The 29-Minute Breathing Secret

🇭🇷 Croatian Freediver Vitomir Maričić just smashed the world record in breath holding, spending just over 29 minutes underwater in a single breath!

That’s 60x longer than the average person can hold their breath before gasping for air, writes The Coversation. His ability feels superhuman, but the techniques he uses are not magic. They’re trainable skills for stronger, more resilient lungs, and could contribute to a longer life. 

Deep breath. 🫁
OK, Let’s go.

A landmark health study from University of Buffalo suggests that lung function is one of the strongest predictors of early death. Regardless of smoking or obesity.

During this study, men with the worst lung function were found to be twice as likely to die as those with the healthiest lungs.

What sets healthier lungs apart? 🫧 They can store more oxygen in their lungs (lung capacity), and promote the efficient delivery of oxygen to blood cells.

The challenge: By the time we reach our mid-20s, lung capacity peaks.

We don’t get to enjoy peak lung function for long. Research led by Judith Garcia-Aymerich, a professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, shows lung function starts declining as soon as it peaks. For women, that’s 20 years old.

Poor lung function is not soley a result of aging. It accelerates aging.

Since the lungs are the first line of defense against toxins and pathogens, weaker lungs could enable inflammation to spread throughout the body. Dawn Bowdish, a professor at McMaster University in Canada, suggests it is closely linked to disease.

🔥 This low-grade inflammation triggers cellular damage that can contribute to aging (inflammaging). Case in point: Heart disease, memory loss, and frailty can all be tied to worse breathing as we get older.

The good news: there are strategies to maintain strong lung function at any age.

Elite free divers have mastered breath by turning it into a science that builds strong lungs, slows aging, and boosts vitality. Here are three techniques they incorporate for healthy and strong lungs.

When you hold your breath, carbon dioxide (CO2) builds up in your blood. At a certain threshold, CO2 concentrations create a sudden and desperate urge to breathe, triggering an automatic breath, writes The Conversation. Elite free divers like Maričić learned to override their brain’s alert system and tolerate higher levels of CO2 so they can stay underwater for longer. 🏊

High CO2 tolerance is important because it helps blood get oxygen to tissues with more efficiency, thanks to something called the Bohr Effect.

“It’s how your body actually makes use of the oxygen you inhale,” says Jesse Coomer, founder of Breathwork Tactics.

Before you know it, workouts feel easier, and you’re better equipped to lift heavier, build muscle, recover faster, and improve endurance.

Try this:

🫁 Breath holds:
Inhale, exhale, then hold your breath until you feel the urge to breath. Practice a few repetitions. Over time, you will begin to increase holds.

🌬️ Butyeko breathing:
Named after Konstantin Pavlovich Butyeko, a 1950s Ukranian physician, Buteyko breathing is characterized by deep, slow, and gentle through your nose and into your diaphragm. Inhales should be so gentle that you can barely feel the air entering your nasal passage.

“Relaxation is the most fundamental part of free diving,” writes free diver Kristina Zvaritch in Deeper Blue. 🧘‍♂️

Calmness reduces oxygen demand, allowing the free diver to stretch their oxygen reserves further and hold their breath for longer.

Less oxygen demand = more oxygen efficiency. In other words, breathing less helps stored oxygen last longer.

Calmer, slower breathing can also yield anti-inflammatory benefits that protect against signs of aging. 

There’s a connection between calm and CO2 tolerance as well. Improving CO2 tolerance and practicing gentle breathing can boost resilience against psychological and biological stress (e.g., being unable to breath underwater).

When training the nervous system, the body benefits in numerous ways: less inflammation, healthier digestion, and sharper memory. 

Try this:

🧘 Meditation
In particular, a body scan meditation — progressively relaxing each part of your body — can be helpful for those who don’t enjoy silent meditation.

😌 Belly breathing
Belly breathing (diaphragmatic breathing) expands your belly, not your chest. It creates deeper breaths with more benefits.

For a few years, Maričić has incorporated hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in his training routine.

🚀 This tool alone helped Maričić achieve a three-times longer breath hold, going from an already-impressive 10 minutes to nearly 30 minutes.

HBOT involves breathing 100% pure oxygen in a highly pressurized chamber. The practice can supercharge oxygen delivery to cells, and the early research on HBOT for longevity seems promising. 

In athletes, HBOT improved oxygenation and oxygen availability. This was associated with better performance and less fatigue. Other early research suggests HBOT shows potential for:

In a Frontiers of Aging paper, authors also speculate that HBOT can actually stop (or slow down) telomere shortening, which could slow the process of aging. ⏳

Know the risks and talk to your doctor before trying any new intervention.

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Your lungs are a longevity organ. 🌟 With training, calm breathing, and novel interventions, you can support better lung capacity at any age, breathing better, bigger, and achieving things you didn’t know were possible.

👉 Curious to go deeper? Check out our other articles on movement, posture, and longevity on our website. Share this newsletter with someone who needs it.

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Led by Editorial Director Rachel Lehmann-Haupt and writer Tiffany Nieslanik, The Livelong Women brings the science, strategies, and stories in women’s health and longevity. As part of the Livelong community, you’ll automatically start receiving it when we launch. 🚀

We can’t wait to cover more longevity.
Until next time!

_{The information provided about wellness and health is for general informational and educational purposes only. We are not licensed medical professionals, and the content here should not be considered medical advice. Talk to a doctor before trying any of these suggestions.}

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