How Breathing Shapes Sleep, Stress, Performance, & Longevity | Patrick McKeown
The Ready State Podcast
Kelly Starrett & Juliet Starrett
4.9 • 623 Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2026
⏱️ 116 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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In this episode of The Ready State Podcast, breathing expert Patrick McKeown joins Kelly and Juliet Starrett for a mind-expanding conversation about something you do 20,000 times a day but probably haven’t thought deeply about: your breath. From asthma and anxiety to sleep quality, athletic performance, focus, and recovery, Patrick explains why the way you breathe may be quietly shaping nearly every aspect of your health.
The conversation dives into the surprising science of CO2 tolerance, why most people are chronically over-breathing, and how simple shifts – like nasal breathing, breath holds, and slowing your exhales – can dramatically change your nervous system and performance. Patrick also breaks down why women experience breathing and sleep differently than men, how poor breathing affects kids’ development and behavior, and why many sleep disorders may be going undiagnosed.
Most importantly, this episode is packed with practical tools you can start using immediately – whether you’re trying to sleep better, feel calmer, improve endurance, or simply function better under stress.
What You'll Learn in This Episode- Why most people are chronically over-breathing and how it impacts stress, sleep, and performance
- How nasal breathing and CO2 tolerance can improve endurance, recovery, and focus
- The surprising connection between breathing patterns, anxiety, panic attacks, and nervous system regulation
- Why women experience sleep-disordered breathing differently than men, especially during menopause
- How mouth breathing in children may affect sleep, behavior, facial development, and long-term health
(0:00) Intro: Men vs. Women in Breathing & Sleep
(0:22) Patrick McKeown: Breathing Expert & Founder of Oxygen Advantage
(2:46) Kelly's History with Asthma & Breathing
(10:39) Exercise-Induced Asthma & Hyperventilation
(15:32) The BOLT Score Explained
(17:00) The Science of CO2 & Oxygen Delivery
(23:59) Kipchoge’s Closed-Mouth Marathon
(28:01) Women’s Breathing, Hormones & Sleep
(32:21) Why Women Get Misdiagnosed in Sleep Studies
(34:46) The Hidden Sleep Disorder Affecting Women
(38:07) Breathing Practices for Brain Health
(44:31) Dysfunctional Breathing & Mental Health
(46:05) Panic Attacks, CO2 & the Paper Bag
(1:04:38) Falling Asleep Faster with Breathwork
(1:12:54) Breathing Warmups for Athletes
(1:20:51) Mouth Breathing & Facial Development
(1:33:43) Children, Sleep & ADHD
(1:44:55) Breath Holds, Altitude & Hematocrit
(1:54:09) Infinite Shelf & Glymphatic Breathing
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Maybe you could just share this difference between men and women in breathing and sleep. |
| 0:04.9 | During a sleep study, then, what's measured is the number of times that you stop breathing during |
| 0:09.0 | your sleep and acne, women don't get away with the same that men get away with. |
| 0:12.8 | You're saying women are more sensitive. |
| 0:16.0 | Just picking a fight with Lisa Gillette here. |
| 0:22.9 | This week's guest is Patrick McCowan. |
| 0:27.2 | Patrick is a breathing expert, author, and founder of Oxygen Advantage. |
| 0:31.4 | A fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, he has written several best-selling books, |
| 0:34.2 | including the oxygen advantage and the breathing cure. |
| 0:37.6 | His work focuses on improving breathing efficiency for health, |
| 0:42.6 | stress resilience, and performance, and is taught by over 13,000 instructors worldwide. |
| 0:49.9 | This talk... Buckle up, everybody. It's so good. There's so much here that's going to surprise you about youth development, about breathing disorders, about asthma, about menopause. |
| 0:57.1 | I mean, like, you know, differences between men and women in breathing and breathing |
| 1:00.9 | mechanics and sleeping and breathing mechanics. |
| 1:03.8 | We, full disclosure, have a huge chunk of built to move. |
| 1:09.4 | Our second vital sign is breathing. |
| 1:12.4 | And we have the body oxygen level test. Here, the bolt test. You're going to hear him talk about that. And he's going to give you |
| 1:15.9 | some really great examples of ways to integrate some of these breathing practices into your life |
| 1:21.1 | today. This is a long one, everyone. So buckle up. But there is a ton of practical advice. And what |
| 1:26.7 | is cool about his thinking and his method is that |
| 1:29.8 | you don't need to quit your job and become like a, like, breathing practitioner guru to really |
| 1:36.2 | learn and get some advantage of all this amazing work. He's done there's so much simple, |
... |
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