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The Tim Ferriss Show

#829: James Nestor - Breathing Protocols to Reboot Your Health, Fix Your Sleep, and Boost Performance

with James Nestor

Published September 30, 2025
Visit Podcast Website

About This Episode

Tim Ferriss interviews science journalist James Nestor about how everyday breathing habits profoundly affect health, sleep, mental performance, and athletic capacity. They discuss historical and modern breathwork practices, the dangers of mouth breathing and sleep-disordered breathing (especially in kids), and simple, low-cost ways to improve nasal breathing, sleep quality, and CO2 tolerance. Nestor also explores indoor CO2 levels and cognition, the emerging field of bioelectric medicine, breathing for athletes, and how he approached structuring and writing his bestselling book "Breath."

Topics Covered

Breathwork Respiration Sleep ADHD Indoor air quality Bioelectric medicine Autonomic nervous system Stress management Travel and tourism Personal Development

Disclaimer: We provide independent summaries of podcasts and are not affiliated with or endorsed in any way by any podcast or creator. All podcast names and content are the property of their respective owners. The views and opinions expressed within the podcasts belong solely to the original hosts and guests and do not reflect the views or positions of Summapod.

Quick Takeaways

  • Chronic mouth breathing and sleep-disordered breathing in children strongly overlap with ADHD diagnoses, and many kids are never evaluated for their breathing or sleep before being medicated.
  • Becoming an obligate nasal breather day and night is the single most important step Nestor recommends for improving sleep, health, and performance.
  • Indoor CO2 levels in planes, hotels, schools, and offices often far exceed recommended limits and can sharply reduce cognitive function and increase fatigue and headaches.
  • Simple tools like taping the mouth at night, training side-sleeping, and modest bed inclines can significantly reduce snoring and some sleep apnea symptoms for many people.
  • Slow, coherent breathing at roughly 5-6 seconds in and 5-6 seconds out reliably improves heart rate variability and nervous system balance and mirrors patterns found in traditional prayers and mantras.
  • Most athletes breathe very inefficiently despite high performance; training diaphragmatic nasal breathing and CO2 tolerance can boost performance and speed recovery.
  • Breathing habits often deteriorate during focused work ("email apnea"), and using gentle resistance or cues can help maintain a calm, consistent rhythm under cognitive load.
  • Writing success for Nestor came from treating writing as a business, persisting through years of setbacks, and radically restructuring a massive draft into a coherent narrative anchored by one core experiment.

Podcast Notes

Introduction and James Nestor's background

Tim introduces the guest and his work

James Nestor's credentials and books[0:09]
• Tim describes James as a science journalist and author of the international bestseller "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art" with more than 3 million copies sold in 44 languages
• Mentions James's other books: "Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves" and "Get High Now Without Drugs"
Tim's long-standing interest in having James on the show[1:27]
• Tim says the book "Breath" came at him from many directions: friends, athletes, and doctors repeatedly recommended it
• He intentionally waited for the book to "slow bake" and saturate culture before inviting James on, so they could discuss what stuck and what James personally uses now

Opening context about breathing and sleep

Breathing and sleep quality as central themes[0:35]
• Tim notes the episode digs into specifics, especially around improving sleep and fine-tuning sleep quality via breathing practices

Historical breathwork and the story of Maurice Dubard

Who was Maurice Dubard and his connection to cold exposure and breathwork

James's discovery of Dubard[2:15]
• While researching hyperventilation breathwork practices, James randomly met someone at an event who told him about a mysterious 90-year-old man in the French Alps
• This man spent hours in the snow and swam in frozen lakes for decades and was a predecessor to Wim Hof
Dubard's health background and introduction to yoga breathing[4:32]
• Dubard was extremely sick as a child with various lung infections and respiratory disorders and was scheduled for surgery to remove part of his lungs
• A missionary who had been in the Far East visited and introduced him to yoga breathing techniques
• Dubard refused surgery for a few weeks to try the breathing practices, was considered crazy, but not only recovered, he gained remarkable strength
• James notes this was in the 1950s, showing Dubard was far ahead of the curve regarding breathwork and health
Dubard's extreme feats and link to Tummo[5:25]
• Tim lists Dubard's feats: touring the Himalayas on a bike at 71 at 5,000 meters elevation, sitting in ice water for 55 minutes, running 150 miles in the Sahara
• Tim says these stories trace back to a practice called Tummo

