36 pages • 1 hour read
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
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Introduction-Part 1, Chapter 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “The Experiment”
Introduction Summary
Nestor introduces Breath by describing his reasons for writing the book. Suffering from pneumonia and anxiety, at the recommendation of his doctor, he attends an introductory course to learn a breathing technique called Sudarshan Kriya. Initially, Nestor is skeptical of its healing potential, but his perspective changes as he finds himself, through rhythmic breathing, profusely sweating and entering an alternate state of consciousness. In the days afterwards, Nestor feels calmer and sleeps better. He devotes the next 10 years of his life to studying the transformative powers of breathing.
In his quest to better understand breathing, Nestor draws on his experiences as a sports and science writer, citing his work with free divers in Greece. He describes their ability to hold their breath underwater for 12 minutes at a time—a skill that is not innate but learned. Nestor next turns his attention to ancient texts—Chinese Tao, Hindu, and Buddhist teachings—that detail the power of breathing to “preserve both physical and mental health” (xvii). Nestor describes these techniques as a “lost art”—they are not new, but individuals seeking to heal illnesses that conventional biomedical practitioners tend to dismiss or overlook have rediscovered them. Nestor thus contrasts pulmonologists, medical doctors who focus on the lungs and respiratory tract, with another type of healer whom he refers to as “pulmonauts,” i.e. people “who stumbled on the powers of breathing because nothing else could help them” (xx).
For Nestor, breathing is “the missing pillar” of health (xix). According to him, the vast majority of humans today breathe incorrectly through their mouth and not their nose. As Nestor writes, “many modern maladies—asthma, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, psoriasis, and more—could either be reduced or reversed simply by changing the way we inhale and exhale” (xix). He concludes the chapter by rhetorically asking why we need to learn how to breathe since we have been breathing our entire lives. Nestor’s answer is that we can live better and longer by breathing correctly.
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Worst Breathers in the Animal Kingdom”
Chapter 1 begins with a clinical description of Nestor’s “atrophied, underdeveloped mouth, throat, and skull” (4). He attributes his prognosis to unhealthy dietary habits of overprocessed foods and orthodontic practices that shrank the size of his mouth. To document the difference between mouth and nasal breathing, Nestor sets up an experiment where he plans to breathe only through his mouth for ten days, followed by ten days of breathing only through his nose. He enlists Dr. Nayak, chief of rhinology research at Stanford, to administer the nose blockage, and solicits the participation of a friend, Anders Olsson, to join the experiment.
To frame his discussion of why humans are terrible breathers, Nestor employs an evolutionary perspective of human development. He starts with the earliest forms of aerobic life and traces the development of human ancestors like Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and early Homo sapiens. Innovations like tenderizing and cooking food led to calorie surpluses and made it possible for human brains to grow larger. Larger brains, in turn, produced other physiological changes in the face—mouths, sinuses, jaws, and airways shrank, while the nose, once short and stout, elongated. Subsequently, the nose became less efficient at filtering air and more susceptible to pathogens and bacteria. Meanwhile, the larynx descended into the throat, allowing for greater vocal communication, but making Homo sapiens more susceptible to choking on food.
These developments were not a major obstacle for most of our human ancestors, even relatively recent ones. Orthodontic and dental research—based on anthropometric measurements of skulls—shows that a few hundred years ago humans had wide and pronounced nasal passages, large mouths, and forward facial growth, enabling them to breathe easily. However, these facial constructions are no longer the norm, and while Nestor does not specify why this is the case, he writes, “evolution does not always mean progress” (12). Modern humans are experiencing “dysevolution”—“adopting and passing down traits detrimental to our health” (13). Nestor concludes the chapter by documenting examples of dysevolution, such as snoring and sleep apnea events, which dramatically increase for him and Olsson after Dr. Nayak surgically blocks their nasal passages.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Mouthbreathing”
Chapter 2 discusses the adverse health effects that Nestor and Olsson experience from breathing through their mouth for ten days. Their physiological state, which they record every day, shows an increase in maladies like hypertension, erratic heart rates, collapsed airways, snoring, sleep apnea, insomnia, and mental confusion.
The experiment also includes an exercise component, as Olsson wants to learn more about how mouth breathing affects endurance and energy efficiency. Nestor’s athletic performance on a bicycle indicates that mouth breathing is laborious. Other exercise studies also reveal that during exercise nasal breathing is superior to mouth breathing because it optimizes aerobic respiration: “The key for exercise, and for the rest of life, is to stay in that energy-efficient, clean burning, oxygen eating aerobic zone for the vast majority of time during exercise and at all times during rest” (25).
Chapter 2 also draws on comparative research with non-human animals. In one experiment, rats with obstructed nasal passages produce fewer brain cells and spend more time figuring their way out of a maze than a control group. An experiment with monkeys shows that the blockage of their nasal passages produces downward facial growth, a narrowing of dental arches, and crooked teeth. As Nestor explains, when mouth breathing occurs, air pressure decreases in the mouth and leads to a softening of tissues that become loose and obstruct air space, making breathing even more difficult: “Mouthbreathing begets more mouthbreathing” (27). This contrasts with nasal breathing, which tones muscles and tissues in the mouth, keeping air passages open for easy flow.
Nestor’s last example highlights the malleability of the human body. He narrates the story of a seven-year-old girl, Gigi, who suffers from extreme snoring, sinusitis, crooked teeth, asthma, and allergies. Her orthodontist, whom Nestor describes as a pulmonaut, uses novel therapies to help Gigi breathe better. The chapter ends with Gigi’s transformation into a healthy child, as novel breathing and orthodontist therapies fix all her ailments, including her crooked teeth. Similarly, when the monkeys with the obstructed nasal passages have the obstructions removed, their faces revert to their natural, easy breathing state.
Introduction-Part 1, Chapter 2 Analysis
The first three chapters of Breath set up Nestor’s main argument, which is that nasal breathing is fundamental to good health; however, 90 percent of humans breathe incorrectly—through their mouths. Nestor approaches his topic from personal experience, as he suffers from chronic respiratory illnesses. Yet, he also is careful to situate his story within a broader narrative of human physiology that forefronts the centrality of nasal breathing to optimize good health.
Breath often reads like a self-help journey. To convince readers of the usefulness of nasal breathing, Nestor often adopts an attitude of scientific skepticism—for instance, in the Introduction, when his doctor suggests that he attend a breathing course. Even after Nestor, to his surprise, finds the course transformational, his dry wit continues.
Continuing this mixture of personal and broadly scientific is the experiment Nestor and his friend, Anders Olsson, undergo—surgically obstructing their nasal passages to experience, firsthand, the detrimental effects of mouth breathing. The result is a foregone conclusion—several studies already demonstrate the superiority of nasal breathing to mouth breathing. Still, the experiment provides Nestor with vivid descriptions of his and Olsson’s deteriorating health; this firsthand experience underlines Nestor’s explanations of the evolutionary changes to human physiology over time. His comparisons with other mammals also provide clear biological explanations for why “humans have the sad distinction of being the most plugged-up species on Earth” (6).
Nestor’s writing is journalistic, highly accessible, and entertaining. He enlivens potentially difficult scientific concepts, allowing a fuller understanding of biological processes like human evolution and anaerobic and aerobic respiration. Nestor’s larger point that human physiology is malleable is a theme that will continue in Parts 2 and 3 of the book.
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