How to Improve Public Speaking Skills

How to Speak and Maintain High Brain Oxygen Levels

(Module 17 of the Section Learning the Buteyko breathing method)

Effects of hyperventilation on brain oxygen levels Proper public speaking skills and correct talking techniques are crucial in order to have good focus on the topic, be persuasive and achieve effective communication.

Furthermore, as we discussed before, excessive talkativeness or improper speaking skills reduce oxygen levels in body cells. Normal body oxygen levels are crucial for mental and physical wellbeing. Hence, improper speaking skills also produce devastating health effects and promote chronic diseases: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and many others. Let us discuss how to improve talking skills.

What are the correct speaking skills?

Woman gives presentation with correct speaking skills During lectures and public speeches, or when just talking, it is important not to take deep in-breaths between phrases (Buteyko, 1969). Inhalations must be short (or with reduced tidal volume) in order to maintain normal CO2 levels in the lungs and arterial blood.

Often, people start their sentences and phrases after deep inhalations, then quickly blow out the air from their lungs, together with precious carbon dioxide, as they speak. That is a feature of modern talking style and it can be routinely observed in many TV reporters and commentators. Such a speaking style makes the speech more appealing or even dramatic for viewers. However, it also increases ventilation, causing reduced carbon dioxide stores, and then reduced oxygen levels in all body cells. Moreover, taking deep inhalations, or speaking with a loud voice and/or high pitch, or strong emotions, all make breathing heavier during and afterward such speaking.

CO2 model in air above the ocean It is also important to take inhalations through the nose while talking, and make these inhalations using the diaphragm. Most people do it differently these days: they make large gasps for air through the mouth using the upper chest. This causes all those problems related to mouth breathing and chest breathing. Chest breathing leads to a dramatic decrease in oxygenation of the arterial blood since the lower portions of the lungs get about 6 times more blood due to the effects of gravitational forces.

Summary of the proper public speaking skills and correct talking techniques developed by Russian medical doctors:
- Start speaking at the end of your usual exhalations.
- Take only small inhalations at the end of the phrases using the nose and the diaphragm (not through the mouth and not using the chest or thoracic muscles)
- Hold your breath and calm your breathing if you have longer pauses (e.g., when other people speak).

Additional suggestions are:
- A simple belt around the middle of the body trunk can dramatically improve speaking skills and effectiveness of public speaking due to enforced diaphragmatic breathing and prevention of deep chest inhalations. For details of this technique, consult: Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing 24/7.
- If you speak on the phone a lot (e.g., for more than 30 min for a conversation), consider doing some exercise while speaking (e.g., walking back and forth or even exercising on an exercise bike). Physical exercise generates many times more CO2 that will improve your body oxygenation.

Generally, it is a difficult challenge to have good speaking skills when one's body oxygen level is below 25-30 seconds. A correct or good talking technique appears naturally when the person gets over 40 s for the morning CP (body oxygen test). Hence, it is beneficial to improve body oxygen content. With less than 30 s for the morning body oxygen test, it is important to learn and practice correct talking techniques.

References: CO2 Effects Web Pages
Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion (or blood supply) to all vital organs
The Bohr effect How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
Cell Oxygen Levels and oxygen transport are controlled by alveolar CO2 and breathing
Oxygen Transport depends on breathing and these two effects (Vasoconstriction-Vasodilation and the Bohr effect) are parts of two diagrams that summarize influences of hypocapnia (low CO2 content in the blood and cells) on circulation and O2 delivery
Free Radical Generation takes place due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia. Hence, antioxidant defenses of the human body are also regulated by CO2 and breathing
Inflammatory Response is controlled by breathing since hypoxia leads to or intensifies chronic inflammation through over-expression of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces these processes
Nerve stabilization takes place due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
Muscle relaxation or relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence
Brochodilation - dilation of airways (bronchi and bronchioles) by carbon dioxide, and their constriction due to hypocapnia
CO2: Best Natural Cough Suppressant and "home remedy" since it calms urge-to-cough nerve receptors located in the tracheobronchial tree and larynx
Blood pH regulation and regulation of other bodily fluids
CO2: Lung Damage Healer: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
CO2: Skin and Tissue Healer
Synthesis of Glutamine in the Brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
CO2 myth "CO2 is a toxic waste gas" myth
Breathing control How is our breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven and erratic?

Reference Web Pages: Breathing norms, Medical Graphs and Tables about Breathing Rates (Minute Ventilation) and Body Oxygen in Healthy, Normal and Sick People
Breathing norms Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
6 breathing myths 6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
Hyperventilation Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
Hyperventilation Syndrome in the Sick. Table 1. Western scientific evidence about prevalence of CHV (chronic hyperventilation) in patients with various chronic conditions (34 medical studies)
Normal Minute Ventilation in Healthy Subjects: Easy and Light Breathing (14 Studies)
Hyperventilation Prevalence Present in Over 90% of Normal People (24 medical publications)
HV and hypoxia How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
Body oxygen test How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (a simple DIY test)
Body oxygen in healthy Table 4. CP (body oxygen level) in healthy people (27 medical studies)
Body oxygen in sick Table 5. CP (body oxygen level) in sick people (14 medical studies)
Buteyko Table of Health Zones with clinical description of most common zones
Morning HV Morning hyperventilation effect or how and why critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

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