the science of breathing | #4
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 every day. 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 in 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!
Allergy Season:
As Washingtonians are being teased with a few pleasant, sunny days and our seasonal depression begins to lift, my thoughts turned to what many people dread during this time of the year. A major symptom of allergies is a congested nose, and if I have learned anything this past month, is that you want to avoid mouth breathing at all costs. My suggestion, if you do suffer from seasonal allergies, is to take the proper medication to ensure clear nasal passageways. On top of that I have provided some supplemental techniques you can do to decongest your nose and perhaps avoid it altogether by boosting your immune system with, you guessed it, the power of your breath!
Breathing techniques to decongest your nose:
1. Apnea Walk:
Start by taking a normal breath in and out.
Take a deep breath in, then exhale completely.
Hold your breath and start walking at a steady pace.
Continue walking while holding your breath for as long as comfortable. Do not push yourself to the point of dizziness or discomfort.
When you feel the need to breathe, stop walking, and take a deep breath in and out through your nose.
Continue this cycle for several minutes, gradually increasing the duration of breath-holding as you feel comfortable.
Links:
I first heard about this technique in Patrick McKeown’s book “The Oxygen Advantage”.
2. Humming:
Studies have shown that humming can increase the production of nitric oxide 15-fold. Nitric oxide plays a role in bronchodilation, improving airflow, and it also improves mucus clearance. Some people may find you annoying, but they’re just not as smart as you! Will Ferrell in The Other Guys knows what’s up.
Links:
Breathing technique to enhance your immune system:
1. Cyclic Hyperventilation (Aka: Tummo breathing or Wim Hof breathing):
In this study, scientists showed that participants who engaged in this type of practice were able to mitigate their innate immune response more effectively than the control group following an intravenous injection of bacterial endotoxin.
Links:
Guided Wim Hof breathing exercise
Additional Finds
I haven’t really tried a lot of the popular AI assistants out there like ChatGPT, but I recently heard about this new model of AI that outperforms ChatGPT on many levels. I’ve decided to try it out and I have been loving how helpful it has been. It’s helping me construct this email where it can help me find helpful resources and clean up my writing. Some other things I’ve been using it for is helping me with a budget, plan trips, and summarize studies and books. It’s definitely worth trying.
Quote That Struck Me:
“You can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don’t think you’re weird, you’re living badly.” - Paul Graham in his essay “The Acceleration of Addictiveness”.
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