4 ms·

Included in the article are sub-sections "Role of breathing in low back pain" and "Role of breathing in core strength", with suggested exercises. A couple reso

Included in the article are sub-sections "Role of breathing in low back pain" and "Role of breathing in core strength", with suggested exercises. A couple resources I found helpful as I've been adjusting/correcting the way I breathe (in short, nose >> mouth, quick & deep breaths to warm up, 5-6 seconds in and 5-6 seconds out vs anxiety, humming while doing just about anything both feels good and might have nitric oxide benefits for oxygen uptake): Breath, by James Nestor (2020) https://www.worldcat.org/title/breath-the-new-science-of-a-lost-art/ https://www.worldcat.org/title/breath-the-new-science-of-a-l... Breath Taking, by Michael Stephen (2021) https://www.worldcat.org/title/breath-taking-the-power-fragility-and-future-of-our-extraordinary-lungs/ https://www.worldcat.org/title/breath-taking-the-power-fragi...

jfengel 5y ago
I've been reading Nestor's book, and I've been unable to get a feel for how valid it is. It makes some extremely strong, practically outlandish claims. I can't even find a good technical review of it. The closest I could find simultaneously says that the book is almost "snake oil" and also "Most are solid facts, actually; so solid that they’re already well known and ‘out there’ in the public domain". https://writeoutloudblog.com/2020/11/22/book-review-breath-the-new-science-of-a-lost-art-by-james-nestor/ https://writeoutloudblog.com/2020/11/22/book-review-breath-t... He devotes much of it to an "experiment" with himself and one other of absolutely zero scientific basis. The author knows it's anecdote and not data, but he goes on to praise a lot of poorly-documented practitioners. It reminds me a lot of "Born to Run", which similarly made a lot of very strong claims that were later partially or entirely discredited. It was clearly not for me: my feet are extraordinarily flat and they were not going to develop great arches, ever. I've been trying some of the breathing exercises and practices, without any extraordinary changes in mood or health. I'm willing to keep trying, because it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable, but I'd like to know why the skeptical review I cited also believes it's well-known.

jfengel 5y ago

I've been reading Nestor's book, and I've been unable to get a feel for how valid it is. It makes some extremely strong, practically outlandish claims. I can't even find a good technical review of it. The closest I could find simultaneously says that the book is almost "snake oil" and also "Most are solid facts, actually; so solid that they’re already well known and ‘out there’ in the public domain". https://writeoutloudblog.com/2020/11/22/book-review-breath-the-new-science-of-a-lost-art-by-james-nestor/ https://writeoutloudblog.com/2020/11/22/book-review-breath-t... He devotes much of it to an "experiment" with himself and one other of absolutely zero scientific basis. The author knows it's anecdote and not data, but he goes on to praise a lot of poorly-documented practitioners. It reminds me a lot of "Born to Run", which similarly made a lot of very strong claims that were later partially or entirely discredited. It was clearly not for me: my feet are extraordinarily flat and they were not going to develop great arches, ever. I've been trying some of the breathing exercises and practices, without any extraordinary changes in mood or health. I'm willing to keep trying, because it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable, but I'd like to know why the skeptical review I cited also believes it's well-known.