The Disturbing Amount of Lung Capacity That Gets Lost With Age
Although our lungs shrink over time they can also expand. Discover scientifically proven methods that can support lung health and boost longevity
I became interested in breathing from an early age.
My older brother had asthma and seeing his breath get weaker and weaker while his airways closed up was a scary thing.
I didn’t realise it at the time but those memories shaped much of my adult life.
At 24 years old, I became a scuba diving instructor. At 26, I became a Kundalini yoga instructor. And at 27 I became a breathwork facilitator. All of them teach breathing as a fundamental part of their training and they each have a unique way of sharing the science behind what makes it so important. So, I can trace my curiosity of the breath all the way back to when I was 5 years old because my brother’s life depended on it.
Now, at nearly 34 years old, I’m more convinced than ever that the breath is a vital pillar of health and one that has so much untapped potential.
What Happens to Our Lungs Over Time
Scientists have discovered that around the age of 30–35 years old, our lung capacity starts to decrease and it only goes downhill from there.
That’s down to three main reasons:
The muscles in the diaphragm become weaker
Our lung tissue loses some of its elasticity which means our airways become smaller
Our rib cage bones start to change shape which leaves less room for them to expand into
Although this is the general rule of thumb, if trained, our lungs can also expand.
Freedivers — which is the practice of diving underwater on a single breath of air — have reported that their lung capacity has increased by as much as 30%!
That’s huge.
While this might sound possible for only a few elite athletes in extreme sports, it’s a process of building strength over time in much the same way a regular muscle builds up in the gym. And anyone can do it.
Our lungs are like every other muscle in the body in that regard. If they’re used often and efficiently, they can gain strength, elasticity, and volume even as we age. However, if they’re not, everything in and around them (tendons, ligaments, muscle tissue, bone density, etc…) will naturally start to weaken.
So, even though our lungs do shrink over time — up to 40% by the time we reach 80 years old — they can also expand.
The Control Pause Test
Konstantin Buteyko (a Ukranian doctor from 1923-2003) developed a quick technique to evaluate the health of his patients lungs. This, along with a technique I’ll share in a moment, helped him cure people with pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, chronic fatigue, hypertension, diabetes, and depression.
Putting it to practice:
“Having a control pause of less than 25 seconds is poor and 25 seconds to 35 seconds means there is room for improvement. The goal is to reach a comfortable breath hold time of 40 seconds.” — The Buteyko Clinic
Sit down and take a normal breath in and out of your nose.
At the end of your exhale, pinch your nose with your fingers and hold.
Grab a stopwatch (or count in your head) and time how many seconds it takes before you need to breathe in again.
When you do, inhale and resume normal breathing.
Breathing at the end of the control pause should be normal. If you gasp for air you’ve probably pushed it too far.
Repeat once more now you are familiar with the technique
How did you get on?
The easiest way Konstantin Buteyko knew if his patient’s lungs were strengthening over time was to track how long their breath holds were becoming. The same rules apply to you. So, if your breath holds are becoming longer as you continue to practice, your lungs will be strengthening. And as your lungs begin to strengthen, your health will naturally improve. And as your health improves, your life will start to extend.
“For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.” - Sanskrit proverb
Exercise #2 — Kumbhaka pranayama
As promised, there is one more technique that further increases lung volume and lung capacity, perhaps to an even greater extent. It’s a little more advanced as it requires a round of energetic breathing (roughly 40 breaths per round) which is followed by a breath hold.
With enough time and practice, however, this technique has been proven to increase the production of new red blood cells and blood vessels along with helping those suffering from severe health conditions such as chronic lung disease, inflammation, bronchial asthma, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus, and depression. Even Parkinson’s disease and radiation toxicity benefit from regular practice.
I personally credit a lot of my own healing to this technique because during my 20 years of anxiety, I also developed an inflamed gut. However, with the help of a daily breathwork practice and other supportive lifestyle choices such as eating a healthier diet, jumping into cold water, and meditation, my nervous system has regulated itself again, and my gut lining has healed. That’s why I’m such a big advocate of it.
In the East, it’s known as nisshesha rechaka pranayama and it’s been around for thousands of years. In the West, it’s more commonly known as intermittent hypoxic training and it was made famous during the 1968 Mexican Olympic Games.
