Did you know that each person can control one thing about their body that will greatly affect overall health?  And it is something that requires little if any effort.  It is our own breathing!  Or more specifically how we breathe.

Recent research describing practices that are both modern and ancient has proven that breathing is not just something we automatically do, and if done properly can dramatically improve your health within days.

I am a member of a national organization known as the American Rhinologic Society (ARS). It is composed of physicians in my field of Ear, Nose and Throat who specialize in the treatment of the nose and sinuses.  The ARS recently had a national webinar with a wonderful lecture given by an author named James Nestor.  He is not a physician but he is a very bright investigative author who has extensively studied breathing. He has written what I believe is a valuable book called “BREATH; THE NEW SCIENCE OF A LOST ART”. I was excited to hear the lecture from Mr. Nestor and I was glad that one of my nationally known colleagues realized how important this topic was for specialists like me to hear.

In addition to describing how different types and patterns of breathing that we can control ourselves affect our health, a large portion of the book describes the serious health problems associated with poor breathing habits.  Additionally, the importance of being able to breathe well through your nose was stressed.  Mr. Nestor actually took part in an experiment through Stanford Medical School ENT department.  His nose was actually artificially blocked and plugged for 10 days.  Immediately his blood pressure went up, his blood sugar was elevated and he had very poor sleep and headaches.  At the end of just 10 days he had significant weight gain and lethargy. These are conditions that I see every day in my office and many healthcare providers in all specialties deal with as well.  This fresh view gives tremendous insight as to causes and of course effective treatments.

I encourage any of you inquisitive readers to look at this fascinating book.

More importantly I want to stress the importance of being able to breathe deeply and fully especially through the nasal passages.  This is an area I have spent much of my career working to improve. If you feel you have significant nasal breathing problems, I would be happy to see you in my office.