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Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

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Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#111

Post by djtango »

skyberrys wrote: post #104
YZF wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judo isn't that healthy either. Many Judo-ka have hurt their backs from the damage accumulated from falls and there are other ways to injure yourself in Judo. If you're looking for those sorts of high stress combat situations you can get that with Karate styles that practice a lot less contact. There's still high pressure but a lot less than full contact fighting where you're just hitting and getting hit all the time…

Might VR boxing be a possible alternative to actually being hit? I don't think our brains distinguish well between actually being hurt and feeling the stress of the game. For instance I used to study for tests while my husband played violent video games with loud sounds because all the screaming was stressful for me and so was actually taking the test. So the combination of studying under stress and taking the test u…

As an avid gamer, I'd argue the actual physical threat of being hit is hardwired into us because it is tied to our survival instinct on a primal level.

I like to do all kinds of silly stressful challenge runs in games or sweaty PvP and to your point I've actually noticed that I actually perform better in games like Elden Ring with the music off because the music is designed to heighten your stress.

That all said, I can assure you that none of that comes remotely close to the visceral fear you experience when someone bigger, stronger, faster and better is walking you down in the ring. But overcoming that internal struggle - that is where the true growth lies.

That all said I actually train in a gym that is highly respectful, we train technically and we don't spar to hurt. The desired intensity is mutually communicated and the coaches are at hand to keep us in check. A "fun" way to dial up the intensity is to do heavy body sparring because it's generally pretty harmless but gives you a taste of throwing and receiving power shots (it is exhausting).

A gym with this culture is a fantastic environment for people to develop and I would encourage people to give it a try, no amount of audio-visual simulation will be a replacement for the tactile sensation of being hit and the associated anticipation that accompanies the experience. Our machinery is still animal and we originate from the physical world after all...

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#112

Post by djtango »

brador wrote: post #90
djtango wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your confident ignorance motivated me to at least dig up some cursory research on this space, I hadn’t previously bothered because I live and breathe this stuff (pun not intended). As a young impressionable, I set out to understand and overcome performance anxiety as someone who suffered from it. After some reading, one of my conclusions was that I should do the most stressful thing possible to understand stress bett…

Cancel the Muai Thai, switch to Judo immediately. Your brain is attached to your inner skull with candyfloss like tendrils. They do not repair. Software engineering, even prompting, with a concussion or CTE is impossible.

Yes I am very paranoid about CTE. For years I've dialled down the sparring intensity and mostly train technically, working on timing.

I appreciate that studies show that the brain basically never heals but sometimes you've got to live the way you want to live...

While the findings around CTE are pretty damning I would also point out that at this stage it is hard to ascertain what degree of sparring/fighting leads to problematic CTE down the line because frequency and intensity are so hard to control for from a scientific perspective. The brain is fragile but humans wouldn't have survived if we couldn't tolerate some degree of accumulated rough and tumble over our lifetimes.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#113

Post by albert_e »

thesmtsolver2 wrote: post #96
albert_e wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

who mocked breathing techniques though .. mindfulness and meditation have been seeing broad adoption - with apps like headspace etc also getting good traction

Now it is getting traction. Go back a few decades and you would be mocked as hippy, new agey, zealot, etc., depending on the continent and decade. There is still resistance in India to teaching this in government schools.

There were real hippie movements that mixed it with spiritual stuff that only appeals to a minority. Hence some labelling by association.

(I dont feel very motivated to work in blockchain -- because by association it carries elements of crypto hype that I find distasteful)

Once you separate the physical excercise and its benefits and allow people the space to pursue them for their benefits without necessarily subscribing to new spirituality -- it has found broader appeal.

(Few decades ago smoking was widely accepted socially even though it was no secret that it damages health. It took a few decades of mounting scientific evidence for society to shun smoking. Takes time for society and cultures to accept new ideas.)

--

Resistance to teaching in schools ... from who?

Schools in india have a lot of shortcomings when it comes to physical education, sports and other life skills training -- yoga / meditation alone does not get any special treatment either for or against.

There is a lot more our schools can do better -- including surely physical exercise and meditation/breathing exercises.

If anything there is too much emphasis on making international yoga day a grand spectacle one day each year -- which surely involves involuntary participation by schoolkids -- with no lasting benefits except PR.

Even the most vocal debates of today about school curriculum (see CBSE / NCERT in current affairs) dont have any arguments for or against extra curricular or non academic skills in school.

We broadly have a long way to go in making our education curricula well rounded. Would welcome more genuine elements of physical wellbeing and meditation included (without any burden of spitiruality mixed in -- which can create the resistance you might be referring to).

