nasal turbinates

Breath is Heart, How it Should Be, and the Breathing Benefits of Water

 

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4 Thoughts



1. Breathing Blue: Why Being In or Near Water is Good for Your Breath

I usually include blog posts as an extra, but I’m super excited about this one, so I’m including it as a full thought. It’s a short 5-min read, but here are the key takeaways in case you don’t have time right now:

  • Being in water is natural resistance breathing;

  • Being near water may naturally trigger the relaxation response;

  • Just hearing water might help you relax deeper and easier.

Breathing Blue: Why Being In or Near Water is Good for Your Breath

2. Separation of the Heart & Lungs is “an interesting historical question”

The cardiovascular and respiratory systems exist in series with the lungs, situated between the right and left sides of the circulation. Thus, breathing directly effects the cardiovascular system. How the circulation and respiration became separated into different “systems,” disciplines of study, and specialties in clinical medicine is an interesting epistemological and historical question…

- Michael Joyner, MD & Sarah Baker, PhD, 2021

A nice reminder from the Journal of the American Heart Association that breath is heart, and heart is breath.

And since it was written by an MD and PhD in JAHA, it’s one to keep in your back pocket to explain the power of breathing to people who are new to it 🙏

3. How it Should Be, and Letting Breath (and life) Unfold Naturally

Our tendency is to ride the breath, push it along, help it out, especially when we hear that the breath is part of this marvelous sutra, that it is the life force itself and can lead us to enlightenment. … We hear that a deep breath relaxes the body and figure that an accomplished meditator will be breathing deeply all the time, so—sometimes very subtly—we try to make the breath a little deeper.

- Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath (my emphasis above)

I felt like Larry was looking directly at me when he wrote this last sentence 😂 I definitely find myself trying to breathe certain ways, because that’s how The Breathing Diabetic “should be breathing.

But more generally, I think we can interpret breathing in this passage as a metaphor for all aspects of life.

We might ask: In what ways am I trying to make something “the way I think it should be” rather than accepting it how it is? (I have about a million.)

Then, we can use Larry’s advice, literally or metaphorically:

If we can learn to allow the breath to unfold naturally without tampering with it, then in time we may be able to do that with other aspects of our experience: we might learn to let the feelings be, let the mind be.

4. Practice is an Art and Science

Every breathing practice rests somewhere between an art and a science.

The goal is to find an enjoyable sweet spot for you.


1 QUOTE

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
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Water and Breathing

Answer: Because water is about 800 times denser than air, it exerts pressure on the chest wall that makes breathing about this much harder.

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

Question: What is 60% harder?



In good breath,

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

P.S. sorry I didn't answer your call

Breathing for Diabetes Online Course ($99):

If you love learning about breathing, want to live a healthier life, or just want to support my work, I think you’ll really enjoy this class (diabetes or not).

 
 

* 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.

 
 

Nutritious Breathing, a Touch of Mindfulness, and Why Resonance Works

 

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. Nutritious Breathing

Practicing low & slow nasal breathing is like eating a nutrient-dense, whole-food meal. We get more with less and always feel nourished afterward.

P.S. This was inspired by Katy Bowman’s Nutritious Movement.

2. Relaxed & Alert and Why Coherent (or Resonant) Breathing Works

Within a very short time, breathing at five breaths a minute will synchronize the electrical rhythms of the heart, lungs and brain, which is very beneficial and leads to a state in which we are both relaxed and alert. It's unusual to be both relaxed and alert at the same time, but Coherent Breathing creates this sweet spot.

- Dr. Patricia Gerbarg, from Wake Up to Sleep

Here’s an excellent description of why resonant breathing (aka Coherent or just “slow” breathing) works. It synchronizes the electrical rhythms of the heart, lungs, and brain, leaving us “relaxed and alert.” <— Sounds good to me 🙏

Give it a try: Breathe 6 seconds in and 6 seconds out. Or 5 seconds in, 7 out.

3. But You Don’t Have to Control Your Breathing, Just Touch it with Mindfulness

Something happens when mindfulness touches breathing. Its quality changes for the better. […] The breath becomes pleasant; it is enjoyable just to sit and breathe. […] The body, the mind, and the breath begin to coalesce. They each partake of the other, so that it is difficult to distinguish among them.

- Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath

I’m guilty of thinking controlled slow breathing exercises are best.

But let’s not forget that a touch of mindfulness is similarly powerful, causing the body, mind, and breath to coalesce. <— Sounds good to me (again) 😊

***

P.S. That “coalescing” sounds a lot like the synchronization of electrical signals from the heart, brain, and lungs described for resonance breathing…

4. Direct vs. Indirect Slow Relaxed Breathing: Pick Which Suits You Best

Thoughts 2 & 3 bring up two important concepts:

  • Direct Slow Breathing: Using an app (or counting) to deliberately breathe slowly at a set pace (like five breaths a minute).

  • Indirect Slow Breathing: Using mindfulness or a relaxation technique (like yoga nidra) to inadvertently slow your breathing.

Of course, they have slightly different benefits, but either will be an effective way to improve your health & wellness, so pick the one that suits you best 🙏


1 QUOTE

Bringing awareness to our breathing, we remind ourselves that we are here now, so we might as well be fully awake for whatever is happening.
— Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.
 

1 ANSWER

Category: The Nose

Answer: These bony structures, which are surrounded by tissue and a mucous membrane, play a critical role in warming and humidifying incoming air as well as modulating airflow.

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

Question: What are nasal turbinates?



In good breath,

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

P.S. how I am now

Breathing for Diabetes:

If you love learning about breathing, or just want to live an overall healthier life, I think you’ll really enjoy this class (diabetes or not).

 
 

* 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.