Breath Work
Let me count the ways ...
Over the past few decades, the popular zeitgeist embraced the concept of ‘breathing’ in response to all things anxiety-producing. Now it is pervasive across cultures as the first attempt in calming.
Dr. Herbert Benson may be credited with spreading the word on the relaxation response. It is meant to counter the stress (or “fight or flight” survival mechanism) response that was first described by Dr. Walter B. Cannon in the 1920s. When faced with life-threatening situations, a surge of stress hormones prepares us to fight or to flee. As a result, our hearts pound, our muscles tense, and we are suddenly on high alert. But if you close your eyes, focus on a single word or phrase, and deep abdominal breathe for 10 minutes, your body switches to the relaxation response to counter it.
We can consciously control our breathing. We breathe in by contracting and flattening the diaphragm and by contracting the small muscles connecting our ribs. These actions increase the volume of the chest and lungs, and air rushes in. When we relax the same muscles, air is pushed out. When we are at rest, we may breathe at the rate of 10 cycles per minute. When we are exercising or anxious, the rate may double. Slowing our rate of breathing is relaxing.
Vagus Cranial Nerve (X)
So how does ‘just breathing’ elicit this profound effect on our psyche? Evidence points to the Vagus cranial nerve that carries sensory fibers up to the brain’s limbic system, creating a pathway interfacing with the parasympathetic control of the heart, lungs, and digestive tract.
More can be read at past newsletter:
Yoga
Controlling, monitoring, and slowing the breath is a core element of yoga and meditation. The mantra: Follow the breath
Yoga practices control of breath using a technique called Alternate Nostril Breathing:
When combined with poses and asanas, the autonomic system is tamed.
For an example, here is Sun Salutation:
Wim Hof Method
In an earlier newsletter I shared the info on combining breathing exercises and plunges into cold water.
Those using these breathing techniques (cyclic hyperventilation followed by breath retention) experienced intermittent respiratory alkalosis and hypoxia resulting in spikes in plasma epinephrine. Regular practice leads to cold tolerance and ability to extend breath holding. Effects on mood are invigorating, and as well, overall health and well being.
“I soon learned that if I breathed deeply, I no longer felt the instinctive urge to gasp each time I immersed myself. The deep breathing made my body tingle and it felt amazing. I was only 17 but I felt so alive and excited and I’ve kept doing it ever since, each day, for the past 46 years!” - Wim Hoff, BBC One
Breathe ... just breathe!
REFERENCES
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/using-the-relaxation-response-to-reduce-stress-20101110780
The Wim Hoff Method uses a HYPERBARIC breathing technique not hyperventilation.
The WHM sustained and increased pressure aids the lung physiology to rehydrate the RBCs in the alveoli sac capillary beds. This allows a novice to hold their breath with EASE for 2.5 minutes.
The chronic ANXIETY and stress focus has arisen from chronic dehydration and the lifesaving chronic emergency response from the adrenals.
The monkey on your back is a reference to your adrenals.
Adrenals change the role of the kidneys to work harder and scavenge for salt to prevent death from hyponatremia/dehydration.
The adrenals increase production of all their hormones in response to an emergency status not just aldosterone because hyponatremia will KILL.
Solution for chronic anxiety: give your adrenals a break so they can readjust themselves and slip back into their booster mode for FACE THE TIGER situations.
Add salt
and let your kidneys excrete salt as they are designed to do.
Always remember:
HYDRATION = Salt+Water
Reading homework:
We breathe air not oxygen
👉 Jane333.Substack.com
This is important because lung physiology needs correcting and you can help. Everyone who reads and comprehends the role of the lungs is rehydration moves society toward optimal health.
And
Dr James Dinicolantonio’s book: The Salt Fix
James is a cardiac researcher and he saw salt has been intentionally demonised to our detriment.
Oran Goral et al,
Enhancing interoceptive sensibility through exteroceptive–interoceptive sensory substitution, Scientific Reports (2024).
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-63231-4