Summary
On the Wise Traditions podcast, Hilda Labrada Gore interviews Niraj Naik about how breathing impacts every system in the body and how mindful breathing can promote healing. Niraj explains the science of intermittent hypoxic training (IHT/IHHT), a clinical therapy using machines to simulate high-altitude breathing that produces more red blood cells, better capillarization, and increased blood flow to the brain. The conversation covers the longevity connection between breathing rate and lifespan, drawing parallels between slow-breathing animals like whales and elephants versus fast-breathing animals like mice. Niraj introduces the naked mole rat as a fascinating anomaly that lives 30 years disease-free due to its tolerance of low-oxygen underground environments. He shares practical exercises for assessing breathing health and beginner tips for breath training, emphasizing that the less you need to breathe, the longer and healthier you live.
Key Points
- Intermittent hypoxic training (IHT) uses controlled low-oxygen breathing to simulate high altitude benefits
- IHT stimulates more red blood cells, better capillarization, and increased blood flow to the brain
- Animals with slow breathing rates and long breath-hold capacity live longest (whales hold breath 2 hours, live 200+ years)
- Naked mole rats live 30 years disease-free due to adaptation to low-oxygen underground environments
- The Bohr effect: slowing breathing actually increases oxygen delivery to cells, contrary to popular belief
- Chronic hyperventilation from modern stress drives many inflammatory and chronic health conditions
- Simple breath-hold time after exhale is a marker of respiratory health and CO2 tolerance
- Being in nature and reducing chronic stress complement breathwork for optimal health outcomes
Key Moments
Intermittent hypoxic training and its clinical applications
Niraj explains intermittent hypoxic training (IHT/IHHT), a clinical therapy that simulates high altitude by breathing low oxygen, which produces more red blood cells, better capillarization, and increased blood flow to the brain.
"But you're breathing very low oxygen. And what it does is it simulates going up to high altitude. What they found was that people go to high altitude and come back down, they feel benefits, they feel better. This is because they're holding their breath for a short period of time. It's like holding their breath for a short period of time. It's like lowering the oxygen."
Breathing rate and longevity across species
Niraj presents evidence from animal studies showing that breathing rate inversely correlates with lifespan, from bowhead whales that hold their breath for two hours and live 200+ years to short-lived mice with rapid respiration.
"And they're like the battery packs of the cells, and that is basically what drives life, the function of life. But what they realize is that through the rates of breath and your ability to hold your breath relates to longevity, but by studying animals, because if you look at animals in nature, animals that live a very long time, elephants and turtles, they have very slow breathing patterns."
The naked mole rat anomaly and disease-free longevity
Niraj explains how naked mole rats live 30 years disease-free due to their adaptation to low-oxygen underground environments, providing a biological model for the benefits of intermittent hypoxia training.
"Okay, now there's a weird, strange anomaly to this, and that is the naked mole rat. Naked mole rats are rats, but what makes them different is that they live up to 30 years, pretty much free of disease. And the unique thing with them is that they live primarily underground in a hypoxic, which is a low-oxygen environment, and they can hold their breath for."
Claire Will's testimonial of overcoming 14 years of chronic anxiety
Niraj shares a testimonial from SOMA Breath instructor Claire Will who overcame 14 years of chronic anxiety through breathwork and doubled her business income and impact.
"She says, Just wanted to say a massive thank you to UNI Russian Aik. I am a Soma Breath instructor. I only discovered Soma in the last quarter of last year and has changed everything for me. I am a recovered survivor. I think there's a hashtag recovered survivor. I think there must be a popular hashtag because it's about chronic anxiety. She says, I battled chronic anxiety for 14 years. So finding my freedom to breathe has been amazing. And she has doubled her business income and impact."
