Breath Taking

,

Common Breath Currency, 3 of the Best, and an Overlooked Exercise

,

Listen Instead of Reading

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

Reading Time: 1 min 48 sec

I hope the next 22’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.


4 THOUGHTS

1. The “Common Currency” of Breath, Brain, and Mind

“The synchronization between respiration and slow neural activity is likely key to understanding the brain-physiology relationship. Higher degrees of coupling between respiration and brain activity likely manifest as the inverse of symptoms of panic disorder (e.g., relaxation, greater attention, and more measured thoughts). Slow rhythms thus provide a link and shared feature of respiration, neural, and mental activity serving as their ‘common currency’.”

– From Lung to Brain (2023)

How neat? Speed acts as a “common currency” that the breath, brain, and mind accept. This means when we slow our breathing, the brain and mind accept that as payment and slow down in return. The result is relaxation, better attention, and calmer thoughts 👏

***

P.S. If you love science like this but don’t have time to read all day, let me do it for you 👨‍🏫. In the Breath Learning Center, I provide clear and succinct summaries of significant studies like this one. Sign up today.

2. An Overlooked Breathing Exercise

“We breathe, most importantly, to bring oxygen from the atmosphere into our bodies and to release carbon dioxide in return. Another crucial aspect of the breath, and one that is rarely discussed, is that it gives us our voice. Breathing generates speech, a fundamental element of our experience as human beings.”

– Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

Here’s an obvious yet often overlooked (for me, at least 😊) reminder that speaking is, at its core, a “breathing exercise.” This means that if we become conscious of what and how we speak, our speech can become an integral part of our practice, providing endless chances to use breathing and mindfulness to support the people we want to be.

3. Three of the Bests

1. The best healing breathing exercise? Laughter.

2. The easiest form of meditation? Laughter.

3. The purest, most universal, and most natural way to mindfulness? Laughter.

4. Move to Be Still

“We need to move to be still, and only from that place of stillness can we move well.”

– Caroline Williams, Move

Here’s a wonderful reminder that movement is critical to our breathing and meditation practices. They are two sides of the same coin: “We need to move to be still, and only from that place of stillness can we move well.” 👏

1 Quote

“We move toward understimulation if we are on the schedule of soul.””
— Richard Rohr

1 Answer

Category: Nasal Breathing Brain

Answer: Nasal breathing, through its direct connection to this brain region, can influence and synchronize rhythms throughout the whole brain.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the olfactory bulb?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. no more loops

Breathing and Mediation Instructors:

Check out the Breath Learning Center. It’s a mountain of modern science and timeless wisdom. It’s summarized, organized, easy to read, and immediately actionable.

If you want to supply those you help with the best program possible, the wisdom and science in the Learning Center will be invaluable to your practice.

Click here to learn more.

The Breathing App for Diabetes

This is the first program specifically made for people with diabetes to help manage their stress through breathing and mindfulness practices. In addition to the amazing program inside the app, we have some really neat things coming up, so sign up now!

Learn more here.

Amazon Associate Disclosure

I’ve been recommending books for almost 6 years. Yet somehow, I just discovered that I could be an Amazon affiliate [face-palm]. In any case better late than never. Now, any Amazon link you click is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. So, if you’d like to support my work, buying books through these links is helpful : )

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

 
,

Purely for Joy, Physics, and How to Overcome Obstacles

,

Listen Instead of Reading

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

Reading Time: 1 min 46 sec

I hope the next 22’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.


4 THOUGHTS

1. Tied into the Universe of Physics

“The lungs are tied into the universe of physics like no other organ, perfectly using the space allotted to maximize flow. And optimizing flow, and movement, is clearly one of the purposes of life from a biological perspective.”

– Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

👏 👏 👏

***

P.S. And as one of my favorite teachers, R.M., wisely pointed out in response to this quote: “Perhaps we could say the same for every organ in the body.”

2. An Intriguing Situation

“This is an intriguing situation when we stop to think about it, for if it is true that breath influences both body and mind, then the rhythm and the rate of the breath would reflect not only one’s physical condition, but would also help to create it.”

– Science of Breath

Here’s another powerful reminder that, although breathing reflects our current state, it also shapes it:

  • Fast, shallow breathing reflects being anxious…but it can also cause anxiety.

  • Slow, deep breathing reflects being calm…but it can also create relaxation.

This is the true power of breath control. When used sensibly and safely, it can help us “create the physical condition” we’re after 👏

3. Three Random Breathing Thoughts

1. What exercise is to the body, what meditation is to mind, breathing is to the soul.

2. In many ways, mindfulness means ignoring our minds and listening to our hearts.

3. Slow, mindful breathing helps you feel underwhelmed for a change.

***

P.S. Number 1 was inspired by this quote: “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” - Sir Richard Steele

4. How to Overcome Obstacles to Daily Practice

“Diligence helps start you on your way, but the real solution to these obstacles is learning to enjoy your practice…Too often, people approach meditation as though they were taking medicine—it tastes bad, but they grin and bear it because it’s supposed to be good for them. Instead, make meditation into a pleasurable activity.”

– The Mind Illuminated

With that in mind, we might ask, ‘How could I tailor my practice to bring me more joy?’ Remember: We’re not supposed to grin and bear it; we’re supposed to enjoy it 👏

1 Quote

“We have to keep having fun throughout our lives—it’s so important to do things purely for the joy of it.””
— Gladys McGarey, MD

1 Answer

Category: Gene Expression

Answer: Slow breathing, through its activation of this psychophysiological response, may rapidly alter how genes are expressed.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the relaxation response?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. a haunted house but…

Our Only Guide is Homesickness

“We have no one to guide us. Our only guide is our homesickness.”

– Herman Hesse

This perfectly captures the essence of becoming a Mixed Mindful Artist. We don’t focus on one method that worked for someone else; instead, we let our homesickness—our own intuition—guide us while using wisdom from great teachers and scientists to support that journey. If you’re ready to find your way home, get started today.

The Breathing App for Diabetes

This is the first program specifically made for people with diabetes to help manage their stress through breathing and mindfulness practices. In addition to the amazing program inside the app, we have some really neat things coming up, so sign up now!

Learn more here.

Amazon Associate Disclosure

I’ve been recommending books for almost 6 years. Yet somehow, I just discovered that I could be an Amazon affiliate [face-palm]. In any case better late than never. Now, any Amazon link you click is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. So, if you’d like to support my work, buying books through these links is helpful : )

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

 
,

Yoga vs. Prozac, Deep Insight, and 4 Breaths for a Better Heart

,
 

Listen Instead of Reading

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

 

4 Thoughts



1. Why 6 Breaths/Min Improves Heart Health & Quality of Life in Diabetes

I never get tired of talking about slow breathing : )

So, here’s a longer blog about the benefits for heart health & diabetes:

Why 6 Breaths/Min Improves Heart Health & Quality of Life in Diabetes

It’s framed around diabetes, but, of course, it really applies to anyone.

4 Breathing Exercises to Improve Your Heart Health and Extend Life Span

While we’re at it, here’s another guest blog for ResBiotic outlining 4 breathing exercises you can do for a better heart. Two are slow breathing, and 2 are not.

Enjoy!

2. Why Breath Holds Are Mental Resiliency Training

When we’re in a stressful event, we can use our breath to help us cope.

But when lack of breath is the stressful event, we must use our minds.

3. Insight: Just Help Them To Do What Nature Provided Us With

I’m taking pranayama teacher training with Eddie Stern and Robert Moses.

In their exercises script, they (somewhat offhandedly) threw in this deeply insightful message:

“We want to teach people to breathe better so it makes their lives better in whatever way they need their life to improve—we don’t always know what that is (even for ourselves) so we do not want to impose things upon them, just help them to do what nature provided us with better.” (my emphasis)

That is perhaps the best statement ever made about breathing and how it should be used & taught. It’s almost as if they’ve been doing this for a while…

4. Yoga and Breathing Exercises, or Prozac and Zoloft?

“Deep breathing is a potent inducer of the parasympathetic nervous system. The release of acetylcholine not only calms our organs, it also stimulates the release of serotonin, dopamine, and prolactin, the feel-good hormones targeted by medicines like Prozac and Zoloft. But yoga and breathing exercises produce this effect naturally and without side effects.”

- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

Sounds good to me : )


1 QUOTE

“We must endeavor with all our resources and strength to become capable of doctoring ourselves.”
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Vagus Nerve

Answer: This organ receives the greatest supply of nerves from the vagus nerve, helping explain why deep breathing is so relaxing.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the diaphragm?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. a hero of our time

Breathing for Diabetes:

If you love learning about breathing, or just want to live an overall healthier life, I think you’ll really enjoy this class (diabetes or not).

 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 
,

Applied Elegance, a Gift of Breathing, and How to Practice Philosophy

,
 

Listen Instead of Reading

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

 

4 Thoughts



1. Applying the Lung's Elegant Structure to All Aspects of Our Lives

“While the heart has dense striated muscle, and the brain its conglomerated networks of communicating neurons, the lung is a thin, graceful structure of interconnecting fibrous tissue that is beautifully held together with a foamy substance that lubricates its functions in a quiet and effortless manner. It is an organ of elegance, not brute strength.”

- Michael J Stephen, Breath Taking

Our most important organ is designed to be graceful and flexible, not rigid and strong. To be of elegance, not strength.

Something for us to consider in all aspects of our lives…

2. Practical over Perfect: A Simple Way to Start a Breathing or Meditation Session

“Breath priming means that you take a few conscious breaths to set up the flow of breathing. … We prime our breath so it can function at a higher level.”

- Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, Ph.D., and Yogi Bhajan, Ph.D.

Breathwalk

I love this idea of “breath priming,” and I use it every day.

It’s pretty straightforward to do:

  1. Pick a breath that will set you up for whatever you’re about to do (for example, I use alternate nostril breathing before meditating).

  2. Other good options: breath of fire, humming, or a few physiological sighs.

  3. Do this breath for 1-3 minutes.

  4. Then start your session.

And, in my opinion, we don’t need to add more time. For a 10 min meditation, I use 2 min for priming and 8 min for meditation. Practical over perfect.

3. Breathing is Philosophy: Transforming Emotions and Living Better Lives

“That’s what the teachers depicted in The School of Athens once provided: they taught their students how to transform their emotions, how to cope with adversity, how to live the best possible lives.”

- Jules Evans, Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations

That sentence is exactly why I think breathing is the most direct path to practicing philosophy in our lives. With two added bonuses:

  1. Breathing is also physiology. It changes our body, allowing us to truly transform our emotions instead of just “thinking our way out of it.”

  2. There is no abstraction. You just breathe in preset patterns (like 4:6 or 4:4:4:4), see what works for you, and ignore the rest.

So here’s to being breathing philosophers, applying this stuff every day, and using our breath to help us become the best version of ourselves.

4. Internal vs External Stimuli, and a Gift of Breathing Exercises

External stimuli cause opposite or similar internal reactions, for example:

  • Our body responds to a hot environment with internal cooling.

  • But it responds to a stressful environment with internal stress.

Conversely, internal stimuli generally trigger similar external reactions:

  • Our body responds to slow breathing by interpreting the external environment as safe.

  • Our body responds to fast breathing by interpreting the external environment as dangerous.

This reveals a gift of breathing exercises. They don’t change our situation, but they do change how we interpret it, which may be just as powerful.



1 QUOTE

“The breath can command the brain, and the brain can regulate our moods. This gives us a way to practically direct moods.”
— Breathwalk

1 ANSWER

Category: Drive to Breathe

Answer: Your drive to breathe comes from this portion of the brain, which monitors blood pH and sends a signal to breathe when CO2 rises too high.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the medulla oblongata?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

Available Now:

THE BREATHING FOR DIABETES SELF-PACED WORKSHOP

If you like geeking out on breathing, or just want to live an overall healthier life, you might really enjoy the workshop, diabetes or not.

It’s packed with easy-to-understand science and super practical breathing advice that you can immediately implement. I hope you’ll check it out.

 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 
,

Nose versus Mouth, 800000 and 73 days, and Our Best Weapon for Stress

,
 

🎧 Listen Instead of Reading 🎧

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

 

4 Thoughts



1. A Simple Quip for Nose versus Mouth

Most of the time:

  • The nose is part of the respiratory system.

  • The mouth is part of the digestive system.

2. The True Power of the Breath: 800,000 and 73 Days

“With eight hundred thousand new medical articles being published every year, by 2020 medical knowledge is estimated to double every seventy-three days.”

Michael J Stephen, Breath Taking

Those numbers are insane. It’s basically impossible to keep up with science.

Fortunately, though, we know breathing (and sleep, exercise, meditation, etc.) has been used for millennia to improve mental and physical health.

Maybe we don’t know all the science, but that’s ok. We can just try it out, find what works for us, and enjoy the timeless (and timely) wisdom of the breath.

3. Two Steps to Get the Most of Your Breathwork

In The Art of Possibility, they have two steps for their practice of “giving way to passion.” I think they apply perfectly to breathing (or basketball, yoga, etc.):

“1. The first step is to notice where you are holding back, and let go. Release those barriers of self that keep you separate and in control, and let the vital energy of passion surge through you, connecting you to all beyond.

2. The second step is to participate wholly. Allow yourself to be a channel to shape the stream of passion into a new expression for the world.”

They sound a little idealistic and new-age, but that’s the point : )

4. Our Greatest Weapon Against Stress

Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one breath over another.

***

P.S. This is a play on a William James quote I saw on Insight Timer: “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”



1 QUOTE

““Clarity comes from engagement, not thought.””
— Marie Forleo

1 ANSWER

Category: Stress and Health

Answer: Counterintuitively, this (also referred to as “nature’s fundamental survival mechanism”) can be therapeutically harnessed to boost immune function.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is short-term psychophysiological stress?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. same girl

Now Available:

THE BREATHING FOR DIABETES SELF-PACED WORKSHOP

If you enjoy my work, or just like geeking out on breathing, I’m confident you’ll love the workshop (diabetes or not).

It’s packed with practical and helpful information, including:

  • 11 bite-sized key concepts on all things breathing

  • A 40-min Wim Hof and Diabetes Mini Masterclass (if you’re interested in WHM, I think you’ll find a lot of information in here you’ve probably never seen before, unrelated to diabetes)

  • A PDF of 100 inspiring breathing quotes

  • A Breath Matching worksheet to grow your practice

  • A simple plan for implementing what you learn (that actually works)

And if you don't like it, it’s 100% refundable, so you have nothing to lose.

P.S. If you purchased the live workshop back in March, you’ll see the updated presentations when you log in now.

 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 
,

Life Force in Action, 3 Studies, and the Power of Mind-Wandering

,
 

🎧 Listen Instead of Reading 🎧

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

 

4 Thoughts



1. A Tiny Thought on the Power of the Breath

In any situation:

  • If we control our breath, we control our environment.

  • If we do not, our environment controls us.

2. How Deep Breathing Reduces Stress According to 3 Studies

“Diaphragmatic breathing has the potential to offer a readily available and inexpensive treatment to help manage stress on a daily basis.”

- Hopper et al. (2019)

This systematic review of 3 studies found that slow diaphragmatic breathing reduces the following markers of stress:

  • Blood pressure

  • Salivary cortisol

  • DASS-21 scores
    (a questionnaire on anxiety and stress)

Although the studies were not “top tier” (few are in breathing), these results are still powerful given stress’s negative impact on basically everything.

Breathe slowly, reduce stress, and live better.

3. Mind-Wandering is a Hidden Superpower (and how to do it correctly)

“In fact, when you look back over the history of science and engineering, many great breakthroughs don’t happen during periods of focus—they happen during mind-wandering.”

- Johann Hari, Stolen Focus

As someone who spends so much time focusing and reading, I found Hari’s section on mind-wandering life-changing. It is a genuine superpower.

And it’s simple enough. Just take time to do nothing—no phone, no books, no goals—and let your brain do what it does best: connect and form novel ideas.

However, there is one critical tip to remember: “In situations of low stress and safety, mind-wandering will be a gift, a pleasure, a creative force. In situations of high stress or danger, mind-wandering will be a torment.”

So, if you’re going to set aside time for mind-wandering, do it when you feel safe and calm…like after a slow breathing practice…😊

4. Life Force in Action

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action…”

- Martha Graham

And that action is breathing.

Breathing is life force translated through you into action.

***

P.S. I know I’m taking the quote out of context…it’s what I do best : )


1 QUOTE

“In the beginning was the voice. Voice is sounding breath, the audible sign of life.”

