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Episode details

World Service,19 Oct 2021,26 mins

The lost art of breathing

The Documentary

Available for over a year

After recovering from pneumonia for the third time, journalist James Nestor took decisive action to improve his lungs. He questioned why so many humans - and only humans - have to contend with stuffy noses, snoring, asthma, allergies, sinusitis and sleep apnoea, to name but a few. James hears remarkable stories of others who have changed their lives through the power of breath. His deep dive into the unconscious and oft-ignored act of human respiration offers us all a way to breathe easier. With contributions from Dr Richard Brown, who worked with 9/11 survivors; Dr Margaret Chesney, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco on screen apnoea; Mandar Apte and Rosa Lagunas on Sudarshan Kriya Yoga; Chuck McGee III on the Wim Hof Method; Dr Andrew Hubermann, professor of neurobiology at Stanford University on the brain-body relationship and Dr Kevin Boyd, paediatric dentist, on the changes to the human skull. (Photo: Journalist James Nestor)

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