Wim Hof vs. Wim Hof, the Three P's, and Breathing like Journalists

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4 Thoughts

1. The 3 P’s of Breathing

1. Physiology: The impact breathing has on your body.

2. Psychology: The impact breathing has on your mind and emotions.

3. Philosophy: The impact breathing has on how you live your life.

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P.S. You can’t have any one P without the others : )

2. A Revolutionary Finding: The Two-Way Street of Breathing and Emotions

“Lo and behold, the participants started to feel the emotions that corresponded to the breathing patterns. In other words, when they took deep, slow breaths, the participants felt calm. And when they took rapid, shallow breaths, they felt anxious or angry. The finding that we can change how we feel by using our breath is revolutionary.” * (my emphasis)

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

We know that how we feel affects our breathing. However, research tells us it’s a two-way street: We can change our breathing to change how we feel.

Quite revolutionary, indeed.

***

P.S. This falls into the the 1st and 2nd “Ps” above. And if you apply it regularly, then the 3rd one as well : )

3. Wim Hof vs. Wim Hof: Which of His Components is Most Important?

A 2020 study that’s still in preprints (so it hasn’t undergone peer review yet) shed light on the individual components of the Wim Hof Method (WHM).

Here’s what they did:

• One group practiced the breathing only.

• One group practiced cold exposure only.

• One group practiced cold and breathing.

• One group was trained by Wim Hof.

• One group was trained by a researcher.

Then, all the groups were injected with endotoxin, like the first WHM study.

Here are a few of the key findings:

• Breathing by itself reduced inflammation significantly, but did not reduce flu-like symptoms.

• Cold by itself reduced flu-like symptoms, but did not reduce inflammation. (This doesn’t mean cold exposure doesn’t reduce inflammation in general. It just means it didn’t lessen the acute ramp-up of inflammation brought on by the endotoxin.)

• The combination of cold and breathing reduced inflammation even more. (So, cold exposure wasn’t helpful on its own for inflammation, but added a boost when combined with the breathing.)

• The results were the same whether Wim trained them or not (this was most surprising to me).

As a breathing nerd, this paper was super satisfying to read.

But remember it’s still in preprints, so it could turn out there was a major flaw or bad data or something. But, still fun to geek out on nonetheless : )

4. Breathing Like Journalists: Slow Breathing for Everyday Life

“I call this approach, in which you fit deep work wherever you can into your schedule, the journalist philosophy. This name is a nod to the fact that journalists…are trained to shift into a writing mode on a moment’s notice”

- Cal Newport, Deep Work

Let’s adopt this journalist philosophy to our slow deep breathing practice, fitting it into our schedules wherever we can. This will allow us to flip the switch on our physiological and emotional state anytime, anywhere (see thoughts 1 & 2).

Here’s to becoming breathing journalists, today : )

Bonus Thought: Join a Breathing Experiment

My good breathing friend AJ Fisher is looking for participants for a breathing and exercise experiment. Essentially, you get her 8-week Breathography Course for free in exchange for some pulse oximeter measurements (that’s it!).

If you’re interested, you can learn more and sign up here:

Learn More about the Experiment

And, you can learn more about AJ and the amazing things she does here:

AJ’s Corectology Website

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1 QUOTE

“There is a force within that gives you life. Seek that.”

- Rumi

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1 ANSWER

Category: Designed for Breathing

Answer: Paradoxically, the narrower passages of the nose reduce this during sleep.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is upper airway resistance?

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In good breath,

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

P.S. Me for the next 3 months:

P.P.S. ☝️My wife will attest that this is actually quite accurate for me…

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* 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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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.

18 Excellent Statements from Scientific Articles

Over the past few years, I have accumulated over 500 pages of notes on over 100 scientific articles on breathing. I’ve recently been going back through them as part of a project I’m working on. In this post, I share some of the best "one-liners" I’ve come across. Enjoy!

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1. Integrating Breathing Techniques Into Psychotherapy to Improve HRV: Which Approach Is Best?

Frontiers in Psychology (2021)

“For those interested in addressing physiological regulation in psychotherapy, the main implication of this study is that both 6 breath per minute breathing and soothing rhythm breathing increase HRV and therefore be beneficial to use in psychotherapy.”

2. Effect of nasal or oral breathing route on upper airway resistance during sleep

European Respiratory Journal (2003)

“In summary, upper airway resistance during sleep is significantly lower during nasal breathing than during oral breathing. 

3. How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2018)

“Taken together, these results confirm that nasal stimulation represents the fundamental link between slow breathing techniques, brain and autonomic activities and psychological/behavioral outputs.” 

