Breathing - Part 2
In a single breath, trillions of air molecules pass through your nose—more than all the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches. They twist and spool, directed by the turbinates, pushed along by millions of cilia. Together, the different areas of the turbinates heat, clean, slow, and pressurize air so that the lungs can extract more oxygen with each breath. That’s one of the reasons that nose breathing is so much better for us. Inhaling through the nose also forces air against all the flabby tissues at the back of the throat, making the airway wider and breathing easier. Inhaling through the mouth, on the other hand, decreases pressure, and results in the soft tissues flexing inward, creating less space and making breathing more difficult.
And although we can also breathe through our mouths (having another route provides a survival advantage), nasal breathing is much better for our health and more efficient than breathing through the mouth.
The lungs also happen to be the weight-regulating system of the body (who knew!).
We don’t primarily lose weight through sweating or “burning it off.” We lose weight through exhaling. For every 10 lbs. of fat lost, 8 1⁄2 of them come out through the lungs as carbon dioxide mixed with water vapor.
While breathing is automatic, it is also an easily accessible voluntary behavior. Moving from “typical” American breathing (12-18 breaths/minute) to slow breathing (5-7 breaths/minute) changes our physiology. Lungs absorb only about a quarter of the available oxygen in the air when breathing is at the typical rate. With slower breathing, our lungs soak up more oxygen in fewer breaths. And by bringing attention to the breath, altering its type, rate and ratio, we engage the neural pathways that influence heart rate and messages sent to the brain, and affect our emotional state.
Generally, slower breathing, prolonged exhalation, and resistance breathing increase parasympathetic activity. Matching inhalation and exhalation maintains autonomic balance, while rapid breathing, irregular breathing, and sharp inhalation or exhalation increase sympathetic activity.
Slow, deep breathing can inhibit distress; it lessens symptoms of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic response. Resistance breathing uses a slight contraction of the larynx and glottis to add resistance to exhalation. In yoga practice, this is called Ujjayi breath, and the resulting reduction in airflow during exhalation increases vagal activity, bringing a sense of calm, alertness and attentiveness. Exhalation during Ujjayi breathing sounds like waves crashing on the shore (or like Darth Vader).
Fundamentally, all matter is energy. It is the level of energy, or the “excitability” of electrons within the atoms that make up the molecules in matter, that distinguishes inanimate objects (like rocks) from leaves and birds and bees. The more oxygen consumed, the more electron excitability gained, and the more animated something (or someone) becomes. The best way to keep tissues in our body healthy is to provide them a constant presence of oxygen, a strong electron acceptor.
Breathing slowly (5.5 sec inhalation, 5.5 sec exhalation), less (5.5 breaths/minute) and through the nose balances the levels of respiratory gases in the body and sends the maximum amount of oxygen to the maximum amount of tissues so that our cells have the maximum amount of electron reactivity.
From Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor.
The information for these entries on breath come largely from this book. After two decades of data from 5,200 subjects in the Framingham study, the greatest indicator of lifespan wasn’t genetics or diet. Larger lungs = longer lives. If that data nugget motivates you to increase your lung capacity, moderate exercise like walking or cycling can boost lung size up to 15%.
So, there you have it in a nutshell. The key to a vibrant and long life is breathing well.
Many modern maladies (asthma, anxiety, ADHD, and more) could be reduced or reversed simply by changing the way we inhale and exhale. And every one of us (and every one of our patients) has the power to change our breathing patterns.