relaxation response

,

My New Favorite Therapy, Self Love, and Your Breathing Headphones

,

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. Reading Can Produce Healing (my new favorite word & therapy)

“Bibliotherapy is based on the assumption that the simple act of reading can produce healing of various health conditions, including depression. The definition of bibliotherapy has broadened over the years to include using any type of reading material that is uplifting or emotionally sustaining.”

 - Herbert Benson, MD, Relaxation Revolution

 

As someone obsessed with reading, bibliotherapy might be my new favorite word and therapy : ) However, I’ve always thought that reading alone is not enough; we must also act. 

Maybe I’m wrong…

As Dr. Benson says, one study found “Therapeutic reading ranked toward the top of the interventions, along with CBT and supportive-expressive groups, as a highly effective method of decreasing depressive symptoms.” <— 🤯

I hope these 411s serve as bibliotherapy for you 🙏

2. The Relaxation Response for Stress-Related Diseases

“Taken together, the RR has been shown to be an appropriate and relevant therapeutic tool to counteract several stress-related disease processes and certain health restrictions, particularly in immunological, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases/mental disorders.”

- Esch et al. (2003)

This study found that regularly eliciting the relaxation response can counter the adverse effects of stress and serve as a free therapeutic tool in many chronic diseases, especially immunological, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative/mental disorders.

Want to use it in your life? Here’s a short video showing you how.

***

P.S. If you want to use the relaxation response to conquer stress, check out the latest Science 411 on this paper or the new Book 411 on Relaxation Revolution, released this past Friday.

3. Breathing as Spiritual Headphones

Breathing exercises are like spiritual headphones: You can tune in, not bother anyone, and no one will ever know what you’re “listening” to.

4. Breathing is Self-Love, a Pre-Requisite for Loving Others

Last week, we learned that high vagal tone = high loving potential; thus, slow breathing increases our loving potential.

But the key word there is “potential:”

“While these activities do not directly create positivity resonance, they can set the table for an eventual feast of love. … They condition your mind, heart, eyes, and ears to be more prepared for positivity resonance when true connections become possible.”

- Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., Love 2.0

So, we might say that a daily breathing practice is self-love, which prepares your heart and mind to love others.

1 Quote

“We must meet hate with love. We must meet physical force with soul force.””
— Martin Luther King, Jr.

1 Answer

Category: Stress

Answer: When free radical production exceeds antioxidant defenses, it creates this kind of stress.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is oxidative stress?

P.S. The relaxation response helps counter this stress, too.

In good breath,

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


P.S. I’ve been really missing my friends

* 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.

 
,

Neat Breath Science, 3 Sentences to Live By, and it is a Panacea

,

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. Neat Science: How to See If Slow Breathing is an Antioxidant

“…our results lead to the hypothesis that slow breathing may exert some antioxidant effect, possibly via parasympathetic stimulation.”

- Nature (2017)

The way they got to this hypothesis was pretty cool:

  1. They had people with type-1 diabetes inhale extra oxygen.

  2. After, they observed that arterial stiffness and blood pressure went up. This was likely due to excess oxidative stress.

  3. Then, they repeated the process, but participants breathed slowly at 6 breaths/min while inhaling oxygen.

  4. Slow breathing offset the harmful effects of extra oxygen on blood pressure and arterial stiffness.

Together, this suggests that slow breathing acts as a natural antioxidant.

***

P.S. If you want more neat findings like this, check out the Science 411s in the Breath is Life Learning Center.

2. Get 90% from 50% (or less): A Few Minutes Go a Long Way

“As you read any given sentence, you will probably get 90% of the meaning from 50% of the words…the rest of the words are unnecessary filler.”

- Peter Hollins, The Science of Self-Learning

This made me think of how, with breathing, we get a lot of psychological benefits from a small percentage of the breaths we take.

Example: A 20-minute morning breath practice might be less than 1% of your breaths. But, it may account for 90% of your equanimity.

