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BREATH This book will change your life (100%, "overnight")
Tim - Well let’s just agree to disagree then. We are obviously not going to agree on this. I think you are rude. You think I’m rude. Let’s just leave it.
Dr Smith’s programme is an ever evolving programme. I think the material you are looking at is very out of date. His Mighty Network is where his current work resides. I don’t agree with him on everything (obviously no one agrees on everything) but I think he makes an invaluable contribution to the vitamin A toxicity discussion. He is treating & testing large numbers of people for vA toxicity. Who else is doing this?
@are Thank you for the feedback. I have never heard of anyone reporting about that before so don't really know why it happens but you are absolutely right - you should always "listen to your body" so the only valuable advice I guess is that if it doesn't feel right don't force. Maybe at this point you should try Wim Hof instead. Start slowly with 1-2 series of the breathing then a cold shower (start with warm water then finish with the cold if it is too agressive to start with cold directly). Never overdo; if you don't have very positive results after 3-4 days or feel worse then you should definitely look for the solution elsewhere.
By the way, do you have overall improvements when "at rest"? Do you feel more energy, easing of symptoms, better sleep, etc.? Is it only when you make an effort that this happens and the rest of the time everything goes much better or do you see basically no difference? If that's the case then something must be wrong - I've witnessed something similar from someone who tried Buteyko with various problems (it just didn't match anything I've seen or heard before) - after some testing it was a calcium deficiency - once corrected the problems vanished with many other symptoms and the person resumed Buteyko with no further trouble.
Because I haven't had a foot cramp since I started breathing better (final count, I made it 6 days and then had a cramp during a nightmare see post down the thread) I've been wanting to bump this thread and I ran into this interview with the author of the book in Dino's original post. Perhaps the video can help revive interest in breath.
I wonder if the moderators should add the word "breath" to the original title.
Anyways, I haven't watched the whole video because I'm trying to blast through the book which I just received. So far I find the book engaging in the same way that "The Omnivore's Dilemma" was engaging (exciting non-fiction?), it also has themes similar to Weston Price's "Nutrition and Physical Dengeneration" (why has facial development gone south in modern times?). There are lots of subjects mentioned in the book that are important to many here, such as blood pressure, libido, diabetes, circulation, sleep, skeletal. The point is: breath affects everything. I haven't seen any mention of vitamin A yet, but of course I wonder if that might be an integral part of the "why are we in this predicament" that he hasn't realized yet.
VA reduction and better breathing, together, might truly be as important as Dino was trying to get across with his title.
I don't think you have to see Nestor as a guru in any way, he has just collected (and experimented on himself with) the work of many breath experts (which he calls "pulmonauts") and put it into an engaging book. I started feeling better after trying one tiny two-minute snippet of a breathing method from a video by a different person, Dr. Ekberg. One of the points of the book is: this isn't new technology. This is basic how-to-human. In some cases it is advanced how-to-human.
A clip from the book which talks about the delicate balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide (co2 being a subject that caused a lot of angst in this thread earlier, it IS a bit hard to overcome, but I'm starting to understand that it is a yin/yang thing-- the 02 vs c02 balance)
My foot cramps are definitely triggered by cold, but people all over the world get cold feet without getting Raynauds (white bloodless patches) or ending up with an excruciating cramp.
Besides the instant warming of the feet and hands that result from better breathing, (for me, I was breathing fast and shallow) there is probably also a component of electrolyte issues, a quote from the book:
CLIP "When we breathe too much, we expel too much carbon dioxide, and our blood pH rises to become more alkaline; when we breathe slower and hold in more carbon dioxide, pH lowers and blood becomes more acidic. Almost all cellular functions in the body take place at a blood pH of 7.4, our sweet spot between alkaline and acid.
The kidneys, for instance, will respond to over breathing by "buffering," a process in which an alkaline compound called bicarbonate is released into the urine. With less bicarbonate in the blood, the PH lowers back to normal, even if we continue to huff and puff. It's as if nothing ever happened.
The problem with buffering is it is meant as a temporary fix, not a permanent solution. Weeks, months or years of over breathing, and this constant kidney (renal) buffering will deplete the body of essential minerals. This occurs because as bicarbonate leaves the body, it takes magnesium, phosphorus potassium and more with it. Without healthy stores of these minerals, nothing works right: nerves malfunction, smooth muscles spasm, and cells can't efficiently create energy. Breathing becomes even more difficult. ...
Constant buffering also weakens the bones which try to compensate by dissolving their mineral stores back into the bloodstream...
...not all respiratory illness sufferers and other sick people have a carbon dioxide deficiency problem. Those with emphysema, for instance, may have dangerously high levels...." END CLIP
So, I looked up what muscles are smooth muscles and that includes the muscles in blood vessels. Voila, there you have Raynauds. Now it doesn't mention regular skeletal muscles but, hey! if my blood vessel muscles are constricting in my feet because of wrong electrolytes, then I suppose my skeletal foot muscles have gotten in on the act too.
Extra little bit of info: recently when hubs was in the hospital I put the oxygen-monitoring finger probe on me. My oxygen levels were very high, higher than his. I guess he was always right: I am an air head.
