Description

PAPERBACK EDITION NOW AVAILABLE

‘I highly recommend this book’ Wim Hof

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
AS HEARD ON THE CHRIS EVANS SHOW

There is nothing more essential to our health and wellbeing than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat 25,000 times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. In Breath, journalist James Nestor travels the world to discover the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.

Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments can:

– jump-start athletic performance
– rejuvenate internal organs
– halt snoring, allergies, asthma and autoimmune disease, and even straighten scoliotic spines

None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of ancient wisdom and cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head.

You will never breathe the same again.
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‘If there’s one book you read this year, make it this one’ Chris Evans

‘Who would have thought something as simple as changing the way we breathe could be so revolutionary for our health, from snoring to allergies to immunity? James Nestor is the perfect guide to the pulmonary world and has written a fascinating book, full of dazzling revelations’ Dr Rangan Chatterjee, author of Feel Better in Five

A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe – and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time. I already feel calmer and healthier just in the last few days, from making a few simple changes in my breathing, based on what I’ve read. Our breath is a beautiful, healing, mysterious gift, and so is this book’ Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

Publisher Review

'Breath shows us just how extraordinary the act of breathing is and why so much depends on how we do it. An enthralling, surprising, and often funny adventure into our most overlooked and undervalued function' -- Bonie Tsui, author of Why We Swim and American Chinatown 'If you breathe, you need this book. When we undervalue anything, including something so basic as breathing, bad things always happen-and Nestor makes it clear how awful it's gotten. But he also provides a clear airway back to better, deeper, stronger respirations' -- Wallace J. Nichols PhD, author of Blue Mind 'I don't say this often, but when I do I mean it: this book changed my life. Breathe is part scientific quest, part historical insight, part Hero's Journey, full of groundbreaking ideas, and a rollicking good read. I had no idea that the simple and intuitive act of inhaling and exhaling has taken such an evolutionary hit. As a result, I figured out why I sleep so badly and why my breathing feels so often out-of-sync. With a few simple tweaks, I fixed my breathing and fixed myself. A transformational book' -- Caroline Paul, author of The Gutsy Girl 'An eye-opening, epic journey of human devolution that explains why so many of us are sick and tired. A must-read book that exposes what our health care system doesn't see' -- Dr. Steven Y. Park, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and author of Sleep, Interrupted 'Breath is an utterly fascinating journey into the ways we are wired. No matter who you are, you'll want to read this' -- Po Bronson, author of What Should I Do with My Life and Nutureshock 'A transformative book that changes how you think about your body and mind' -- Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein 'If you want to read a book about the power of the breath, this is it!' -- Patrick McKeown, author of The Oxygen Advantage 'I would have thought that breathing was pretty simple and well understood. Then I read this book. Now I know it's a hugely complex and wondrous process which we need to understand much better. Fascinating and provocative stuff' -- Daniel M. Davis, author of The Beautiful Cure 'Who would have thought something as simple as changing the way we breathe could be so revolutionary for our health, from snoring to allergies to immunity? James Nestor is the perfect guide to the pulmonary world and has written a fascinating book, full of dazzling revelations' -- Dr Rangan Chatterjee