The Breathing 411 - Intermittent Fasting and Time-Restricted Breathing

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

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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.

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1 QUOTE

"Gandhi became absolutely motionless. His absorption was so profound that he scarcely seemed to breathe"

- Eknath Easwaran, Gandhi The Man

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1 ANSWER

Answer: The average number of breaths in a lifetime.

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(Cue the Jeopardy music.)

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Question: What is over 600 million?

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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

Breathe The Change You Want to See (In Your Body)

"To say…that a man is made up of certain chemical elements is a satisfactory description only for those who intend to use him as a fertilizer." - Herbert J. Muller

When I first started a “breathing” practice, it seemed a bit silly. But then I started seeing dramatic improvements in my sleep, energy, and blood sugars. How could something as simple as breathing do so many things? The more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t silly or crazy at all.  

Close your mouth and pinch your nose.  

In a few seconds, you’ll begin feeling a desire to breathe so strong it’s almost uncontrollable. This simple act of holding the breath helps us appreciate just how important it is.

Why would an urge like this exist? One that can be felt by people who, quite literally, have no fear.  

It’s because there is more to breathing than just breathing. It’s biomechanics and biochemistry. It’s psychology and physiology. It’s in your brain, and it’s in your core. Breathing provides the link between your mind and your cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems.  

How to Breathe the Change You Want to See

Breathing is also very unique. It’s automatic, yet it is also under our conscious control. It’s up to us whether we want to take advantage of this.

For example, there is a cluster of neurons in your brain that monitors your breathing. If you breathe slowly and calmly, that message is sent to important regions of your brain. If you breathe fast and anxiously, that message is relayed as well.

Want to be anxious? Breathe anxiously.

Want to be calm? Breathe calmly.

Thus, we can consciously choose the messages we send with our breath. And this goes not just for the brain, but the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems as well. We can literally breathe the change we want to see in our bodies.

The First Place to Start

One of the most effective ways to “breathe the change” is with slow breathing. Slow breathing improves oxygenation, restores cardio-autonomic balance, increases heart rate variability, and so much more.

Give it a shot today. Breathe between 3 to 6 breaths per minute, for 5 minutes. Try it out for five days straight and see how you feel.

There’s no pill. There’s no money to be made. It’s just simple physiology.  

In good breath,

Nick  

P.S. “Sorry, but you’re going to need a pre-authorization.”

Lack of Oxygen Might be the Root Cause of Diabetic Complications

Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.” - Blaise Pascal

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People with diabetes are at an increased risk of cardiovascular and autonomic problems. Diabetics also display altered respiratory control, for example, showing depressed (or enhanced) chemoreflexes.

However, previous studies have never examined these two aspects in an integrated fashion.

Integration Over Isolation

The problem with separately studying these systems is that the results might not be independent. For example, if a study shows that diabetics have decreased respiratory control, it might conclude that this is from diabetic nerve damage.

Likewise, if a study shows that cardiovascular function is depressed, it might also conclude that this is due to diabetic nerve damage.

However, if we study them together, we might find that there is a reciprocal relationship. Maybe the respiratory problems are causing cardiovascular issues? Perhaps it’s the other way around?

This study takes that approach and has some pretty remarkable conclusions.

Integrated cardiovascular/respiratory control in type 1 diabetes evidences functional imbalance: Possible role of hypoxia

(Click Here to Read Full Summary — I don’t say this often, but please read this one if you have diabetes)

Published in the International Journal of Cardiology, 2017.

In forty-six type-1 diabetics and 103 age-matched controls, they measured baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) as a marker of cardiovascular function and chemoreflexes as a marker of respiratory control.

Chemoreflexes estimate how sensitive you are to increasing CO2 (hypercapnic chemoreflex) and decreasing O2 (hypoxic chemoreflex).

The Hypothesis: If BRS and chemoreflexes are reduced, this would suggest diabetic nerve damage. However, if some are reduced while others are elevated, this reciprocal relationship might be showing autonomic dysfunction instead of diabetic nerve damage.

This is such an important distinction. “Damage” implies that the damage is done. “Dysfunction” implies that we could make it functional again.

Diabetics Have Worsened Cardiovascular and Respiratory Control

The results showed that subjects with diabetes had a lower BRS than the controls. They also had a suppressed hypoxic chemoreflex. However, they had an elevated hypercapnic chemoreflex. (Remember their hypothesis: if it was nerve damage, both of these chemoreflexes would be reduced.)

Interestingly, the diabetics also showed a lower oxygen saturation. And, they also had relatively high HbA1c’s (an average of 8.19%). A high HbA1c will decrease oxygen delivery to the tissues and cells.

Tissue Hypoxia is at the Root of Diabetic Complications

The reduced oxygen saturation and high HbA1c suggest a resting state of tissue hypoxia in diabetes. Over time, we become “numb” to this, which explains the decreased hypoxic chemoreflex.

The body compensates with an up-regulated hypercapnic chemoreflex, which leads to chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight).  Chronic sympathetic activation then suppresses our cardiovascular control.

It’s a vicious cycle with negative long-term implications:

Dysfunction, not Damage: A Silver Lining

“We show in the present study that what is normally called ‘autonomic neuropathy’ could be in many cases a functional condition of sympathetic activation, driven by many factors, one of which seems to be resting hypoxia.”


This is all actually good news.  Their results suggest that diabetic autonomic imbalance is mainly functional and not related to nerve damage.  In fact, the authors suggest that this imbalance likely leads to nerve damage, rather than being the result of it. Therefore, therapies targeting cardio-respiratory control could help reverse/prevent diabetic complications if caught early enough.

Break Out Your Slow Breathing Hammer

What are these therapies? One is slow breathing. Slow breathing will immediately improve cardiovascular and respiratory reflexes. It will also enhance oxygenation (when breathing through the nose).

I hate sounding like all I have is a “slow breathing hammer,” but it is just too important not to stress over and over again.

Here’s to taking the first step toward protecting our long-term health as diabetics.

In good breath,
Nick

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P.S. A great podcast was recently released with James Nestor, author of the soon-to-be-released book: “Breath - The New Science of a Lost Art”. (The book looks terrific, so I pre-ordered my copy about a week ago.)

You can basically learn everything you’ll ever need to know about breathing in this quick 35-minute interview. I loved it.

Listen to the podcast here.