4. Oxygen-induced impairment in arterial function is corrected by slow breathing in patients with type 1 diabetes

Nature (2017)

“Slow breathing could be a simple beneficial intervention in diabetes.”

5. Effect of diaphragmatic breathing on heart rate variability in ischemic heart disease with diabetes

Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia (2009)

“Our study supports the view that the intervention in the form of deep diaphragmatic breathing practice would improve the glycemic control and also decrease the cardiac autonomic impairment in IHD patients with diabetes mellitus.”

6. On aprosexia, being the inability to fix the attention and other allied troubles in the cerebral functions caused by nasal disorders 

The British Medical Journal (1889)

“Shut your mouth and save your brain.’”

7. Nasal obstructions, sleep, and mental function

Sleep (1983)

“While asleep, shut your mouth and save your brain.”

8. Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice

Science (2017)

“This respiratory corollary signal would thus serve to coordinate the animal’s state of arousal with the breathing pattern, leaving the animal calm and relaxed when breathing is slow and regular, but promoting (or maintaining) arousal when breathing is rapid or disturbed.”

9. Review: Can yoga breathing exercises improve glycemic response and insulin sensitivity?

Journal of Yoga & Physical Therapy (2017)

“Thus, decreases in respiratory rates can lead to a decrease in stress and sympathetic outflow, ultimately causing a lower rate of gluconeogenesis and glucose release into the blood stream.”

10. Spontaneous respiratory modulation improves cardiovascular control in essential hypertension

Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia (2007)

“Slow breathing is a straightforward method with no contraindications that offers a rather valid cost-benefit, improving autonomic balance and respiratory control and lowering blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension.”

11. Slow breathing improves arterial baroreflex sensitivity and decreases blood pressure in essential hypertension

Hypertension (2005)

“Therefore, one can expect that a modification in the respiratory control would affect also the control of the cardiovascular system.  Because the breathing is also under voluntary control, it is theoretically possible to induce such changes by voluntary modification of breathing.”

12. Inclusion of a rest period in diaphragmatic breathing increases high frequency heart rate variability: Implications for behavioral therapy

Psychophysiology (2017)

“With breathing interventions being relatively rapid interventions to implement and also demonstrating a wide range of positive clinical outcomes, breathing interventions warrant closer consideration from healthcare professionals.”

13. Slow breathing reduces sympathoexcitation in COPD

European Respiration Journal (2008)

“In summary, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease showed sympathetic excitation and depression of the baroreflex.  Slow breathing counteracted these changes.” 

14. Nasal respiration entrains human limbic oscillations and modulates cognitive function

The Journal of Neuroscience (2016)

“Our findings provide a unique framework for understanding the pivotal role of nasal breathing in coordinating neuronal oscillations to support stimulus processing and behavior.”

15. Nasal respiration entrains human limbic oscillations and modulates cognitive function

The Journal of Neuroscience (2016)

“We also found that the route of breathing was critical to these effects, such that cognitive performance significantly declined during oral breathing”

16. Nasal nitric oxide and regulation of human pulmonary blood flow in the upright position

Journal of Applied Physiology (2010)

“Therefore, upper airway NO could have emerged in bipedal mammals not only to improve gas exchange but also to provide some protection against infection.”

17. Effects of inhaled nitric oxide on regional blood flow are consistent with intravascular nitric oxide delivery

The Journal of Clinical Investigation (2001)

“The most fundamental and important observation of this study is that NO gas introduced to the lungs can be stabilized and transported in blood and peripherally modulate blood flow.”

18. The physiological effects of slow breathing in the healthy human

Breathe (2017)

“Perhaps it is time to refine a breathing technique that optimizes ventilation, gas exchange and arterial oxygenation, maximizes vagal tone, maintains parasympathetic-sympathetic balance and optimizes the amount of cardiorespiratory reserve that could be called upon in times of intense physical or mental stress or activity.” 

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The Breathing 411

If you enjoyed this, consider signing up for my 411 newsletter. Each Monday, I combine information from scientific journals, books, articles, and podcasts to share 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (like "Jeopardy!") related to breathing.

Breathe The Change You Want to See (In Your Body)

"To say…that a man is made up of certain chemical elements is a satisfactory description only for those who intend to use him as a fertilizer." - Herbert J. Muller

When I first started a “breathing” practice, it seemed a bit silly. But then I started seeing dramatic improvements in my sleep, energy, and blood sugars. How could something as simple as breathing do so many things? The more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t silly or crazy at all.  

Close your mouth and pinch your nose.  

