Whilst most of this series has been about the ability to carry oxygen past the lungs and into cells sufficiently, breath work is where what you already knew and what you have picked up in this series, meet.
This is actually about different techniques of consciously putting air into your lungs
Last year I heard a diver explain that when you hold your breath, the overwhelming desire to breathe comes not from a lack of oxygen, but from the resulting build up of carbon dioxide (CO2)
This I found really interesting, because it meant if I were to be using techniques that improve cellular respiration, in theory my oxygen levels in my body would be effected much later on by the imbalance of CO2 than others, after taking my last breath. It also made me wonder whether this could be the acid test for health, rather than a fitness test and helped me start to join dots on health, breathing and the subsequent fitness
My research tells me ketones, fat adapted people, cold water exposure, cold thermogenesis, deep breathing (hyperventilating) all increase oxygen levels in the blood and cells, whilst (as I understand it) increasing our negative charge. This again, pricked my ear
I've not done as much research as I've planned to on the mere 'inhalation' side of breathing, but instead I've been joining dots I've already got, and doing a few experiments on myself.
One test I did that I found to be pretty significant, was I was able to hold my breath for about 1:30 before I did 7 minutes in a cold tank at about 12c After the 7 minutes I was able to hold my breath for almost 4 minutes.
Worth noting this 7 minutes also raised my blood ketone levels from 0.1-0.9
Dominic D'Agastino's work is fairly well documented in Florida university.
He was asked to investigate how a ketogenic diet might effect the navy seals that were wearing the type of 're-breathorators' that caused the seals to have seizures. The problem with the equipment was that they were breathing in the carbon dioxide that they had just breathed out so that the out breathe didn't produce any bubbles that enemies might be able to detect. An occupational hazard to say the least
D'Agastino put these seals in a state of ketosis (meaning their blood ketone levels measured above 2.00mmol) and recorded some interesting results that indicated ketones had severely mitigated the problem and the seizures.
(Seizures were down by half from memory, please feel free to correct me, I'm doing zero research for this series, it's all from memory from a interview from 3 years ago I heard on a podcast)
D'Agastino explained that the result was caused by the oxygen efficiency of the ketone bodies within the blood. They were able to deliver oxygen to the brain with much more efficiency. Ketones are also able to break the shield that protects the brain and then fuel the brains, this is known as the blood brain barrier.
With this knowledge D'Agastino turned his attention to the cancer cells and how they breath. He believed that cancer cells ferment (create energy anerobically without oxygen) with the use of sugar and glucose
He also believed that cancer was predominately feeding on the excess glucose in the blood, which of course would aid fermentation and mean less ketones, less oxygen, less cellular respiration and so on.
To be fair when you look at the functionality of a PET scan (the scan used by oncologist to check whether you have any secondary cancer after the initial cancer diagnosis) and understand that this particular scan is simply picking up where there is excess glucose consumption in your body to indicate cancerous cells, you would probably agree D'Agastino was into something and had good reason for his research.
This post is about breathing and not ketones, but as much as I like what D'Agastino has done, I'm not a fan of some of the supplements he endorses, it's a shame because he strikes me as being one of the good guys
So does that mean that the longer you can hold your breath the less chance you have of having or getting cancer?
Well, at this stage I think there are too many variables to answer that question, although it's something I'm very much interested in and plan on doing more breath work through meditation, visualisation, TM, CT etc etc as I am convinced there are benefits.
I would also highlight that when you get out of breath easily, it's usually a sign something is wrong, so there seems to be some sort of pattern emerging above and beyond the mere 'breath taking' element of cellular respiration
One of the breathing techniques that have been publicised recently is the Wim Hof method. Essentially this method is similar to something we used to do as kids before football (soccer) matches You are essentially using super deep breathing to ope
n up your lungs, increase your bodies oxygen reserves and negative charge. Like giving yourself an oxygen head start. If you imagine your heart and lungs respond to oxygen demand when you start to exercise. As you start to run the need for oxygen is increased so the lungs try to gather more oxygen by breathing deeper and faster, and the heart pumps faster in order to push the increased oxygenated blood around to the parts of the body working the hardest. Just like how when you turn your hot water in the kitchen, or the radiator calls for hot water the boiler responds by igniting, and then hot water is pumped to the tap and radiator Think of hot water and oxygen as one and the same while the radiator and hot tap are like your muscles, tendons, and organs
If you begin this process of deep breathing before you start exercising, then it's almost like you give yourself a head start, making your boiler come on half an hour before you need it This has a profound effect on fatigue and lactic acid, lactic acid being the by product of fermenting glucose in the muscles rather than oxygen. This is why athletes that are fat adapted and can use both glucose and ketones almost have 2 fuel tanks, and fat is much more efficient than sugar, it's the slow burner.
When we were kids playing at Leyton orient we used to get told to go for a recovery run, after games. To be fair it worked well Whilst I now understand what was going on, I would have told kids to do it first thing in the morning 'fasted' before breakfast The reason for this is when there are depleted glycogen levels in the body, the liver will call for fatty acids to consume and turn into fuel. If you have stacks of lactic acids in your Muscles this would in theory get used up first, thus reducing fatigue and pain. You would be using the very thing that is causing you pain and discomfort as fuel
So the theory of a recovery run still stands, but would be much more effective early morning fasted. So there is no 'new calories' to burn. You'd be burning the by product of the old, inefficient energy you fermented
Similarly my masseuse told me I'd never been so supple and asked what I had been doing, the only change was a I was 3 days into a 4 day fast. Seems to me like fasting and burning fat gets rid of all the bad stuff first, and that process is massively up regulated by breathing work. What's so interesting, because it means breath work represents a great starting point for anyone that wants to get healthier, and has a boat load of excuses in their locker - as Wim Hof might say 'just breath mother focker'
Going back to the breathing techniques, I think it's important that as I write this series, it's obvious that I'm exploring all these opportunities and reasoning, rather than enforcing what I think I 'know' on others. everyone is on their own journey, and sometimes people 'teaching' have a tendency to come across as 'all knowing' - I hope to project that all the way through, but especially the breath work and meditation area, most readers will likely Know as much of me, and some I hope to learn from. The reason I've took the liberty of highlighting it in this series is because I believe I understand how it links in, why and how it's relevant. Forgive me if I've butchered it
I do however think there are some cheats in this area, singing being the main one. Actively concentrating on the sound of your voice, whilst trying to emulate the sounds you know, combined with taking as deep a breath as possible for each line is essentially the same as meditation with open eyes... ok, you might still look silly driving along singing like Pavarotti, but you don't care do you? Which takes us nicely onto #9b meditation and visualisation
For me, it's the being conscious that counts, being intentional and making an effort to improve. So I might come back to this and write a part II, but I wanted people that are heavy into this area to know that I respect it and feel it's a valid part of health, whilst hopefully not taking any offence
Look forward to exploring this more with everyone involved