- Otto Jespersen (from Breath Taking)

1 ANSWER

Category: Sound and Breath

Answer: To generate sound, these vibrate rapidly from between 110 to 300 cycles per second in most people.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What are the vocal cords?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. so bystanders don’t hear you fighting

 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 
,

Beating Biases, a Simple Truth, and How to Engage in Meaningful Tasks

,
 

🎧 Listen Instead of Reading 🎧

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

 

4 Thoughts



1. Use Breathing to Help You Engage Fully with Life

“Mindful Breathing is a useful practice in its own right. It allows us to take some time out from our busy daily routines, and often creates a restful state that allows us to recharge our batteries and find some inner peace. However, I’d like you to think of it as a versatile training tool to help you engage fully in every meaningful task in your life.”

- Dr. Russ Harris, The Confidence Gap

This is the perfect way to approach any type of breath practice. We use it to find inner peace and build resiliency in a controlled environment. But, ultimately, we use that training to help us “engage fully in every meaningful task in [our] life.”

2. Beating Our Negative Biases with Slow Breathing

“We need to deal with real dangers. But much of the time we overestimate threats, which is an aspect of the negativity bias, and don't feel as safe as we actually are. This makes us feel bad, and it wears down physical and mental health over time.”*

- Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Neurodharma

Evolution wired us to notice the negative about 9x more than the positive. Although that’s good for survival, it’s not so great for our everyday health.

Enter slow breathing exercises. By activating the calming parasympathetic nervous system, they teach our bodies to feel safe. This dampens the negativity bias, helping us engage fully in things that matter (see thought #1).

3. Try it and See What Happens

“So, at the beginning, you might want to stay with the breath, or use it as an anchor to bring you back when you are carried away. Try it for a few years and see what happens.”

- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go There You Are

I have nothing useful to add, except that this is the best advice I’ve read for all this breathing stuff: “Try it for a few years and see what happens.” <— Count me in 😂 I hope you will join me, too.

4. Breathwalking in its Simplest Form

“Breathwalk at its very simplest means putting breathing patterns and walking together into a carefully and beautifully timed single, synchronized movement. It is walking harmonized with breathing.”

- Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, Ph.D., and Yogi Bhajan, Ph.D.

Breathwalk

Breathwalking is a terrific way to combine 3 ancient wellness techniques: walking, breathing, and meditation. Here’s a good one to get started.

  • Inhale 8 steps, exhale 8 steps

  • Do this for 3 min

  • Walk normally for 2 min

  • Repeat as needed

It’s simple yet surprisingly powerful. Give it a shot and see how you feel.


1 QUOTE

“These ancient techniques are a reminder of a simple truth that any of us can choose to harness right now: Oxygen is life.”

- Tony Robbins, Life Force

1 ANSWER

Category: Lungs & Gas Transfer

Answer: This is the distance oxygen has to travel to get from the alveoli into the blood vessels, where it can start its journey around the body.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 1/3 of a micron?

P.S. Michael J Stephen, MD, says that this distance is so small that it “could double without any noticeable shortness of breath at rest.”

Extra: Slow Breathing is a Natural Antioxidant

I wrote a guest blog for ResBiotic titled: Want a Natural and Effective Antioxidant? It's Right Under Your Nose. Enjoy the 3-min read!

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. Optimist vs. Pessimist vs. …

 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 
,

Diverse Tactics (part 2), Less Relaxation, and How to Feel Confident

,
 

🎧 Listen Instead of Reading 🎧

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

 

4 Thoughts



1. Less Relaxation, More Self-Regulation

“Many people believe that biofeedback is a way to learn to relax. While it is true that you can learn to relax using biofeedback, relaxation is not the main goal. The main goal is self-regulation, which means being able to activate your nervous system most optimally for action and being able to relax and recover after the action is complete.”

- Inna Khazan, Ph.D.

Biofeedback and Mindfulness in Everyday Life

The same is true for breathing without biofeedback. Of course, there are methods for relaxing (those are some of my favorites).

But, we’re ultimately learning to regulate our nervous systems so they work optimally for action, for real life. Then, we relax and recover afterward : )

2. “Rule 1: The actions of confidence come first; the feelings of confidence come later.”

“This is a key point. If we want to do anything with confidence—speak, paint, make love, play tennis, or socialize—then we have to do the work. We have to practice the necessary skills over and over, until they come naturally. If we don’t have adequate skills to do the things we want to do, we can’t expect to feel confident.”

- Dr. Russ Harris, The Confidence Gap

And if we want to feel confident we can breathe to self-regulate in any situation, we have to practice these skills over and over. Until they come naturally.

We could say: The action of breathing comes first; the good feelings and self-regulation come later.

***

P.S. We can also apply this concept to being consistent. There are plenty of days when I don’t feel like doing my breathing practice (yes, even The Breathing Diabetic has days where he doesn’t want to breathe 😂). But, I always just start. The action comes first; the motivation comes later.

3. Diverse Tactics Part 2: Breathing Hammers and Nails

“The integration of a wide variety of perspectives is necessary for a more complete understanding of the full depths of human potential, as too much focus on a single perspective runs the risk of giving a distorted view of human nature. As Maslow said, ‘I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.’”

- Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., Transcend

Building off last week, here’s another excellent reminder that we need a wide range of methods, in breathing and life, to become the best version of ourselves.

But specifically for the breath, if we only have one breathing hammer, we’ll assume every problem is a nail. Let’s be mixed-breathing artists instead : )

4. Our Lungs and the Possibilities of the World

“Our lungs developed to utilize oxygen and efficiently drive our metabolic reactions. We are aerobic creatures, and if the lungs are our most important organ, then oxygen is the most important gas in the atmosphere. […] With oxygen, the possibilities of the world opened up.”

- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

Just an elegant reminder of how vital our lungs and oxygen are—they literally open the possibilities of the world to us 🙏


1 QUOTE

“The lung changes the breath…into food for the vital spirit.”

- Alessandro Benedetti (1497)

1 ANSWER

Category: Energy Production

Answer: Oxygen is vital because of its ability to generate ~18x more of these “energy molecules” than anaerobic fermentation.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What are adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S how self-help authors get ideas for their next book

 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 
,

Learn Better, 4 Gifts, and How Breathing Can Actually Change the World

,

Today is a special edition of The Breathing 411.

Because today is 4/11.

It’s also World Breathing Day.

And it also happens to be my 35th birthday (to celebrate, I did one breath per minute for 35 minutes this morning <— maybe I’ll make it a new tradition 🙏).

To honor the occasion, there are 4 Free Gifts in Thought #3 below.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading.

With love,

Nick

 

🎧 Listen Instead of Reading 🎧

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

 

4 Thoughts



1. How Breathing Can Actually Change the World, in 3 Super Practical Steps

  • Step 1: Tape your mouth at night.

  • Step 2: Breathe nasally 90-95% of the day.

  • Step 3: Forget about the rest, and use your newfound energy from Steps 1 & 2 to help you do whatever you were put on this planet to do.

2. ANB Significantly Enhances Learning and Retention of New Motor Skills

“Our results thus uncover for the first time the remarkable facilitatory effects of simple breathing practices on complex functions such as motor memory”

- Deep Breathing Practice Facilitates Retention of Newly Learned Motor Skills

This 2016 study on alternate nostril breathing (ANB), published in Nature Scientific Reports, genuinely blew my mind. (See full review in Thought #3.)

Here’s what they did:

  • Participants learned a new motor skill.

  • A control group rested for 30 minutes.

  • A breathing group did 30-min of ANB.

  • Then, both groups were tested on the skill they had learned.

  • Both groups were also tested again 24-hours later.

The results showed that the ANB group significantly (it was almost ridiculous) improved the learning and retention of that skill:

  • They were significantly better at the 30-min mark.

  • They were significantly better at the 24-hour mark.

One 30-minute breathing session. One day of improved learning and retention.

3. Science 411s, Book 411s, and The Breath is Life Learning Center (4 free gifts)

To celebrate World Breathing Day, here are four gifts.

Science 411s: 4 Fundamentals, 1 Big Takeaway, and 1 Practical Application

  • Free Science 411: Deep Breathing Practice Facilitates Retention of Newly Learned Motor Skills (the paper from Thought #2 above)

  • Free Science 411: Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Improves Emotional and Physical Health and Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta Analysis

Book 411s: 4 Thoughts, 1 Quote, and 1 Idea That Will Change Your Life

  • Free Book 411: The Happiness Track: How To Apply The Science Of Happiness To Accelerate Your Success

  • Free Book 411: The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer

You can read, listen, or download them as PDFs here.

