Greetings,
Here are four thoughts, one quote, and one answer (like "Jeopardy!") to consider this week. Enjoy!
4 THOUGHTS
As I have been making my way through Patrick McKeown’s latest book, The Breathing Cure, I’ve been reminded of just how powerful all this breathing stuff is. Patrick has sections on breathing for diabetes, epilepsy, hypertension, and more.
Of course, despite the catchy title, breathing does not "cure" any of these ailments. Still, it’s quite remarkable to see all the conditions it can help with.
Upon reflection, this makes a lot of sense if we remember that breathing is like an index fund for health. It invests a small amount into a wide range of the body’s functions, such as lung and heart health, autonomic balance, and sleep.
Over time, these tiny improvements combine and compound into overall better health. And as Patrick’s new book shows, these benefits can be helpful in many different conditions.
The key, however, is to find a breathing practice that is right for you, get started, and be consistent. Here’s to safely investing in your health today.
P.S. Unlike most financial investments, however, you also get an immediate return on investment with breathing. For example, just two minutes of slow breathing can improve autonomic balance and enhance decision-making.
2. Mouth Tape is Passive Income for Your Health
Wealthy people grow their wealth in their sleep.
Healthy people grow their health in their sleep.
Taping your mouth at night is like passive income for your health. It requires only a small upfront investment: putting the tape on before you go to sleep. All of the benefits—like deeper sleep, improved mental clarity, and reductions in sleep apnea—come without any additional effort.
Thus, we might be wise to take the advice of a 1983 paper published in the journal Sleep: "While asleep, shut your mouth and save your brain."
3. Slower Breathing Facilities Eudaimonia via Your Vagus Nerve
"This accumulating body of evidence suggests that slow-paced breathing is a cost-free and readily available way to facilitate eudaimonia by lowering blood pressure, improving psychophysiological well-being, and increasing happiness."
- Christopher Bergland—Slower Breathing Facilitates Eudaimonia…
As you will learn in this article, Eudaimonia is "the condition of human flourishing or living well." So, when a headline implies that slow breathing might help us achieve this, I’m all in. This quick read lived up to its promise. Enjoy!
4. Breathing Tranquility
"Tranquility. It’s the feeling we have when we truly TRUST ourselves. When we know we’re headed in the right direction and we’re able to quit comparing ourselves to everyone else and stop second guessing ourselves every 5 seconds."
Although slow breathing induces a sense of tranquility, that’s not what this made me think of. It made me think of the tranquility that can come when you find the right breathing practice for you.
We’re all different, and there’s no "perfect" method for everyone. Tranquility comes when you find the one that’s right for you and you know you’re headed in the right direction, whether it’s the latest popular technique or not.
My breathing tranquility? Seven seconds in, eleven seconds out. Repeat.
1 QUOTE
"Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths."
– Etty Hillesum
1 ANSWER
Answer: By consuming oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen and giving off carbon dioxide and water, these two processes are fundamentally alike.
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(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)
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In good breath,
Nick