes live shorter lives than those who probably devote less time to their health and fitness?

  In addition to professional athletes living shorter than their counterparts in the business world, there is much documented evidence that intense physical exercise increases oxidative stress that may contribute to premature aging, damage to the heart, and dementia.

  Given that most health professionals encourage physical exercise for good health, in what circumstances might exercise be damaging? And, more important, what can we do to reap the benefits of physical activity without putting our health at risk? The key to answering these questions seems to lie in controlling the amount of stress put on the body during exercise—more specifically, oxidative stress, which results from too many free radicals washing about our system.

  Free radicals are molecules generated by the breakdown of oxygen during metabolic activity. We all create a certain amount of free radicals through the very act of breathing, but normal levels do not pose a problem since the body’s defense mechanism is able to neutralize the molecules with antioxidants such as glutathione, ubiquinone, flavonoids, and vitamins A, E, and C. But when our antioxidant defenses are overwhelmed by too many free radicals, cells can be damaged and our health adversely affected. This is what is known as oxidative stress.

  Free radicals are highly reactive and attack other cells, causing damage to tissues and negatively affecting lipids, proteins, and DNA. During physical exercise we produce more free radicals than usual due to an increase in breathing and metabolism, which can lead to an imbalance between the production of free radicals and the antioxidants required to detoxify them, resulting in muscle weakness, fatigue, and overtraining. Investigations into physical training, regular aerobic exercise, marathon running, and extreme competitions have consistently found that antioxidant levels decrease after intense physical activity or extreme competition, while free radical production increases.

  In a paper published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Guillaume Machefer and colleagues investigated whether extreme running decreases blood antioxidant defense capacity. Blood samples were collected from six well-trained athletes participating in an ultramarathon called the Marathon of Sands. In what is considered to be one of the toughest foot races on earth, competitors run the equivalent of six regular marathons over six days in the Sahara Desert, during which they are required to carry their own food. Blood samples were taken from runners 72 hours after completion of the race, with researchers noting a “significant alteration of the blood antioxidant defense capacity” and concluding that “such extreme competition induced an imbalance between oxidant and antioxidant protection.”

  In an attempt to deal with this potentially detrimental imbalance between antioxidants and free radicals, athletes are often encouraged to take large regular doses of antioxidants. At first glance this might seem like sound advice, but studies exploring the use of dietary antioxidants to reduce oxidative stress and exercise-induced muscle injury have met with mixed results to date.

  An alternative and totally natural method of protecting against the excessive buildup of free radicals is to supplement regular exercise with breath holding and to increase your BOLT score. This method is cheap, nontoxic, and less controversial than supplements, providing effective protection against oxidative stress. Breath holding after an exhalation causes a decrease in oxygen saturation, which triggers an increase in lactic acid. At the same time, carbon dioxide levels also increase, leading to a rise in the concentration of hydrogen ions, which further acidifies the blood. Repeated practice of breath-holding exercises offsets the effects of lactic acid, inducing the body to make adaptations to delay acidosis (increased acidity in the blood) and enabling the athlete to push harder without experiencing the same level of fatigue.

  Research has shown that breath-holding exercises can improve an individual’s tolerance to hypoxemia (low levels of oxygen in the blood) and reduce the acidity of the blood, eliminating oxidative stress and reducing lactic acid buildup. Athletes with long-term experience of breath-hold training, such as divers, have demonstrated a marked reduction in blood acidosis and oxidative stress in studies, suggesting that the extended practice of breath-hold exercises can be instrumental in avoiding the negative effects of free radicals produced by e
xercise.