I hope you enjoy them!

4. Why We Breathe: Chemically and Spiritually

“Our drive to breathe is regulated by the medulla oblongata … When pH decreases (becomes more acidic due to the increase in CO2), chemoreceptors in the medulla send out a signal for the body to breathe. This means that our carbon dioxide levels have to rise to a sufficiently high level for our brain and body to know that it is time to take the next breath.”

- Inna Khazan, Ph.D.

It’s the perfect day to review why we breathe. So there’s the technical reason.

But breathing is a lot more than just gases. As Michael J Stephen, MD, tells us,

“That oxygen, life, and lungs all came into our world in relatively close succession is no coincidence. Only with oxygen and some means of extracting it are all things possible—thinking, moving, eating, speaking, and loving. Life and the breath are synonymous.”

So beyond chemistry, we ultimately breathe to live—to think, to move, to love. Breathing is, after all, what makes “all things possible.”


 
 
 

1 QUOTE

“It was ecstasy, it was sweet, air soughing in and all my little alveoli singing away with joy and oxygen-energy coursing through every space and particle of me.”

- Keri Hulme

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Body Chemical Composition

Answer: This gas is the most abundant element in the human body by mass.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is oxygen?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. I’m only 35, I have my whole life ahead of me

 
 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 

Timeless Healing, Anti-Harley, and 2 Rules to Improve Your Breathing

 
 

🎧 Listen Instead of Reading 🎧

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

 
 
 

4 Thoughts


1. Breathing Exercises Lower Inflammation and Change Gene Expression

“In those who practice breathing exercises, levels of inflammatory proteins in the blood are significantly lower, especially under certain types of stress. Mobilizing the power of the breath has also been shown to turn on anti-inflammatory genes and turn off pro-inflammatory ones, including genes that regulate energy metabolism, insulin secretion, and even the part of our DNA that controls longevity.”

- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

I have nothing useful to add here, except, of course, one of these: 🤯

2. These Two Simple Rules Will Improve Your Breathing Forever

If I could give anyone any advice for everyday breathing, it’d be this:

  1. Breathe through your nose, especially during sleep.

  2. Make your breathing quiet.

You’ll get massive benefits with minimal effort using these two simple rules.

3. Timeless Healing: Slow Breathing + The Relaxation Response

“To evoke the relaxation response, you need to follow only two basic steps. You need to repeat a word, sound, prayer, phrase, or muscular activity, and when common everyday thoughts intrude on your focus, you need to passively disregard them and return to your repetition.”*

- Herbert Benson, MD, Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief

It’s that simple. And the word or phrase? Dr. Benson says, “The choice of a focused repetition is up to the individual. If you’re a religious person, you can choose a prayer. If you’re a non-religious person, choose a secular focus.”*

I’ve been using it this week in my slow breathing practice. I inhale and then repeat “be the change” in my head while exhaling at a 5 breaths/min pace.

I’ve never been a big fan of mantras (and I’m still testing different ones), but I’ve genuinely enjoyed this. It’s straightforward and highly effective.

Give it a shot and see how you feel.

4. My Fake Words, and Breathing as the Anti-Harley-Davidson

“Orfield Laboratories, run by Steven Orfield, is a small Twin Cities business that leverages the power of perception to help companies build better products. Harley-Davidson, for example, once hired Orfield to calculate the exact engine tone and decibel level that would give riders the impression that its motorcycles are powerful.”*

- Michael Easter, The Comfort Crisis

How crazy is that!? Harley-Davidson actually hired a company to ensure their engines gave “riders the impression that its motorcycles are powerful.”

I think breathing is the anti-Harley-Davidson. You just relax and breathe. If it’s powerful, it’s powerful. If it’s not, it’s not. No fake impressions needed.

***

P.S. Although I take pride in this newsletter, sometimes I feel like Orfield Labs trying to make breathing sound perfect. It’s not. But it is truly powerful. So, don’t just read my words, try it out and feel its strength for yourself.

Extra Thought:

5 Easy Breathing Exercises You Can Use for Better Sleep Tonight

I wrote a guest blog called “5 Easy Breathing Exercises You Can Use for Better Sleep Tonight” for The Breather, hosted by ResBiotic.

It’s a quick 4-minute read. I hope you enjoy it!

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

“When we focus on the breath, we become mindful of the universal nature of all beings.”

- Bhante Henepola Gunarantana

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Meditation & Relaxation Response

Answer: A trademark physiological result of meditation and/or the relaxation response is that the body consumes less oxygen, also known as this.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is hypometabolism?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. Science can catch these hands

 
 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 

A Shared Theme, Heal the Body, and Tony Robbins's 3 Breathing Practices

 
 

🎧 Listen Instead of Reading 🎧

If you enjoy listening, you can subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Audible so you don’t even have to look at the email 😊

 
 
 

4 Thoughts


1. A Shared Theme: Breathing is the Most Accessible Tool We Have

“Breath is a direct, easy, accessible, and rapid way to shape the state of the nervous system. … The way we breathe says a lot about the state of our body and the story we are living.”

- Deb Dana, The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy

This echoes so many of the thoughts shared here; that’s why I love it so much.

It’s incredibly inspiring to find common themes in books on happiness, health, strength, mindfulness, therapy, philosophy, and on & on. And one they all come back to is this: breathing is the most accessible tool we have for optimal living.

2. A New Definition of Shallow Breathing

“Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.”

- Cal Newport, Deep Work

We used Cal’s Deep Work Hypothesis to generate the Deep Breath Hypothesis. Let’s use this one to create a new definition of Shallow Breathing:

Shallow Breathing: Noncognitively demanding, rapid-style breaths, often performed through the mouth. These breaths tend to not create much value in our bodies and are easy to habituate.

3. The 3 Breathing Exercises Tony Robbins Uses

I just finished up Tony Robbins’s (literally) massive new book, Life Force. The audiobook is 22 hrs 50 mins! For a book called “Life Force,” I didn’t expect it to take ~10 hours to get to anything about breathing…but I digress 😊

In any case, it was worth the wait. Here’s how Tony uses breathing:

Breathwalking: “For example, one breathing pattern entails inhaling for four seconds, holding your breath for four seconds, exhaling for four seconds, and holding your breath for four seconds. A segmented 4:4 pattern that you can continue for several minutes while you walk in order to boost your energy and mental clarity.”* (He said this breathwalking method was one of his first intros to breathing, but I’m not 100% sure this is exactly the pattern he uses now.)

Really (really) Slow Breathing: He uses a 1:4:2 ratio breath with an 8-sec inhale, 32-sec hold, and 16-sec exhale, 1-3x a day. “I utilize this strategy to train the body to fully oxygenate by holding the breath longer and exhaling twice as long as you inhale, in order to eliminate toxins and stimulate the lymph system. I found it an invaluable tool to enhance my energy, my state of mind, and my sense of well-being.”*

Energizing Breathwork: “I also use a more explosive breath when I'm tired and need to snap myself into a peak state right before getting on stage. I drink my water, do my breathing, and I'm ready to rock and roll.”* Not sure what method he uses, but it might be Bhastrika (or Wim Hof breathing).

4. All Life Sciences are Breath Sciences

If breath is life, then all life sciences are, in some way, breath sciences.

  • Heart science is in some way breath science.

  • Brain science is in some way breath science.

  • Physiology is in some way breath science.

  • Psychology is in some way breath science.

  • & on and on

If you study life, you study breath : )

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

“Science is beginning to investigate in a serious manner something humanity has known for centuries—that the breath can be used to heal the body.”

- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Respiratory System

Answer: The hollow organ that allows you to make sounds with your breath is called this.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the larynx (or voice box)?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. Deep deep work

 
 
 

* An asterisk by a quote indicates that I listened to this book on Audible. Therefore, the quotation might not be correct, but is my best attempt at reproducing the punctuation based on the narrator’s pace, tone, and pauses.

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 

18 "Inspiring" Quotes on Breath as Life & Spirit

Here are 18 interesting quotes referring to the breath as life or spirit. It’s by no means comprehensive—just some that have stuck out to me over the years.

Enjoy!