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#114

Post by galaxyLogic »

vasco wrote: post #35
galaxyLogic wrote: post #29

But fear is often good. Breathing slow to counter your fear should only be done when you know it is an irrational fear.

Your argument defeats itself. You say fear is good, presumably because it stops you from doing things you don't know are dangerous. But then you say you can do a technique to defeat fear when you know the fear is irrational. But your argument starts from the premise that you don't know a situation is dangerous or not without the fear so how would you know it's irrational? In my experience it's the opposite, most fear…

The example was public speaking. Many people get very anxious if they need to do that. But if they think about it rationally they realize there is no real danger there. That's how they know it is an irrational fear, and they can use the breathing technique to make it managable.

So maybe it's more about if you know you should not or can not run away from a fearful sitution you should take a deep breath. Whereas if you are on a dark street alone and a group of hooligans look like they might attack you then feel fear and instead of breathing deep, you should run.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#115

Post by toxik »

bitwize wrote: post #107
toxik wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point about class signaling, but it doesn't explain Peppa Pig (or Bluey) showing a more healthy approach to teaching emotional regulation. The English certainly value that same kind of behavior after all. Kids learn really fast that they can't just act out with their peers for fear of rejection by the group. It's extremely strong and parents need to teach the other half of it, dealing with negative emotio…

If so, it's a failure to uphold Fred Rogers' original ideas. He aimed to teach kids how to handle anger, frustration, and other negative emotions by finding safe outlets, not by suppressing them.

Ah, I hadn't realized the pedigree of DT was Mister Rogers. It makes a lot of sense as that guy gives me the icks too.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#116

Post by polnurfer »

dredmorbius wrote: post #99
polnurfer wrote: post #66

Also reduces your personal carbon footprint.

Respiration and metabolism exhaust CO2 and H20 which are sourced from recent biospheric, rather than fossil, sources. That carbon is already in the biosphere, and the net carbon balance is effectively nil. Until someone comes up with a food-synthesis process based on fossil sources (e.g., petrochemicals, limestone, or the like), this will be the case. That's not to say that the agricultural food cycle is net thermal-…

Incorrect.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#117

Post by antonvs »

squigz wrote: post #72
meindnoch wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Professional public speakers use a beta blocker like propanolol before going on stage.

Presenting this as something that all or even most public speakers do is a bit wild. Have you got any evidence for that?

He does, but it would require a rectal probe to retrieve it.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#118

Post by scotty79 »

cryzinger wrote: post #4

Parasympathetic nervous activation increased risk-taking behavior? That's interesting/unexpected (at least to me). Also, this part caught my eye: > The selective impact of prolonged exhalation breathing on reward responsiveness has important implications for clinical contexts, such as anxiety, panic disorder, and depression, given their distinct autonomic signatures and maladaptive reward processing. By enhancing car…

It seems counterintuitive on the face of it but when I imagined someone forcing themselves to breath slowly I immediaty saw they are about to do something stupid next.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#119

Post by LearnYouALisp »

brador wrote: post #53
achow wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slow breathing (in yoga: pranayama) instantly down-regulates your nervous system by boosting vagal tone and lowering sympathetic "fight-or-flight" activity. When your breath lengthens, it signals your brain that you are completely safe, dropping your heart rate and lowering blood pressure. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12858147/

It doesn’t signal anything. Your heart rate drops because you’re inhaling less oxygen so your heart is like “we don’t need this high fi flow” and slows down blood flow to lower energy expenditure. Lower energy state always wins unless chasing energy source.

Oh ok, give me some bro-speak about the platelet cascade

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#120

Post by meristohm »

YesBox wrote: post #103
Sam6late wrote: post #17

Slow breathing is also recommended for novices before public speaking, as it helps speakers overcome irrational physiological fear of facing people, the risk-taking shift is useful as it helps you speak more confidently, not more cautiously. Slow breathing can calm nerves quickly; bottom-up regulation: body tells brain “you’re safe”.

I've found a few cycles of > works quite well. Box breathing is 4 seconds inhale, 4 seconds hold, 4 seconds exhale, 4 seconds hold. IIRC you are supposed to take in as much air as you can on the inhale, and let it all out on the exhale. After you do a few cycles of BB, take in as much air as you can, then hold your breath for as long as you can. You'll feel the results immediately

I prefer breathing like a resting dog: deep inhale, immediately relax and exhale (just let it out; it'll be forceful at first and taper off), and take the next inhale when the need arises. Ideally I do this with water and food, too (feast/fast). I find the 4-4-4-4 contrived, but I can see the potential mental-focus benefit.
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