Summary of Patrick McKeown's The Oxygen Advantage

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 Don, who was director of European operations in a leading American technology firm, had tried many things before, but he had never considered the relationship between physical capacity and correct breathing. He began practicing the exercises I gave him, and within days he felt better and had greater energy than ever before.

#2 Many athletes adopt the practice of taking deep breaths during rest and training, but this actually limits their performance. By breathing healthy amounts of air during resting periods, we ensure that the right amount of oxygen is powering our muscles, lungs, and heart.

#3 The respiratory system is the part of the body that delivers oxygen from the atmosphere to your cells and tissues and transports the carbon dioxide produced in your tissues back into the atmosphere. The lungs contain approximately 300 million alveoli, each of which is surrounded by tiny blood vessels called capillaries.

#4 The idea of taking bigger breaths to take in more oxygen is similar to telling an individual who is already eating enough food to provide their daily caloric needs that they need to eat more. Many have a hard time grasping this.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669356516

IRB Media

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Book preview

Insights on Patrick McKeown's The Oxygen Advantage

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Don, who was director of European operations in a leading American technology firm, had tried many things before, but he had never considered the relationship between physical capacity and correct breathing. He began practicing the exercises I gave him, and within days he felt better and had greater energy than ever before.

#2

Many athletes adopt the practice of taking deep breaths during rest and training, but this actually limits their performance. By breathing healthy amounts of air during resting periods, we ensure that the right amount of oxygen is powering our muscles, lungs, and heart.

#3

The respiratory system is the part of the body that delivers oxygen from the atmosphere to your cells and tissues and transports the carbon dioxide produced in your tissues back into the atmosphere. The lungs contain approximately 300 million alveoli, each of which is surrounded by tiny blood vessels called capillaries.

#4

The idea of taking bigger breaths to take in more oxygen is similar to telling an individual who is already eating enough food to provide their daily caloric needs that they need to eat more. Many have a hard time grasping this.

#5

The rate and volume of breathing is determined by receptors in the brain that monitor the concentration of carbon dioxide and oxygen in your blood, along with the acidity or pH level. When levels of carbon dioxide increase above a certain amount, these sensitive receptors stimulate breathing to get rid of the excess gas.

#6

Overbreathing is the habit of breathing in more air than your body requires. It can be done for short periods of time without any negative effects, but when done over an extended period of days to weeks, a biochemical change takes place inside you that results in an increased sensitivity to carbon dioxide.

#7

The benefits of light breathing are relatively unknown because it is difficult to measure air weight and breathing changes quickly and effortlessly during the measuring process. Doctors learn how oxygen is released from the red blood cells early on in their studies, so it is possible that this information is simply forgotten by the time of graduation.

#8

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the