Lifestyle Factors for Sport, Health, and Life Performance

People with lifestyle factors (sport, sleep, meals, and meditation) These lifestyle factors are individual and changing each decade. For most people, these factors also change through out the life. It is clear that in over 95% of cases, people are not aware about their lifestyle risk factors or invent theories to justify them. Which lifestyle factors will help to improve sport performance, fitness, and physical health?

For most modern people, the most destructive lifestyle factor is supine sleep (or sleeping on one's back). You can easily check that supine sleep drastically worsens sport performance and causes exacerbation of numerous health problems using a simple DIY body oxygen test. (For medical studies that found the highest mortality rates during morning hours, visit the link provided below for results of 26 medical studies, all of which found that supine sleep is the worst position to sleep, visit, Sleep positions.)

The next most damaging lifestyle risk factor is mouth breathing (during sleep, daytime and even physical exercise, if a person has low body oxygen levels, is unfit or suffers from chronic diseases). Lack of physical exercise is also a common lifestyle risk factor. Here are some common lifestyle factors in sport performance and physical health.

Healthy lifestyle factors

- Physical exercise with nasal breathing (hard to execute, especially for the unfit, but it dramatically boosts VO2max, reduces recovery rates from intensive or prolonged training and injuries, and drastically increases body oxygen content)
- Going to bed for sleep, only when really sleepy, and getting out of the bed after waking up in the morning; sleeping on hard beds
- Good posture (straight spine 24/7)
- Relaxation and meditation exercises
- Learning slow and small diaphragmatic breathing for maximum oxygenation of the arterial blood 24/7
- Eating, only when really hungry, and stopping in time
- Forgiveness, acceptance, and silent prayer; peace-making, cooperation, calmness, composure, self-discipline, perseverance, commitment, and responsibility
- Raw vegetarian diet (only if very well chewed)
- Moderation in pleasures
- Cold shower (with certain rules), barefoot walking, massage
- Those breathing techniques that increase body oxygenation: Amazing DIY breathing device, Buteyko method, Frolov breathing device, Strelnikova paradoxical breathing gymnastic, correctly done Pranayama (e.g., very slowly), and so forth.

For detailed analysis of effects of these factors, visit Causes of Heavy Breathing and Low Oxygenation.

For practical system of breathing retraining, visit the Learning Section.

Lifestyle risk factors

- Sleeping on one’s back
- Lack of physical exercise
- Focal infections (cavities in teeth, dead tonsils, root canals or dead teeth, athletes’ feet, and intestinal parasites or worms) and mercury amalgams
- Mouth breathing (including sleep and physical exercise, unless you are super fit)
- Abnormal gut flora (manifested in: the “soiling” effect or the need to use toilet paper)
- Psychological stress, anger, revenge, greed, envy, jealousy, laziness, and strong emotions
- Overeating (especially of animal proteins)
- Talkativeness and deep breathing exercises (except very slow ones, e.g., with 1-2 breaths/min so that to get more CO2 and O2 in tissues)
- Sighing, coughing, sneezing and yawning with large air movements or open mouth
- Lack of essential nutrients and junk foods
- Toxins and pollution (in water, food and air, due to radiation, infections, and medical drugs); allergens; dusty environment
- Excesses and addictions (smoking, street drugs, gambling, too much alcohol, caffeine, sex, etc.)

Obviously, many other lifestyle factors can influence sport performance and general health. Most of them are analyzed on pages of this site.

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

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
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

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