contradiction

Stop Breathing Sugar

 

Happy Monday!

Let’s get right to it. Here are 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer for this week.

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. Breathing is so Cliché

"Defense wins championships // The best defense is a good offense.

Birds of a feather flock together // Opposites attract.

You get what you pay for // The best things in life are free"

- Neil Pasricha, The Happiness Equation

For any situation you’re in, you can find a cliché to help you through. And as seen above, clichés are often contradictory. Likewise, breathing clichés are also contradictory, as we saw about a month ago:

Wim Hof tells you to breathe more. // Patrick McKeown tells you to breathe less.

Lung capacity determines longevity. // But you also shouldn’t take big breaths.

Oxygen is your body’s most important energy source. // But the exhale is the most important part of the breath.

For breathing, I suggested that we embrace these contradictions. But from a practical perspective, I like Neil Pasricha’s advice: "Any cliché, quote, or piece of advice that resonates with you only confirms to your mind something you already know."

We’re all different. So if you notice a specific breathing method standing out, it’s probably confirming something you already know to be right for you.

2. Stop Breathing Sugar

"Cutting sugar-sweetened beverages from your diet is the single-biggest thing you can do to improve your health."

- Mark Hyman, Food Fix

Many different diets work for many different people. But they all pretty much agree on one thing: remove processed sugar. And Mark Hyman’s number one recommendation is even more straightforward: "Don’t drink sugar."

Similarly, despite all the inconsistencies in breathing advice, there is one thing we can all agree on: don’t breathe through your mouth. Mouth breathing is like drinking sugar. It’s easy and it feels good, but it is detrimental to your health.

Let’s cut this processed "breathing sugar" from our diets. It may very well be the most important thing we can do for our health.

Thanks (for the millionth time) to Brian Johnson for inspiring this thought.

3. Nitric Oxide Reduces Alveolar Dead Space

"Alveolar dead space…represents alveoli, typically in the apex of the lung in an upright person, that do not receive blood flow"

- Respiratory Physiology, A Clinical Approach, pg. 96

By redistributing blood flow in the lungs, inhaled nasal nitric oxide reduces the alveolar dead space described above. Specifically, it allows more alveoli to receive blood flow, which allows more gas exchange to occur. This is something you won’t find in textbooks because the science is just too new.

This remarkable effect has led some to postulate that nasal nitric oxide is an evolutionary adaptation that helped allow us to walk upright. Pretty neat.

4. Slow Breathing is Better Than Social Media for Sleep

"Slow-paced breathing appears a promising cost-effective technique to improve subjective sleep quality and cardiovascular function during sleep in young healthy individuals."

- Journal of Clinical Medicine (2019)

This study found that 15 minutes of slow breathing (6 breaths/min) before bed led to better subjective sleep quality than 15 minutes of social media use. Slow breathing also led to higher overnight vagal activity.

Although these results might seem like common sense, I thought they were still compelling nonetheless. Here's to putting away our phones and focusing on our breath before bed.

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

"The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life because everything is pulling you to be more and more complex."

- Yvon Chouinard

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: This condition drops 21% two days after we gain an hour moving from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time.

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(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

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Question: What are heart attacks?

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. lmao ok fine.

 
 

The Breathing 411 - Understand This, and You Will Understand Breathing

 

Happy Monday. I hope you enjoy this edition with a cup of coffee : )

Enjoy 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy") related to breathing.

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. Understand This, and You Will Understand Breathing

Breathing information is often contradictory:

  • Wim Hof tells you to breathe more oxygen.
    Patrick McKeown tells you to breathe less.

  • Oxygen is your body’s most important energy source.
    But the exhale is the most important part of the breath.

  • You need to teach yourself to tolerate higher levels of carbon dioxide.
    Carbon dioxide also causes fear in people who literally can’t feel fear.

  • Lung capacity determines longevity.
    But you also shouldn’t take big breaths.

  • And on & on

To understand breathing, you must accept that all of these are right, and all of them are wrong. It depends on the circumstance.

Despite its simplicity, breathing is one of the most complex functions in the human body. Blanket statements on "right or wrong" simply cannot be made without context. We must embrace the contradictions.

2. Should You Be Breathing Even Slower?

A study published in 2006 found that resonance frequency was inversely correlated with height. That is, the taller you are, the slower you need to breathe to synchronize your heart rate, breathing rate, and autonomic nervous system.

In their excellent book, The Healing Power of the Breath, Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbarg give this specific recommendation: "For people who are over six feet tall, the ideal resonant rate is three to three and a half breaths per minute."

So, if you’re over six feet tall, you might find that breathing slower than the typical recommendation of 5-6 breaths per minute works better for you. I fall into that category, and I’ve found 3 - 3.5 breaths per minute (currently 7 sec inhale, 11 sec exhale) to be my sweet spot.

3. What is Hyperventilation?

"Respiratory alkalosis is caused by hyperventilation or a respiratory rate in excess of that needed to maintain normal PCO2." - Essentials of Pathophysiology, pg. 205

"Hyperventilation is a term that describes breathing beyond that which is required to meet the metabolic needs of the body as reflected in the production of carbon dioxide." - Respiratory Physiology, pg. 128

Here are two different textbook definitions of hyperventilation. It’s actually pretty straightforward. And, as you can see, it doesn’t involve huffing and puffing. Thus, we can hyperventilate without even knowing it.

Two easy ways to check if you are overbreathing are the BOLT score and the CO2 Tolerance Test.

Two easy ways to fix it are to breathe through your nose and make your breathing quiet while at rest.

Thanks to 411 reader W.H. for inspiring this thought.

4. Is Breathing Woo-Woo?

It fascinates me that breathing, your body’s most important function, has kind of a "woo-woo" reputation. It shouldn’t. There is a mountain of scientific evidence showing its efficacy for health and wellness. For example, I have reviewed over 80 scientific papers, and HHPF seems to post a new one every day.

But you actually don’t need any of the science. Here is the quickest way to determine for yourself:

Hold your breath.

I think you will agree "breathing" isn’t woo-woo after only a few seconds.

Thanks to fellow breathing nerd R. vdC. for inspiring this thought.

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: The estimated prevalence of this condition is about 23% in women and 50% in men.

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(Cue the Jeopardy music.)

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Question: What is sleep-disordered breathing?