breathing advice

Heart and Breath, plus the Best Breathing (and life) Advice I’ve Read

 
 

🎧 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. The Best Breathing (and life) Advice I’ve Ever Read

After reviewing tons of scientific papers, reading books, taking classes, and on & on, here’s the best breathing advice I’ve ever read:

“All this is literary, over-simplified, but we breathe as best we can.” - Samuel Beckett

We’ll never fully understand it. They’ll be inconsistent results. New discoveries. Revised approaches. But it’s all “literary, over-simplified.”

So, we just “breathe as best we can” with what we know.

***

P.S. Want the best life advice? Replace “breathe” with “live.” 🙂

2. Happy Valentine’s Day: 14 Loving Quotes on the Breath-Heart Connection

1. “Happiness lies in your own heart. You only need to practice mindful breathing for a few seconds, and you'll be happy right away.”

- Thich Nhat Hanh

 

2. “You know that our breathing is the inhaling and exhaling of air. The organ which serves for this is the lungs which lie round the heart. Thus breathing is a natural way to the heart.”

- Nicephorus the Solitary

 3. “If you would foster a calm spirit, first regulate your breathing; for when that is under control, the heart will be at peace; but when breathing is spasmodic, then it will be troubled.”

- Kariba Ekken

Keep going…

3. Story Follows State: Change Your Breath to Change the Messages Sent to the Brain

“We live a story that originates in our on autonomic state, is sent through autonomic pathways from the body to the brain, and is then translated by the brain into the beliefs that guide our daily living. The mind narrates what the nervous system knows. Story follows state.”*

- Deb Dana, The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy

“The mind narrates what the nervous system knows.” <— 🤯

And the fastest way to access the nervous system? The breath.

Change your breath, change your state, change your mind, change your story.

4. What Does All of this Mean in Real Life?

“So what does this mean for us? We can use our breath whenever we experience a stressful event. […] It's the most accessible tool you have, and it's invisible. You can practice breathing for well-being no matter where you are without anyone noticing.”*

- Emma Seppälä, The Happiness Track

That’s a perfect description of what all this breathing education means in real life. Of course, it won’t fix everything, but it’s the most accessible tool we have.

Let’s make it our ally.

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

“The greatest thing, then, in all of education, is to make our nervous system our ally as opposed to our enemy.”

- William James

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Breathing and the Heart

Answer: This is the fundamental link between heart and breath, signifying the increase in heart rate during inhalation and decrease during exhalation.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Really incredible what the human body is capable of

 
 
 

* 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.

 
 

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…

 
 

More Breathing in Less Time

 

Greetings,

This week’s 411 is brought to you by espresso, curiosity, my appreciation for your readership, and espresso. Enjoy!

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. Use Breathing Instead of Thinking

"Social psychologists now know that the truth lies in the opposite direction. People need to change their actions and their minds will follow." – Sean D Young, Stick With It

Experts tell us it’s hard to think our way out of thinking. We need to act and let the mind follow. I believe this is what makes breathing so powerful. It gives you an action you can perform anytime to trick your mind into following.

If you’re anxious, you can breathe slowly, which will calm your nervous system and lead to calmer thoughts. If you’re tired, you can breathe rapidly and stimulate your nervous system, increasing your heart rate and alertness.

There are many ways to use actions to control your emotions and thoughts. But breathing is free and easy. Stop thinking, begin breathing.

2. Post-Meal Breathing for Better Blood Sugars & Digestion

Relaxing breathing methods have been shown to reduce blood sugar spikes associated with meals and glucose tolerance tests. In Breath (pg 43), James Nestor also tells us that right nostril breathing heats up the body and aids in digestion. Together, it seems like a post-meal breathing practice might be a good idea.

I have been testing this in a simple and practical way. Specifically, I’ve been spending ~3 to 5 minutes performing either alternate nostril or diaphragmatic breathing (or their combination) after lunch.

The results have been quite noticeable. My sugars are much better (and even get low sometimes) in the hour following the meal. And these short minutes are especially helpful midday to focus my mind and get me back to work quickly.

Science + Practicality = Better Living

Even if you don’t have diabetes, adding this tiny habit after eating might help with digestion and improve energy levels. Not bad for just a few minutes.

3. More Breathing in Less Time

Brian Johnson is my favorite teacher. Long-time readers are probably sick of me talking about him : ) His motto: More wisdom in less time. In that spirit, here are a few excellent summaries Brian has made of some of the best breathing books:

Enjoy!

Thanks to new 411 reader W.G. for inspiring this thought.

4. The Best Advice You Can Give Someone Interested in Breathing

"Start now. Optimize later. Imperfect starts can always be improved." - James Clear

The Oxygen Advantage, Wim Hof, The Art of Breath, Buteyko, Breatheology, SKY, ujjayi, and on and on. They are all phenomenal for different reasons.

But the most important thing is to choose one and start—experience for yourself how simple and powerful these practices are. You can optimize later.

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

In my own experience, a deep breath is always a good first reaction to a first report. Try to let the potato cool a bit before you pick it up.

— General Colin Powell, It Worked For Me

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: This "nasal nerve" is the first one emerging from the brain.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is the olfactory nerve?

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. Preach