recovery

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Love, the Gift of Giving, and How Life Gets Measured

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Listen Instead of Reading

Sorry, no audio this week. I got sick on Saturday and couldn’t record. I hope to have it up by Tuesday or Wednesday.

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 😊

Audio Block
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Reading Time: 1 min 38 sec

I hope the next 24’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.


4 THOUGHTS

1. Any Effort We Put Toward Love

“Just as our bodies are born to breathe air, we are born to love. That's why although it's good to address our fear, it's even better to focus on our love. Any effort we put toward love—truly, any effort at all—will self-perpetuate, bringing joy, health, and well-being into our lives.”

– Gladys McGarey, MD, The Well-Lived Life

One more time: “Any effort we put toward love…will self-perpetuate, bringing joy, health, and well-being into our lives.”

Sounds good to me 🙏

2. How to Practice Right Effort (hint: start with love & joy)

“Without love and joy motivating your efforts, you're not practicing right effort.”

- George Mumford, The Mindful Athlete

You can apply breathing & mindfulness for the wrong reasons: to rob a bank, manipulate people, and so on. That’s why right effort is critical.

There are several elements of “right effort,” but Mumford provides a simple starting point: make sure love & joy are motivating your efforts. If they are, you’re likely on the right track 🙏

3. Why Healing Hurts (at first)

Here’s David Goggins discussing a race where he had to take a break to let his thyroid reset:

“I decided to rest with no idea how long that process might take. I’d already run 120 miles. Predictably, within an hour, my body reacted as if the race was over. I started to swell and tighten up as my muscles shifted into recovery mode. … This would be a problem.”

It’s a nice reminder that swelling & tightness usually occur when we stop to rest & recover. Not only in endurance events, but in life in general. Just remember that feeling this pain is part of the process.

4. The Gift of Giving: Two Breathing Metaphors to Apply to Life

Reverse Breath Cycle

Think of the breath cycle starting an exhale, not an inhale. Use this as a reminder to give before you receive.

Extended Exhales

Make your exhale slightly longer than your inhale. Use this as a reminder to always give more than you receive.

1 Quote

“Ultimately, your life will be measured by what you gave, not what you received. Don’t hold out on the rest of us—we need you to contribute.””
— Todd Henry

1 Answer

Category: Oxygen Absorption

Answer: Humans only absorb about this percentage of the oxygen they inhale with each breath.

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(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

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Question: What is 5%?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Start off your new year right

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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.

 

Patch Your Breath, and Wim Hof’s Slow Breathing Method?

 

Happy Monday, and welcome back to another issue of The Breathing 411. Here are four thoughts, one quote, and one answer for you to reflect on this week.

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. Instead of a Bigger Engine, Patch the Hole in Your Boat

If you have a hole in your boat, a bigger engine or better fuel might keep you afloat longer. A more aerodynamic design might help you temporarily go faster. But either way, you’ll still be slowly sinking until you patch the hole.

Your breathing is that hole. You can eat better, workout harder, and take more supplements, which will all be very helpful. But until you "patch" your breath, you’ll never see the true potential of your energy and performance.

2. Diaphragmatic Breathing from the Cleveland Clinic

"But keep at it, because with continued practice, diaphragmatic breathing will become easy and automatic."

- Diaphragmatic Breathing, Cleveland Clinic

Last week, we discussed how diaphragmatic breathing improves recovery. Here’s a brief article from The Cleveland Clinic (regarded as one of the best hospitals and research centers worldwide) on how to get started.

Enjoy!

3. Become a Breathing Flâneur

"The flâneur continuously—and, what is crucial, rationally—modifies his target as he acquires information."

- Nassim Taleb, Antifragile

I propose we become breathing flâneurs. Let’s not be rigid with our techniques, but rather be open to change as we get new information.

Importantly, let’s rationally modify our approach based on the best information we have and the circumstances we find ourselves in.

The best way to do this is to have many options to choose from (slow breathing, Oxygen Advantage, Wim Hof, and so on) and use them as needed.

4. Wim Hof’s Slow Breathing Method - A Thought on Statistics

Here’s a fun thought about the infamous Kox et al. (2013) study on the Wim Hof Method (WHM). This paper scientifically validated that the WHM can allow people to control their autonomic nervous system and innate immune system.

There is a plot (their Figure 2) showing about 10.8 minutes of data. In that time, participants did 3 rounds of hyperventilation, and 3 breath holds. Each hyperventilation session was ~30 breaths. So, over the 10.8 minutes, they took about 90 breaths. On average, that’s ~8.3 breaths/min.

Thus, from a statistical perspective, the Wim Hof Method is slow breathing.

Now consider how much different it is to "breathe at 8 breaths/min for 11 minutes" compared to "performing three rounds of the WHM." This is why we must always put statistics into context…

But it’s also just fun to ponder : )

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

"Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable."

- Mark Twain

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: About 50% of the oxygen you breathe originated from this location.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

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Question: What is the ocean?

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. A fun thought exercise.