THE SHORT ANSWER
James Nestor, author of 'breath: the new science of a lost art'; journalist and researcher specializing in respiratory science and breathing practices, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast. Here's where Nestor lands on the mental side of cycling. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
WHO IS JAMES NESTOR?
James Nestor is the journalist-author whose New York Times bestseller Breath turned nasal breathing from a niche performance hack into a mainstream conversation. His Stanford 10-day mouth-breathing experiment — and the immediate spikes in blood pressure and snoring that followed switching pathways — gave the protocol the kind of headline data that makes coaches actually try it. For cyclists trying to extract the last 1–2% of aerobic efficiency, his work matters because it documents that the breath itself, not the legs, is often the limiting factor at submaximal intensity.
NESTOR ON MENTAL PERFORMANCE
Nestor’s key positions on the mental side of cycling.
- Stanford 10-day mouth-breathing study: Nestor's blood pressure shot up 25 points within hours of switching from nasal to mouth breathing, and snoring went from zero to four hours overnight.
IN NESTOR’S OWN WORDS
Verbatim from James Nestor’s appearances on the podcast.
“if you change the way you breathe you change the way your heart functions you change the way your brain functions within a few seconds this is measurable i've been in the labs i've measured it myself”
“within a few hours of obstruction i started snoring and i had not snored before okay we took uh weeks and weeks of baseline the other person in the study anders olsen had the same exact thing within a few days i was snoring about four hours throughout the night from zero to four hours just by changing the pathway through which i breathe”
“about 60 percent of the population does your mouth breathers at night very bad and once you learn to breathe through your nose uh the benefits become pretty apparent very quickly”
HEAR IT ON THE PODCAST
Episodes where James Nestor covers the mental side of cycling and related ground.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
What does James Nestor say about the mental side of cycling?
James Nestor, author of 'breath: the new science of a lost art'; journalist and researcher specializing in respiratory science and breathing practices, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast. Here's where Nestor lands on the mental side of cycling. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
What is Nestor's main point on mental performance?
Stanford 10-day mouth-breathing study: Nestor's blood pressure shot up 25 points within hours of switching from nasal to mouth breathing, and snoring went from zero to four hours overnight.
Which Roadman Cycling Podcast episodes cover James Nestor on mental performance?
Nestor discusses the mental side of cycling in this episode: "Nasal vs Mouth Breathing for Cycling | Roadman Podcast".