A day in the life: Breathwork expert Rob Rea

I wake between 5.45 and 6.30am , depending on when my son Forest decides to be my alarm. I use the Eight Sleep system, but not to obsess over my sleep score — it’s more like a dashboard. If my recovery looks poor, I’ll adapt my training.

I try to be conscious of five to 10 breaths and stay in silence for two to five minutes before moving. It’s a tiny habit, but changes the direction of the day. Most of us wake up and immediately become someone with problems to solve.

Afterwards I take my son downstairs to play while I drink hot water and lemon. Then it’s 10 to 20 minutes of breathwork or meditation, some mobility, resistance training or Zone 2 cardio and finally a shower, which I make cold for the final 10 breaths.

Supplement-wise I keep things simple — creatine, omega-3 and vitamin D in winter. Breakfast is often Greek yoghurt, berries, nuts and seeds, or eggs; lunch is protein, vegetables and something colourful. Dinner is whatever my wife cooks, often Mediterranean-inspired. I’m more interested in metabolic flexibility than dietary ideology.

Breathwork expert Rob Rea Rob Rea Movement is non-negotiable . Some days that is lifting weights; on others it’s yoga or walking through a forest without headphones. We’ve overcomplicated exercise; our bodies simply want to move in many different ways.

Recovery-wise I sauna when I can , do cold immersion twice weekly and breathwork daily. I think breathing is the most underused recovery tool. We spend fortunes on gadgets while ignoring the system we can consciously regulate at any moment.

I don’t try to eliminate stress — it’s not the enemy. Our inability to recover is. I use one or two minutes of breathing to reset my nervous system throughout the day. It’s like pressing save on a computer before opening another file.

Meditation is daily . Sometimes for 20 minutes or sometimes two. It has shifted from something I do to improve performance to something that reminds me who I am beneath performance. That distinction changed my life.

I’ve experimented with plenty of biohacking techniques : red light, cold exposure, nootropics, hyperbaric oxygen. Most of them were interesting, but honestly, the highest return on investment comes from sleep, movement, breathing, relationships and purpose.

I don’t always get screen time right , but I try not to let my phone become the first or last thing I experience each day. I think of my attention like a bee. Every day it’s tempted by thousands of flowers — notifications, emails, conversations and ideas. The quality of my life depends less on how many flowers I visit, and more on where I choose to land.

Rob Rea Rob Rea The evening is for my family . Once my son is asleep, my wife and I will often watch a show together then read or meditate. Sometimes we simply talk.

Great sleep is about the basics — a cool room, consistent bedtime, no heavy meals late and minimal alcohol. If your nervous system thinks it’s solving tomorrow’s problems, sleep becomes harder, too.

People assume they need expensive wearables or a supplement stack, but I’d start with something smaller. For one minute, twice a day, simply slow your breathing. Five seconds in. Five seconds out.