surfactant

,

Aging, Wonderful Outcomes, and the Secret of an Unhurried Mind

,

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 😊

Enjoy These Posts?

Donate to support my research.

Reading Time: 1 min 48 sec

I hope the next 27’ish breaths are the most nourishing of your day.


4 THOUGHTS

1. The Secret of an Unhurried Mind

Since achieving a calmer mind and living more in the moment are almost universal outcomes of breathing and meditation, here’s a beautiful passage to contemplate as more motivation to practice:

“But gradually I understood that living completely in the present is the secret of an unhurried mind. When the mind is not rushing about in a hurry, it is calm, alert, and ready for anything. And a calm mind sees deeply, which opens the door to tremendous discoveries: rich relationships, excellence in work, a quiet sense of joy. It was a revelation. There was a door to the discovery of peace and meaning in every moment! All I needed to open it was a quiet mind.”

– Eknath Easwaran, Take Your Time

2. How Mindfulness Helps with Aging: An Alternative to Eternal Youth

“An alternative to seeking eternal youth was suggested by the famous baseball pitcher Satchel Paige: ‘Age isn’t a problem. It’s a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.’ Mindfulness practice helps us not mind so much.”

– Ronald Siegel, Psy.D., The Mindfulness Solution

​

Dr. Siegel says mindfulness helps us “not mind so much” by teaching us that everything changes, all we have is the present moment, our thoughts aren’t reality, and we’re all connected.

So, here’s to living more mindfully to (somewhat paradoxically) not mind the aging process 🙏

3. Bound to Have Wonderful Outcomes

“As I’m fond of saying, small tweaks lead to big changes, and a little attention goes a long way. A few minutes of slow breathing is a small tweak—perhaps just one percent of our day—and that little bit of attention to the very thing that sustains our life is bound to have wonderful outcomes.” ​

– Eddie Stern, Healing Through Breathing

​

​Here’s an excellent reminder to occasionally slow down and pay attention to the very thing that sustains life—your breath. As Eddie says, it’s “bound to have wonderful outcomes.”

4. How to Infuse with Life Force

“On a very basic level, when we're consciously aware of the in-breath and the out-breath we infuse ourselves with that life force and anchor ourselves in our own deep center space.”

- George Mumford, The Mindful Athlete

So. Good.

Here’s to infusing with our life force a little more this week 👏

1 Quote

“The body is solid material wrapped around the breath.””
— Ida Rolf

P.S. Thanks to Nerissa for sharing. It’s one of my new favorite quotes.

1 Answer

Category: Lung Alveoli

Answer: Surfactant reduces this within lung alveoli, which prevents them (especially smaller alveoli) from collapsing during exhalation.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is surface tension?

In good breath,

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

P.S. They’re my new hero, too

Breath Learning Center

The goal of the breath learning center is to help you use breathing and mindfulness to become a better person. To experience more joy, love, laughter, and wholeness.

If that sounds good to you, you can learn more here.

The Breathing App for Diabetes

This is the first program specifically made for people with diabetes to help manage their stress through breathing and mindfulness practices. In addition to the amazing program inside the app, we have some really neat things coming up, so sign up now!

Learn more here.

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.

 
,

Top 5 Daily Breaths, a Guide to Wim Hof, and Coherence Fuels Purpose

,
 

🎧 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. Wim Hof & Diabetes: A Complete Guide to the Benefits and 5 Real Dangers

This is a complex topic I get a lot of questions about. I made a 40-min class on it, but attempted to put the most critical information into this free post:

You can read it here.

It’s pretty long, but I hope it’s thorough and genuinely helpful, especially if you have diabetes or are a WHM coach. 🙏

2. Word Etymology and Why We Can All Do Asanas, Yogi or Not

“The word asana is made up of two parts: as ‘to sit’ and ana, ‘breath.’ To do an asana is to literally sit with your breath, or to sit in a special way and breathe.”

- Eddie Stern, One Simple Thing

This is awesome word etymology (thanks, Eddie). And, it’s an excellent reminder that sometimes abstract words are straightforward to implement.

So, I say we all channel our inner yogi and do some more asanas, today 🧘‍♂️

3. Why Coherence Fuels Purpose: Finding Internal & External Safety for Growth

“The need for coherence is the form of meaning that is most strongly tied to the need for safety. Does my immediate environment make sense? Is there any predictability and comprehensibility in my life? Coherence is necessary to even get a chance to pursue one’s larger purpose or pursue various ways that one can matter in this world.”

- Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., Transcend

Researchers tell us to “pursue one’s larger purpose,” we need external coherence with our environment, which allows us to feel safe.

Conversely, we know that slow breathing (~5-6 breaths/min) provides internal coherence—a predictability in our nervous system that makes us feel safe.

And in my opinion, this second type is even more potent because it’s always available, and our inner state determines how we relate to our external world.

So let’s breathe slowly, find some internal coherence (and maybe even external, too), and use this feeling of safety to pursue our bigger purpose.

***

Related Quote: “The unseen design of things is more harmonious than the seen.” - Heraclitus

4. Two Small Thoughts on Breath and Presence

  • Physically, wherever you find your breath, you find yourself.

  • Spiritually, whenever you find your breath, you find your self.

Extra Thought: Top 5 Breathing Exercises to Practice Daily (and the Best Times to Do Them)

I wrote another guest blog for ResBiotic. I hope this one is super practical and can help you or someone you know get started with breathing. Enjoy!

Top 5 Breathing Exercises to Practice Daily (And the Best Times to Do Them)



1 QUOTE

“This illustrates the most empowering point of all. The key to our own experience lies within our bodies all the time.”
— The Tibetan Yoga of Breath

1 ANSWER

Category: The Lungs

Answer: The alveoli have a mixture of lipids and proteins called this, which prevent them from collapsing during low lung volume.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What is surfactant?

In good breath,

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

P.S. thanks for buying this gum

Available Now:

THE BREATHING FOR DIABETES SELF-PACED WORKSHOP

If you like geeking out on breathing, or just want to live an overall healthier life, I’m confident you’ll love the workshop (diabetes or not).

By the end of the workshop, you’ll have:

  • The ideal breathing rate for you.

  • A daily practice plan designed around human behavior science rather than discipline and “motivation.”

  • A tool to reduce stress and calm your nervous system anytime, any place.

Plus, you get:

  • A 40-min Wim Hof and Diabetes Mini Masterclass.

    • If you’re interested in the WHM, I think you’ll find a lot of information in here you’ve probably never seen before—like why you should only practice it in the morning and why you don’t have to hold your breath to get the same results.

  • A PDF of 100 inspiring breathing quotes.

  • A Breath Matching worksheet to grow your practice.

  • A simple 10-day plan for implementing what you learn.

And if you don't like it, it’s 100% refundable, so you have nothing to lose.

 
 

* 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.