In a few seconds, you’ll begin feeling a desire to breathe so strong it’s almost uncontrollable. This simple act of holding the breath helps us appreciate just how important it is.

Why would an urge like this exist? One that can be felt by people who, quite literally, have no fear.  

It’s because there is more to breathing than just breathing. It’s biomechanics and biochemistry. It’s psychology and physiology. It’s in your brain, and it’s in your core. Breathing provides the link between your mind and your cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems.  

How to Breathe the Change You Want to See

Breathing is also very unique. It’s automatic, yet it is also under our conscious control. It’s up to us whether we want to take advantage of this.

For example, there is a cluster of neurons in your brain that monitors your breathing. If you breathe slowly and calmly, that message is sent to important regions of your brain. If you breathe fast and anxiously, that message is relayed as well.

Want to be anxious? Breathe anxiously.

Want to be calm? Breathe calmly.

Thus, we can consciously choose the messages we send with our breath. And this goes not just for the brain, but the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems as well. We can literally breathe the change we want to see in our bodies.

The First Place to Start

One of the most effective ways to “breathe the change” is with slow breathing. Slow breathing improves oxygenation, restores cardio-autonomic balance, increases heart rate variability, and so much more.

Give it a shot today. Breathe between 3 to 6 breaths per minute, for 5 minutes. Try it out for five days straight and see how you feel.

There’s no pill. There’s no money to be made. It’s just simple physiology.  

In good breath,

Nick  

P.S. “Sorry, but you’re going to need a pre-authorization.”

How Nasal Breathing is Imprinted on the Brain - And What it Means for You

It feels somewhat odd to send to write a post breathing right now. There are certainly bigger problems to worry about. But, I hope this can, at the very least, serve as a distraction. Stay healthy and stay safe!

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It makes sense that our brains have regions that “light up” when we smell something. But, what about the airflow itself? If there was no odor, would we still see effects on the brain?

That was the question this week’s paper answered.

Activity Patterns Elicited by Airflow in the Olfactory Bulb and Their Possible Functions

(Click Here to Read Full Summary)

It took me two days to enter all of my notes on this one. I felt almost neglectful distilling everything into one page for the summary.

Using fMRI, the authors examined how nasal airflow stimulated the olfactory bulb of mice and compared it to that of odor stimulation. The main difference: Nasal airflow lights up broad regions of the olfactory bulb, whereas odor stimulation is more localized.

Interestingly, the intensity of the nasal breathing signal only changed with total airflow. For example, if they increased the breathing frequency, but reduced the volume, intensities remained relatively constant. But, if they increased frequency and volume, things “lit up” even more.

Why is all of this important for you? The olfactory bulb influences the limbic system, which influences emotions and the autonomic nervous system. Therefore, if nasal breathing is imprinted on your brain in the olfactory bulb, this helps explain how it can easily influence your emotional and physiological state.

If you have done any breathing practices, you have likely experienced this. Here, we see one reason why.

So, we can conclude: Breathe through your nose to change your brain, change your emotions, and change your physiological state. Simple, yet profound.

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. Don’t worry about corona?

Breathe profoundly to reduce stress and anxiety

Hi all,

Last week we learned some devastating statistics. (Do you remember that 1 in 3 adolescents meets the criteria for anxiety?)

The study I’m sharing this week shows you how to breathe (hint: deeply) to reduce anxiety.

The effectiveness of diaphragmatic breathing relaxation training for reducing anxiety
(Click here to read on website)

First, a quick rant. “Deep” breathing is not “big” breathing. Often, when someone says “take a deep breath,” we automatically take a big breath.

But, a deep breath simply brings air into the lower lungs (“right before the bottom”) where the largest concentration of blood is due to gravity. It doesn’t have to be (and usually shouldn’t be) big. Maybe we should call in “Profound Breathing”?

OK, rant complete.

In this study, patients with mild-to-moderate anxiety were given instructions on diaphragmatic breathing. They were told to take 10 diaphragmatic breaths, twice daily, which doesn’t sound like too much to ask. They performed this over an 8 week period.

The results showed that diaphragmatic breathing significantly reduced anxiety when assessed on the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) scale. Their average scores dropped from ~19 down to ~5 (lower is better).

The participants also improved physiological indicators of stress, including reducing their heart rate, breathing rate, and skin conductance.

Like I said last week, this isn’t woo-woo pseudoscience. Correct breathing changes your physiology to reduce stress and anxiety.

And the best part is that you can use deep breathing anytime you (or your clients or friends) feel stressed. And you can know that you are changing your physiology to promote relaxation.

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. Did you check out HHPF last week?