@lil-chick there was good thread on Ray Peat forum exactly about this. Now most people are somewhat acidic and the body has to deal with it 24/7. It is due to acidic diet and life style. So junk foods low in alkaline minerals the major ones potassium, calcium, magnesium.. Chloride in salt(sodium chloride) is acidic. That's why I stopped taking magnesium chloride and potassium chloride and I take citrate forms instead. The body makes bicarbonate from citrates.. Also eating a lot of sugars while doing nothing is making you acidic as well. We need to have good posture(deep breathing into our belly) and we need to move our body(breath all that excess of CO2 that is created by eating carbs..) I feel like complete dog shit when I just sit on my ass all day and eat a lot of carbs/sugars.. But if I go for a bike ride for 1 hour for example I feel much better, because I am no longer that acidic in tissues(blood pH can't change much..)
Here is that thread on Ray Peat forum I was talking about https://lowtoxinforum.com/threads/the-lower-your-cortisol-levels-the-younger-you-look.16901/
Hi Jiri! Yes, not eating junk and exercising is good. But you are forgetting that the reason that I'm posting this is because better-breathing has caused a breakthrough for me.
My foot cramps were starting to be several a night. And now they are zero!
I can't tell you what a relief it is! And it happened overnight! Dino was right! The fix happened literally 100% overnight.
And don't forget, according to these old/new ideas about breathing: Carbon Dioxide isn't the enemy! You don't want too much (say, like an emphysema patient) and you don't want too little (over breathing like I was doing).
I didn't want the answer to be breathing. I din't think the answer could be breathing. The only way a person will know if breathing better will help them... is if they try it. No amount of logic or thinking is going to be better than 20 minutes of different breathing.
Mouth breathing is very bad and is the first important aspect of better breathing.
Now when my asthmatic cat sits on my lap I'm holding his mouth shut! As a rescue cat something happened, either in the womb or because he was a homeless kitten on the street or whatever. He has one fang that sticks out (kind of cute actually) and I think this has broken the seal of his mouth and caused him to have a bad breathing which has progressed into asthma. Strangely enough, he doesn't mind when I shut his mouth! and he goes into a deep sleep.
I'm encouraging my husband to try mouth taping at night, we have bought "Hostage Brand Tape" LOL which is a product just for this. Nestor suggests a different kind of tape and just a small "hitler mustache" size piece rather than a whole-mouth-sized piece. Mouth taping is a scary proposition, and yet one that seems to have far-reaching effects if it is successful in stopping your night-time mouth breathing. Nestor, for instance, had his blood pressure come down. Here is a carpenter talking about how he fixed his apnea with mouth taping, and he has a third taping idea.
@lil-chick I am not saying CO2 is bad. I am saying that if you eat a lot of carbs and you don't move your body = you breath little you will be in acidosis and with high cortisol because there will be no production of new CO2 from all those carbs you are eating because there is already plenty. So you will create more lactic acid etc.. For example Ray Peat diet is based on eating sugar all day and because they don't like exercise they drink coffee all the time with that sugar which is like fake exercise because that coffee will increase adrenaline and you will be breathing more lie you would do during moving your body and yes you are right good breathing is essential. That's why I said when people sit on their ass with bad posture YOU CAN'T breath properly.. It is impossible.. SO again that's why it is better to not sit and stand and walk and move your body. You will automatically improve your breathing. But still it is better to know this and to be mindful of breathing properly into the belly for sure.. Btw I always breath trough the nose and I can see how damaging it can be to breath with your mouth. Yeah it is interesting like basic thing like that people overlook.. It is the first thing doctors should tell people with cancer etc.. You sit all day. You are acidic, you don't breath. You need to start walking in nature with good posutre and breath properly.. It is key... But no nobody will say that.. It doesn't make any money anyone..
Jiri, I took a ride on my bike in your honor yesterday! We all need to be reminded about the basics over and over. But this time I did it with mouth closed the entire time.
I also stood in the sun in bare feet on bricks (at 50 F) and worked on slower, deeper breathing and my feet did not freeze. For a person with Raynauds this is kind of amazing. I'm hoping that with a more perfect and life-giving exchange of gases between my feet and my blood ...that my feet start looking less dry and cracked over time. More alive. Hands too and maybe even lips?
Sometimes in the past, when I have looked at my lips, I've been reminded of a movie I saw long ago about a plane crash in a remote mountain range and a woman who survived it against all odds. The makeup artist depicted her with dry peeling lips.
I think that possibly the star-gazing is deeply involved in this bad breathing issue in a downward-spiral sort of way. It is tough to keep the chin level. It is tough to keep the abdomen soft and able to expand. It is tough to keep the shoulders down.
I thought I wasn't a mouth breather, but now I'm cleaning up some odd times that I was mouth breathing. The book mentions that Native Americans wouldn't even smile open-mouthed because they thought the noxious air would leak in!
OK I'm starting to put "better breathing" in the category of "stuff that stirs things up".
But that just means it's working, right? (nervous laugh)
Wake up a bit headachey but "making faces" clears it up. Light intolerance. (not new to me, but it was uneven which is scary). Read about how pupil dilation problems can come out of B1 deficiency. Wondered if "better breathing" is revealing my B1 deficiency. (which I know lurks)
Took a B spectrum. Will probably follow that up some B1 over time. Had nightmares (during which I probably stress-breathed) and that resulted in a foot cramp. I do badly on supps. Started to wonder if reducing eggs at the same time as eating badly during Thanksgiving exacerbated my B1 deficiency leading to the cramping. Have gone back to eggs at breakfast).
BMs to write home about. Similar to "vacation" ones (is breathing better much like getting more exercise?)
Face flushed bright red this morning. But it passed.