Breathing Toolbox - Dr. Andrew Huberman

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Siavash ', modified 4 Years ago at 8/19/20 9:34 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/19/20 9:34 PM

Breathing Toolbox - Dr. Andrew Huberman

Posts: 1697 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
I extracted these breathing techniques from one of Dr. Andrew Huberman's interviews, to have them in one place to practice them, then I though it might be helpful for others too.
He refers to them as breathing toolbox, so that people can have tools to use when they need to calm down or regulate their alertness and focus. I'll put the link for that interview at the bottom, I highly recommend listening to it.

Breathing Toolbox

1.
Breathing with nose:
Allows you to remove carbon dioxide well, and a lot of people find that by restricting themeselves to nasal breathing unless they are eating or talking,
they can feel calmer and better.
It also can enhance learning and memory.

2.
When you are stressed, don't take a deep breath, that's the wrong thing to do. What you want to do when you are stressed, is to take a long exhale.
You want to get rid of carbon dioxide. A lot of the stress response is because of a failure to adequately regulate carbon dioxide.
In particular, do long nasal exhales.

3.
The opposite is true also. If you inhale more than you exhale, generally the tendency is for your level of alertness or autonomic arousal to go up.

4.
Box breathing.
Inhale Hold Exhale Hold, all with equal durations, from 2 to 5 seconds.
For example, inhale for 3 seconds, hold your breath for 3 seconds, exhale for 3 seconds, hold your breath for 3 seconds.
And repeat that. Do it any time you can for a few minutes, or while you're engaging in behavior, as long as you are not talking.
Box breathing tends to keep people in kind of a balanced ratio of oxygen and carbon dioxide, such that your alertness is there, your focus is there,
not particularly sleepy or particularly alert, kind of nice even plane of focus for doing work.

5.
Sighs.
Double Inhale then Exhale. Meaning, Inhale, then inhale again, then exhale with your nose or mouth and empty out the air.
Do it a few times or more.
To calm the mind and body, like a sigh when you are in bed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVzvpo1aw4k
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SushiK, modified 4 Years ago at 8/20/20 12:47 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/20/20 12:47 AM

RE: Breathing Toolbox - Dr. Andrew Huberman

Posts: 161 Join Date: 6/11/20 Recent Posts
Thanks for the sharing Siavash.

I always have a moment during my sit where I will involuntarily double inhale once.
I think 5 is a full inhale and then inhale again a few more, mine is more like two very quick inhales.
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Siavash ', modified 4 Years ago at 8/20/20 9:12 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/20/20 9:12 AM

RE: Breathing Toolbox - Dr. Andrew Huberman

Posts: 1697 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
I think 5 is a full inhale and then inhale again a few more, mine is more like two very quick inhales.

You can watch his other interviews, because he often mentions that double inhale, but he doesn't say take a full inhale, he says double inhale, and when he shows how to do that, they are normal relatively quick inhales follows by an exhale.

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Siavash ', modified 4 Years ago at 8/26/20 10:27 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/26/20 10:27 AM

RE: Breathing Toolbox - Dr. Andrew Huberman

Posts: 1697 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
Hello again Sushi,

In some of his interviews, Andrew doesn't give specific details about this "Proper Sigh", but I was listening to another one, which he described it like this:

A longer inhale through the nose, then a shorter inhale through the nose (just a little bit more air), then a long exhale through the mouth. And doing it 1-3 times.
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SushiK, modified 4 Years ago at 8/26/20 10:02 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/26/20 10:02 PM

RE: Breathing Toolbox - Dr. Andrew Huberman

Posts: 161 Join Date: 6/11/20 Recent Posts
Thanks.

Yes that the one I learned during a yoga session.
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Siavash ', modified 4 Years ago at 8/27/20 10:55 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/23/20 5:48 AM

RE: Breathing Toolbox - Dr. Andrew Huberman

Posts: 1697 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
And these are some of Dr. Huberman's suggestion about vision, and how to regulate light in order to improve mental health:

1.
Get sunlight, 2 to 10 minutes or 10 to 20 minutes in a cloudy day, first hour in the morning after waking up, ideally before looking at any screen. It doesn't have the same effect if it's in the afternoon.

2.
At least 3 times a day have panoramic vision. Look at the horizon and far distances and alike.

3.
Have optic flow, by walking, hiking, biking and etc. What is important, is side to side eye movements and visual movements, not up and down.

You can combine all three by taking a walk in the morning in the sunlight. Don't look directly at the Sun. Your eyes should get that light, it's not about your skin, so no dark glasses.

4.
A little bit of sunlight in the evening before and during the sunset, can offset the negative effects of light in the middle of the night.
And that effect is quite long.
Caution: Don't look directly at any bright light that is painful.

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