What is Tummo breathing and its variants

Traditional Tummo vs modern hyperventilation style[5:43]
• James describes Tummo from the Bon Buddhists as an ancient practice that allows generation and storage of heat in the body
• It was used as a survival technique by monks in the Himalayas to stay warm
• There is debate whether it is religious/spiritual or purely practical and mechanical to learn
Two main forms often called Tummo[5:25]
• Traditional Tummo uses very slow breathing, reduces metabolism, yet body heat increases, which James says "shouldn't be possible" but is observed
• A second, more commercial version uses intense hyperventilation with breath holds and internal pressure-building similar to Wim Hof's method; some still call it Tummo though it may not be classical Tummo

James's personal experimentation with Tummo-style breathing

Using hyperventilation methods to generate heat[6:50]
• James has practiced the commercial, hyperventilation-based version many times and still does it
• He says if you are cold in the ocean or snow, doing this breathing can rapidly raise body temperature; he has repeatedly seen people break into a sweat regardless of cold conditions
Traditional slower Tummo is secretive[7:30]
• James says instructions for the slower Tummo are hard to find and monks treat it as a guarded skill that may require years of practice in the Himalayas
• He knows dedicated practitioners going through progressive "levels" who get hints but then refuse to share details, telling him he must "do the work" himself

Description of Wim Hof-style breathing and its Tummo-like variant

Wim Hof method basics[8:27]
• James describes the Wim Hof method as roughly 30 extremely deep, fast breaths followed by a breath hold at neutral lung volume, then a big inhale held for about 30 seconds, repeated in cycles
Tummo-like modification[9:06]
• In the Tummo-style variant, the breath is held in (not at neutral), with pressure created in the body and arm movements used to compress like a piston with the diaphragm
• James insists anyone doing this will quickly sweat, regardless of cold, and says this has been demonstrated repeatedly
Tim's caution about cold exposure and breathwork[9:37]
• Tim believes his show hosted the first large public interview with Wim Hof and cautions listeners about aggressive cold exposure, mentioning documented cases of frostbite and lost digits
• He warns not to hike barefoot in deep snow or practice hyperventilation techniques in water due to drowning risk

James's personal health journey and discovery of breathwork

Chronic respiratory issues despite healthy lifestyle

Health status before breathwork[10:15]
• About 12 years ago, James felt he had diet, exercise, and sleep dialed in: eating the right foods, sleeping 8 hours, and exercising frequently
• Despite this, he had chronic respiratory problems: frequent pneumonia and bronchitis while living in San Francisco and surfing a lot
• Doctors repeatedly prescribed antibiotics (e.g., Z-Paks), which he took for years without understanding the downside
Escalation of symptoms[10:41]
• His breathing deteriorated to the point he could hear himself breathing at night and during workouts, signaling something was deeply wrong

First breathwork experience: Sudarshan Kriya

Referral to breathwork[11:12]
• A doctor friend told him he needed to do breathwork; he had never done breathwork before and had zero interest despite living in San Francisco
• He eventually tried it and reports he has not had those recurring respiratory issues since, which convinced him there was a real biological signal worth pursuing
Sudarshan Kriya details and powerful reaction[12:23]
• The first technique he used and still practices is called Sudarshan Kriya, taught through The Art of Living organization
• He describes the surrounding workshop practices (such as long, unblinking eye contact with strangers) as very uncomfortable for him, though others benefited
• He almost quit the workshop but decided to stay and try the core breathing practice
• During the breathing session, which is not especially intense by design, his body reacted so strongly that he was drenched in sweat from sitting in a cold, dark room simply breathing in a set rhythm
• This extreme physiological response made him wonder what was being "unleashed" and what else was bottled up, prompting deep curiosity about breathing practices

Breathing as interface between conscious and autonomic systems

Tim's framing of breathing's uniqueness[11:48]
• Tim highlights that breathing is both autonomous and under conscious control, acting as an "API" between conscious processes and the autonomic nervous system

