Dr. Andy Galpin

And so I would rather just be like, man, I need some recovery. It's easier for me to just reduce physical arousal. Give me some more quiet time. No more sensory input for the day. That'll take care of most of it. If that's not enough, the next step we go to is more time doing nasal only breathing. Close your mouth, breathe through your nose.

Whether this means you tape your mouth closed while you're working, or you go for a walk and you're breathing only through your nose, or you're doing some or all or any portion of your exercise with nasal only breathing, I don't really care. It activates the diaphragm more. It tends to on itself slow respiratory rate down because you can't move air like you can.

Whether this means you tape your mouth closed while you're working, or you go for a walk and you're breathing only through your nose, or you're doing some or all or any portion of your exercise with nasal only breathing, I don't really care. It activates the diaphragm more. It tends to on itself slow respiratory rate down because you can't move air like you can.

You will notice hyperventilation through your nose when you won't necessarily notice hyperventilation through your mouth. You'll feel that, you'll hear that. That would be very different than it coming through your mouth. And we also know that nasal breathing is more parasympathetic on itself.

You will notice hyperventilation through your nose when you won't necessarily notice hyperventilation through your mouth. You'll feel that, you'll hear that. That would be very different than it coming through your mouth. And we also know that nasal breathing is more parasympathetic on itself.

So by doing that, reducing arousal, and then forcing people into some nasal-only breathing time, this basically takes care of all of our problems. If you like or want to still need to do more things past that, at that point, we will instill a specific breathwork protocol and it could look a bunch of different ways. But again, here are some samples.

So by doing that, reducing arousal, and then forcing people into some nasal-only breathing time, this basically takes care of all of our problems. If you like or want to still need to do more things past that, at that point, we will instill a specific breathwork protocol and it could look a bunch of different ways. But again, here are some samples.

Intuitively here, just make your breath do what you want to feel like. What's that mean? Let's say you're trying to go up more energy. You're feeling lethargic or lack of motivation and you're down. and you're not breathing very much, and everything, heart rate's low, and energy's low. Think about it. What would your breath look like if you were at a high energy state? And then do that.

Intuitively here, just make your breath do what you want to feel like. What's that mean? Let's say you're trying to go up more energy. You're feeling lethargic or lack of motivation and you're down. and you're not breathing very much, and everything, heart rate's low, and energy's low. Think about it. What would your breath look like if you were at a high energy state? And then do that.

Force your breath to do something, and as I talked about earlier, your physiology will respond to match it. This is hyperventilation. Breathe more. Any of you who have ever done hyperventilation breath work, you'll know within a few seconds, tingling in your arms, you might start sweating, temperature goes up really acutely. So just do that. Just hyperventilate.

Force your breath to do something, and as I talked about earlier, your physiology will respond to match it. This is hyperventilation. Breathe more. Any of you who have ever done hyperventilation breath work, you'll know within a few seconds, tingling in your arms, you might start sweating, temperature goes up really acutely. So just do that. Just hyperventilate.

If you're in the opposite and you're trying to come down, just don't breathe as much. Tons of protocols. Yeah. Extended exhales. Sure, sure, sure, sure. But the basic concept is slow your breath work down. That's as complicated as it has to be. If you want individual protocols, cool, fine, got it. But that is the top line strategy here.

If you're in the opposite and you're trying to come down, just don't breathe as much. Tons of protocols. Yeah. Extended exhales. Sure, sure, sure, sure. But the basic concept is slow your breath work down. That's as complicated as it has to be. If you want individual protocols, cool, fine, got it. But that is the top line strategy here.

Most other research and most practitioners who are effective at this are going to use a combination within one protocol. So you're going to do not just only extended exhales. Not just slowing your breath rate down, not just speeding it up, but you're going to use a combination to develop that hormetic stressor. So if you want to truly downregulate, you can just simply slow your breathing down.

Most other research and most practitioners who are effective at this are going to use a combination within one protocol. So you're going to do not just only extended exhales. Not just slowing your breath rate down, not just speeding it up, but you're going to use a combination to develop that hormetic stressor. So if you want to truly downregulate, you can just simply slow your breathing down.

But actually within one session, a combination of slower and faster and slower and faster will lead to that hormetic response. And if you finish, especially on low, it's been our experience and the research would support this, you're going to oftentimes see more of a parasympathetic response than if you were to just do parasympathetic alone.

But actually within one session, a combination of slower and faster and slower and faster will lead to that hormetic response. And if you finish, especially on low, it's been our experience and the research would support this, you're going to oftentimes see more of a parasympathetic response than if you were to just do parasympathetic alone.

So most of the time we're looking for a combination of up and down for the same reasons that we talked about with exercise, in other words. Conflicts of interest here. I am a board member, no pay here for a nonprofit, called the Health and Human Performance Foundation. I've been a part of this group for many years. I was one of the founding members.

So most of the time we're looking for a combination of up and down for the same reasons that we talked about with exercise, in other words. Conflicts of interest here. I am a board member, no pay here for a nonprofit, called the Health and Human Performance Foundation. I've been a part of this group for many years. I was one of the founding members.

I'm bringing that up because that group, led by Tanya Bentley, recently published a phenomenal review article. We'll link it in the show notes. But I want to share with you what they found. They were looking directly at the relationship between breathwork for stress and anxiety. What do we know?