Did you know your nose has a super power?
Your nasal tissue makes nitric oxide!
Nitric oxide is a natural antimicrobial agent as well as a dilator of blood vessels!
That means it can help you ward off invaders as well as promote circulation and reduce blood pressure.
Nose breathing is key to make nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide works with carbon dioxide to facilitate delivery of blood and oxygen to your cells…
…and it boosts your circulation of nutrients and oxygen.
Levels of nitric oxide decline with age…
…I can’t help but wonder if that’s due to less nasal breathing?
A while back I was doing saliva testing of nitric oxide in my office.
Almost everyone was deficient in nitric oxide!
I started using nitric oxide supplements in my athletic patients as well as some who had cardiovascular conditions.
They all reported improvement.
Back then I didn’t know that I could help people more effectively and sustainably by teaching them to breathe through their nose!
The longer I’ve been in practice the more I realize the importance of optimizing circulation because you can tie almost every sign of aging back to circulation!
Signs your circulation is compromised…
- fatigue
- gut issues
- cellulite
- hormone imbalances
- thyroid conditions
- cold hands and feet
- loss of hair, muscle and bone
- fine lines and wrinkles
- aches and pains
- poor mobility
I could go on and on!
Anything that disrupts your ability to breathe through your nose has the potential to reduce circulation and cause chronic illness!
And it doesn’t take a long time to cause symptoms!
Author James Nestor describes the effect of a few weeks as a mouth breather in his book Breath.
Did you know nasal polyps are connected sexual dysfunction?
Less air flow in the nose = less nitric oxide down below.
Mouth breathing and taking short breaths can lead to frequent upper respiratory infections!
Stuffed inflamed noses from allergies, chronic mold or yeast infections in the sinuses cause chronic fatigue!
Mouth breathing reduces your longevity by messing with your ability to get oxygen and nutrients throughout your body!
Chronic pain, fatigue and disease is a lack of oxygen and nutrients getting to the cells.
When you aren’t getting these vital elements to your cells you have the potential for increased anxiety and fatigue on top of the risk for illness.
This is why you want to master these 4 keys of healthy breathing…
- Light breathing – so no one can hear or you can feel yourself breathing
- Slow breathing – take your time and let that “shiitake” go with each breath (this doesn’t mean a deep breath).
- Nasal breathing – in and out of the nose only
- Diaphragmatic (not chest breathing) – using your diaphragm
The more carbon dioxide you can allow to build in your blood the better you can stimulate that body’s use of oxygen.
Practicing the 4 techniques above promote a higher tolerance of carbon dioxide in the blood.
Less carbon dioxide tolerance = decreased ability to hold your breath.
More carbon dioxide tolerance = increased ability to hold your breath.
Let me summarize…
Low carbon dioxide tolerance leads to stress, fatigue, anxiety and chronic illness.
High carbon dioxide tolerance = energetic, calm and no illness.
Low carbon dioxide tolerance in the brain is the main cause of anxiety.
Low carbon dioxide tolerance keeps you stuck in fight or flight, stress mode!
There’s a trick to get into a chill state.
Animals in the wild do it all the time!
Chances are you’ve seen a lion in the zoo take a long sigh!
Physiological sighs helps you to get into parasympathetic state.
Try 2-3 big yawns with a sigh a day and a few more at night.
Research has shown – 10-15 physiological sighs help with sleep.
But wait there’s more!
There’s a breathing trick to practice when you’re anxious or stressed.
Start by taking a big slow full nasal inhale.
Then take an exaggerated quick inhale on top of the big slow inhale.
Then a long slow exhale.
The second quick inhale gets more of those little air sacs in the lungs open to get access to the stored CO2.
This rapidly reduces stress and anxiety in the brain.
Try it out to quickly reduce anxiety in the brain.
Do this between interval sets of weight lifting, sprints or HIIT workouts.
Or…do this before bed and if you wake up in the middle of the night.
Huberman Lab at Stanford, found this breathing technique to be beneficial when practiced daily for 5 minutes!
Who doesn’t have 5 minutes a day to improve circulation, boost energy and reduce anxiety?
Plus it helps with overall longevity as the better your circulation the better your metabolism.
And all this without medications, supplements or a special diet!
The longer I’m a doc I have to say less is more when it comes to your health!
Breathing is truly one of the main things, along with working on your thought process that will help you strengthen your ability to get into parasympathetic chill mode more often.
A few weeks ago I mentioned the BeSerene capsules and cream that can help as well BUT what if you could do it for FREE?!
Now that’s what I’m talking about!
Working on the mind and the breathing help strengthen your parasympathetic nervous system to shut down the fight or flight response when there isn’t a threat.
The more time you spend in chill mode feeling safe, relaxed and calm the less anxiety, fatigue and hormone imbalance symptoms you’ll experience.
Breathing and mindset are still quite understated for your overall health.
And they are being overshadowed by the next greatest miracle supplement or device.
I’m not saying there aren’t supplements or devices like the FocusCalm that won’t help.
Learning to control your emotions and response to stress by adjusting thought and breath is crucial to ending the cycle of anxiety, trauma responses, hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia and more!
If you’re noticing you’re aging faster than you’d ever imagined it’s time to practice the techniques I mentioned today.
After all, it’s only 5 minutes a day!
I find it so crucial that I’m teaching it to the women in my Defy Aging group.
Open to learning more about the group?
Click HERE to book a complimentary chat with me or hit reply and ask questions.
Tomorrow, Thursday (May 4th) – I’m going to talk about how I review hormone labs and optimize hormones with coach Jen Vigil – click HERE to go her Instagram Page & click the link in her bio to register!
Don’t worry if you can’t make the 10a PST time of the talk – register to access the replay!
On Friday I’ll be talking about another breathing technique that mimics high altitude training to boost your carbon dioxide tolerance and energy levels.
You don’t have to be a fitness buff to have success with this one!
Stay tuned!
Here’s to your health,
Dr. J
