Breathing is something we do automatically and take little notice of throughout our day. In moments when you’re under pressure, you’ve probably told yourself to ‘just breathe’. We know in theory that breathing can control how we feel, but how much do we really understand about the power of breathwork? This weel I’m joined by breathing expert, peak performance coach and host of BBC Radio 1’s Decompression Session, Stuart Sandeman. Stuart’s new book Breathe In, Breathe Out, gives readers simple yet effective exercises that are guaranteed to charge you up, help you relax and improve your performance. Stuart says people often say they are too busy to improve their breathing, but he believes it is something we should make time for. “If you are doing something 20,000 times a day, would you not want to know if you’re doing it right? If you’re doing any other task that many times, surely, you’d like to know a bit more about that task Especially when it is linked to our energy levels, our stress levels, how we sleep, how we digest our food. All these things that are so important day to day.” Knowing how to breathe properly can also improve our fitness levels. Learning some good techniques isn’t just for Olympic athletes. Stuart says it can also help those trying to get into a new fitness regime but always find themselves breathless. “Our breathing has a direct correlation to our fitness levels. The two reasons you may not be able to go that extra round or extra mile would be either because you have muscle pain, lactic acid has built up, which is to do with breathing. Or, you have a feeling of breathlessness so much so you can’t carry on... Both of those are things we can fine tune and improve quite dramatically.” We also discuss if hormonal contraception can impact women when training and how female body composition differs from men. For more episodes, tips and advice from the show just go to: www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-re…health-podcast/ And you can get in touch - I’m @KarlHenryPT on Instagram and [email protected]. Don’t forget to rate, review and follow on Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts from. The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

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