Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

The Breathing 411 - What do 5,649 and 28,800 Have in Common?

 

Hello and Happy Monday. Welcome to another edition of The Breathing 4.1.1.

Below you’ll find 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (think "Jeopardy"). Enjoy!

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. What do 5,649 and 28,800 Have in Common?

"The average daily step count required to induce feelings of anxiety and depression and decrease satisfaction with life is 5,649. The typical American takes 4,774 steps per day. Across the globe, the average is 4,961." - Kelly McGonigal, The Joy of Movement

Active people become anxious and lose life satisfaction when their step count drops to 5,649 or less. That’s a bit staggering, given the U.S. and global step count statistics Kelly cites.

That passage got me thinking, "I wonder if there is a similar idea for breaths per day?" However, with breathing, it would be opposite: The more breaths you take, the more unhealthy you are. Sure enough, there is something close:

"Recent evidence suggests that an adult with a respiratory rate of over 20 breaths/minute is probably unwell, and an adult with a respiratory rate of over 24 breaths/minute is likely to be critically ill.” - Respiratory Rate: The Neglected Vital Sign

If your spontaneous breathing rate is over 20 breaths per minute, you are "probably unwell." That comes out to about 28,800 breaths per day.

So, do you want to feel unwell and anxious?
Take less than 5,649 steps and breathe more than 28,800 breaths per day.

Want to be happy and healthy?
Walk more, breathe less.

P.S. That 28,800 number might even be too high. James Nestor shares some great ancient wisdom on this:

"Chinese doctors two thousand years ago advised 13,500 breaths per day, which works out to nine and a half breaths per minute. "
- Breath

2. The Most Fundamental of the Fundamentals

Last week, Kobe Bryant provided an excellent example of the importance of practicing the fundamentals. We talked about how we don’t need to worry about the "latest and greatest" breathing technique. Instead, we need to focus on the fundamentals. They’re simple, but they’re not easy.

We can take that thought step farther: Breathing itself is the most fundamental of the fundamentals. We’re all in the sport of life. And that requires breathing…at least 13,500 times a day : ) So, let’s optimize that first, then work on the fundamentals of your particular sport or profession.

3. Bring Attention & Intention to Your Breathing

"Attention without intention is wasted energy." - Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus

This quote makes complete sense in terms of productivity, self-improvement, and group workouts (CrossFit, yoga, etc.). But the minute you apply it to something like sitting down to breathe, it can get misinterpreted:

"Set an intention for your breathing practice."

"Be intentional with your breathing today."

It’s just begging to be put in the "woo-woo" category and not be taken seriously.

But intentions are powerful (hence the quote from Chris Bailey). So a compromise I have made is to set scientific intentions before each slow breathing practice. "I am going to increase my heart rate variability" or "I am going to balance my autonomic nervous system."

These are just facts that I state at the beginning of my practice that work as intentions, without feeling woo-woo.

I find it to be an excellent way to give the practice more meaning. (And don’t forget to celebrate afterward!)

4. Slow Breathing for Hypertension

Slow, controlled breathing (<10 breaths per minute) has consistently been shown to be beneficial for reducing blood pressure. So much so that it is recognized by the American Heart Association for its positive effects. (They’ve given it a Class IIa, Level of Evidence B. Here’s what that means.)

This got me thinking about a paper published back in 2005 that I loved. They concluded:

"Slow breathing showed the potential to be a simple and inexpensive method to improve autonomic balance and respiratory control and reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients." - Joseph et al. (2005)

The interesting part was that the authors provided an exciting hypothesis for how that’s occurring using autonomic function as the foundation. That hypothesis inspired me to create this little graphic to help get the point across.

Read the Full Summary for More Details.

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

My new favorite definition of success:

"To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: The largest lung capacity of any mammal.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy music.)

…

Question: What is 5,000 liters (or 1,320 gallons)?

(For reference, the human lung has a capacity of about 6-liters.)

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. How I Feel Shopping on Amazon Now.

 
 

The Breathing 411 - The lung microbiome, David Blaine, and a perfect breath

 

Happy Monday! Welcome to another edition of The Breathing 4.1.1.

Below you’ll find 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (think "Jeopardy").

Thank you for reading!

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. On Practicing the Fundamentals

"If someone at Kobe’s level needs to commit hours to practicing the fundamentals, then so do all of us. Kobe taught me a pivotal lesson that morning. The basics are simple, but not easy."
- Alan Stein Jr., Raise Your Game

Imagine the best basketball player on the planet allows you to watch him practice. Then, he spends hours working on his fundamentals. Nothing fancy, no showboating, just the basics. That’s exactly what Alan Stein saw when he watched Kobe Bryant practice during his prime.

We talk about breathing here, not the highest level of basketball ever played. But the message is the same.

With all the fancy breathing techniques and new approaches, it’s easy to be looking for the "next thing" (—> guilty here <— ). But let’s not forget that it all comes down to the basics. They’re simple, but they’re not easy.

(This idea, like many, was inspired by knowledge from the Optimize Program.)

2. Oxygen Therapy Harms the Lung Microbiome

We’ve discussed how inhaled oxygen can lead to adverse effects in people with diabetes. Specifically, high levels of inhaled oxygen can reduce arterial function. But there might be other problems with oxygen therapy, especially when done over prolonged periods.