  Research spanning thirty years has investigated the mitigating factors in exercise-induced oxidative stress, taking into consideration different types of activity, duration, intensity, and the capabilities of the individual. The correct dose of physical exercise will of course vary from person to person according to physical condition and training habits, but the results of numerous studies show that oxidative stress can best be avoided by engaging in regular exercise combined with breath-hold training. The body is very good at adapting to consistent physical activity but cannot always react quickly enough to protect itself from a sudden influx of free radicals produced by infrequent high-intensity exercise. Exercising several times a week at a moderate, comfortable intensity from which you can recover easily is the best way to increase your body’s natural antioxidant defenses and reduce oxidative stress. However, if you are a weekend warrior who does very little or no exercise during the week but engages in intense training on the weekend, you may be doing more harm than good.

  More rigorous training regimens can also provide adequate protection from oxidative stress, so long as intensity and duration is increased gradually; a competitive athlete preparing for an upcoming event will need to allow a sufficient period of time to condition his or her body against oxidative stress. Studies show that well-trained athletes are perfectly able to cope with the oxidative stress caused by intense training and competition after the right kind of preparation—in fact, small amounts of oxidative stress can even prove beneficial for the body in strengthening antioxidant defenses.

  While breathing naturally increases during physical exercise, individuals with a low BOLT score breathe more heavily than normal, creating an even greater quantity of free radicals relative to their physical work rate. A higher BOLT score, on the other hand, corresponds to a lower breathing volume, producing fewer free radicals and reducing the risk of muscle damage, injury, fatigue, and premature aging—possibly even extending the length of life. Breath-holding techniques offer a simple and effective way to increase antioxidant protection in athletes who exercise intensely and can easily be incorporated into regular training.

  Alan is an amateur cyclist in his early twenties living on the west coast of Ireland. Very competitive by nature, Alan has won many races, often beating riders more seasoned and experienced than himself. He came to me for help because he found that it sometimes took him a half hour to recover his breathing after a race. Taking so long to catch his breath—even after strenuous activity—was a clear indication that Alan was pushing his body too hard during competition. As I expected, his BOLT score measured 15 seconds, meaning that his breathing volume was much larger than necessary. The breathlessness he experienced after exercise showed that his body was struggling to compensate. I explained to Alan that although he was clearly fit and capable of winning races, he was literally subjecting his body to abuse. At the time, he was suffering from a dry cough and head cold as a result of his exercise, but if he continued in the same way, the effects of overbreathing might not always be so mild.

  My advice to Alan was to adapt his cycling to the capabilities of his body. First, he needed to increase his BOLT score to at least 35 seconds to align his breathing volume with his metabolic needs. I asked Alan to switch to nasal breathing during as much of his training as possible, reverting to mouth breathing only when absolutely necessary. Since the nose offers a smaller entry for breathing than the mouth, nasal breathing sets a limit to the volume of air taken into the lungs. Nasal breathing is a great barometer for training intensity, and my objective was for Alan to match his exercise to his capabilities by not pushing himself past the point where he could maintain nasal breathing. This is a safe and easy-to-implement approach, enabling a gradual but steady increase of BOLT score, which in turn allows for a sensible increase in intensity and duration.

  One small land-based mammal has managed to confound the overwhelming evidence to support the negative effects of oxidative stress. For the past few decades, scientists have studied the naked mole rat—a bald, blind creature that looks like a hot dog with teeth and lives for up to twenty-eight years, almost eight times longer than any other rodent. The naked mole rat lives in East Africa, where it is considered a pest by local farmers as it burrows tunnels underneath fields and eats vegetable crops.

  The breathing rate of the naked mole rat is very low in comparison to other rodents, and it lives in crowded colonies where there is little oxygen and high levels of carbon dioxide. As such, the naked mole rat is an excellent embodiment of the “less is more” theory of breathing. This might also explain how, despite living with high oxidative stress from a young age, the naked mole rat maintains good health and longevity, and in all the years this rather ugly animal has been studied, it has never been known to develop cancer. Even when scientists have injected the mole rat with cancer-causing agents, the disease was resisted. Exactly why the naked mole rat is immune to cancer is unknown, but some scientists are hopeful that finding an answer may provide the key to unlocking a cure for humans. Living congruently with nature’s system of checks and balances seems to be the key to a long and healthy life. The naked mole rat does this remarkably well, given that researchers have discovered that the negative affects of high oxidative stress may be offset by high carbon dioxide levels.

