lung damage

The Breathing 411 - On Becoming Indisfunctionable

 

Welcome to October and another edition of The Breathing 4.1.1.

Below, you’ll find 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy") related to all things breathing. Enjoy!

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. Breathing to Gain Traction

"On the left side is distraction, the opposite of traction...the word means the 'drawing away of the mind.' Distractions impede us from making progress toward the life we envision."

- Nir Eyal, Indistractable

I’ve never thought of "distraction" being the opposite of "traction." (Pretty neat.) Distraction, as Nir Eyal states, is the drawing away of the mind.

But what can we do to bring it back, to gain traction?

"It has long been claimed by Yogis and Buddhists that meditation and ancient breath-focused practices… strengthen our ability to focus on tasks. A new study explains for the first time the neurophysiological link between breathing and attention.…
The way we breathe, in other words, directly affects the chemistry of our brains in a way that can enhance our attention and improve our brain health." - ScienceDaily

That sounds like a great place to start. Here’s to combining ancient wisdom with modern science on our path to becoming indistractable.

(Thanks, a million times over, to Brian Johnson for inspiring so many of my thoughts.)

2. How to Become Indisfunctionable

In addition to improving focus, a staple of slow breathing is that it reverses autonomic dysfunction. It does this by promoting cardio-respiratory balance, in as little as two minutes, putting us back on the track to health and wellness.

In the process of becoming indistractable, we also become indisfunctionable.

3. Similar Lung Deficiencies in Diabetes and Asthma

"In a study of the pulmonary biopsies of 171 patients,(18) it was concluded that individuals with DM [diabetes mellitus] present an increase in basement membrane thickness similar to that seen in asthma patients." - Forgiarini et al. (2009)

I have often wondered why breathing principles that work so well for asthma also benefit people with diabetes. Here’s one interesting similarity: The oxidative stress from diabetes leads to similar lung structure changes seen in asthmatics.

Thanks to 411 reader T. P. for inspiring this thought.

4. Heavy Breathing at the Start of Exercise (it’s not just CO2)

Your breathing rate typically increases after just a few minutes of exercise…unless you’ve been reading this newsletter long enough :)

By now, we would all probably agree this increase in breathing is due to a build-up of CO2. But is that truly the case?

"The increase in ventilation does not appear to be the consequence of changes in arterial blood gases." - Respiratory Physiology pg 187

The reason is perhaps more impressive. It’s what this textbook calls "Phase 1: The Neurological Phase" of exercise. The movement itself might be sending neurological messages to the brain, instructing it to begin breathing more.

That is, your body has a built-in, anticipatory mechanism that links movement to the respiratory controller in the brain to help prevent blood-gas imbalances from ever happening. The result is that changes in breathing precede changes in CO2.

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

Same goes for breathing:

"It is easy to be heavy; hard to be light."

- G.K. Chesterton

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: The time it takes gas exchange to occur in the lungs.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy music.)

…

Question: What is about 0.25 seconds?

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. Didn’t see that coming.

 
 

The Breathing 411 - The lung microbiome, David Blaine, and a perfect breath

 

Happy Monday! Welcome to another edition of The Breathing 4.1.1.

Below you’ll find 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (think "Jeopardy").

Thank you for reading!

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. On Practicing the Fundamentals

"If someone at Kobe’s level needs to commit hours to practicing the fundamentals, then so do all of us. Kobe taught me a pivotal lesson that morning. The basics are simple, but not easy."
- Alan Stein Jr., Raise Your Game

Imagine the best basketball player on the planet allows you to watch him practice. Then, he spends hours working on his fundamentals. Nothing fancy, no showboating, just the basics. That’s exactly what Alan Stein saw when he watched Kobe Bryant practice during his prime.

We talk about breathing here, not the highest level of basketball ever played. But the message is the same.

With all the fancy breathing techniques and new approaches, it’s easy to be looking for the "next thing" (—> guilty here <— ). But let’s not forget that it all comes down to the basics. They’re simple, but they’re not easy.

(This idea, like many, was inspired by knowledge from the Optimize Program.)

2. Oxygen Therapy Harms the Lung Microbiome

We’ve discussed how inhaled oxygen can lead to adverse effects in people with diabetes. Specifically, high levels of inhaled oxygen can reduce arterial function. But there might be other problems with oxygen therapy, especially when done over prolonged periods.

For example, your lungs have their own microbiome (pretty neat). And a recent study showed that inhaled oxygen harms this microbiome, leading to an increased risk of lung damage. This idea is especially relevant during COVID-19:

“Upon hospitalization, these patients are administered oxygen in an attempt to bring their levels back up to normal. However, a new study hints that this universal therapy may have unintended consequences via an unexpected source -- the microbiome.”
- ScienceDaily

Read the whole summary from ScienceDaily here:

Oxygen Therapy Harms Lung Microbiome in Mice

3. David Blaine on Breath Holds, CO2, and 45 Minutes Without Air

David Blaine was recently on the Joe Rogan Podcast. They began talking about breath-holds within 5 minutes (this link should take you right to it).

Here are two quotes I loved from it:

"The breath-holding thing is all about like, a CO2 build up in the bloodstream, and it’s about a tolerance level to it…"

And when Joe asks about the panicked feeling you get when holding your breath, David’s reply is:

“That’s not an O2 deprivation. That’s a trigger from a CO2 build-up, which is giving you an alert…"

All of you "breathing nerds" already knew this. But it is little tidbits like these that help the general population learn.

He goes on to talk a little about pre-breath-hold hyperventilation, blacking out, and how we can go 45 minutes without air.

In addition to the breath-hold stuff, it’s a fascinating interview.

4. Is there a Perfect Breath?

“What is the perfect breath? Far from being some noble yet unreachable goal that takes years of rigorous practice to master, a perfect breath is any breath you take for which you are completely and mindfully aware.” - Al Lee & Don Campbell

That definition is, well, perfect. But let’s not forget about James Nestor’s perfect breath, which has deeper roots in science and physiology:

"They discovered that the optimum amount of air we should take in at rest per minute is 5.5 liters. The optimum breathing rate is about 5.5 breaths per minute. That’s 5.5-second inhales and 5.5-second exhales. This is the perfect breath."

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

"Your quality of sleep is closely related to how you breathe, both when you sleep and when you are awake."

- Anders Olsson

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: The amount of time it takes blood to circulate around your entire body.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy music.)

…

Question: What is one minute?*

(This fun fact came from James Nestor’s Breath.)