There Is Nothing More Essential to Our Health than Breathing In and Out

Take a deep breath and … meet James Nestor! In 2020, the American science journalist dropped the book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, parachuted it into The New York Times Best Sellers list in the same breath, was awarded the best non-fiction book prize by the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and ultimately watched it be translated into more than thirty languages.

In it, Nestor argues that there is nothing more essential to our health than breathing in and out 25,000 times a day. “Yet,” says the journalist, “as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.” Drawing on medical research and recent studies in psychology, biochemistry and human physiology, Nestor shows that even small adjustments to our breathing can improve athletic performance, rejuvenate internal organs, and remedy asthma and autoimmune diseases.