Airborne dangers: why breath should not be taken for granted

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At the start of 2020, a small team of scientists tried and failed to convince public health organisations that COVID-19 was spread through the air we breathe. Until then, scientists thought that respiratory diseases spread through droplets, and that these droplets had a limited range. Coughed up, these droplets fell quickly to the ground, to use the disgusting terminology of the 1990s which health officials use while speaking about tuberculosis. In reality, however, breath has been a medium of transmission of most invisible things.

Such new insights into the living atmosphere were revealed courtesy of Carl Zimmer, through his book Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life we Breathe. The text follows the research of Louis Pasteur who caught germs from the air, and pursues groundbreaking experiments by Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. It warns the world about airborne infections, and chronicles the dark side of aerobiology designed to spread anthrax, smallpox, and an array of other pathogens. Rather than be taken for granted, the importance of the natural process of human breath is once again established.

Protecting the most vital of all life processes calls for a well-thought-out strategy. Breath is in itself of immense value — one breath in and one breath out is the manifestation of life. A breath alone brings a newborn to life, the body turns pink as the first breath gets in. And, the last breath accounts for life. The power that ripples through the whole universe comes in the form of breath.

It is an intuitive act of inhaling and exhaling, which is repeated 25,000 times a day. This natural act, often taken for granted, is counted as a necessary biological activity. It is precious and more than just an exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. ‘Breath,’ says Prem Rawat, ‘is the greatest mystery, out of nowhere it comes to nowhere it goes.’ In his book, Breath: Wake Up to Life, Rawat writes that breath is the beginning of life, the sustaining of life, and when it ceases, it is also the end of life.

The invaluable gift

Breath is an invaluable gift, but only if it is taken that way. Traditional practices related to breathing value breath and even try to prolong and preserve it. Sage Patanjali has his pranayama practices that add value to age-old breathing practices that have gained popularity among the health conscious. Buddha counted breath as an essential link between the human body and consciousness. The breathing process has many hidden features that are gaining wide acceptance. That breath fuels all life forms and extinguishes it too, is a lived reality. The natural act of breathing, now counted as a biological privilege, is a precious gift given in abundance.

Breathing must be correctively done because nine out of 10 people don’t breathe correctly — aggravating a laundry list of chronic diseases, according to James Nestor. It is surprising that hospitals only deal with breathing emergencies related to specific maladies of the lungs. It is only in recent years that breathing as a branch of medical emergencies has been acknowledged.

The correct way to breathe

The way to correct breathing is an individual responsibility, but to think that it is a pretty simple act that is well understood could be a fallacy. Only by following a tough breathing regime could four hours of daily snoring be just 10 minutes. For this incredible change to happen, one has to go through an awful experience of forcefully breathing through the mouth for the first 10 days, and revert to nasal breathing for another 10 days with lips sealed with a piece of tape. The longer one breathes through the nose, the nasal cavities get clearer and bigger, writes Nestor in his new book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art.

Inhaling-exhaling techniques have been around for several millennia. Over the years, however, these techniques are being rediscovered and scientifically validated. “The fruits of this once-fringe, often forgotten research are now redefining the potential of the human body,” explains Nestor. Limited but cutting-edge research in pulmology, psychology, biochemistry, and physiology has already demonstrated that many modern maladies — asthma, anxiety, psoriasis — could either be reduced or reversed simply by changing the way we inhale and exhale.

Stories on the magical aspects of breathing abound in the world of yoga practitioners, as the popularity of yoga in the past two decades has brought a large number of huffing and puffing exponents in public spaces. Whether or not they are breathing better remains to be ascertained. From alternate nostril breathing to breathing coordination, and from resonant breathing to Buteyko breathing — all techniques of breathing impact human health and longevity.

Nestor raises hopes of revolutionising the health sector by generating a renewed interest in breathing techniques to act as a preventive medicine that helps in retaining balance in the body such that milder problems don’t end up being serious health issues. However, modern medicine has yet to take serious note of this wisdom generated by Buddhist monks over two millennia ago. If face is the index of mind, breath is the indicator of human well-being.

Sudhirendar Sharma is an independent writer, researcher and academic.