1.  “Man was created of the Earth, and lives by virtue of the air; for there is in the air a secret food of life…whose invisible congealed spirit is better than the whole earth.”

- Michael Sendivogius

 

2.  “Of course, the word spirit itself, despite all of its incorporeal and non-sensuous connotations, is directly related to the very bodily term respiration through their common root in the Latin word “spiritus”, which signified both breath and wind.”

– David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous

 

3.  “My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know. The spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

– Job 33:3-4 

4.  “The fact is that when we focus on the breath, we are focusing on the life force. Life begins with our first breath and will end after our last. To contemplate breathing is to contemplate life itself.”

– Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath

 

5.  “Among the Creek Indians of the southwest, for instance, the creator God, the only divinity equal to or exceeding the Earth and the sun in its power, is called the Master of Breath.”

–David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous

 

6.  “Interestingly, the Greek word psyche, which we often use to indicate our mind or the emotional state of our mind, actually means soul or spirit, or most tellingly, the breath of life.”

– Eddie Stern, One Simple Thing

 

7.  “That oxygen, life, and lungs all came into our world in relatively close succession is no coincidence.  Only with oxygen and some means of extracting it are all things possible—thinking, moving, eating, speaking, and loving.  Life and the breath are synonymous.”

- Michael J. Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

 

8.  “Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”

– Genesis 2:7

 

9.  “The air I inhale enters my body and becomes part of me. The air I exhale moves into someone else and becomes part of her. Just by looking at how the air moves, we realize we are all connected to one another, not just figuratively, but also literally.”

– Haemin Sunim, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down

 

10.  “For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.”

- Sanskrit Proverb

 

11.  “Thus spirit = breath = life, the aliveness and power of your life, and to speak of your spirit (or soul) is to speak of the power of life that is in you.”

- Frederick Buechner

 

12.  “Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts.”

– Thich Nhat Hanh

 

13.  "Ancient Egyptian cultures also recognized the importance of the breath, the evidence of which we see today in the many ancient statues that had their noses broken off but otherwise were left untouched. This defacement was no accident, but a deliberate act by conquering groups to take the life, in this case the breath of life, away from these icons."

- Michael J. Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

 

14.  “Thus a great many terms that now refer to the air as a purely passive and insensate medium are clearly derived from words that once identified the air with life and awareness. And words that now seemed to designate a strictly immaterial mind or spirit are derived from terms that once named the breath as the very substance of that mystery.”

–David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous

 

15.  “Zen Master Hogan said that the whole universe is in the breath. If you really pay attention to it, it takes you to its immaculate source.”

– Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath

 

16.  “Arise! the breath, the life, again hath reached us: darkness hath passed away and light approacheth.”

– Rig Veda 1:113:16

 

17.  “The breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.”

– Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

 

18. “Life and respiration are complementary. There is nothing living which does not breathe nor anything breathing which does not live.”

- William Harvey, 1653, Lectures on the Whole of Anatomy

How Breathing Helps You Get and Stay Frustrated (and why it’s a good thing)

 
 

Listen Instead of Reading

 
 
 

4 Thoughts


1. Why You Need to be Frustrated, and How Breathing Can Help

“Long-haul creativity, Robinson believes, requires a low-level, near-constant sense of frustration. … It’s a constant, itchy dissatisfaction, a deep sense of what-if, and can-I-make-it-better, and the like.”

- Steven Kotler, The Art of Impossible

A consistent breathing practice will improve your mental clarity and overall health. But it will also frustrate the hell out of you.

It’s so simple; why isn’t this taught everywhere? Wait, it’s free, and it literally helps everything?

Then, of course, your improved mental clarity will seep into everything you do, and you will get more frustrated with the world, in general. (Not that I’m speaking from personal experience or anything 😂)

But now we see it’s a good thing. We need a little frustration, a slight sense of dissatisfaction, a knowing that things could be better. It helps us sustain the creativity needed to deliver what the world needs.

And a regular breathing practice is the easiest way to get that itchy dissatisfaction.

So, please, go get a little more frustrated, and a little more creative, today : )

***

P.S. Kotler shares nine different ways for achieving long-haul creativity in the book. This was #5, but its unexpected nature made it stand out the most.

2. A Few Stand-Out Passages on the Importance of the Ancient Nose

“As a general note, the teachings on wind energy training and Yantra yoga emphasize breathing through the nostrils during the entire practice session. Unless we are given specific, personal instruction by a master on how and when to breathe through the mouth, we should always breathe through the nose.”

- The Tibetan Yoga of Breath

“The nose is the heavenly door (while) the mouth is the earthly window. Therefore, inhale through your nose and use your mouth to exhale. Never do otherwise for breath would be in danger and illness would set in.”

- The Primordial Breath, Volume I

"Ancient Egyptian cultures also recognized the importance of the breath, the evidence of which we see today in the many ancient statues that had their noses broken off but otherwise were left untouched. This defacement was no accident, but a deliberate act by conquering groups to take the life, in this case the breath of life, away from these icons."

- Michael J. Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

3. Walking After a Meal: The Simplest Habit for Stable Blood Sugar

“The most important takeaway is simple: Whenever possible, move your body after eating. Doing this helps mobilize post-meal glucose to fuel physical activity and curb the spike you might experience if you were inactive.”

- Levels, Walking after a meal: the simplest habit for stable blood sugar

The folks at Levels put out some of the best blogs; they’re well-written and packed with practical information.

This one was so good it almost made me want to switch my post-meal breathing session for a walk. Who knows, maybe I’ll become The Walking Diabetic : )

Enjoy!

***

Related: Diaphragmatic Breathing Reduces Postprandial Oxidative Stress

4. A Little Bit of Tape goes a Long Way

“I guess it goes to show that a little bit of tape can go a long way.”

- 411 Reader

When you tape your mouth at night, you reap the benefits of nasal breathing for 7+ hours a night. This includes things like better oxygenation, optimal breathing volume, harnessing nitric oxide, and brainwave synchronization.

Ultimately, this leads to deeper and more restorative sleep.

And if you’re a diabetic, your improved sleep might lead to noticeably better insulin sensitivity, which happened for this reader.

“I guess it goes to show that a little bit of tape can go a long way.” Perfectly said. 🙏

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

“The air, we might say, is the soul of the visible landscape, the secret realm from which all things draw their nourishment.”

- David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous

P.S. Thanks to 411 reader Davis for sharing this book, and specifically the chapter on breathing, with me. So much goodness to explore. 🙏

 
 
 
 

1 Answer

Category: Brainwaves and Creativity

Answer: These brainwaves, which are between 8 and 12 Hz, are most associated with creative thinking.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What are alpha brainwaves?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”

P.S. Slipping the bouncer a $20

 
 
 

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 

How To Breathe To Live Longer, plus a New Take on "Breathe Light"

 
 

Listen Instead of Reading

 

Greetings,

Here are four thoughts, one quote, and one answer for this week.

I hope you enjoy!

 
 
 
 

4 Thoughts


1. How To Breathe To Live Longer

Let’s synthesize some ideas on breathing for longevity and see how we can apply this knowledge in our own life today.

Part I: Breathe Through Your Nose

Here’s James Nestor describing how George Caitlin lived double the average life expectancy of his time:

“He credited his longevity to ‘the great secret of life’: to always breathe through the nose.” - Breath

Part II: Expand Your Lung Capacity

Next, here’s Nestor describing the Framingham Heart Study:

“They gathered two decades of data from 5,200 subjects, crunched the numbers, and discovered that the greatest indicator of life span ... was lung capacity … larger lungs equaled longer lives.” – Breath

Part III: Synthesis and Application

Part I is straightforward: breathe through your nose. But how do we expand lung capacity? Nestor provides a few different ways.

  1. Light to moderate exercise

  2. Lung expanding breathwork

  3. Long and complete exhales

Lung-expanding breathwork includes things like Wim Hof w/ “belly, chest, head,” the Yogic Complete Breath, and most breathing taught in freediving.

Long exhales also increase lung capacity by allowing “more air to get in” on the next breath. But, they have the added longevity benefit of activating the “relaxation response.”

Alright, so there we have it. To live longer, we should breathe through our noses all the time, increase our lung capacity, and practice extended exhales.

And for the ultimate expression of longevity, let’s not forget what Michael J Stephen, MD tells us in Breath Taking:

“Those of us who practice breathing exercises today may well pass on more disease resistant genes to our descendants tomorrow.”

