One of the greatest performance enhancers we can control is an action we all do around 20,000 times a day without a second thought - breathing. Respiration is a key factor in developing physical fitness, and influencing our mind and our sleep, so to perform at our best on any level, we should understand and improve how we breathe.

Sharing his decades of experience researching, teaching and experimenting with breathwork on this episode, Patrick McKeown explains the best techniques for mastering oxygen intake, the benefits of nasal breathing for our sleep and alertness, and how reducing chemosensitivity can improve our fitness even before we take a single step.

This episode of Perfect Athlete is sponsored by Precision Hydration who help athletes personalise their hydration strategy using their sweat tests and electrolyte supplements.

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In this episode we cover:

• The effects of asthma on breathing habits
• Mouth vs nasal breathing
• BOLT scores and breath tests to indicate fitness
• Reducing CO2 chemosensitivity
• The role of nasal breathing in training
• Breathing with masks on - both generally and as a training method
• A breathing exercise to clear a congested nose