Listen Instead of Reading
Greetings,
Here are four thoughts, one quote, and one answer for this week.
I hope you enjoy!
4 Thoughts
1. How To Breathe To Live Longer
Let’s synthesize some ideas on breathing for longevity and see how we can apply this knowledge in our own life today.
Part I: Breathe Through Your Nose
Here’s James Nestor describing how George Caitlin lived double the average life expectancy of his time:
“He credited his longevity to ‘the great secret of life’: to always breathe through the nose.” - Breath
Part II: Expand Your Lung Capacity
Next, here’s Nestor describing the Framingham Heart Study:
“They gathered two decades of data from 5,200 subjects, crunched the numbers, and discovered that the greatest indicator of life span ... was lung capacity … larger lungs equaled longer lives.” – Breath
Part III: Synthesis and Application
Part I is straightforward: breathe through your nose. But how do we expand lung capacity? Nestor provides a few different ways.
Light to moderate exercise
Lung expanding breathwork
Long and complete exhales
Lung-expanding breathwork includes things like Wim Hof w/ “belly, chest, head,” the Yogic Complete Breath, and most breathing taught in freediving.
Long exhales also increase lung capacity by allowing “more air to get in” on the next breath. But, they have the added longevity benefit of activating the “relaxation response.”
Alright, so there we have it. To live longer, we should breathe through our noses all the time, increase our lung capacity, and practice extended exhales.
And for the ultimate expression of longevity, let’s not forget what Michael J Stephen, MD tells us in Breath Taking:
“Those of us who practice breathing exercises today may well pass on more disease resistant genes to our descendants tomorrow.”
Here’s to living longer, today. : )
***
Related Quote: “For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.” - Sanskrit Proverb
P.S. Here’s how I implement this in my life:
Nasal breathing 24/7.
15 min of slow breathing in the morning w/ extended exhales.
5-10 min of slow breathing before bed w/ extended exhales.
Practice Wim Hof style breathing, ~5-10 min a day.
2. A New Definition of “Breathe Light”
You’ve probably heard of Patrick McKeown’s fantastic Breathe Light exercise. But, motivated by this excellent post, I decided to add another definition of “breathe light:”
Perform slow nasal breathing in the sunlight.
Nasal breathing releases nitric oxide into the airways and carries it into the lungs. Sunlight liberates nitrite from your skin and increases circulating levels of nitric oxide. When combined, you get better blood flow and oxygenation.
As Dr. Steven Lin says in the post,
Sunlight + Slow Breathing = Health + Happiness
***
Related: Insufficient Sun Exposure Has Become a Real Public Health Problem
Related: Sunlight May Be the Next Beet Juice
Related: Ultraviolet Radiation-Induced Production of Nitric Oxide:A multi-cell and multi-donor analysis
3. “Vision and Breathing May Be the Secrets to Surviving 2020”
“Stress, he says, is not just about the content of what we are reading or the images we are seeing. It is about how our eyes and breathing change in response to the world, as well as the cascades of events that follow.”
I know, I know, it’s 2021. But I’m a slow reader : )
In any case, this is an excellent article from Scientific American. Breathing, stress, vision, and Andrew Huberman—it’s just all-around amazing.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, if you haven’t already read it…
***
P.S. Thanks to Ben Greenfield for sharing this article, which is how I found it.
4. The Most Important Part of Your Breathing Practice
Whether you’re breathing for longevity, energy, relaxation, or any other reason, here’s the most important part of the practice: to practice.
***
P.S. Inspired by Brian Johnson’s Notes on Creativity On Demand
1 Quote
“Life is too short to be lived in fast forward. Slow down. Breathe it in. Enjoy it.”
1 Answer
Category: Sunlight and Respiration
Answer: Although sunlight helps humans produce nitric oxide, it provides plants with their energy through this process.
…
(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)
…
Question: What is photosynthesis?
In good breath,
Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
Diabetes is Tiny. You are Mighty.
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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.