Here’s to living longer, today. : )

***

Related Quote: “For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.” - Sanskrit Proverb

P.S. Here’s how I implement this in my life:

  • Nasal breathing 24/7.

  • 15 min of slow breathing in the morning w/ extended exhales.

  • 5-10 min of slow breathing before bed w/ extended exhales.

  • Practice Wim Hof style breathing, ~5-10 min a day.

2. A New Definition of “Breathe Light”

You’ve probably heard of Patrick McKeown’s fantastic Breathe Light exercise. But, motivated by this excellent post, I decided to add another definition of “breathe light:”

Perform slow nasal breathing in the sunlight.

Nasal breathing releases nitric oxide into the airways and carries it into the lungs. Sunlight liberates nitrite from your skin and increases circulating levels of nitric oxide. When combined, you get better blood flow and oxygenation.

As Dr. Steven Lin says in the post,

Sunlight + Slow Breathing = Health + Happiness

***

Related: Insufficient Sun Exposure Has Become a Real Public Health Problem

Related: Sunlight May Be the Next Beet Juice

Related: Ultraviolet Radiation-Induced Production of Nitric Oxide:A multi-cell and multi-donor analysis

3. “Vision and Breathing May Be the Secrets to Surviving 2020”

“Stress, he says, is not just about the content of what we are reading or the images we are seeing. It is about how our eyes and breathing change in response to the world, as well as the cascades of events that follow.”

- Scientific American

I know, I know, it’s 2021. But I’m a slow reader : )

In any case, this is an excellent article from Scientific American. Breathing, stress, vision, and Andrew Huberman—it’s just all-around amazing.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, if you haven’t already read it…

***

P.S. Thanks to Ben Greenfield for sharing this article, which is how I found it.

4. The Most Important Part of Your Breathing Practice

Whether you’re breathing for longevity, energy, relaxation, or any other reason, here’s the most important part of the practice: to practice.

***

P.S. Inspired by Brian Johnson’s Notes on Creativity On Demand

 
 
 
 

1 Quote

“Life is too short to be lived in fast forward. Slow down. Breathe it in. Enjoy it.”

– Ryan Holiday

 
 
 
 

1 Answer

Category: Sunlight and Respiration

Answer: Although sunlight helps humans produce nitric oxide, it provides plants with their energy through this process.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is photosynthesis?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
Diabetes is Tiny. You are Mighty.

P.S. I felt this on a spiritual level

 
 
 

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 

Applying Gandhi's Wisdom, The Science of Learning, and $100 to Your Breath

 
 

Listen Instead of Reading

 

Hey,

Welcome back to another issue of the The Breathing 411. Here are 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer that I hope you enjoy this week!

 
 
 
 

4 Thoughts


1. Why Your Breathing Gains Get More Boring With Time

“Gaining the first $100 at the track feels much better than winning the second $100, which feels better than winning the third $100, and so on. Eventually, if things get good enough, there is almost no psychological benefit when they get even better. This relationship reflects what economists call diminishing marginal utility.”

- Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice

Building off last week’s “Satisfaction Treadmill,” let’s not forget this passage when our breathing, or anything else we’re working on, starts feeling boring.

We’re still making gains. They just might not feel as dramatic, because we already feel so good.

***

Related: James Clear’s Plateau of Latent Potential

2. Applying Gandhi’s Wisdom and Scientific Research to Appreciate Your Favorite Breathing Practice

“Humans do not give greater credence to an objective record of a past event than to their subjective remembering of it.”

- Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Translation: What you experience holds more weight than what you learn.

As the Make it Stick authors also tell us, research shows it’s “nearly impossible to avoid basing one's judgments on subjective experience.”

Some might say this is a flaw of being human—we base things on emotions instead of facts. I say it’s amazing, at least when it comes to breathing : )

Because with breathing, this means that whatever you experience is what’s true for you. Your practice is yours; no science or statistics needed.

Practically, it means that if your experience with Wim Hof was terrific, then you should keep doing it. Or, if slow breathing was life-changing, do that.

As Gandhi tells us, “As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.” This applies perfectly to breathing. And science agrees.

***

P.S. If you like mouth breathing 24/7, I’m sorry, that doesn’t count here 😂

Related: “What is the Right Breathwork Method For Me?” from Breathwork Alchemy (Excellent Instagram post—concise and packed with wisdom)

3. Mouth Tape: End Mouth Breathing for Better Sleep and a Healthier Mouth

“Becoming a nose breather is a process, but even repeated cycles of just a few minutes of nose breathing can effectively train your body to do it regularly.”

- Dr. Mark Burhenne, Mouth Tape: End Mouth Breathing for Better Sleep and a Healthier Mouth

Mouth taping is odd. It’s perhaps the most important thing we can do for our health, but it’s hard to recommend without sounding slightly crazy.

Fortunately, Dr. Mark Burhenne wrote this great article, which covers basically every aspect of taping up at night. It will now be my go-to for anyone interested in the topic.

Enjoy the great read, and enjoy sharing it with others.

***

Related: Mouth breathing during sleep significantly increases upper airway resistance and obstructive sleep apnea

4. To Take Care of Your Heart, Take Care of Your Breath

“In other words, the primary role of the heart is to distribute the oxygen brought into the lungs during inhalation, and to bring carbon dioxide back to the lungs where the excess can be breathed out.”

– Patrick McKeown, The Breathing Cure (pg. 237)

I’ve never thought of it this way: Your heart’s main job is to make your breathing useful to the rest of your body. So from this viewpoint, it’s obvious they must work together. And all the science we review makes perfect sense.

Of course breathing efficiently would make our hearts work more effectively. And of course we would see measurements like heart rate variability increase and blood pressure decrease.

That’s because the heart and breath can’t be separated. Thus, we might even say, to take better care of your heart, take better care of your breath.

***

Related Quote: “Although the lungs are clearly an essential element of the processes we associate with breathing, they alone do not provide the whole story.” - Respiratory Physiology: A Clinical Approach

 
 
 
 

1 Quote

“Deep breathing is a potent inducer of the parasympathetic system. The release of acetylcholine not only calms our organs, it also stimulates the release of serotonin, dopamine, and prolactin, the feel-good hormones targeted by medicines like Prozac and Zoloft. But yoga and breathing exercises produce this effect naturally and without side effects.”

- Michael J. Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

 
 
 
 

1 Answer

Category: Nasal Airways

Answer: Although the effect is less commonly discussed, when this gas is released into the nasal airways, it helps warm incoming air.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is nitric oxide?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
Diabetes is Tiny. You are Mighty.

P.S. Except for what happens in my brain

 
 
 

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 

A Mystical Organ, and The 4 Best Ways to Keep Your Breathing Interesting

 
 

Listen to this post:

 

Greetings,

Here are 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer for this week. Enjoy!

 
 
 
 

4 Thoughts


1. The 4 Best Ways to Keep Your Breathing Practice Interesting

  1. Try New Methods

    • Example: Trying a new method or breathing rate each week.

  2. Make it Harder

    • Example: Gradually increasing the sides of your box breath.

  3. Use it in Harder Situations

    • Example: Using nasal-only breathing during a run or workout.

  4. Focus on Compounding (my favorite)

    • Example: Using the same method with ridiculous consistency.

…

P.S. Any #1-3 can actually be applied in #4 too.

2. How Slow Breathing Helps Lower Your Blood Sugar, Diabetes or Not

Slow deep breathing activates the calming parasympathetic nervous system. This might increase insulin sensitivity and, in people without type-1 diabetes, stimulate insulin production. The immediate result is lower blood sugar.

So, diabetes or not, these blood-sugar-balancing effects are pretty phenomenal. But if you have diabetes, the compounded benefits get even more impressive.

In one long-term study, type-2 diabetics who practiced slow deep breathing for 15 min twice a day for one year improved their HbA1c by as much as 2%.

To put that in perspective, every 1% reduction in HbA1c reduces the risk of heart attack by 14%, the risk of death by 21%, and the risk of microvascular complications by 37% in people with type-2 diabetes.

With results like these and no adverse side effects, slow breathing just seems like a no-brainer for helping manage blood sugars.

3. A Breathing Grab Bag

Here’s a hodgepodge of interesting articles to browse this week:

4. To Understand the Benefits of Breathing, Do This

“Understanding is not conceptual, and therefore cannot be passed on. It is an immediate experience, and immediate experience can only be talked about (very inadequately), never shared.”

