為什麼史前時代的人類祖先不會打呼?
生命就在一呼一吸之間,但我們的呼吸能力一直在退化。
深入古老與現代的呼吸法,體驗奇妙的科學實驗,重啟脫胎換骨的呼吸本能。
◆內容簡介
無論你吃得多好、多常運動、多年輕、多聰明、身材多苗條,
只要呼吸方法錯誤,一切都是白費。
我們吸氣、吐氣,每天重複兩萬五千次,沒有什麼比呼吸對我們的身心健康更加重要。然而,人類這個物種漸漸失去了正確呼吸的能力,也因此付出慘重的代價。
新聞記者詹姆斯‧奈斯特走訪世界各地,探索究竟是哪裡出了錯,又該如何補救。沒想到答案不在胸腔醫學實驗室裡,而是在古代墳場的遺址、蘇聯的神祕研究機構、紐澤西的合唱團教室,以及霧霾瀰漫的聖保羅街道上。奈斯特找到了埋頭研究瑜伽調息法、淨化呼吸法和拙火呼吸法等古老呼吸法背後科學原理的男男女女,還跟著迷於呼吸機制的狂人一起合作,用科學方法檢驗有關呼吸的各種古老信念。
現代研究證明,只要稍微改變我們呼吸的方式,就能大幅提高運動表現,活化內臟,預防打呼、氣喘和自體免疫疾病,甚至矯正脊椎側彎。這樣的結果照理說並不可能,卻都有實例為證。
書中旁徵博引了數千年歷史的醫學文獻,以及胸腔醫學、心理學、生物化學及生理學的最新研究,徹底翻轉我們對人體最基本功能的一般認知。讀過之後,你將從此改變自己的呼吸方式。
呼吸是修護,是調和,是鍛鍊。呼吸的核心,就是交換互惠。
◆人類是唯一咬合不正的哺乳動物?
◆從工業時代開始,人類的呼吸方式嚴重惡化?
◆長期鼻塞、用嘴巴呼吸,讓呼吸道空間變小,就更容易用嘴呼吸?
◆太常吃軟質食物,咀嚼肌群缺乏訓練,也會影響呼吸?
◆罹患「空鼻症」,鼻子太過通暢,反而讓人痛不欲生?
◆過度呼吸,身體系統可能過於勞累,變得衰弱不振?
【只要你會呼吸,就需要讀這本書。】
◢當你呼吸1千次時,你會瞭解現代人類為什麼是長期以來唯一齒列不正的一種動物,以及這跟呼吸之間的關係。
◢當你呼吸3千次時,你會學到修復式呼吸的基本原理。
◢當你呼吸6千次時,你會走進「有意識地認真呼吸」的天地。
◢當你呼吸8千次時,你會更深入身體,善用其他生理機能,尤其是神經系統。
◢當你呼吸1萬次並闔上這本書時,你會明白,進入肺臟的空氣影響著生命的每一刻。
本中文書介出自《3.3秒的呼吸奧祕: 失傳吐納技法與最新科學研究的絕妙旅程》大塊文化出版股份有限公司出版
A New York Times Bestseller
A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2020
Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR
“A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love
No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly.
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.
Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe.
Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is.
Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.
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