The One Exercise To Tell If You're Breathing Right + 3 Tips To Strengthen It

We've discussed the importance of breath time and again here at mbg—but how do you know if you're actually breathing correctly? Unless you have a diagnosed dysfunctional breathing pattern, it can be difficult to tell if there's room for improvement. 

Enter, breathing expert and bestselling author Patrick McKeown. On this episode of the mindbodygreen podcast, he shares a helpful exercise to assess your respiratory strength, and it doesn't require any health-tracking wearables or gadgets—just a simple timer to clock how long you can hold your breath. 

"We typically use breath hold time as an indicator of functional breathing patterns," says McKeown. What does this mean? Well, the longer you can hold your breath, the less likely you are to have dysfunctional breathing. Research backs it up, too: According to a study by physical therapist Kyle Kiesel, P.T., Ph.D., participants who were able to hold their breath for more than 25 seconds had an 89% chance that dysfunctional breathing was not present1. 

"If you have a person with a score of about 25 seconds, they typically will have a [functional] respiratory rate," McKeown explains. "We're talking about 10 to 14 breaths per minute. And if they have a score of 30 to 35 seconds, they'll typically have a respiratory rate between maybe eight and 10 breaths per minute." 

If you received a low score on the breath test, don't panic: There's much you can do to strengthen your respiratory rate. 

"No. 1, nose breathe, all the time," says McKeown.

See, breathing through your nose actually allows you to retain more oxygen, as your sinuses release a huge boost of nitric oxide—a molecule that plays an essential role in increasing circulation and delivering oxygen into cells. Whenever you can, breathe through your nose—even when you're sleeping, if you're able. 

"No. 2, do all of your physical exercise with the mouth closed," McKeown continues. Now, this does relate back to point No. 1, but it's an important point to emphasize in terms of performance. 

"When you do physical exercise with your mouth closed, your muscles are generating carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide increases in the blood because it cannot leave the body so quickly," he says. "As carbon dioxide increases, you feel an increased air hunger." Once your body adapts to the practice (it takes about four to six weeks, says McKeown), your body should adapt to tolerating a higher pressure of carbon dioxide, "and you'll have less breathlessness during physical exercise." 

Finally, McKeown suggests breath-holding exercises—similar to the testing exercise above. "If you are healthy, you're not pregnant, and you've got no serious medical conditions, do some breath holds," he says. "For example, you take a normal breath in and out through your nose and pinch your nose and hold. Then start walking with the breath hold and go into a jog. Keep going until the air hunger is quite strong, and then let go."