Hypoxia is defined as – a condition where not enough oxygen makes it to the cells and tissues in the body.
Intermittent is defined as – occurring at irregular intervals; not continuous or steady.So intermittent hypoxic training is the act of temporarily slowing the flow of oxygen to the cells and tissues in the body (aka holding the breath for short periods at a time).
To understand how this works in the body, imagine a set of scales that has oxygen on the left and carbon dioxide on the right. After 40 deep breaths, oxygen levels are higher than normal and carbon dioxide levels are lower than normal, typically too low to release oxygen from haemoglobin. However, because the breath is now being held in the body all that fresh oxygen is “trapped” inside. So, as each breath hold continues (the longer the better - more than 90 seconds for maximum effect), carbon dioxide levels begin to rise again which releases more oxygen to the tissue cells that need it to function.
This flip-flopping—breathing deeply and then not at all, is the key to this technique's success because it forces the body into high stress one minute and deep relaxation the next. Carbon dioxide levels in the blood temporarily crash, then they build back up. Tissues become oxygen-deficient and then flooded again. This makes the body more adaptable and flexible over time and the outcome is that it learns to manage physiological and emotional stress better.
Fasting from food works in a similar way. Initially, when the body doesn’t receive the amount of food it’s used to it sends signals of hunger up to the brain. However, with enough time and practice it learns to use its stored resources which has an overall detoxifying and regenerative effect on the body.
Another example can be seen in the way skin heals and repairs. When our skin is burned, scraped, or cut, information is quickly sent to the damaged area(s). Water forms blisters to protect against burns. Blood hardens into scabs, and new stem cells rush to create new patches of skin over the affected areas. The body’s wisdom is doing this all the time, both externally on organs like the skin and internally on each and every cell. The pause that intermittent hypoxic training provides (especially when it’s extended for minutes at a time) speeds up this healing process because it capitalises on the body’s urgency to heal and regenerate either because or before it needs healing. This then ultimately repairs and/or reverses tissue and cell damage or prevents damage from occurring in the first place.
Cool fact: The longest breath hold stands at 24 minutes 37 seconds and is held by a professional freediver called Budimir Šobat
A fun way to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood during these breath hold times is with a pulse oximeter. What’s surprising is that there might be more oxygen in the blood than you think. Even after a 30-45 second breath hold, for example, (this is the average time it takes a person to naturally want to breathe) our oxygen levels hover around 95-99%. It’s only after this that the health benefits of intermittent hypoxic training start to kick in. That’s why the Buteyko Clinic said, “Having a control pause of less than 25 seconds is poor and 25 seconds to 35 seconds means there is room for improvement.”
To enjoy the health benefits that this technique provides it’s good to aim for a target of 85% SpO2 (saturation of peripheral oxygen) or less. That requires a breath hold time of around 1 minute 30 seconds or more. Even better still, if you can reach a breath hold time of 2-3 minutes and beyond and do it consistently day in and day out, dormant stem cells have been known to proliferate and move around the body and, thus, dramatically improve health.
“Improper breathing is a common cause of ill health. If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly. There is no single more powerful — or more simple — daily practice to further your health and well being than breathwork.” — Andrew Weil, M.D.
Putting it to practice:
Let’s bring it all together. Here is nisshesha rechaka pranayama/intermittent hypoxic training.
Please note: Only practice this 90 minutes before or after eating your next meal.
Find a nice comfortable position lying down
Relax your hands and feet, allowing your soles and palms to face up toward the sky
Breathe in smoothly, deeply, and fully through your nose
Exhale fully through your mouth, completely emptying out all the air from your lungs
Continue for 40 more breaths
On your last breath, exhale deeply and then hold your breath for as long as possible (if you have a pulse oximeter now is your time to grab it)
When you can’t hold your breath any longer inhale fully and hold for 10-20 seconds
Then repeat two more times if it feels good to do so (total of 3 rounds)
When you feel complete, relax and meditate, noticing if there are any changes or shifts in your physical and mental state
Closing thoughts
Getting old is hard on the body. Our bones creek, our eyes blur, our hair greys, our teeth decay, our hearing fades, and our bladders become weaker and weaker.
Luckily, we don’t have to add bad lungs to that equation.
Practicing breathing exercises like the two above will help you on this quest. And from my own personal experience, I can vouch for their impact.