Failure is okay, and breathe through your nose.
Hi Folks! Connor and Nick here from Healthy Living With Nick and Connor. Thanks again for being on our email list, it means a lot, and we are excited to share our weekly email with you. We hope you enjoy it! Here is what we hope you take away from this one:
Learn to think about how you fail to give you a better shot at succeeding.
Breathe Through Your Nose Baby!
Focus on making changes in your life that you enjoy.
Starter Mindset Tip: It is time to stop avoiding failure, and start thinking about it.
Thinking about how you succeed is great, but thinking about how you will fail is even more important. Determine how and why you fail, why you give in, why you lose control. When we think about these things, we can formulate plans to avoid them. We aren’t telling you that this will eliminate failures. Failures will happen, and that is okay. What we are saying is that you will become more aware of how your failures happen, and this awareness will allow you to put systems in place to avoid these failures in the first place. You are not alone, we all fail, that is inevitable. Start thinking about how and why you fail in the first place. This will bring you one step closer to being better at implementing new habits and stopping others.
Health Recipe: Breathe Through Your Nose
Timing: No extra time needed
Level of Difficulty: Easy–hard
Serving Size: A little every day will make a big difference
Spice Level: Depends on how long it’s been since your nose was in action!
INGREDIENTS
Just you and your nose
REASONING AND BENEFITS
The old adage use it or lose it applies to many things, including your nose. If you have have stopped using your nose to breath, then the airway will shrink, the muscles will atrophy, and it will be sitting on your face just twiddling its thumbs. Thankfully, your body is incredible, once you start using your nose again, your body will pick it up quickly and reawaken all of the sleeping muscles that haven’t been used while mouth breathing. Your mouth is a backup airway system. When your nose is obstructed, or you are working really hard, don’t worry – your mouth is still there to help your nose out! Breathing through your nose has so many benefits for your body. Let’s talk about some of the heavy hitters.
Your nose will sterilize the air by removing germs, allergens, and bacteria (McKeown, 2015, p. 56).
Your airway will grow and stay wider because the tissues and muscles at the back of your throat will get stronger (Nestor, 2020, p. 27).
Your nose will limit the volume of air coming into the lungs, which will allow your body to take in more of that much needed oxygen. (McKeown, 2015, p. 190).
Your nose will humidify the incoming air, stopping dry mouth and keeping more water in the body (Kahn & Ehrlich, 2018, p. 101).
Nitric oxide will be brought in, opening your airways and blood vessels (McKeown, 2015, p. 82).
INSTRUCTIONS
Try this out when you are working at your desk or watching TV at night. The more you breathe through your nose, the faster your body will get used to it and awaken the proper pathways for your body to use the incoming oxygen and outgoing carbon dioxide.
Close your mouth to take away the common reflex to breathe through your mouth.
Breathe through your nose
Notice the air entering your body and going down into your stomach.
Once comfortable, incorporate nose breathing into a walk. Try a morning walk to catch some early morning sun paired with some morning movement to set you up for the day.
PRO TIP: Not only will breathing through your nose be great for your body, but you will also become more aware of your breathing throughout the day. Being more aware of your breath may be the most important aspect of developing healthier breathing habits.
* Take moments throughout the day to focus on nasal breathing until you get used to the feeling.
** Don’t get discouraged; your airways will eventually open up with practice, and it will get easier!
*** Try to breathe right into your lower stomach when focusing on your nasal breathing.
Dessert Quote:
“We tend to place a lot of emphasis on our circumstances, assuming that what happens to us (or fails to happen) determines how we feel… Our brains instead construct our worldview based on what we pay attention to…Who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love—is the sum of what you focus on.” - Cal Newport, Deep Work
Sources:
Nestor, J. (2020). Breath: The new science of a lost art. Penguin.
Newport, C. (2016). Deep work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. Hachette UK
McKeown, P. (2015). The Oxygen Advantage: The simple, scientifically proven breathing technique that will revolutionise your health and fitness. Hachette UK.
Kahn, S., & Ehrlich, P. R. (2018). Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic. Stanford University Press.
