aerobic — Blog — The Breathing Diabetic

Welcome to another week of The Breathing 4.1.1. Let’s get right to it.

4 THOUGHTS

1. Time-Restricted Breathing?

Every now and then, skipping a meal or two ("intermittent fasting") can be good for you. Studies have even found that just compressing your eating window (that is, "time-restricted eating") is beneficial for metabolism and weight loss.

You can do this on a much smaller scale with breathing. It’s called "intermittent breathing," or simply holding your breath. Maybe it’s only 30 seconds instead of 30 hours. Still, the idea is similar: Restrict your body from something it’s used to, and it elicits beneficial responses.

Similarly (although the analogy breaks down some), "time-restricted breathing" can also be done by setting aside time each day to breathe less. You might only do this for five minutes. But, like how time-restricted eating makes the meals you do eat more useful, time-restricted breathing improves your oxygen metabolism, making those other 20,000+ breaths you take each day more effective.

2. Slow Breathing as a Treatment for Insomnia

"Practicing the 0.1 Hz rate before sleep was shown to improve sleep onset latency and quality in insomniacs and enhance the stability of their sleep pattern (13). Thus, we suggest 0.1 Hz as the optimal frequency for a slow breathing technique." - Self-Regulation of Breathing as an Adjunctive Treatment of Insomnia

Last week, I mentioned that slow breathing might be a way to help with insomnia, based purely on deductive reasoning. With insomnia on my radar, this article jumped off the page at me. I cannot recommend it enough. Choosing only one quote was nearly impossible.

Even if you do not care about insomnia, their sections on "Cardiorespiratory Synchronization" and "Slow Deep Breathing" are phenomenal. They will be the motivation of several future thoughts…

In the meantime, let us slow down our breathing before bed (to say, 6 breaths per minute, also known as 0.1 Hz) to help increase cardiorespiratory synchronization, increase parasympathetic tone, and have a restful night’s sleep.

3. Why You Need Efficient Breathing: 18x the Energy

"Anaerobic metabolism…is relatively inefficient compared with aerobic processes. Only two ATP molecules are produced…In contrast, the body reaps 36 molecules of ATP for each molecule of glucose metabolized aerobically."
- Respiratory Physiology: A Clinical Approach

That means that aerobic metabolism (with oxygen) is about 18x more efficient than anaerobic metabolism (without oxygen). Therefore, the more efficient you are at using oxygen, the more efficient you are at producing energy.

A practical way to improve your oxygen efficiency? Time-restricted breathing.

4. A Simple Way to Breathe Better Right Now

Make your breathing quiet. This might be the easiest, most practical thing you can do anytime, anyplace, to improve your breathing (after nose breathing, of course). Give it a try now, if you feel so inspired.

Make sure you cannot hear your breathing, even internally. You’ll naturally slow down your breathing and naturally breathe less. It’s fantastic, and it’s easy.

1 QUOTE

"Gandhi became absolutely motionless. His absorption was so profound that he scarcely seemed to breathe"
- Eknath Easwaran, Gandhi The Man

1 ANSWER

Answer: The average number of breaths in a lifetime.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy music.)

…

Question: What is over 600 million?

BONUS THOUGHT

"And if the traveler is fortunate—that is, if the path is complex and profound enough—the destination is two miles farther away for every mile he or she travels." - George Leonard

I am fortunate to be traveling with you. Thank you for reading.

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. You’re Wrong and College Has Failed You

“Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books.” - Bell Hooks

This week, I want to look at a few fascinating passages on overbreathing from “Breath: The New Science of A Lost Art.”

Let’s start with James Nestor’s insight into tissue hypoxia (my bold for emphasis):

“In this, chronic overbreathing will not create ‘hypoxia’ in tissues; this is a fact that many Buteyko adherents consistently get wrong. The real damage from overbreathing comes from the constant energy the body has to expend to run more cells anaerobically and to constantly buffer for carbon dioxide deficiencies.”

So James is saying that tissue hypoxia itself is not the problem with overbreathing. The damage occurs because of the body’s response to prevent tissue hypoxia from happening.

Overbreathing and Cell Metabolism

Aerobic = “With Oxygen”

Anaerobic = “Without Oxygen”

This damage occurs partially because of sustained anaerobic metabolism. We have all probably heard of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Slow and steady is typically aerobic, fast and intense is usually anaerobic. We don’t have to think about it. When we push ourselves, our oxygen supply can’t keep up, and our body naturally switches to anaerobic metabolism.

This anaerobic switch creates a more acidic local environment, which will help release oxygen from the hemoglobin and help restore aerobic energy production.

But, with chronic overbreathing, this aerobic balance cannot be achieved. So your cells are running as if you’re always doing high-intensity training…not the most efficient way to spend your day.

But that’s not even the worst part of overbreathing.

Restoring pH Balance Causes the Real Damage

The body is always trying to find balance, and this is especially true for pH. Blood pH is kept in a tight range (around 7.4) to allow the body to function correctly.

When we chronically overbreathe, we offload too much carbon dioxide, which increases pH. The body compensates through a process called “buffering,” where the kidneys begin releasing bicarbonate into the urine to restore pH balance. The real damage comes from what bicarbonate takes with it:

“This occurs because as bicarbonate leaves the body, it takes magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and more with it. Without healthy stores of these minerals, nothing works right: nerves malfunction, smooth muscles spasm, and cells can’t efficiently create energy.” - James Nestor

Overbreathing Weakens Our Bones

All of which leads us to how overbreathing can contribute osteoporosis:

“Constant buffering also weakens the bones, which try to compensate by dissolving their mineral stores back into the bloodstream. (Yes, it’s possible to overbreathe yourself into osteoporosis and increased risk of bone fractures.)” - James Nestor

Alright, let’s break these steps down to see how this happens:

Overbreathing offloads too much carbon dioxide, preventing adequate oxygen delivery to the cells.
The cells compensate with chronic anaerobic metabolism.
The kidneys compensate by excreting bicarbonate into the urine to balance pH.
The excretion of bicarbonate “steals” important minerals from the blood.
The bones then compensate by dissolving minerals back into the blood, which weakens them.

It is simultaneously amazing and scary what our bodies are capable of.

There is Always Good News

Although this negative feedback loop is alarming, there is a way to prevent or reverse it: Stop overbreathing.

And the best way to do that? Breathe through your nose, breathe slowly, and breathe slightly less than you think you need.