- Aldous Huxley

My attempts to convey the benefits of breathing are “very inadequate,” at best.

I can share how breathing lowers blood sugar or increases HRV, which is fun and exciting stuff. But to understand it requires that you experience it.

So pick a method that resonates with you and go experience it for yourself. It’s too simple not to.

“We must always remember that knowledge of understanding is not the same thing as the understanding, which is the raw material of that knowledge.”

…

P.S. I found these passages in the Brain Pickings Sunday Newsletter.

 
 
 
 

1 Quote

“The lungs are a mysterious and even mystical organ. They are our connection to the atmosphere, the organ that extracts the life force we need to exist.”

- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

 
 
 
 

1 Answer

Answer: Your “mysterious and even mystical” lungs breathe approximately this many gallons of air each day.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 2,000?

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
Diabetes is Tiny. You are Mighty.

P.S. Me this past Saturday

 
 
 

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 

Breathing Through Negative Feedback Loops, and the WHM in 2.5 Minutes

 
 

Listen to this post:

 

Welcome back to another issue of The Breathing 411.

Here are 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer for the week. Enjoy!

 
 
 
 

4 Thoughts

1. The Epiphenomena of Breathing

“However, a lightbulb also produces heat. Heat is not the function of the lightbulb, nor is it the reason we originally fashioned it […] It is an unintended by-product of the operation, not the true function. Heat is an epiphenomenon in this case.”

- Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep

Depending on you and your perspective, breathing can have many epiphenomena. For example, you might do a breathing practice to relax. But, as a by-product, it will also improve autonomic and cardiovascular function.

Perhaps your breathing practice is for better sleep. In this case, you’ll still experience the epiphenomena of better insulin sensitivity and better focus.

In fact, optimal breathing has so many “epi-benefits,” it’s hard to keep track. Luckily, you don’t have to. You simply pick one or two reasons that make sense for you, and let the rest happen on its own, like heat from a lightbulb.

Related Quote: “Replace the habit of taking short shallow breaths into the top of the lungs with the practice of taking a full deep breath. Nearly all of the benefits begin with this one simple change.” - Al Lee, Don Campbell, Perfect Breathing

2. The Negative Feedback of Stress in Diabetes, and What We Can Do About It

  • Diabetes is a chronic stressor. [1]

  • Chronic stress worsens blood sugar control. [2]

  • It also reduces HRV, increasing susceptibility to more stress. [3]

  • This then can increase anxiety. [4]

  • Leading to more stress and worse blood sugar control. [2]

  • Which then leads to the subjective feeling of more stress. [1]

It’s a merciless cycle.

Encouragingly, however: “Emerging evidence strongly suggests…that interventions that help individuals prevent or cope with stress can have an important positive effect on quality of life and glycemic control.”

You probably know where this is going : )

Slow breathing immediately helps:

  • It reduces chronic stress by increasing vagal tone. [5]

  • It improves both short- and long-term HRV. [6]

  • It reduces anxiety. [7]

  • It improves blood sugar control. [8]

The negative feedback loop of stress and diabetes won’t just go away. But slow breathing gives you an effective intervention you can use to help offset its harmful effects and prevent it from getting out of control forever.

Related Quote: “Slow breathing could be a simple beneficial intervention in diabetes.” - Nature Scientific Reports

3. How The Wim Hof Method Works, In 2.5 Minutes

“So what happens when you breathe this way is you stress your body out. […] You control your stress to a specific amount of time so that, for the rest of the day, you can chill out. So that is probably why Wim Hof’s method works so well.”

- James Nestor

Tomorrow is Wim Hof’s birthday. In that spirit, here’s a quick 2.5 minute clip of James Nestor explaining how the WHM works.

Enjoy!

Related: 20 One-Sentence Thoughts on the Wim Hof Method

Related Quote: “I’m not afraid of death, I’m afraid not to have lived fully.” - Wim Hof

4. We Are All Living Nasal Breathers

“All living things on our planet undergo a unescapable and predictable daily change in their environment: Day becomes night. […] To cope with this predictable daily change in light and dark, almost every living organism has developed an internal timing system, or circadian clock.”

- Satchin Panda, PhD, The Circadian Code

In The Circadian Code, we learn that, try as we might, we cannot override our circadian rhythm. Evolution programmed it into us. Trying to fight it with more coffee (talking to myself here) will only hurt us in the long run. We’re much better off aligning with it to achieve our best health outcomes.

This reminded me of a seemingly unrelated, yet similar concept: we’re all nasal breathers.  We can optimize our diets, exercise, and so on, but if we don’t breathe how evolution designed us to—through our nose—we’ll never reach our full health potential.

Related: Chronic sinus inflammation appears to alter brain activity

Related Quote: “Around 1500 BCE, the Ebers Papyrus, one of the oldest medical texts ever discovered, offered a description of how nostrils were supposed to feed air to the heart and lungs, not the mouth.” - James Nestor, Breath

 
 
 
 

1 Quote

“The power of the breath has been used not just to heal, but to attain extraordinary feats that appear to defy laws of physiology. […] With mastery of his breath and his meditative practices, Hof is redefining what is considered physiologically possible for a human.”

- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

 
 
 
 

1 Answer

Answer: Although known as the Ice Man, Wim Hof has also completed a full marathon without water in this desert.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the Namib Desert?

P.S. Here’s short clip of him walking. He’s mainly nose-breathing, probably to conserve water : )

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
Diabetes is Tiny. You are Mighty.

P.S. Do drugs and stay out of school

 
 
 

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 

How To Be a Straight-A Breathing Student, and Why Diabetics “Get It”

 
 

Listen to this post in 5 min 51 sec:

 

Yesterday was 4-11.

Yesterday was World Breathing Day.

Yesterday was also my birthday.

It’s almost as if it was meant to be this week…

Alright, here are 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer for the week. Enjoy!

 
 
 
 

4 Thoughts

1. How To Be a Straight-A Breathing Student

One of my favorite stories is the “50 lbs = A” parable. I even kept a post-it of that phrase on my monitor during my post-doc. As it goes, a professor found that grading ceramics students based on quantity—50 lbs gets you an A—led to better quality than grading them on one “masterpiece.”

The moral of the story: Quantity leads to quality.

Quality is obviously essential to breathing. We do take more than 20,000 breaths per day, as it is. But, perhaps what’s more important is just starting and sticking to a consistent breathing practice.

So for breathing, we might say: Focused quantity leads to quality.

You might not begin with perfect diaphragmatic breathing, proper tongue placement, or proper volume. But with a consistent practice, you’ll naturally start noticing and improving these things.

So how about we write our own parable, where 50 breaths = A.

Or maybe just 5 breaths or 5 minutes. Regardless, it’s the focused, consistent quantity that counts. Here’s to becoming straight-A breathing students today.

Related: “If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection […] You just need to practice it.” - James Clear, Atomic Habits

2. Why the Power of Breathing is Actually Easy to Explain to People with Diabetes

Ask a diabetic what affects their blood sugar. They’ll either start laughing, or immediately blurt out “everything!”

So then, when you tell them that breathing literally impacts almost every bodily function, they’ll get it:

Everything affects my blood sugar. Breathing affects everything.

It just makes common sense for us diabetics to optimize it.

Related: The Lesser-Known Benefits of Nasal Breathing, Designed for Diabetes

Related Quote: “Breathing isn’t everything. But, breathing impacts everything.” - David Bidler

3. This Breathing Exercise Can Calm You Down in a Few Minutes

“Many people find benefit, no one reports side effects, and it’s something that engages the patient in their recovery with actively doing something.”

- Cynthia Stonnington, Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ

Here is yet another excellent article from Vice: This Breathing Exercise Can Calm you Down in a Few Minutes. In it, we learn about the power of resonant breathing from Cynthia Stonnington (above) and gain invaluable insights from a pioneer in breath research, Patricia Gerbarg.

Enjoy the awesome read!

Related: Decrease stress by using your breath (Mayo Clinic)

4. The Universal Structure of the Respiratory System

“There is something transcendent in the very structure of our respiratory system…Other examples of this configuration in nature abound—streaks of lightning converging into a single bolt only to diverge again as they approach the ground;

the tributaries of a riverbed unifying into one main waterway; the human body itself, branching from its trunk to arms and legs, then fingers and toes.

