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4 Thoughts
1. Breathing, and the Key to High-Level Success
“The key to high-level success is to pick one thing to change—yes, just one—and master it.”
- Dr. Jason Selk & Tom Bartow, Organize Tomorrow Today
Since breath is life, I can’t think of any better “one thing” to master.
2. Extend Your Exhalation to Increase Vagal Tone
“findings showed that CVA [cardiac vagal activity] is higher when the exhalation phase lasts longer than the inhalation phase”
There is a lot we could cover from this study, but the take-home message is super practical: By slightly extending our exhale, we increase vagal activity.
Here’s a simple formula for doing it: 40% of your breath should be inhaling, and 60% should be exhaling. Simple, easy, and effective.
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P.S. Thanks for 411 reader B.W. for sending me this paper 🙏
3. How to Experience More Awe, Gratitude, & Joy
“University of North Carolina psychologists Barbara Frederickson, PhD, and Bethany Kok, PhD, demonstrated this beautifully when they asked 52 adults to track their positive emotions—awe, gratitude, joy—for 9 weeks. They found that the higher a subject’s HRV was at the beginning, the easier and more quickly he or she could experience positive feelings over the next 9 weeks.”
- Leah Lagos, Psy.D., Heart Breath Mind
Do you want to experience more awe, gratitude, and joy? (who doesn’t?! 😂) Research suggests that having higher baseline HRV will let you.
And the best way to increase your baseline HRV? See #2 above…
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Related: Perrin White and I recently discussed breathing and joy on her Breath to Breath podcast. You can jump right to it here. My explanation was different from this one…but it’s all interrelated : )
4. Perfect Advice for the Rest of the Week (and the rest of our lives)
“So look for those little ways in the flow of life to feel a bit more relaxed, protected, strong, and at ease…and a little more grateful, glad, and successful…and a little more cared about and caring, and a little more loved and loving. One breath at a time, one synapse at a time, you can gradually develop an increasingly unshakable core inside yourself. The more often and deeply you do this, the greater the results.”
- Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Neurodharma
Sounds good to me 🙏
1 QUOTE
“We might say (every pun intended) that the richness lies right beneath our noses in any and every moment.”
1 ANSWER
Category: Etymology
Answer: This word is derived from a Greek word generally meaning “something that divides” or “a barrier.”
…
(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)
…
Question: What is diaphragm?
In good breath,
Nick Heath, T1D, PhD
“Breathing is the compound interest of health & wellness.”
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.
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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.