ADHD, children, and sleep-disordered breathing

Post-book experiences and emerging concern about kids

Audience reactions after "Breath" launched[18:35]
• The book came out during lockdown, and James spent a year and a half doing 3-5 podcasts a day, then began speaking at medical schools, banks, hedge funds, and more
• After each talk, long lines of people approached him, often angry that they had to learn breathing basics from a journalist instead of their doctors
• People complained about children being sick for years, persistent asthma, snoring, and sleep apnea that they felt could have been addressed if breathing had been considered earlier
The ADHD and sleep-disordered breathing overlap[20:53]
• James says many researchers have pointed out that when you look at children with sleep-disordered breathing (snoring, apnea, nocturnal breathing dysfunction) and children diagnosed with ADHD, the two groups almost completely overlap
• He reports some researchers argue that ADHD, in many cases, is actually sleep deprivation from breathing problems rather than an independent neurological condition
• He is shocked that kids presenting with ADHD symptoms are rarely assessed for breathing or sleep and instead are simply given drugs and sent away, which he calls "criminal"

How parents can assess children's breathing at home

Simple in-home checks for kids[21:24]
• He urges parents to first observe whether their child is a mouth breather during the day, even if not constantly
• At night, parents should sneak into the child's room after they fall asleep and listen closely: if they can hear breathing, the child is struggling
• If a child breathes through the mouth during sleep or snores, they are impairing physical growth, causing neurological damage, and increasing long-term risks such as diabetes, according to the research James cites
Use of snore-tracking apps as a first signal[22:45]
• James suggests using smartphone apps that record nighttime audio and generate a snoring/breathing graph and score as a quick, free way to get an initial signal of problems

Interventions: nasal breathing and mouth tape

Becoming an obligate nasal breather[24:27]
• James calls obligatory nasal breathing the number one step; without it, he doubts most symptoms can be significantly reduced
• He advises building the nasal breathing habit in the daytime first so it can gradually extend into sleep
Mouth taping approaches for adults and children[26:10]
• Adults can use small pieces of gentle tape over the lips at night; James emphasizes that only a tiny strip is needed to keep the mouth lightly closed
• He notes many parents find the idea of taping kids' mouths scary, so he mentions an around-the-mouth elastic tape product designed to gently encourage lips to stay closed, even allowing speech and mouth opening if needed
• James considers this kind of around-the-mouth training tape a game changer and reports many parents seeing bedwetting resolve and ADHD-like symptoms disappear within about two weeks of converting kids to nasal breathing
• He frames these dramatic changes as consistent with the science that unfragmented, high-quality sleep allows bodily systems to repair and neurologic function to normalize

James's own long-term use of mouth tape

How he started and adapted[29:39]
• He first saw a large roll of tape on a breathing and sleep therapist's desk at Stanford; she said she prescribed it to everyone as sleep tape
• Skeptical but curious, he researched it online, found the material available seemed crazy, yet started using it at night immediately (a practice he does not recommend starting that abruptly)
• The first two weeks were miserable, but after getting over the hump he has worn tape almost every night for about seven years and now finds it hard to sleep without it
• He notes missing tape a few nights made him feel an immediate difference, visible as worse sleep scores on tracking devices

Indoor CO2, cognition, and air quality

Discovery of indoor CO2 as an overlooked health factor

Prompt to investigate CO2 levels[31:27]
• Around three and a half years ago, a researcher suggested James, as the "breath guy", should look at indoor CO2 levels by carrying a monitor
• Initially unconcerned, he then found decades of governmental and academic research showing cognitive and health effects from elevated indoor CO2
Research findings on CO2 and cognition[32:06]
• Outdoor CO2 is about 424-425 ppm, but in indoor environments levels often reach triple that (around 1,500 ppm) or more
• Studies in schools show that at ~1,500 ppm some cognitive test scores drop by about 50%; at ~2,500 ppm people suffer headaches and chronic migraines and further declines in cognition
• At 5,000 ppm, research shows serious cognitive disability and acute health concerns

Airplanes and hotels as high-CO2 environments

Typical CO2 on airplanes[33:16]
• James measured CO2 on many flights and found typical values near 2,500 ppm, which he associates with why people suddenly get sleepy on planes despite not actually being tired
• He links post-flight feelings of being hungover, jet-lagged, or drowsy to low oxygen and high CO2 rather than just time zones
Hotel design and recirculated air[35:05]
• James notes most people spend ~90% of their time indoors, yet building design increasingly focuses on sealing windows to save on heating and cooling costs
• He recalls that hotels used to allow windows to open slightly, but many now glue or lock them shut to avoid legal issues and minimize energy use
• He measures CO2 in every hotel and finds that the supposedly green, "certified" and more expensive hotels often have the worst air, including waking up in a room at 2,800 ppm CO2
• Hotels recirculate air from rooms instead of bringing in fresh outside air to save money, which he calls "breath backwash"

