the science of breathing | #3
Hello Friends,
Welcome to Wednesday Wisdom where I share the many cool and interesting things that I come across in my pursuit of bettering myself everyday. Here are the things that I have discovered while studying this month’s theme and any other cool things I’m excited about. I hope this provides a little bit of entertainment and enlightenment into your life.
March Theme
How To Improve Your Health Through Your Breath
Your breath is a powerful tool that can shift your physiological state and keep you living a healthy life. Everyone is stressed and busy these days and having ways to cope with that is essential for your health. Chronic stress is a path that can lead to a life full of disease. Breathwork is a low cost exercise that can help you achieve optimal health. In the month of March I am diving into what the research says about the correlation between your breath and your wellness. So, take a deep breath and enjoy reading!
Book:
“Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nestor. This book is beautifully written and presents a lot of useful information in all areas of the breath. James Nestor is an experimental journalist and I really enjoyed reading about the experiment he undertook in preparing to write this book. Him and fellow pulmonaut Anders Olsson forced themselves to only mouth breath for 10 days while Stanford scientists recorded the effects that it had on their physiology, and the results were astonishing! I’m currently going into the amazing resources James amassed in writing this book.
Links:
Mouth breathing experiment video (James Nestor explanation)
Exercise and Nasal Breathing:
“The Nose Knows: A Case for Nasal Breathing During High Intensity Exercise” article by Adam Cap. A very informative article that increases its complexity of explaining what happens biochemically during exercise and how nasal breathing can put us at an advantage for exercise performance and recovery. During high intensity exercise our body produces lactate as a by-product and this increases the acidity in the muscles, this is the feeling of “the burn”. Nasal breathing is better at oxidizing our muscles than mouth breathing and can reduce the lactate buildup in the muscles. It is true that you are receiving a greater amount of oxygen when you mouth breathe but it is not efficiently supplying the muscles with oxygen and you are also expelling more CO2 when you do this. Next time you exercise, attempt to only breathe through your nose and observe the effects it has on your performance.
You can pair this practice with something I do on occasion which is to mix a half teaspoon of baking soda in water before your workout. Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) acts as a buffer and is another way to increase pH in the blood, preventing the acid buildup in muscles during difficult exercise. I have found that I can usually pump out a few more reps than I normally would without doing this and this can have a big impact when added up over time.
Additional Finds
I have been consuming nicotine gum for a few years now and it is a powerful nootropic (smart drug). You may be surprised to hear me promoting nicotine but the truth is it’s not a harmful substance and can be used to increase attention, focus, memory, and alertness. There are studies being done now with nicotine and its use for Alzheimer’s patients. The mechanism that people usually consume nicotine (cigarettes, vapes, or tobacco products) is dangerous to your health and numerous studies have correlated it to cancer promotion. Gum is a safe way to use nicotine to your advantage and is my preferred method. It has helped me through many long bouts of studying and I just so happen to be using it right now as I write this. I like one particular brand that has very clean and great tasting gum and that is LUCY (my favorite flavor is Red Mango). Start at a lower mg dose if you’ve never consumed nicotine or are sensitive to its effects like I am.
Quote That Struck Me:
“You become a master of your life when you learn how to control where your attention goes. Value what you give your energy and time to.” - unknown.
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