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4 Thoughts

1. A Tiny Thought on the Power of the Breath

In any situation:

If we control our breath, we control our environment.
If we do not, our environment controls us.

2. How Deep Breathing Reduces Stress According to 3 Studies

“Diaphragmatic breathing has the potential to offer a readily available and inexpensive treatment to help manage stress on a daily basis.”
- Hopper et al. (2019)

This systematic review of 3 studies found that slow diaphragmatic breathing reduces the following markers of stress:

Blood pressure
Salivary cortisol
DASS-21 scores
(a questionnaire on anxiety and stress)

Although the studies were not “top tier” (few are in breathing), these results are still powerful given stress’s negative impact on basically everything.

Breathe slowly, reduce stress, and live better.

3. Mind-Wandering is a Hidden Superpower (and how to do it correctly)

“In fact, when you look back over the history of science and engineering, many great breakthroughs don’t happen during periods of focus—they happen during mind-wandering.”
- Johann Hari, Stolen Focus

As someone who spends so much time focusing and reading, I found Hari’s section on mind-wandering life-changing. It is a genuine superpower.

And it’s simple enough. Just take time to do nothing—no phone, no books, no goals—and let your brain do what it does best: connect and form novel ideas.

However, there is one critical tip to remember: “In situations of low stress and safety, mind-wandering will be a gift, a pleasure, a creative force. In situations of high stress or danger, mind-wandering will be a torment.”

So, if you’re going to set aside time for mind-wandering, do it when you feel safe and calm…like after a slow breathing practice…😊

4. Life Force in Action

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action…”
- Martha Graham

And that action is breathing.

Breathing is life force translated through you into action.

***

P.S. I know I’m taking the quote out of context…it’s what I do best : )

1 QUOTE

“In the beginning was the voice. Voice is sounding breath, the audible sign of life.”
- Otto Jespersen (from Breath Taking)

1 ANSWER

Category: Sound and Breath

Answer: To generate sound, these vibrate rapidly from between 110 to 300 cycles per second in most people.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy! music.)

…

Question: What are the vocal cords?

In good breath,

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

P.S. so bystanders don’t hear you fighting

* 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.