Mitigation strategies for indoor CO2 when traveling

Choosing hotels with opening windows[37:08]
• James's practical solution is to call ahead and explicitly ask if hotel windows can be opened at least a little; he books only those that allow some opening
Balancing outdoor pollution vs indoor CO2[38:46]
• Tim asks when outdoor air might be worse than indoor recirculated air (e.g., heavily polluted cities); James admits he has not fully studied that tradeoff
• James hypothesizes that in many high-floor hotel situations with extremely high indoor CO2, opening the window may still confer net acute benefits for cognition and recovery despite outdoor pollution, though he acknowledges variables

Travel routines, sleep environment, and basic tools

James's travel kit for sleep and recovery

Lighting and circadian considerations[40:09]
• He carries red nightlights and sometimes small red light bulbs so that the only light source in hotel rooms at night is low-level red light, helping protect circadian rhythms after long flights
Cold showers and supplements[41:29]
• He likes to take a cold shower before bed, especially when jet-lagged, to aid sleep and recovery
• He routinely travels with vitamin D, K2, and vitamin E, plus additional supplements in case he feels something coming on or contracts an illness like COVID while on the road
Sleep tape as essential gear[42:54]
• He emphasizes that sleep tape is more important in his suitcase than a toothbrush; if he forgets it, he will walk late at night to buy any kind of tape to substitute

Gradual adaptation to mouth tape

Stepwise acclimation strategy[44:35]
• James advises people not to jump straight into full-night mouth taping but to start by wearing tape for 10 minutes during tasks like email, then 20 minutes, then an hour, building comfort over about two weeks
• After acclimating during the day, he suggests using tape for short naps (e.g., 15 minutes) before progressing to overnight use

Bioelectric medicine, PEMF, and frequency devices

Exploring electric and frequency-based therapies

Skepticism and research requirements[46:44]
• James has spent about six years exploring electric medicine and found most marketed devices to be useless or unsupported by biological testing
• He warns that if a device hasn't been tested at least on cells or biological tissue, people should ignore marketing claims
PEMF as an example of maturing tech[46:32]
• He notes that pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapies were once considered quackery but are now used widely in offices, especially for pain management
• He mentions significant historical research into bioelectric therapies in the 1950s and 1960s, including work done in Russia
Personal use of a small frequency device[46:32]
• James describes using a compact device with about 40 preset programs (e.g., grounding, Schumann resonance, cardiovascular, respiratory), which he feels has been a "complete game changer" anecdotally
• He and several others using similar devices have observed remarkable effects that they are trying to disentangle from placebo and to validate with objective data

Suggested reading on bioelectric medicine

Foundational books and researchers[51:55]
• James recommends "The Body Electric" by Robert O. Becker as a foundational book on bioelectricity in biology
• He cites Michael Levin's work at Tufts, noting experiments where electrical signaling can induce salamanders or frogs to grow extra heads, limbs, or even eyes in abnormal locations, demonstrating powerful effects of bioelectric cues
• He argues that if such frequencies can dramatically alter morphology in amphibians, then humans are also likely affected by electrical and frequency patterns, implying a large, underexploited therapeutic domain

Breathing for athletes, CO2 tolerance, and training tools

Athletes' interest in breath and common dysfunctions

Why athletes are adopting breath training[54:53]
• James says athletes are among the most engaged with breathing because they are comfortable with discomfort and see breath as leverage to outperform competitors
• Big-wave surfers have long trained breath-hold capacity because wipeouts require surviving long periods underwater
• Many other sports (running, rowing, baseball, football, soccer) have only recently begun to focus seriously on breath training
Most athletes breathe inefficiently[56:25]
• Elite trainers James knows say breathing is the number one thing they now work on with athletes
• Despite high performance, most athletes breathe dysfunctionally, often relying on shallow upper-chest breathing with minimal diaphragm engagement
• Inefficient breathing forces them to take many small breaths, wasting energy, increasing heart rate, and limiting endurance
• When athletes learn to take fewer, deeper breaths engaging the diaphragm (e.g., 10-20 breaths per minute instead of 40-100 under exertion), heart rate decreases, tolerance and performance increase, and recovery time shortens