For example, your lungs have their own microbiome (pretty neat). And a recent study showed that inhaled oxygen harms this microbiome, leading to an increased risk of lung damage. This idea is especially relevant during COVID-19:

“Upon hospitalization, these patients are administered oxygen in an attempt to bring their levels back up to normal. However, a new study hints that this universal therapy may have unintended consequences via an unexpected source -- the microbiome.”
- ScienceDaily

Read the whole summary from ScienceDaily here:

Oxygen Therapy Harms Lung Microbiome in Mice

3. David Blaine on Breath Holds, CO2, and 45 Minutes Without Air

David Blaine was recently on the Joe Rogan Podcast. They began talking about breath-holds within 5 minutes (this link should take you right to it).

Here are two quotes I loved from it:

"The breath-holding thing is all about like, a CO2 build up in the bloodstream, and it’s about a tolerance level to it…"

And when Joe asks about the panicked feeling you get when holding your breath, David’s reply is:

“That’s not an O2 deprivation. That’s a trigger from a CO2 build-up, which is giving you an alert…"

All of you "breathing nerds" already knew this. But it is little tidbits like these that help the general population learn.

He goes on to talk a little about pre-breath-hold hyperventilation, blacking out, and how we can go 45 minutes without air.

In addition to the breath-hold stuff, it’s a fascinating interview.

4. Is there a Perfect Breath?

“What is the perfect breath? Far from being some noble yet unreachable goal that takes years of rigorous practice to master, a perfect breath is any breath you take for which you are completely and mindfully aware.” - Al Lee & Don Campbell

That definition is, well, perfect. But let’s not forget about James Nestor’s perfect breath, which has deeper roots in science and physiology:

"They discovered that the optimum amount of air we should take in at rest per minute is 5.5 liters. The optimum breathing rate is about 5.5 breaths per minute. That’s 5.5-second inhales and 5.5-second exhales. This is the perfect breath."

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

"Your quality of sleep is closely related to how you breathe, both when you sleep and when you are awake."

- Anders Olsson

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: The amount of time it takes blood to circulate around your entire body.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy music.)

…

Question: What is one minute?*

(This fun fact came from James Nestor’s Breath.)

 
 

The Breathing 4.1.1. - The Best Breathing Class You Haven’t Heard Of

 

Hello, and Happy Monday! Welcome to another edition of The Breathing 4.1.1.

Thank you for reading this. Putting together the 411 emails each week is one of my favorite things to do, so I appreciate that you’re here reading it.

Now, on to the email. Below you’ll find 4 thoughts, 1 quote, and 1 answer (think "Jeopardy"). Enjoy!

 
 
 
 

4 THOUGHTS

1. Breath Practice versus Breath Training

Breath Practice: Time you spend every day performing breathing exercises that are comfortable and beneficial to you. Think of it as self-care. For me, this would include my 15 minutes of slow breathing first thing in the morning.

Breath Training: Time you spend deliberately pushing yourself to improve your breathing. For example, if you can comfortably box breathe with a 4-4-4-4 rate, you might spend some time at 5-5-5-5 rate as training.

Breath Training is always Breath Practice, but Breath Practice is not always Breath Training.

(This thought was inspired by pages 51-53 of Breathe to Perform.)

2. The Best Way to Make Your Breathing Practice Stick: Celebrate!

"Celebration will one day be ranked alongside mindfulness and gratitude as daily practices that contribute most to our overall happiness and well-being." BJ Fogg, Tiny Habits

Are you trying to make your breathing practice a habit? BJ Fogg, creator of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University, says that if he taught you his "Tiny Habits" approach, the first thing he would do is help you celebrate better.

If you spend 1 minute focused on your breath, celebrate it. If you already have a solid practice, try adding some celebration to the end.

I started doing this and love it. After my slow breathing session, I reward myself with a small celebration. After my breath holds, the same thing.

Is it cheesy? Kind of. Is it rooted in science from the leader in habit development at Stanford? Yes. Will anyone know? Nope. Give it a shot.

(See the P.S. below for a great example of celebrating the small stuff.)

3. The Best Breathing Class You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

That celebration idea came from Brian Johnson’s Optimize program (I adapted it for breathing, but it can be used in any aspect of life). If you’ve been following my work for a while, you probably know that Brian Johnson is one of my favorite teachers on the planet. Actually, he is my absolute favorite.

He has an "Optimal Breathing 101" course that is phenomenal. He combines research from all of the best books on breathing into a succinct and practical course. It’s awesome.

He also recently reviewed Breath: The New Science of A Lost Art. Again, phenomenal.

4. Why Are You "Breathing"?

"Don’t mistake the finger pointing to the moon for the moon itself." - Buddhist Saying

Let us not forget that "breathing" is only the finger.

 
 
 
 

1 QUOTE

The first "tiny habit" to build:

“Replace the habit of taking short shallow breaths into the top of the lungs with the practice of taking a full deep breath. Nearly all of the benefits begin with this one simple change.”

- Al Lee, Don Campbell, Perfect Breathing

 
 
 
 

1 ANSWER

Answer: This is the world record for the longest case of the hiccups.

…

(Cue the Jeopardy music.)

…

Question: What is 68 years?*

In good breath,
Nick

P.S. How To Celebrate.

* I found this on dozens of websites. However, I could not find an official record anywhere on Guinness (I even tried some "dorking"). So, I can’t be sure it’s 100% legitimate. But, it’s a fascinating story nonetheless!