Of course, all our other breaths aren’t just “fillers”—they’re critical to our wellness, too. But let’s remember that even a small investment in our breath can go a long way toward our health and happiness 🙏

3. Why Breathing Seems Like a Panacea: Part II

“In fact, any condition that is caused or exacerbated by stress can be helped by a well-designed mind body approach. Furthermore, because all health conditions have some stress component, it is no overstatement to say that virtually every single health problem and disease can be improved with a mind body approach.” (my bold)

- Herbert Benson, MD, Relaxation Revolution

Slow breathing is one of the fastest and most effective mind-body approaches to triggering the relaxation response and reducing stress.

And since stress plays a role in basically every health condition, breathing can therefore help in basically every health condition.

Breathe slowly—> reduce stress—> improve virtually every health condition. Maybe it is a panacea, after all? 😊

***

P.S. See Thought #1 here for Part I.

4. Three Short Ancient Sentences to Live By

“Walk slowly! Talk little! Love breath!”

- The Primordial Breath, Volume I

Sounds like a perfect life-mantra to me 🙏

1 Quote

“And beyond improving stress resilience, breath practices can restore your sense of being genuinely who you are, of knowing what you feel, of recognizing what others feel, and of being able to experience deep and meaningful connections with people, with your values, and with all that is.”
— Richard Brown, MD, and Patricia Gerbarg, MD
 

1 Answer

Category: The Cardiovascular System

Answer: There are approximately this many miles of veins, capillaries, and arteries in an average adult.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 60,000 miles?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Every. Single. Time.

 
 

Breath is Life Learning
Science and Books Made Simple

For each book and research paper I read, you get an easy-to-digest 411 summary:

  • Web-based text or downloadable PDF

  • Audio podcast version (also downloadable)

Plus, you get a super short daily email with a nugget of breathing wisdom. It only takes a few seconds to read, but it will set you up for a better day, every day.

P.S. 30-Second Science

For each Science 411, if you read the “1 Big Takeaway” followed by the “1 Practical Application,” you can get almost everything you need from a study in about 30 seconds.

P.P.S. Life-Changing Ideas

For each Book 411, you get “1 Life-Changing” idea from that book. Thus, even if you’re not interested in the book, you can open that section and get a quick idea to help you live a better life.

Here are a few of my favorites:

  • From Buddha’s Brain: Our Breath Moves Spirit Around Like Our Hearts Move Blood Around

  • From The Mindful Day: How to Live Longer (regardless of your age, lifespan, or healthspan)

  • From Breath by Breath: How it Should Be, and Letting Breath (and life) Unfold Naturally

  • From The Confidence Gap: No One is Perfect (and the solution)

  • From Stolen Focus: Mind-Wandering is a Superpower (and How to Do It Correctly)

 
 

* 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.

 
 
,

Eloquent Exhales, 3 Books, and Adding Sound for More Benefit

,
 

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. A More Eloquent Way to Say “Extend Your Exhale”

Here’s a more eloquent way to say, “extend your exhale,” which applies to all aspects of life: Give more than you receive.

***

P.S. This was inspired by two of my favorite teachers, Eddie Stern & Emily Hightower. See the audio version above at the 38-sec mark for the full story.

2. Get More Benefits Out of Your Practice with No Added Effort

“Petr Janata…is a cognitive neuroscientist and expert on music in the brain. He theorizes that the low frequency of the sound of water, coupled with its rhythmic nature, is similar to the frequency and rhythm of human breath. Sound, Janata contends, ‘affects our brain and influences our emotions. If I ask you to close your eyes and turn on a recording of the ocean, I can change your mood immediately.’”

- Wallace J Nichols, Blue Mind

Here’s a simple way to increase the benefits of your breathing or meditation practice: add the sound of water. You can use headphones or sit outside near a body of moving water if you’re lucky enough to have one nearby.