Bolt score (body oxygen level test) and CO2 tolerance

What the Bolt score measures[58:51]
• The Bolt score stands for body oxygen level test and estimates CO2 tolerance and breathing efficiency based on how long you can hold your breath after a normal exhale until you feel the first urge to breathe
How to perform the Bolt score test[1:00:28]
• James instructs Tim (and listeners) to relax shoulders, face, and tongue, breathe normally in and out of the nose three times, then after a natural exhale, pinch the nose and hold the breath
• You stop holding the breath at the first distinct urge to breathe (e.g., diaphragm twitch, swallow, noticeable discomfort) and measure elapsed seconds; it is not a competition, but a self-assessment
• He emphasizes not cheating by hyperventilating beforehand or exhaling forcefully; breaths should be normal and the exhale to neutral lung volume
Interpreting and improving Bolt scores[1:02:25]
• As people train slower, deeper breathing and become more efficient, Bolt scores can often double or triple over weeks, though there is individual variation
• Scores vary during the day: they are lower when tired, jet-lagged, or stressed, and higher when well-rested and relaxed

Breathing biomechanics and posture in sport

Retraining mechanics[1:03:45]
• James says many people have lost the ability to breathe properly and advocates retraining ribcage expansion and full, deep breaths that change posture
• Athletes are coached to maintain these better mechanics while performing sport-specific movements, integrating breath with posture and motion
Examples of elite athletes using breath[1:04:43]
• James points to LeBron James, who can often be seen doing breathwork such as alternate nostril breathing and visible diaphragmatic breathing during breaks in games

Everyday work, email apnea, and simple breathing tools

Email apnea and breathing during focused work

How focus disrupts breathing[1:07:41]
• James observes that when he becomes extremely focused on writing, his breathing patterns deteriorate, a phenomenon known as "email apnea"
• He notes the NIH studied this for about 20 years, finding that breath-holding during stress or focus increases blood pressure, causes headaches, and can lead to chronic issues

Using gentle resistance devices as cues

Handheld breathing resistance tool[1:07:41]
• James keeps a small, adjustable resistance breathing device on his desk; when working intensely, he often holds it in his mouth to create slight exhalation resistance
• The slight resistance forces him to breathe more slowly and rhythmically, preventing unconsciously held breath or rapid shallow breathing
• He sometimes breathes in through his nose and out through the device to lengthen the exhale, aiming for an exhale roughly twice as long as the inhale to promote parasympathetic activation

Writing career, writer's block, and constructing "Breath"

San Francisco Writers Grotto and learning the business

What the Writers Grotto was[1:13:13]
• James describes the San Francisco Writers Grotto as a shared office for professional writers (magazine and book authors) who wanted to work in small offices and socialize at lunch
• Members included established writers such as Po Bronson and others; over time, as magazine incomes declined, wealthier "writers" who could pay rent but weren't career writers joined, diluting the original culture
Key lessons from that community[1:14:33]
• He learned to view writing as a business rather than a purely artistic pursuit and to treat it as a real job requiring a business-minded approach
• Other writers taught him how to find and talk to agents, deal with publishers, and navigate difficulties when publishers were unresponsive or unhelpful

Views on writer's block and professional writing

Writer's block as a luxury[1:16:20]
• James believes writer's block is often a convenient excuse for people who want attention or an out from doing the work
• He says every professional writer he knows who relies solely on writing for income has never experienced writer's block, whereas many hobbyists who call themselves writers at parties claim chronic block
• When you must write to pay the mortgage and support a family, you simply sit down and do it whether or not you feel inspired; deadlines and financial necessity override block

Leaving corporate work to pursue writing full-time

Corporate background and side writing[1:18:27]
• James worked for years as head of an editorial department in a corporate setting, writing and editing as a well-paid, respected employee
• On nights and weekends he wrote magazine articles purely on topics that fascinated him, using them as an excuse to meet unusual people and explore odd worlds
The abrupt decision to quit[1:19:26]
• At a performance review around 2009, while his boss was praising his work, James suddenly felt a visceral dread and blurted out "I quit" without planning it
• He left to pursue freelance writing, but soon after the financial crisis hit, his magazine and book contracts collapsed, leading to very difficult years
• He could have returned to corporate work but felt that if he did not give writing a full attempt at that point, he would never do it and would never be happy