The lungs tap into something universal in their structure, maximizing uptake of the life force that surrounds all of us.”

- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

Here's another gem from Breath Taking's prologue, reminding us just how remarkable, yet universal, the structure of our respiratory system is.

 
 
 
 

1 Quote

“The daily use of breath practices can turn back the tide of stress, counteract disease progression, and improve overall quality of life.”

- Richard Brown & Patricia Gerbarg

The Healing Power of the Breath

 
 
 
 

1 Answer

Answer: For every tooth you lose as an adult, your risk of this increases by 2%.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is obstructive sleep apnea?

(I learned this in Breath)

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
Diabetes is Tiny. You are Mighty.

P.S. 100% me. (Looking at you Wibbs)

 
 
 

Sign Up For The Breathing 411

Each Monday, I curate and synthesize information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing. It’s a fun way to learn something new each week.

 
 

A Danger of Breathwalking, and How I Almost Stepped on It

 
 

Listen to this post in 6 min 28 sec:

 

Welcome to another issue of The Breathing 411,

Here are four thoughts, one quote, and one answer to consider this week.

There’s also a fun bonus thought on the “Dangers of Breathwalking.”

I hope you enjoy it!

 
 
 
 

4 Thoughts

1. The Lungs Lead, Heart and Mind Follow

“This knowledge is spreading back to the West through disciplines such as yoga and mindfulness, but also through techniques aimed at improving endurance, and even intimacy. These practices demonstrate that the mind and the heart follow the lungs, not the other way around.”

- Michael J. Stephenson, MD from Breath Taking

Study after study has shown that breathing gives you access and control over your heart and mind, in ways such as increasing heart rate variability and synchronizing brain waves. That is, the lungs lead, the heart and mind follow.

But even with all this research, sometimes it takes an eloquent quote from a respected pulmonologist to make it seem so obvious.

Related: HBR: Why Breathing Is So Effective at Reducing Stress

Related Quote: “The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.” -Kahlil Gibran

2. Why Slow Nasal Breathing Could Be More Important in Type-2 Diabetes

Both type-1 and type-2 diabetes benefit from slow nasal breathing.

However, it could be more beneficial in type-2 diabetes since the primary issues there are reduced insulin production and reduced insulin sensitivity.

And it just so happens that slow breathing increases insulin production and improves insulin sensitivity. But maybe most importantly, nasal breathing helps you sleep better, which will indirectly boost insulin sensitivity.

Obviously, slow breathing isn’t going to cure you of type-2. But it’s safe, effective, and super practical. It seems like a no-brainer.

P.S. For T1Ds like me, all these things are still very helpful. We just won’t get the added benefit of increased insulin production…stupid pancreas…

3. How to Improve Concentration Using Your Breath

“by focusing on and regulating your breathing you can optimize your attention level and likewise, by focusing on your attention level, your breathing becomes more synchronized.”

- How to Improve Concentration Using Your Breath

In this great short article, you’ll learn that to improve your concentration, “It’s as simple as breathing through your nose.”

You’ll also get some excellent quotes from James Nestor and the director of the Yale Stress Center. Well worth the quick read. Enjoy!

Related: The nose knows: How breathing through your nose improves your health (This was linked in the Thrive article—it’s an excellent deep dive into the benefits of nose breathing, mainly from clinical doctors. I absolutely loved it. I just didn’t agree with the very last sentence.)

4. John Wayne’s Perfect Breathing Advice (almost)

“Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much.”

- John Wayne, Advice on acting

If we replace “talk” with “breathe,” we arrive at the perfect breathing advice:

Breathe low, breathe slow, and don’t breathe too much.

Extra Thought: The “Dangers” of Breathwalking

I’ve become somewhat obsessed with breathwalking. I use it in short 1-3 min intervals several times a day. It’s phenomenal. Thanks again, Louise!

Last Tuesday, I was walking around my backyard, completely focused on my breath. Then, I came about this close 🤏 to stepping on a snake. The snake had its head up, ready to bite. And here I am, Mr. Breathwalker, completely oblivious…lol.

Luckily, I managed to jump over it (maybe letting out a quick scream) and immediately starting laughing at the irony of the situation.

Focusing on your breath most certainly improves your concentration. But in the comfort of your backyard, that concentration might backfire!

Related: Thanks to M.C. for sharing this excellent 4.5 min video:

Breathwalking With Dr. Jim Nicolai | Andrew Weil, M.D.

 
 
 
 

1 Quote

“Few of these scientists set out to study breathing. But, somehow, in some way, breathing kept finding them.”

- James Nestor, Breath

 
 
 
 

1 Answer

Answer: In 2018, it was estimated that this percentage of the U.S. adult population had diabetes.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 13%? (and 90-95% of those cases are type-2)

In good breath,

Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
Diabetes is Tiny. Breathing is Mighty.

P.S. Easter family get together

 
 

How Breathing Makes Everything Possible

 
 

Listen to this post in 5 minutes:

 

Greetings,

Here are four thoughts, one quote, and one answer for this week. Enjoy!

 
 
 
 

4 Thoughts

1. Breathing Makes Everything Possible

“That oxygen, life, and lungs all came into our world in relatively close succession is no coincidence.  Only with oxygen and some means of extracting it are all things possible—thinking, moving, eating, speaking, and loving.  Life and the breath are synonymous.”

- Michael J. Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

I often feel crazy. The more I learn about breathing, the more I feel like I must be falling for a big trick. It seems as if all of life’s problems come back to the breath. It really just seems too simple to be true.

Then, I read a beautiful quote like this. One that succinctly states just how breathing, quite literally, makes everything possible. And it reminds me that it is, in fact, the opposite: It’s not crazy that all of life’s problems come back to the breath. It would be crazy if they didn’t.

2. Lesser-Known Ways Nose Breathing Helps Diabetes

You probably know how indispensable nose breathing is by now. But there are other lesser-known reasons it is particularly helpful in diabetes.

In this recent article, I examine nasal breathing through the lens of diabetic complications, nasal and systemic nitric oxide, stress, and sleep.

It’s a different perspective, and I hope you learn something new about nose breathing, whether you have diabetes or not.

If you don’t have time to read it, here are a few take-home messages:

  • People with diabetes have reduced blood flow, reduced tissue oxygenation, and less bioavailable nitric oxide.

  • Nasal breathing increases blood flow, improves tissue oxygenation, and might increase an essential form of bioactive nitric oxide.

3. Take a Deep Breath (American Physiological Society)

“That’s the wonderful thing about it. There are no side effects. It’s cheap. And everyone has had the experience of taking a single deep breath—you take one, and you feel it; it’s relaxing.”

- Jack Feldman, PhD, Distinguished Professor in Neurobiology at UCLA

This one started out slow, but wow, there was so much good information, especially in the last section on “Slow Breathing and the Brain.”

Enjoy the excellent read:

Take a Deep Breath: Featured article from the January 2021 issue of The Physiologist Magazine

4. Why Most Breathing Advice for Beginners is Wrong

"Yes, in our hyperachieving, go-getter world, I’m telling you to lower the bar. Not because I don’t want you to achieve great things, but because I know that you need to start small in order to achieve them."

- BJ Fogg, Tiny Habits

Though well-meaning, most advice for starting a breath practice is wrong.

We’re told we need to do twenty minutes in the morning, twenty minutes before bed, and maybe six additional breathing "check-ins" throughout the day. It’s overwhelming just to think about it.

Sure, if your motivation is high, this approach might work. But it also might set you up for failure, instead of setting you up for long-term growth.

To make it stick, behavior change scientists say we need to start small. For example, starting with 1 minute is more valuable than starting with 1 hour.

And ironically, starting small is the only way to go big. As BJ tells us, "Over the last twenty years, I’ve found that the only consistent, sustainable way to grow big is to start small." Conversely, starting big often leads to giving up.

So let’s lower our breathing bars, start small, and create breathing habits that set us, and those we teach, up for lasting success.

Related: Stanford Researcher BJ Fogg on the ‘Tiny Habits’ That Lead to Big Breakthroughs

 
 
 
 

1 Quote

“Oxygen is the life force, the source of life’s infinite possibilities.”

- Michael J. Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

 
 
 
 

1 Answer

Answer: Over a lifetime, the average nose hair grows this long.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is over 6 feet?

This is the same resource as last week, but this is too ridiculous not to share : )

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. The dmv be like…