Here’s a playlist I have been using and enjoying. I hope you do too 🏝

3. Slow Breathing is My Favorite, but Here’s Why Most Methods Work

“Differences in the effects of various stress management approaches are minor compared to the general goal of inducing a relaxation response. For more than fifty years, Harvard’s Professor Herbert Benson, author of The Relaxation Response, demonstrated that almost any type of relaxation inducer—prayer, meditation, rhythmic breathing, visualization, or biofeedback—can rapidly reverse the more than five hundred genes that are turned on by stress. In addition, those who regularly practice a relaxation method have better long-term health, recover faster from health challenges, and use fewer medical services.”

- Wayne Jonas, MD, How Healing Works

Sounds good to me 🤯

4. One Overarching Goal for Our Breathing

“Learn to do less, but more often.”

- Dr. Jason Selk & Tom Bartow, Organize Tomorrow Today

A perfect overarching goal for our breathing is:

Learn to breathe less, but more often.

P.S. to Thoughts 2, 3, and 4

These three books, Blue Mind, How Healing Works, and Organize Tomorrow Today, have significantly changed my life over the past few months. If you’re looking for something to read, I can’t recommend them enough.


1 QUOTE

“Western science is now finally catching up to the fact that controlled breathing practices can at least ‘enhance immunity, improve cardiovascular fitness, modulate chronic disease and increase longevity’, and at most lead to almost superhuman feats.”
— Charlie Morley
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Deep Breathing & the Lungs

Answer: Deep breathing stretches the alveoli and increases their surface area, which reduces this and leads to better gas exchange in the lungs.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is dead space ventilation?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Your call is very important to us.

P.P.S. Happy Birthday LP!

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.

 
 

Timeless Healing, Anti-Harley, and 2 Rules to Improve Your Breathing

 
 

🎧 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. Breathing Exercises Lower Inflammation and Change Gene Expression

“In those who practice breathing exercises, levels of inflammatory proteins in the blood are significantly lower, especially under certain types of stress. Mobilizing the power of the breath has also been shown to turn on anti-inflammatory genes and turn off pro-inflammatory ones, including genes that regulate energy metabolism, insulin secretion, and even the part of our DNA that controls longevity.”

- Michael J Stephen, MD, Breath Taking

I have nothing useful to add here, except, of course, one of these: 🤯

2. These Two Simple Rules Will Improve Your Breathing Forever

If I could give anyone any advice for everyday breathing, it’d be this:

  1. Breathe through your nose, especially during sleep.

  2. Make your breathing quiet.

You’ll get massive benefits with minimal effort using these two simple rules.

3. Timeless Healing: Slow Breathing + The Relaxation Response

“To evoke the relaxation response, you need to follow only two basic steps. You need to repeat a word, sound, prayer, phrase, or muscular activity, and when common everyday thoughts intrude on your focus, you need to passively disregard them and return to your repetition.”*

- Herbert Benson, MD, Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief

It’s that simple. And the word or phrase? Dr. Benson says, “The choice of a focused repetition is up to the individual. If you’re a religious person, you can choose a prayer. If you’re a non-religious person, choose a secular focus.”*

I’ve been using it this week in my slow breathing practice. I inhale and then repeat “be the change” in my head while exhaling at a 5 breaths/min pace.

I’ve never been a big fan of mantras (and I’m still testing different ones), but I’ve genuinely enjoyed this. It’s straightforward and highly effective.

Give it a shot and see how you feel.

4. My Fake Words, and Breathing as the Anti-Harley-Davidson

“Orfield Laboratories, run by Steven Orfield, is a small Twin Cities business that leverages the power of perception to help companies build better products. Harley-Davidson, for example, once hired Orfield to calculate the exact engine tone and decibel level that would give riders the impression that its motorcycles are powerful.”*

- Michael Easter, The Comfort Crisis

How crazy is that!? Harley-Davidson actually hired a company to ensure their engines gave “riders the impression that its motorcycles are powerful.”

