Oxygen Advantage 

 

The Oxygen Advantage is a scientifically backed breathing system teaching individuals how to breathe functionally for improved overall oxygen uptake.

 We also use specific breathe holding techniques to simulate high altitude training which can in turn lead to a higher aerobic and anaerobic capacity enabling us to do more with less, to exercise faster and further with each breath. 

“I studied many breathing systems before finding the oxygen advantage, however when I found and applied this to my training and life everything changed for the better.” 

The system focusses on improving the 3 main areas of breathing which I’ll detail below. 

 

Biomechanics 

So many of life’s issues can be fixed with simply learning how to breathe into the diaphragm. Breathing into the upper portion of the lungs (upper chest breathing) is correlated with stress, fear and panic. 

Many of us breath here all day and often wonder why we suffer from sleep problems, anxiousness and/or have a lack of focus and concentration. 

This is not just the case for unfit individuals, many athletes suffer from dysfunctional breathing habits as well. When your breathing is off at rest is it going to improve when you exercise? Absolutely not. For athletes, fixing this alone can give them a massive advantage. 

Benefits of diaphragmatic breathing can include: 

  • Better quality of sleep and improved blood circulation

  • Improved O2 delivery to the cells

  • Recover quicker from tough bouts of exercise and daily stressors

  • Harness higher concentrations of nitric oxide 

  • Reduced breathlessness 

Cadence

The frequency at which we breathe also plays a role in functional breathing. When we inhale O2 from the air, it takes a certain amount of time for the gas exchange to take place from the lungs into the bloodstream. If we breathe to fast, we don’t allow enough time for this process to take place. 

The perfect breathe is slow, light and deep with a slight pause at the end of the exhale. Optimum oxygen transfer takes place between 5-6 breathes per minute, however the average person breathes between 12 – 20 breathes per minute at rest. Quite far from ideal. 

Did you know slowing down your breathing can stimulate the vagus nerve? This cranial nerve, which exits the brain and interfaces with the heart, lungs and digestive tract, links together all these functions. These can all be influenced by slowing down our breathing. 

Slow exhalations in particular have influence on this nerve acting as a sort of brake for your entire autonomic nervous system, essentially telling everything to chill out and relax.  

Benefits of slow breathing include: 

  • Stimulates the vagus nerve 

  • Optimises parasympathetic sympathetic balance 

  • Proven to increase Heart Rate Variability (HRV) 

  • Stimulates baroreceptors

  • Increases focus, concentration and resilience

  • Calmer mind  

Biochemistry 

This element of functional breathing is correlated with breathing lightly.

When we breathe lightly, enough to create a slight or tolerable air hunger this signifies that carbon dioxide has accumulated in the blood.  

One of the functions of carbon dioxide is to act as a catalyst for the release of oxygen from the red blood cells. With gentle, light and soft breathing, the blood vessels open and more oxygen is released from the red blood cells to feed your tissues and organs. 

Once upon a time we would have naturally breathed deeply, gently and slowly. However our society now has more stressors than ever before, all these stressors add up throughout our lifetime and affect and change our natural breathing patterns. Many of us over breathe and breathe through our mouths which leads to many negative outcomes. Some of which are anxiety, depression, asthma, sleep apnea and insomnia. 

On a positive note when we learn to breathe lightly the advantages are huge. Here is just a few.  

  • Reduces breathlessness

  • Normalises respiratory rate 

  • Benefits sleep quality 

  • Nasal breathing during sleep provides less negative pressure in the upper airways 

  • Increases blood circulation 

To summarise what we do. We teach you to assess your own breathing patterns, you will learn the science as well as the practical exercises and habits which if done as prescribed will enhance your endurance, recovery from exercise or stressful situations, increase mental clarity and just generally make everything in life better and more enjoyable.