Breakthrough with freediving story and "Deep"

Assignment that changed his trajectory[1:21:26]
• Outside magazine sent him to cover the world freediving championships in Greece; watching divers descend to 350 feet on one breath for four minutes profoundly moved him
• He emailed his editor saying there was a larger story beyond the assigned article; the article made a splash and led to a book deal that provided some financial stability
Lessons from "Deep" and publisher disappointment[1:23:05]
• The freediving book "Deep" earned him a substantial advance, but when sales did not meet publisher expectations in the first two weeks, promotional support was effectively cut off
• His editor stopped returning calls, leaving him heartbroken not only financially but relationally, and teaching him not to rely on publishers for promotion
• In hindsight he would have hired an external PR agency rather than trusting the publisher's in-house publicists, and now treats such gaps as his responsibility to fill

Structuring and cutting "Breath" from 290,000 to ~85,000 words

Overwriting and being lost in research[1:32:17]
• While working on "Breath" he accumulated around 290,000 words of manuscript and felt deeply lost, with his wife and agent both nervous about the sprawling research into catacombs and dental history
Retreat to a cabin and the role of boredom[1:33:37]
• He rented a house in the woods with no nearby distractions, believing that boredom is a powerful muse; there he thought about the book night and day until patterns and connections emerged
• He says in some projects the structure almost falls into place, but with this book it took months of immersion before he could "see the matrix" of the narrative
Key structural breakthrough: the Stanford breathing experiment[1:34:53]
• At Stanford he conducted a 20-day experiment: 10 days forced mouth breathing with his nose plugged, then 10 days of strictly nasal breathing, while tracking extensive physiological data
• Initially he saw this as a short section near the end of the book, but his agent and editor insisted it become the main narrative spine through which the rest of the material was woven
• They advised telling the first three-quarters of the book through that experiment, branching to other stories from it; once he accepted this, he quickly sketched a new outline and recognized it as the solution
• With that skeleton in place, cutting the manuscript down to about 85,000 words became largely mechanical work of fitting material to the structure

Coherent breathing, prayer, and final practical advice

Prayer, mantras, and the 5-6 second breath

Research on prayers and HRV[1:36:01]
• James describes Italian researchers about 20+ years ago who studied the breathing patterns of various prayers: a Buddhist mantra, a Kundalini chant, and the Catholic rosary
• They found these practices naturally produced exhalations of about 5-6 seconds while reciting and inhalations of about 5-6 seconds during pauses, creating a slow, even rhythm
• Measuring participants, they observed large increases in heart rate variability, reductions in blood pressure, more oxygen in the brain, and an overall state of physiological coherence
Coherent breathing without religious framing[1:38:09]
• The researchers called this pattern "coherent breathing"; James emphasizes you don't need to pray to get the benefits-simply breathe in for 5-6 seconds and out for 5-6 seconds
• He notes that if you track heart rate variability in real time with a device, you can see the positive effects of this breathing pattern within seconds

Focus on basics before advanced breathwork

Critique of breathwork culture[1:39:11]
• James observes that breathwork has become a booming scene with retreats, schools, classes, and even fashion, but worries it complicates and gatekeeps something that already belongs to everyone
• He stresses that his book is mostly about everyday breathing as a biological function, not about elaborate breathwork sessions
• He says about 90% of people have some form of breathing dysfunction, and the most powerful step is to become a "normal breather," which is simple, natural, and often overlooked
Advice to master foundational breathing habits[1:40:15]
• He compares people who attend intense breathwork workshops but still mouth-breathe and snore afterwards to culinary students who only learn to make desserts but never cook nutritious food
• James suggests first normalizing day-to-day breathing-especially nasal breathing and calm, efficient patterns-before diving into hardcore breathwork modalities

