hypometabolism

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How to Use Less, Accomplish More, and Feel More Cognitive Power

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4 Thoughts



1. How to Align Your Mental Posture to be More Cognitively Powerful

“There is always a mental posture, an alignment for your mind, as well as for your physical body.”

- Gurucharan Khalsa, PhD, and Yogi Bhajan, PhD, Breathwalk

“Mental posture” <— I love that.

We know that when we consciously sit or stand up straight, we feel more confident and alert. But we can also align our mental posture (say, by meditating) to help us feel more cognitively powerful, too.

So let’s pick a focal point and spend a few minutes coming back to it over & over to align and strengthen our mental posture a little more, this week. 🙏

***

P.S. I took “mental posture” somewhat out of context from how the authors were using it because I just love the wording so much : )


2. Use Less: Hypometabolism, the Relaxation Response, and “Mental Posture”

“A hallmark feature of the relaxation response is a significant decrease in the body’s oxygen consumption, or hypometabolism. … The body responds to techniques that elicit the relaxation response by downshifting your metabolism. By allowing your internal perpetual energy machine to ease off working so hard, much less fuel is needed to sustain the body in the hypo metabolic state characteristic of the relaxation response.”*

- Herbert Benson, MD, Timeless Healing


And when we practice mental posture for about 10 minutes, here’s one of the outcomes: we elicit the relaxation response. Our bodies use less energy, we feel at ease, and we set ourselves up for restoration and recovery.

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I’ve been combining this with my slow breathing practice. I inhale, and during the exhale come back to an internal mantra (mental posture 101). It’s simple and genuinely powerful.

Give it a shot and see how it feels to shift into a hypometabolic state 🧘‍♂️


3. Success is Recovery: “Accomplish More than You Ever Thought Possible”

“Athletes put their bodies under stress at each training session and competition, but they are only as successful as the speed at which they recover physiologically. Your daily stresses may be different from those of an athlete, but the concept is the same. Your success is determined by the speed of your recovery. By tapping into your natural resilience through breathing and other calming exercises that activate the rest and digest part of your nervous system, you can learn to reduce stress and accomplish more than you ever thought possible.”* (my emphasis)

- Emma Seppälä, Ph.D., The Happiness Track

When you apply Thoughts #1 & 2 consistently, especially combined with slow breathing, you learn to “reduce stress and accomplish more than you ever thought possible.” Sounds good to me 😊

4. Breath is Life, Spirit, and a Divine Gift Bestowed Upon Us

“If you look up the word “spirit” in the dictionary, you will find that it comes from the Latin, spirare, meaning “to breathe.” The inbreath is inspiration; the outbreath expiration. From these come all the associations of spirit with the breath of life, vital energy, consciousness, the soul, often framed as divine gifts bestowed upon us, and therefore as aspect of the holy, the numinous, the ineffable. In the deepest sense, the breath itself is the ultimate gift of spirit.”

- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., Wherever You Go There You Are


Just another (quite eloquent) reminder that breath is life & spirit.

Let’s use this divine gift that’s been bestowed upon us wisely. 🙏


Extra Thought: Breath is Mind: How to Be Calm, Alert, and Make Better Decisions

I wrote another guest blog for ResBiotic (which is a probiotic that targets the gut-lung axis).

It’s titled: Breath is Mind: How to Be Calm, Alert, and Make Better Decisions

It’s all about the science of the breath-mind connection. I hope you enjoy the quick 5-min read.

 
 
 

1 QUOTE

“When you feel your life out of focus, always return to basic of life. Breathing. No breathe, no life.”

- Mr. Miyagi (YouTube Clip)

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Mental Posture and Breathing

Answer: Breathing impacts this region of the brainstem, which is tied closely to our attention.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

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Question: What is the locus coeruleus?

In good breath,

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

P.S. 4 new pages appear

 
 
 

* 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.

 
 

Timeless Healing, Anti-Harley, and 2 Rules to Improve Your Breathing

 
 

🎧 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. Breathing Exercises Lower Inflammation and Change Gene Expression

“In those who practice breathing exercises, levels of inflammatory proteins in the blood are significantly lower, especially under certain types of stress. Mobilizing the power of the breath has also been shown to turn on anti-inflammatory genes and turn off pro-inflammatory ones, including genes that regulate energy metabolism, insulin secretion, and even the part of our DNA that controls longevity.”

- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

I have nothing useful to add here, except, of course, one of these: 🤯

2. These Two Simple Rules Will Improve Your Breathing Forever

If I could give anyone any advice for everyday breathing, it’d be this:

  1. Breathe through your nose, especially during sleep.

  2. Make your breathing quiet.

You’ll get massive benefits with minimal effort using these two simple rules.

3. Timeless Healing: Slow Breathing + The Relaxation Response

“To evoke the relaxation response, you need to follow only two basic steps. You need to repeat a word, sound, prayer, phrase, or muscular activity, and when common everyday thoughts intrude on your focus, you need to passively disregard them and return to your repetition.”*

- Herbert Benson, MD, Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief

It’s that simple. And the word or phrase? Dr. Benson says, “The choice of a focused repetition is up to the individual. If you’re a religious person, you can choose a prayer. If you’re a non-religious person, choose a secular focus.”*

I’ve been using it this week in my slow breathing practice. I inhale and then repeat “be the change” in my head while exhaling at a 5 breaths/min pace.

I’ve never been a big fan of mantras (and I’m still testing different ones), but I’ve genuinely enjoyed this. It’s straightforward and highly effective.

Give it a shot and see how you feel.

4. My Fake Words, and Breathing as the Anti-Harley-Davidson

“Orfield Laboratories, run by Steven Orfield, is a small Twin Cities business that leverages the power of perception to help companies build better products. Harley-Davidson, for example, once hired Orfield to calculate the exact engine tone and decibel level that would give riders the impression that its motorcycles are powerful.”*

- Michael Easter, The Comfort Crisis

How crazy is that!? Harley-Davidson actually hired a company to ensure their engines gave “riders the impression that its motorcycles are powerful.”

I think breathing is the anti-Harley-Davidson. You just relax and breathe. If it’s powerful, it’s powerful. If it’s not, it’s not. No fake impressions needed.

***

P.S. Although I take pride in this newsletter, sometimes I feel like Orfield Labs trying to make breathing sound perfect. It’s not. But it is truly powerful. So, don’t just read my words, try it out and feel its strength for yourself.

Extra Thought:

5 Easy Breathing Exercises You Can Use for Better Sleep Tonight

I wrote a guest blog called “5 Easy Breathing Exercises You Can Use for Better Sleep Tonight” for The Breather, hosted by ResBiotic.

It’s a quick 4-minute read. I hope you enjoy it!

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

“When we focus on the breath, we become mindful of the universal nature of all beings.”

- Bhante Henepola Gunarantana

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Meditation & Relaxation Response

Answer: A trademark physiological result of meditation and/or the relaxation response is that the body consumes less oxygen, also known as this.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is hypometabolism?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Science can catch these hands

 
 
 

* 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.