Over the past year, I started practicing breathwork to help with my mental health. Slowing my breath and breathing deep into my diaphragm has helped bring me calm and perspective, and longer sessions have helped me work through negative thought patterns. Breathwork, I have found, is an important adjunct to other components of a healthy life, such as nutrition, physical exercise, sleep, and social connection.

I recently began to wonder whether breathwork can also help protect against infectious diseases, the area I spend much of my life working on. The theoretical argument is that breathing affects the nervous system and psychological well-being, both of which can impact immunity. Moreover, breathwork is accessible, inexpensive, and safe, and many people already accept it as a tool for mental health.

Breathwork is considered a deliberate attempt to alter the depth, pace, or pattern of breathing to influence your physiological and psychological state. It can involve slow diaphragmatic breathing, rhythmic breathing, and/or periods of breath retention.

Across continents and throughout recorded history, indigenous healers and major religions have used breathing........

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