You Might Be Breathing Wrong

The average person breathes in and out about 22,000 times per day. Inhales and exhales happen so naturally that we rarely ever think about them. But there’s actually so much more to this unconscious bodily function than you might realize. 

“There are so many things that the breath can influence,” says David “Jacko” Jackson, a breathwork expert and Master Instructor with Oxygen Advantage. Jacko, a former professional rugby player, has spent countless hours studying, researching, and practicing breathwork, or as he likes to call it, “breathing training.” 

Now you might find yourself thinking, “do I really need to train myself how to breathe? No way, it’s just breathing – it’s so easy!” And that’s where you’d be wrong.

Breathing correctly is actually something most people don’t know how to do, which is why we caught up with Jacko to find out what you can do to breathe, live and feel better. 

What Is Breathwork? 

“Effectively, we are training the breath or using the breath to train the body and mind,” says Jacko, who has been practicing breathwork since 2017 after a brain injury led him to the practice as part of his recovery. 

Breathwork, or breath training, is essentially defined as specifically designed exercises and techniques to help take your breathing from an automatic process to an intentional form of using your breath to support and enhance your mind and body. 

“Breathing is an automatic process, yet we have the beautiful ability to choose to change it. It's very simple and that is where its beauty lies,” says Jacko. “You are either breathing in, breathing out, or holding your breath. That’s it. One of those things is always happening. Life is happening as well, but one of those things is always there.

“The important point about breathwork and breath training, for me, is that we are changing habits and changing the brain response of breathing,” Jacko says. “We can then start to integrate new habits into our daily lives and routines, so it becomes part of what you do, rather than an extra ‘training session’ you have to fit into your weekly schedule. You’re always breathing, so there is always a place for some attention if you wish.”

How Does Breathwork Work? 

“The brain has only two components of your breath it can change to modify your breathing: the speed of your breathing (respiratory rate) or the size of the breath (tidal volume),” Jacko explains. 

“The amount of your breath in a minute (minute ventilation) is the multiplication of these two components. When we stop letting the breath take its automatic function, and choose to control and change either the speed, the size of the breath or hold the breath, we can influence our physiology.”

Breathwork works by changing the way you breathe by introducing you to simple breathing techniques that can increase your oxygen intake, improve sleep, reduce stress, boost circulation and even help you achieve your personal health and sporting goals. It’s geared toward just about everyone, whether you're a professional athlete, a weekend warrior, or just want to feel better, physically and mentally. 

Since breathwork doesn’t require any special equipment, it’s quite easy to reap the benefits with the tools you already have. 

“Everyone has a nose and a mouth. The basics start by simply choosing to ‘shut ya mouth’ and use your nose for what it’s designed to do as often as you can throughout any day,” Jacko explains.

The Benefits of Breathwork 

“How you breathe influences how you think, how you feel, how you move, and how you perform,” says Jacko. “It’s intimately linked with other autonomic functions within the body but the difference with the breath is that you can simply choose to take some control over it and change your physiology instantly.

“There are so many things that the breath can influence,” Jacko says. “Let’s start with some of the sporting benefits:

Simulated Altitude Training: “With things like breath-holding, we can simulate the same effects of altitude training. 

“Dropping blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels to around 83-88% is equivalent to 4,000 to 5,000m of altitude. This stimulates two responses where the body is trying to adapt to the low oxygen. Firstly, in the immediate response, the spleen, which acts like a blood bank, contracts to release more red blood cells into the system for anywhere from 10 minutes up to an hour. 

“The kidneys are also stimulated to produce more of the natural hormone EPO, or erythropoietin. Within 3 to 4 days, the increase in EPO maturates new red blood cells from the bone marrow. Studies from the European Journal of Applied Physiology showed we can produce up to a 20% increase in spleen contraction and a 24% increase in EPO production from just 5 breath-holds performed on exhalation for over 30 seconds on more. This is why one of the techniques I coach for athletes is exhale breath-holds during their warmups. It helps increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood in both the short and long term. It is also an up-regulator, which is excellent to prepare an athlete for a tough training session or competition.

Increased Carbon Dioxide Tolerance: “Other benefits that have been well researched focus on increasing carbon dioxide tolerance and how this can help improve VO2 max, lactate threshold, time to fatigue and repeat sprint-ability in sport and exercise. A 2018 study showed an increase in repeat sprint-ability between two separate groups of a factor of 10X improvement for the group using breath-holding techniques compared to the ‘normal breathing’ group over only a 4-week period. 

Improvements in Recovery: “We also see improvements in recovery both intra-training and post-training. When we have better control of our breath, we can manage airflow better which keeps us away from the inefficient mouth panting you’ll often see once someone has ‘gassed out.’ Equally, when we can control our exhalations, we can access the ‘relaxation response’ as slowing down our exhales releases a neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, which helps to lower your heart rate.

“Slowing down our exhales helps to promote parasympathetic activation of the autonomic nervous system which helps us recover from the sympathetic stress of training.” 

Convinced to try breathwork yet? No? Okay, how about some more benefits that’ll improve the way you live – even if you’re not an athlete: 

Reduction of Asthma Symptoms: “Nasal breathing has been shown to dramatically reduce asthma symptoms, improve sleep, naturally slow down breathing due to increased resistance of the nose, as well as improve brain wave functions, help manage stress and anxiety, balance blood pressure, improve Heart Rate Variability (HRV), improve digestion and I’m sure more!” Jacko continues. 

Improved Mood: “Breathwork has recently been shown in a 2023 study ‘to improve mood and physiological arousal more than mindfulness meditation.’ My belief is that through correct understanding and therefore practice of breath training, we not only get the benefits of ‘breathwork’ but also get the meditation benefits of being able to focus our attention and awareness,” Jacko concludes. 

How to Start Practicing Breathwork 

Breathwork requires only a nose, a mouth, lungs, and the willingness to learn. “The techniques we teach with the Oxygen Advantage are for anyone that is breathing – so that’s everyone,” Jacko says. 

If you’re interested in giving breathwork a try, you can check out some of Oxygen Advantage’s video tutorials, as well as Jacko’s free breath training courses that focus on the Foundations of Breathing and Breathwork for Stress and Anxiety. 

You can also sign up for the Oxygen Advantage blog and newsletter, both of which are excellent resources for diving into breath training. 

For more information on Jacko and breathwork, you can follow him on Instagram @jacko.david.jackson, or learn more about 1-on-1 breath coaching here.