Breathwork!

Today, we are going to talk about breathing! Are you excited? 

It is much more impactful to your life than you even realize.  

Number one, you do it twenty THOUSAND times per day.  There is a very specific, biochemical reason why we breathe. It deals with your mitochondria. Remember those pesky little things that we talked about during the grounding discussion?  Mitochondria convert fuel (in the form of carbohydrates or fatty acids) and oxygen to produce Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) into energy to run your body.  Everyone knows that if you don’t get enough oxygen, you die. The REASON you die is because your mitochondria cannot make fuel without oxygen. Simple enough? Actually, no, it is NOT simple at all.  It is an absolutely amazing chemical and electrical process without which, we are not alive. As I have said before, if you want to see a miracle, look in the mirror!  

So, do some minor, mental gymnastics with me.  If you don’t get enough oxygen, it has immediate, profound, life altering effects on your life and health. Therefore, would you think that increasing the amount of oxygen in your body could also have immediate, profound, life altering effects on your life and health?  I was kidding about the mental gymnastics thing.  I am just going to give you the answer. YES, YES, YES! 

Most of us walk around, just breathing. If we exercise, the breathing increases.  If we are frightened, the breathing increases. If the womenfolk (and some of the menfolk) see Rip beat somebody up on Yellowstone, our breathing increases. But, overall, most of us stay in the ballpark of 20,000 breaths per day.  When we don’t breathe deeply, carbon dioxide (A waste product of the whole mitochondria thing) builds up in the bases of our lungs.  It just sits there and becomes all “Acid-y”. Bodies don’t like acid.  

Here is another crazy thing that will make you say whhhhhhhaaaaat? in your most skeptical voice. Nose breathing… Yeah, that’s right.  Breathing alone isn’t enough. You need to breathe through your nose (I will explain that part shortly). 

Many studies have shown there are a great number of benefits to regular, daily, deep breathing exercises. This is all based on science, I promise!  

Deep breathing has been shown to help reduce stress and anxiety. In today’s “Fast Car” world, we are constantly faced with stressful situations from bills to traffic, to family matters to the fact that Rip makes my wife’s breathing increase! All these stressors stimulate our Sympathetic Nervous System. That is that whole “Fight or flight” thing.  It causes a release of epinephrine (Adrenaline), nor-epinephrin and acetylcholine.  These chemicals get us ready to fight Rip or run from Rip. Either way, your heart rate increases, your blood pressure increases, your pupils dilate, and you are ready for action.  The problem is that your cave-man body cannot tell the difference between being chased by Rip or having an overdue phone bill. The act of slow, deep breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which counteracts all that nastiness that the sympathetic system creates. It reduces the heart rate and relaxes the blood vessels which allows the blood pressure to decrease.  Think of it as God’s “Be cool biscuit”. 

Breath work also helps to increase your energy level.  Remember that whole, mitochondria thing I talked about a few paragraphs back? 

Yeah, that.  

Breath work can also boost your immunity.  This is the point at which some of you will be saying “Come oooooon! This is snake oil!”.  Stay with me! 

The organ in your body that has the most exposure to the environment is your lungs.  Everything with which you come in contact can enter your lungs. Bacteria, dust, toxins, your dog’s hair. The off gassing of that polyester tracksuit that your neighbor, the drug dealer, is wearing… it all enters your lungs. If you took the entirety of your lungs’ inner surface area and laid it out, it is approximately the size of a pickleball court!  That’s a LOT of surface area, meaning a lot of blood flow, meaning a lot of availability for crud to enter your body. When you breathe deeply, it changes the pH of the mucous inside your lungs, this does a great job of killing renegade bacteria and viruses that may sneak in.  

Now, let's talk about the “Breathe through your nose” malarky.   When you breathe through your nose the air comes in contact with the mucous membranes inside your nasal passages (Obviously).  The increased oxygen causes said mucous membranes to release nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a smooth muscle relaxer.  Guess what the inner pathways of your lungs are made of.  You guessed it, smooth muscle.  This muscle relaxation causes the pathways to dilate (open up and get bigger) which allows more oxygen (and nitric oxide) to be absorbed into your blood stream which feeds those pesky mitochondria and increases your energy production!  Also… the nitric oxide does the same thing to your blood vessels that it does to your lung tissue. It relaxes them.  When the smooth muscle on the inside of your arteries dilates then your blood pressure decreases. So, yes, deep breathing can reduce stress, reduce blood pressure, increase energy and just make you an all-around wonderful person.  

Sooooooo whatarewegonnadoaboutit?  

If you are following the practices of the modern caveman as espoused by Hank, you are already sitting outside with your bare feet on the ground.  Little electrons are bouncing around, getting rid of inflammation. Since you are sitting there anyway, inhale through your nose as deeply as you can. Push your stomach out which allows your diaphragm to contract, which pulls air into your lungs like a bellows. This increases your lung volume massively. When you exhale, force all the air out of your lungs. That is the basis of breath work.  Now do this: Breathe in 30 times as deeply as you can. It doesn’t need to be fast, just deep. On the 30th exhalation, hold your breath for as long as you can. Don’t pass out but make yourself uncomfortable. This depletes the oxygen and increases the carbon dioxide (The waste product of respiration) in your bloodstream. As a result, the next cycle of deep breaths will pack even more oxygen into your blood and send even more oxygen to your mitochondria. Now, do all of that again.  Complete a total of 3 cycles of deep breathing with 2 episodes of breath holding in between.  This will take 7 to 10 minutes in total.   

If you get really into this, there are many different deep breathing techniques. Look them up on YouTube.  

I promise you that if you make this a part of your daily routine, you will feel the benefits.  So go ground and breathe! 

Next week we will talk about cold exposure.  THAT will be a good time!   

Until then, Stay strong! 

Hank