  Maintaining Your Fitness During Injury or Rest

  The cost of an injury to an athlete can be devastating. Not only does the athlete have to endure the pain of the injury, but he or she also faces a drop in morale and the risk of decreased physical performance due to a lapse in training. Although a few days’ rest from a regular exercise routine can lead to improved performance, several studies have shown that a rest period of around four weeks results in detraining effects on the body, including:

  • Increase in body weight

  • Increase in fat mass

  • Increase in waist circumference

  • Decrease of VO2 peak

  When you have worked so hard to increase VO2 max and maintain your fitness, the effects of detraining can be enormously disappointing, especially when it becomes a recurrent event. For some, high-intensity exercise may be the source of a repetitive cycle of injury and detraining; when the body responds to injury with inflammation, free radicals are produced, which may lead to further muscle damage. There is, however, a way to prevent lapses in your regular routine, as well as maintaining fitness if you suffer an injury. The Oxygen Advantage program provides a solution to both the risk of injury and the limits an existing injury may place on your abilities. Practicing the Breathe Light to Breathe Right exercise along with breath holds can help to increase VO2 max and the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood while reducing lactic acid and improving blood flow. This optimal combination means that partial fitness can be maintained even in the case of injury or extended periods of rest.

  A significant bonus of the Oxygen Advantage program is that it can be performed during rest or during exercise, and does not require an athlete to be injury-free. Some of the benefits of high-intensity exercise can even be obtained by adding breath-hold exercises to a gentle walk. Improving the way you breathe during rest and exercise will have positive repercussions on your general health as well as your athletic performance, reducing the risk of injury and enabling you to perform beyond your previous limits.

  CHAPTER 11

  Improve Oxygenation of Your Heart

  On the morning of September 11, 2001, I received a phone call from my wife, Sinead, telling me to switch on the news. Listening to the accounts of what had taken place in New York City and at the Pentagon, I felt a chill go right through me. The tragedy felt even closer to home as Sinead and I had visited that wonderful city just three months prior.

  On that same day, another tragedy unfolded, although it did not receive the same coverage as the terrorist attacks. In the United States alone, 3,000 people lost their lives to heart attack and stroke—two of the top three killers in the United States. The same tragedy occurred on Wedne
sday, September 12, and again on Thursday, September 13, repeating itself each and every day ever since. And while the falling of the Twin Towers will justifiably be remembered forever, the victims of cardiovascular disease are only remembered by their nearest and dearest. We cannot predict when a catastrophic event like 9/11 will occur, but we can help ourselves to extend and enrich the time we have to live and enjoy the company of those around us by taking care of our bodies and especially our hearts.

  Understanding a simple and scientifically proven way of keeping our blood vessels healthy is invaluable to living life to the full. In this chapter, we explore the role of the gas nitric oxide, along with techniques for optimal breathing in order to maintain good cardiovascular health.

  In 1867 the Swedish chemist, inventor, and industrialist Alfred Nobel invented dynamite by combining the chemical nitroglycerine with silica to form a less volatile explosive than nitroglycerine alone. Although his invention was initially intended to be used for blasting rock for industry, it later became synonymous with war and destruction. A few years after Nobel’s invention, doctors discovered that this same chemical was effective in helping to reduce high blood pressure and treating the cardiovascular condition known as angina pectoris. In the human body, nitroglycerine—the same material used to make explosives—converts to the gas nitric oxide to provide amazing benefits for cardiovasular health. In his later years, Nobel suffered from heart disease, and when doctors tried to prescribe nitroglycerine to relieve his condition, he declined it, writing to his friend: “Isn’t it the irony of fate that I have been prescribed nitroglycerine, to be taken internally! They call it Trinitrin, so as not to scare the chemist and the public.” It was unfortunate that Nobel could not envision how a chemical so destructive outside the body could actually help it internally.