I’ve long been waiting for a book to recommend that explains the science, theory and application of the breathing retraining methods of the late Ukrainian scientist, Konstantin Buteyko. It needed to be easy-to-read,  written in well edited English and go far beyond the treatment of mere breathing disorders. Patrick McKeown has created such a book. It’s called the Oxygen Advantage.

I just published an in-depth (and slightly critical) review of McKeown’s book. In this full-length article, I share many useful highlights from The Oxygen Advantage, including…

• Why most breathing exercises actually reduce oxygen absorption into the cells of your body.
• The healing effects of (temporary) oxygen deprivation.
• Why intense exercise may not help prevent diabetic neuropathy.
•  How carbon-dioxide can prevent diabetic amputations.
• Why an underused gland in the nose can slow down or reverse kidney failure.
• How Amazonian hunters can run for hours without a break.
• Why mouths are for eating and noses are for breathing.
• A simple approach to exercise which will reduce oxidative stress.
• The reason water polo players don’t suffer from breathing problems and basketball players do.
• Why I disagree with the author’s advice regarding nasal breathing during intense exercise.
• How sighing can cause rapid heart rates in those with T1D.
• Why we need to learn to “run without a head.”
• How to shrink (literally) the part of your brain that produces feelings of fear.
• Why Steve Jobs wouldn’t let his kids have an iPad.
• A little controversy over whether animal foods make us breathe worse.
• Why breathing too much can make you eat too much.

You can read about all this and more here.

Thinking outside the T1D Matrix,
– John C. A. Manley