oxygen transport

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When Laughter Occurs, Choosing Joy, and a New Favorite Passage

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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 😊

Reading Time: 2 min 19 sec

I hope the next 35ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.


4 THOUGHTS

1. This May Be My New Favorite Passage on Mindfulness

“Cultivating mindfulness is a way to pour energy in the form of attention, awareness, and acceptance into what is already right with you, what is already whole, as a complement to, not a substitute for, whatever help and support and treatments you may be receiving or need—if you need any at all—and see what happens.”

- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., The Healing Power of Mindfulness

I could read that all day. And I can think of no better motivation for practicing mindfulness than that passage 👏

2. When Laughter Occurs…

“When laughter occurs, respiratory exchange processes are enhanced, blood pressure is reduced, and the body produces endorphins which act not only as mood enhancers, but also as a natural pain killer. Psychological enhancements include reduced anxiety and stress as well as increased self-esteem and self-efficacy”

- Brett Bartholomew, Conscious Coaching

Just a reminder to laugh a little bit today…it’s the most therapeutic breathing exercise : )

3. How Breathing Impacts Whole-Body Energy

“The nose, trachea (windpipe), lungs, circulatory system, and their attendant muscles all act to transport or modify oxygen from the surrounding air to make it readily available to individual cells. Each of these organs plays a crucial role in determining oxygen supply, and therefore energy availability, to cells at various levels within the body. Consequently, a change in functioning in any one of these systems could potentially alter the course of energy production within the entire body.”

- Alan Hymes, MD, Science of Breath

Sometimes, it seems crazy that breathing can have such a profound influence on our bodies and minds. Then, you read a passage like this from an MD and realize it’s not so crazy after all.

Because our breathing determines oxygen supply (and therefore energy availability), any change we make “could potentially alter the course of energy production within the entire body.” 👏

4. Choose Joy to Make It Effortless

“Almost anything can be made pleasurable if we don’t tell ourselves we have to do it. When we make it fun, trying becomes unnecessary. Consider how odd it sounds to try to eat something you like eating or do something you like doing. ... If we enjoy doing something, it will feel effortless. When we’re mindfully engaged, we don’t notice the presence or absence of effort.”

- Ellen Langer, Ph.D., The Mindful Body

This is a nice reminder that if we find a way to make our breathing/mindfulness/(whichever wellness practice you do) more enjoyable, it will become effortless. And if it’s effortless & enjoyable, we’ll be more consistent, and we’ll get much more out of it.

Deal of the Week: ResBiotic

ResBiotic a doctor-developed probiotic targeting the gut-lung connection. It’s one of the only probiotics I’ve found that doesn’t upset my stomach.

If you’re looking for an effective and simple way to support gut and lung health, check them out. They're offering 411 readers 15% off with the code BREATH411 at checkout.

Let me know what you think if you try it out!

1 Quote

“You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.””
— Alan Watts

1 Answer

Category: Oxygen Transport

Answer: Approximately this percentage of total oxygen transported in the blood is carried by hemoglobin, with the remaining dissolved directly in the plasma.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 98%?


1 Spots Left

I have 1 spots left in October for my 8-week program for overcoming stressful life setbacks. Email nick@thebreathingdiabetic.com with subject line “breath” to learn more.

In good breath,

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


P.S. hey sorry i overreacted

iCalm for Focused Relaxation

If you haven’t already, try iCalm. They called it “meditation in a bottle”…I gave in and bought…and now I use it almost daily, lol. Use discount code NICK20 for 20% off.

Amazon Associate Disclosure

I’ve been recommending books for almost 6 years. Yet somehow, I just discovered that I could be an Amazon affiliate [face-palm]. In any case better late than never. Now, any Amazon link you click is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. So, if you’d like to support my work, buying books through these links is helpful : )

* 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.

 
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3 Healing Breaths, a Celebration, and a Thought Experiment

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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 😊

A Celebration (sort of)

Today marks 24 years with type-1 diabetes. Not exactly the present I wanted from Santa. But it was exactly what I needed to become the person I was meant to become.

My parents were obviously devastated. But, this did have an upside—they gave me some early presents 😂 😂 😂

 

Me in the hospital at age 11.

 

P.S. HOmm HOmm HOmm

Alright, on to this week’s 411…

 

4 Thoughts



1. Why Mind-Body Therapies (like breathing) Seem Like a Panacea: Part 3

“A certain mind body treatment may help hypertension, depression, or insomnia. At the same time, this treatment will counter the overall physical and mental manifestations of stress through the calming of brain activity and altering hormones and gene expression. The mind body treatment performs particular, reductionistic functions on specific health complaints and at the same time tends to the health of the entire biological system.” (my bold)

- Herbert Benson, MD, Relaxation Revolution

That’s incredibly powerful. It means we can use breathing for our individual needs (diabetes, for me) while strengthening all other aspects of our health at the same time. Quite panacea-ish, indeed 😊

P.S. Here are Part 1 and Part 2.

2. An Inverse Thought Experiment

Think of a time you got really mad or frustrated for a very brief period. Did it actually end when it ended? Or were you upset for another hour? Maybe the rest of the day?

OK, this is exactly how slow breathing works, just opposite. It’s a brief period of calm that lingers just like a brief period of anger does.

The difference: It’s easy to see how anger ruins our day, but sometimes harder to notice how a breathing practice brightens it.

3. Three Healing Breaths You Can Start Using Today

If you’d like to get all of the most powerful practices, guidelines, and science from one of the best breathing books, The Healing Power of the Breath, check out the Book 411 I just released on it.

It has everything you need to use their approach for better health.

Join the Learning Center for the full review. In the meantime, here are 3 core healing breaths from the book you can start using today:

1. Coherent Breathing® is taught as breathing at a rate of 5 breaths a minute with a 6-second inhale, and a 6-second exhale. “Coherent Breathing … calms the mind, slows the heart, lowers blood pressure, reduces inflammation, and strengthens stress resilience.”

2. Resistance Breathing is any technique that adds resistance to our breath. They have two practices for this, ujjayi (or ocean breath) and pursed-lips breathing: “Whether you choose to make a sound in the back of your throat like the ocean or to use pursed lips to create resistance to the flow of air, your practice of Resistance Breathing can amplify the benefits of Coherent Breathing.”

3. Breath Moving: “Breath Moving entails moving the breath in circuits to different parts of the body, moving upward on the inhale and downward on the exhale. … [It]…can be used to elevate energy as well as to relieve pain.”

(All above quotes come from the authors, Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD.)

4. Study

Rather than study every aspect of life, we can study the breath, which can be applied in every aspect of life.

1 Quote

“Breathing involves a continual oscillation between exhaling and inhaling, offering ourselves to the world at one moment and drawing the world into ourselves at the next.”
— David Abram
 

1 Answer

Category: Oxygen Transport

Answer: Hemoglobin molecules have this many binding sites for oxygen molecules.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is four?

For Therapists: Anicca Wellness

“What if you can stay in sync with your breath, wherever you are, no matter what you are doing?”

- Edo Ceder, Anicca Wellness Co-Founder

If you’re a therapist, check out this opportunity to incorporate breathing into your practice using Anicca Wellness. One of the co-founders, Edo, is a 411 subscriber, friend, and just a genuinely good person.

I hope you’ll check it out.

In good breath,

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

P.S. I used to think adulthood was…

P.P.S. A Secret Breathing Santa

 

* 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.