Book Report: Breath by James Nestor

My work in the field of Orofacial Pain and TMJ dysfunction has led me to learn from many sources all over the world. I have now achieved a status that places me amongst the most knowledgeable in this field, worldwide. But when I ran into challenges of people not recovering or staying stable, I delved deeper and realized that Sleep Disordered Breathing (snoring, upper airway resistance, or UARS, and obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA) were primary reasons for the instability.

So I continued my journey into the field of diagnosis and treatment of Sleep Disordered breathing. 2 Residency programs and an accumulation of weeks of continuing education in this niche of healthcare has led a level of expertise for me that has me teaching other members of health care teams worldwide about this area of care.

Sleep disordered breathing conservatively affects over 40% of the adult population or more than 1 Billion people worldwide. It is the biggest non-communicable disease entity in the world...more than Diabetes and Hypertension (high blood pressure).

And in my journey of learning, I try to read many of the books written on this subject. I had the occasion recently to read the book Breath by James Nestor after hearing him speak live at the annual TREC Dental Annual retreat in January 2024.

Nestor is an award winning science writer. And he is a truly gifted writer. He took a complex subject about breathing and made it accessible to a broad audience. He talked about the evolutionary and environmental (including diet) effects on our growth and development of breathing issues that are changing humanity. But during his personal journey in exploring this, he also gives the reader clear evidence on how we can improve our breathing without spending alot of money, without taking many drugs and without doing any surgery.

Breath is a book that should be required reading for every health care professional and is strongly recommended for anyone and everyone (given that 40% of you have a sleep breathing issue and its profound negative consequences for your health). You may just end up increasing your life span (both in quality and quantity) by reading and acting upon what you learn from this book.

www.mrjamesnestor.com