Additional sleep optimization suggestions

Measuring and correcting nighttime breathing[1:41:15]
• James recommends using wearables and snore-recording apps for at least a week to identify mouth breathing, snoring, and apneic events as a first step in sleep troubleshooting
• He reiterates gradually transitioning to nasal breathing by day and then using taping methods (including around-the-mouth tape for those uncomfortable with direct lip taping) to maintain nasal breathing at night
Sleep position and simple mechanical tweaks[1:43:43]
• He suggests positional training: sewing or taping a soft object (such as a sock or small ball) to the back of a T-shirt to discourage back sleeping, pushing the person to stay on their side
• He explains that most lung expansion occurs toward the back, so lying supine can inhibit breathing; this is similar to how prone positioning helped many COVID patients in hospitals
• He also mentions incline bed therapy, raising the head of the bed by about six inches, as a potential aid for some people with snoring or apnea
• He clarifies that sometimes sleep trouble is primarily psychological (stress, racing thoughts), but he urges getting physiological breathing issues addressed first as a foundation

Closing and where to find James online

James's current online presence

Stepping back from and returning to social media[1:45:37]
• James took about a year off all social media to reboot, and is now slowly returning, including having an Instagram account under a handle based on "Mr. James Nestor"
Website and resources[1:45:52]
• He directs people to his website, which hosts breathing protocols, breathwork audio tracks, and other free resources that listeners can access by signing up

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

Foundation first: normalize your everyday breathing-especially nasal, diaphragmatic, slow breathing-before chasing advanced or extreme breathwork practices.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What are the specific situations in my day where I default to mouth breathing or shallow chest breathing?
  • • How could I design a simple, low-friction habit (like nasal-only walks or a pre-sleep breathing routine) to retrain my breathing pattern over the next month?
  • • Which advanced practices or workshops am I tempted by right now, and what basic breathing behaviors should I master first to get more benefit from them?
2

Sleep-disordered breathing can masquerade as many other problems-especially in children-so you should rule out breathing and sleep issues before assuming purely psychological or neurological causes.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Who in my family (including me) consistently snores, mouth breathes, or wakes up unrefreshed, and have we ever actually measured or observed their sleep?
  • • How might my interpretation of a child's restlessness, attention issues, or mood change if I viewed them through the lens of possible sleep deprivation from poor breathing?
  • • What is one concrete step I can take this week (such as a simple nighttime audio recording or observation) to start assessing sleep and breathing instead of guessing?
3

Your environment, especially indoor air quality and CO2 levels, quietly shapes your cognition, mood, and recovery; controlling it is a powerful performance lever.

Reflection Questions:

  • • In which spaces do I spend the most time (home office, bedroom, car, plane, gym), and how might elevated CO2 or stale air be affecting me without my noticing?
  • • What low-cost changes-like opening windows when possible, adding ventilation, or choosing different hotels-could meaningfully improve the air I'm breathing every day?
  • • How could I build a simple routine for checking or improving air quality in the places where I need to think clearly and recover fastest?
4

Treating creative work as a business-owning promotion, structure, and timelines-reduces fragility and makes you far more likely to survive setbacks and finish ambitious projects.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Where in my current projects am I passively assuming that someone else (a company, platform, or partner) will handle critical pieces like promotion or distribution?
  • • How might my decisions change if I viewed myself as the CEO of my creative work, responsible for everything from product quality to marketing and sales?
  • • What is one uncomfortable but important business skill (outlining, pitching, hiring help, or marketing) I could deliberately practice in the next 30 days?
5

Structured experimentation and measurement-whether with breathing, sleep, or performance-turn vague ideas into actionable insight and personal conviction.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Which health or performance problem am I currently complaining about but not actually measuring in any objective way?
  • • How can I design a simple, time-bounded experiment (for example, two weeks of nasal-only breathing at night with before-and-after tracking) to test one hypothesis?
  • • What tools or logs (sleep scores, symptom journals, performance metrics) could I start using tomorrow to turn my experiments into real feedback instead of guesswork?
6

Slow, coherent breathing is a reliable, always-available tool to shift your nervous system toward balance and improve resilience under stress.

Reflection Questions:

  • • In which recurring stressful situations (meetings, travel, conflict, deep work) would a 5-minute coherent breathing break realistically fit without disrupting my schedule?
  • • How does my body and mind feel after just 3-5 minutes of 5-6 second inhales and exhales, and what does that suggest about using it more deliberately?
  • • What cue-like a calendar reminder, a phone wallpaper, or a pre-meeting ritual-could I set up to remind myself to use coherent breathing instead of defaulting to reactivity?

Episode Summary - Notes by Reagan

#829: James Nestor - Breathing Protocols to Reboot Your Health, Fix Your Sleep, and Boost Performance
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