I think breathing is the anti-Harley-Davidson. You just relax and breathe. If it’s powerful, it’s powerful. If it’s not, it’s not. No fake impressions needed.

***

P.S. Although I take pride in this newsletter, sometimes I feel like Orfield Labs trying to make breathing sound perfect. It’s not. But it is truly powerful. So, don’t just read my words, try it out and feel its strength for yourself.

Extra Thought:

5 Easy Breathing Exercises You Can Use for Better Sleep Tonight

I wrote a guest blog called “5 Easy Breathing Exercises You Can Use for Better Sleep Tonight” for The Breather, hosted by ResBiotic.

It’s a quick 4-minute read. I hope you enjoy it!

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

“When we focus on the breath, we become mindful of the universal nature of all beings.”

- Bhante Henepola Gunarantana

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Meditation & Relaxation Response

Answer: A trademark physiological result of meditation and/or the relaxation response is that the body consumes less oxygen, also known as this.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is hypometabolism?

In good breath,

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

P.S. Science can catch these hands

 
 
 

* 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.

 
 

Sit Up Straight, a Language of Energy, and Two Hours instead of One?

 
 

🎧 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. Mindful Low-and-Slow Breathing is “Almost Always Helpful”

“Mindful low-and-slow breathing (Chapter 2) activates the parasympathetic (relaxation) nervous system and is therefore almost always helpful in reducing physiological arousal, including bringing down skin conductance. Reducing skin conductance with low-and-slow breathing is particularly helpful for a quick recovery break, between meetings, or as a break from challenging activities of the day.”

- Inna Khazan, PhD, Biofeedback and Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Mindful low-and-slow breathing is “almost always helpful in reducing physiological arousal.” <— sounds good to me.

Use it anytime, anywhere for a quick reset and recovery.

2. Sit Up Straight: Take a Full, Deep Breath

“Our thoracic curve affects lung function. When the thoracic curve become more pronounced (think hunchback), the lungs’ ability to expand decreases. Excessive thoracic curvature weakens respiratory muscles and restricts your ability to take a full, deep breath.”

- Pete Egoscue, Pain Free

We probably don’t need another reminder to sit up straight. We know good posture is essential for just about everything (especially breathing; and vice-versa, as good breathing can lead to better posture).

But, for some reason, it really stuck out here and has inspired me to make my posture a top priority. Maybe this passage will spark something for you too 🙏

3. Do This when Life Gets Complicated: Two Hours instead of One

“The non-negotiable part is key. When life gets complicated, these four practices are typically what we remove from our schedule, but the research shows this is the last choice we should make. When life gets complicated, lean into these practices, as they’re how you get the creativity needed to untangle the complicated.”

- Steven Kotler, The Art of Impossible

Kotler is discussing four key practices for “sustained peak performance” (which he says are gratitude, mindfulness, exercise, and sleep).

But the idea applies to anything we do for better health (like breathing).

When life gets absurdly busy, lean into these practices. As Gandhi said, “I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one.”

4. Sleep Better with Breathing

Car accidents and heart attacks will spike today due to the time change (which is why I haven’t participated in two years—be the change you want to see style.)

However, most of us can’t just ignore it due to life and work obligations. The next best thing is protecting ourselves. Here’s how breathing can help:

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

“Within the rhythms and structure of your breath is coded a language of energy that your nervous system, glands, and mind understand.”

- Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, PhD, and Yogi Bhajan, PhD

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Category: Sleep

Answer: Before the invention of electric light, people used to sleep about this many hours.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is ten hours?

In good breath,

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

P.S. My favorite childhood memory

P.P.S. Thanks to Laura from the MAPS Institute for sharing that funny post.

 
 
 

* 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.

 
 

How Modern Science Supports Ancient Yoga, plus Comfort in Breathwalking

 
 

Listen Instead of Reading

 

The way you breathe might affect your insulin sensitivity. And the way you walk definitely affects your ability to withstand discomfort.

