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Hello fellow breathing nerds,
Here are 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer for this week. Enjoy!
4 Thoughts
1. The Satisfaction Treadmill, and Why We Forget How Good Breathing Makes Us Feel
“In addition to being aware of the hedonic treadmill, we should also be wary of the satisfaction treadmill. This is the double whammy of adaptation. Not only do we adapt to a given experience so that it feels less good overtime, but we can also adapt to a given level of feeling good so that it stops feeling good enough.”
- Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice
I thought treadmills couldn’t get any worse, but alas: the satisfaction treadmill.
It’s the reason you still enjoy your breathing or meditation practice, but aren’t sure why it doesn’t feel as good as it used to. It’s why you eat healthily, but still get excited about the latest “superfood” or supplement.
You have adapted to your new level of feeling good, which means it’s not good enough anymore. I say this confidently because I do it all the time—just ask my wife : )
This is, of course, not the best way to live, with breathing or anything else. And things like gratitude and prayer are clearly invaluable. But, in my experience, just having an awareness of the satisfaction treadmill is helpful.
Having awareness gives you space. You can decide if something really isn’t working anymore, or if you’ve simply adjusted to a new level of feeling good.
Here’s to slowing down (or even stepping off) the treadmill today.
2. Breathing as a Metronome for Centering Yourself
“Now consider your breathing like a metronome, consistently and rhythmically connecting you to your own source, and providing you with a regular mechanism for re-centering yourself.”
- George Mumford, The Mindful Athlete
Building on last week’s trampoline thought, here’s another way of looking at slow breathing. You can consider your breathing to be like a metronome, setting the tempo for many rhythms in the body.
Slow down the metronome, and you slow down and synchronize these other rhythms.
And the best part about it? You are the conductor, and the breath is always available, “providing you with a regular mechanism for re-centering yourself.”
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P.S. I listened to this book, so my apologies to George Mumford if my transcription has punctuation errors.
3. Babies Do It. So Do Fitness Trainers. Now Scientists Say It Might Even Improve Memory.
“The results showed that when the participants breathed through their noses between the time of learning and recognition, they remembered the smells better.”
Here’s an excellent article from Forbes. It starts out discussing memory and nasal breathing, but then goes into many other aspects of the nose.
They also provide 3 breathing exercises recommended by Dr. Andrew Weil. Of course, we all know 4-7-8, but the “Breath Counting” one was neat too.
Enjoy the great read.
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Related: Nasal breathing synchronizes brain wave activity and improves cognitive function
Related Quote: “In other words, mouth breathing can create fragility while nasal breathing can create resiliency.” - Tim Anderson in The Breathing Cure
4. Breathing Graffiti on 28 Famous Quotes, Sayings, and Idioms
“To breathe, or not to breathe: that is the question.”
“Don’t put all your breaths in one basket.”
- No One Ever
When I wake up low at night, I sometimes use breathing to help me fall back asleep (after eating glucose, of course). Other times, I accept that I won’t be sleeping for a while, and I just let my mind wander and laugh at my thoughts.
This thought came on one such night, Thursday, March 11th, to be specific. It seemed especially cheesy, so I decided to go with it : ) Some of them I actually found pretty funny, others I had to stretch a bit…
Here are 28 Popular Sayings with “Breathing Graffiti”
Shoot me an email if you have any good ones I didn’t think of so I can add them in.
P.S. #11 is my favorite.
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Related: 21 One-Sentence Breathing Ideas
1 Quote
“What I wear is pants. What I do is live. How I pray is breathe.”
—Thomas Merton
Thanks to great friend E.S. for this one. Absolutely love it.
1 Answer
Category: Nasal Airways
Answer: These tiny hair-like structures oscillate at rates as high as 16 beats per minute.
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(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)
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Question: What are cilia?
In good breath,
Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
Diabetes is Tiny. You are Mighty.
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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.