Healthy Breathing Cofactors - Understanding, Assessing, and Optimizing How You Breathe

Most of us never stop to think about how well we breathe. Breathing happens automatically, so it’s easy to assume it’s working fine. But over the years, stress, posture, lifestyle, illness, and modern habits quietly change how we breathe. These changes often go unnoticed until they begin to affect our energy, health, sleep, focus, and overall quality of life.

Healthy breathing isn’t just about inhaling and exhaling. It’s about how efficiently and sustainably we breathe, every second, every day. Let’s analyze the limitations of traditional lung measurements, how poor breathing connects to many health challenges, and what it really means to move towards optimal breathing.

Why Measuring Breathing is Complex

Contemporary lung volume measurements are largely cross-sectional, meaning they compare you to population averages rather than tracking your individual breathing changes over time.  

A 1997 research paper points out that "from one low measurement of FEV1 (forced exhalation volume) in an adult, it is impossible to determine whether the reduced lung function is due to not having achieved a high maximum during early adulthood, or to having an accelerated rate of decline or to any combination of these." This means that reference equations used for diagnosis must be appropriate to the individual, not just statistically “normal.”

When “Normal” Isn’t Optimal

The lack of insight into optimal breathing affects our understanding of the human ability to breathe the right way.

This misunderstanding goes far beyond numbers. Some people are more breathing-challenged than others. Yet they may be perceived as “equal” or, worse, “unequal”. As a result, they may never receive the guidance needed to offset their reduced “breathability.” 

One Common Thread Across Many Conditions: Poor Breathing

People come to us every day with multiple or even contradictory diagnoses.

The good news?

We do not treat illness. We help people breathe better.

Conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma, COPD, pneumonia, emphysema, spasmodic dysphonia, stuttering, laryngitis, anxiety, stage fright, and chronic stress all share a common factor: poor breathing mechanics.

Breathing is often addressed last, when in reality, it should be addressed first.

Quantifying Breathing

We actively quantify breathing by observing:

• What it looks like
• What it sounds like
• What it feels like

Data from our Free Breathing Test shows the relationships between our Optimal Breathing criteria and various stages of breathing capability and their relation to states of health, well-being, and longevity.

This information helps us guide people into various directions that we feel will help them breathe easier, stronger, deeper and smoother with increased breathing volume and vitality. 

Our approach is longitudinal, not generic. If someone has an illness, we suggest certain exercises, techniques, or information that might help their breathing and thus positively affect their condition. The goal is not to focus on illness or weakness, but on empowerment, mental clarity, and inner strength.

Identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, and Right Solutions

What are YOUR strengths and weaknesses related to breathing? How do we assess them? How do we recommend solutions? How do we track progress? 

Breathing solutions require repetition, just like breathing requires repetition. Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes it permanent. 

Doing the wrong technique can delay progress, reverse gains, and negatively impact health and longevity.

Unfortunately, there are many self-proclaimed “experts” offering advice without a true understanding of healthy breathing.

So take the Breathing Test, use the Optimal Breathing Self-Mastery Kit, practice the exercises and techniques regularly, and share what you learn with others. 

As Dr. Sheldon Hendler, MD, PhD, stated:

“Breathing is the FIRST place, not the last, that one should address when any sign of disordered energy presents itself.”

One of our clients shared his personal experience: 

“I’ve understood the value of real normal breathing to quality of life, growth, and evolvement. I believe that many of today’s diseases could improve, or even fade away, by breathing as nature intended. Our increasingly complicated lifestyles create confusion within and lead to breathing deformities. And I could go on…”

Yes, modern life has altered how we breathe, often without us realizing it.

How Good Is Your Breathing?

Ask yourself, do you experience any of the following?

• Shallow or labored breathing
• High chest or reverse breathing
• Breath holding or gasping
• Mouth breathing
• Tightness across the chest
• More than 6–8 resting breaths per minute
• Poor sleep or constant fatigue
• Anxiety, anger, or hyperventilation
• Blue-tinted lips or fingernails
• Asthma or COPD symptoms
• Poor posture or chronic pain
• Difficulty singing

If so, your breathing may be limiting your health more than you realize. Here’s the next step towards better breathing:

1. Take our Free Breathing Test. 
2. Subscribe to our free newsletter for more insights. 
3. Explore our Optimal Breathing Self-Mastery Kit, a comprehensive breathing development program designed to help you develop your breathing quickly and safely.