Let’s find out how…

 
 
 
 

4 Thoughts


1. Longer Exhalations are Naturally Relaxing

“It's helpful to extend your exhalations because the ‘rest and digest’ parasympathetic nervous system handles exhaling while also slowing your heart rate. So, longer exhalations are naturally relaxing.”

- Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Neurodharma

Just a friendly reminder that extending the exhalation is one of the fastest ways to naturally relax. That is all : )

***

Related: Longer Exhalations Are an Easy Way to Hack Your Vagus Nerve

Related: BBC: Why slowing your breathing helps you relax

2. How Breathing Might Help with Insulin Sensitivity

“These observations demonstrate that hypoxia rapidly regulated the inhibition of the insulin signaling pathway […] During reoxygenation, the ability of insulin to stimulate phosphorylation of insulin receptor and signaling proteins was restored after 45 min.”

– Hypoxia Decreases Insulin Signaling Pathways in Adipocytes

Insulin resistance is a critical factor in diabetes and overall metabolic health. In this paper, we learn that low tissue oxygen (hypoxia) can trigger insulin resistance. Encouragingly, however, reoxygenation restored it.

This is one reason why optimal breathing is so essential for metabolic health, especially for people with diabetes. By practicing slow nasal breathing, we increase our blood and tissue oxygenation. This could potentially maintain, or even restore, insulin sensitivity.

Of course, there is no research showing that slow nasal breathing does this—no one is going to fund that study : ) But, given what we know about slow breathing, tissue oxygenation, and blood flow, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that it would help. I know have certainly noticed a difference.

***

Related: The Lesser-Known Benefits of Nasal Breathing, Designed for Diabetes

3. “Role of respiration in mind-body practices: concepts from contemporary science and traditional yoga texts”

“Traditional yoga texts also suggest a solution for the imbalance in prana, through slow, deep breathing. … The beneficial effects of deep breathing are supported by contemporary science.”

- Telles et al. (2014), Frontiers in Psychiatry

I’ve shared a quote from this paper before, but if you haven’t read the full thing, it’s well worth it. It describes how modern science supports ancient yogic breathing, for example, how “Conventional physiology has found benefits of deep breathing supporting the importance given to regulating the breath in yoga.”

Another interesting idea they mention is that breathing “acts as both a top-down and bottom-up mind-body practice.” It makes perfect sense, but I hadn’t thought about it that way.

Ancient Yogic Wisdom + Modern Science = A Fantastic Read

Enjoy!

4. Finding Comfort in Breathwalking

“To take my mind off the discomfort, I settle into a respiratory rhythm. I take one step as I breathe in, then two steps as I breathe out. One step breathing in, two steps breathing out. Over and over, focusing only on the breath.”

- Michael Easter, The Comfort Crisis

Easter spent more than a month in a remote region of Alaska. And this book that came out of it is incredible—a perfect blend of science and storytelling.

Of course, this part stood out to me : )

Easter is making a ridiculous walk back to camp with a ton of weight. He naturally settles into his breath, and this gives him comfort and endurance.

As he puts it, “There's science behind this. Brazilian researchers found that people who are able to detach from their emotions during exercise, for example, not thinking about or putting a negative valence on their burning legs and lungs, almost always perform better.”

So aside from the mechanics and oxygenation, here’s another way in which breathwalking can be beneficial. It helps you detach from your emotions. As Easter tells us, you’ll “almost always perform better.” Sounds good to me.

***

Related: Breathwalking with Gandhi

 
 
 
 

1 Quote

“He let me see that, because the breath is so unassuming, I had been undervaluing it. I was looking for a complicated path to enlightenment, when this simple one was right before me.”

- Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath

 
 
 
 

1 Answer

Category: Hypoxia

Answer: A blood oxygen saturation below approximately this value is considered hypoxic.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is 90%?

P.S. Different places give slightly different numbers…sometimes it’s 94%, sometimes 92%.

In good breath,

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

P.S. What if?

 
 
 

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.