Happy Monday! Welcome to another edition of The Breathing 4.1.1.
Below you’ll find 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (think "Jeopardy").
Thank you for reading!
4 THOUGHTS
1. On Practicing the Fundamentals
"If someone at Kobe’s level needs to commit hours to practicing the fundamentals, then so do all of us. Kobe taught me a pivotal lesson that morning. The basics are simple, but not easy."
- Alan Stein Jr., Raise Your Game
Imagine the best basketball player on the planet allows you to watch him practice. Then, he spends hours working on his fundamentals. Nothing fancy, no showboating, just the basics. That’s exactly what Alan Stein saw when he watched Kobe Bryant practice during his prime.
We talk about breathing here, not the highest level of basketball ever played. But the message is the same.
With all the fancy breathing techniques and new approaches, it’s easy to be looking for the "next thing" (—> guilty here <— ). But let’s not forget that it all comes down to the basics. They’re simple, but they’re not easy.
(This idea, like many, was inspired by knowledge from the Optimize Program.)
2. Oxygen Therapy Harms the Lung Microbiome
We’ve discussed how inhaled oxygen can lead to adverse effects in people with diabetes. Specifically, high levels of inhaled oxygen can reduce arterial function. But there might be other problems with oxygen therapy, especially when done over prolonged periods.
For example, your lungs have their own microbiome (pretty neat). And a recent study showed that inhaled oxygen harms this microbiome, leading to an increased risk of lung damage. This idea is especially relevant during COVID-19:
“Upon hospitalization, these patients are administered oxygen in an attempt to bring their levels back up to normal. However, a new study hints that this universal therapy may have unintended consequences via an unexpected source -- the microbiome.”
- ScienceDaily
Read the whole summary from ScienceDaily here:
Oxygen Therapy Harms Lung Microbiome in Mice
3. David Blaine on Breath Holds, CO2, and 45 Minutes Without Air
David Blaine was recently on the Joe Rogan Podcast. They began talking about breath-holds within 5 minutes (this link should take you right to it).
Here are two quotes I loved from it:
"The breath-holding thing is all about like, a CO2 build up in the bloodstream, and it’s about a tolerance level to it…"
And when Joe asks about the panicked feeling you get when holding your breath, David’s reply is:
“That’s not an O2 deprivation. That’s a trigger from a CO2 build-up, which is giving you an alert…"
All of you "breathing nerds" already knew this. But it is little tidbits like these that help the general population learn.
He goes on to talk a little about pre-breath-hold hyperventilation, blacking out, and how we can go 45 minutes without air.
In addition to the breath-hold stuff, it’s a fascinating interview.
4. Is there a Perfect Breath?
“What is the perfect breath? Far from being some noble yet unreachable goal that takes years of rigorous practice to master, a perfect breath is any breath you take for which you are completely and mindfully aware.” - Al Lee & Don Campbell
That definition is, well, perfect. But let’s not forget about James Nestor’s perfect breath, which has deeper roots in science and physiology:
"They discovered that the optimum amount of air we should take in at rest per minute is 5.5 liters. The optimum breathing rate is about 5.5 breaths per minute. That’s 5.5-second inhales and 5.5-second exhales. This is the perfect breath."
1 QUOTE
"Your quality of sleep is closely related to how you breathe, both when you sleep and when you are awake."
- Anders Olsson
1 ANSWER
Answer: The amount of time it takes blood to circulate around your entire body.
…
(Cue the Jeopardy music.)
…
Question: What is one minute?*
(This fun fact came from James Nestor’s Breath.)
In good breath,
Nick