Summary
James Nestor, bestselling author of "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art," joins Theo Von to discuss how breathing affects virtually every aspect of health. Nestor explains that ancient Hindu and Chinese cultures celebrated breathing as medicine thousands of years ago, but modern society has lost this knowledge. He reveals that 50% of kids are mouth breathing, which is the number one cause of cavities, crooked teeth, and small airways -- not genetics. Nestor walks Theo through coherent breathing (5 seconds in, 5 seconds out through the nose), which sends relaxation signals to the brain and puts the body's systems into a state of coherence. He also demonstrates a pranayama technique involving stacked inhales with holds and full-body squeezing. The conversation covers how industrialized food shrank human mouths within a single generation, why braces can make airway problems worse, and how breathing exercises helped 9/11 first responders with ground glass lungs recover when nothing else worked.
Key Points
- Ancient Hindu, Chinese, and Native American cultures all treated breathing as medicine
- 50% of children are mouth breathing, which is the number one cause of cavities
- Mouth breathing during development causes smaller mouths, crooked teeth, and poor airways
- Coherent breathing (5s in, 5s out through nose) reduces stress and improves blood flow to the brain
- Breathing exercises helped 9/11 first responders with ground glass lungs when drugs failed
- Indigenous groups like the Hadza who eat ancestral diets have perfect teeth and wide airways
- Industrialized diets caused crooked teeth in a single generation -- not evolution
- The goal is to make healthy breathing your unconscious default, which takes about two months
Key Moments
Coherent breathing demonstration puts Theo into a calmer state instantly
James Nestor walks Theo Von through coherent breathing (5 seconds in, 5 seconds out through the nose) and Theo immediately reports feeling calmer, almost high, with a spontaneous smile appearing on his face.
"You're going to breathe in through your nose and you want to feel your belly expand. And as you breathe out, you want to feel it come back in."
Mouth breathing is the number one cause of cavities, not sugar
Nestor reveals that dentists 100 years ago identified mouth breathing as the primary cause of cavities, and modern airway-focused dentists confirm this. About 50% of kids are mouth breathing, especially at night.
"So many different dentists and different people in medicine 100 years ago, 120 years ago, were saying the number one cause of cavities wasn't sugar, it wasn't carbohydrates, it was mouth breathing."
Breathing exercises healed 9/11 responders when drugs failed
Richard Brown at Columbia used coherent breathing with 9/11 first responders who had ground glass lungs. The breathing practice was more effective than pharmaceutical drugs at helping them expel pollutants and recover lung function.
"Nothing worked for them. Pharmaceutical drugs didn't work, nothing worked, except this practice was more effective than anything else because it allowed air to circulate properly in the lungs."
Industrialized food shrank human mouths in a single generation
Nestor explains that 50% of a population develops crooked teeth after adopting an industrialized diet in just one generation. Ancient skulls all show perfectly straight teeth, proving this is environmental, not genetic.
"You still make it. The kids today are still doing this. But it turns out that England was one of the first countries to adopt an industrialized diet. So their teeth went to hell right off the bat. 50% of a population, 5-0%, will have crooked teeth after adopting an industrialized diet in a single generation. Unbelievable. People say that evolution, oh, it takes 100,000 years. Like, it takes a million years for things to change. It happens in one generation."
