The Unfiltered Health Podcast
The Unfiltered Health Podcast delivers real, authentic conversations about health, wellness, and longevity. We break down complex health topics, sharing evidence-based insights, practical advice, and personal experiences. Our mission is to educate, inspire, and build a supportive community committed to living well and thriving together—no filters, just the truth about what it takes to achieve lasting health.
The Unfiltered Health Podcast
68 - How Nasal Breathing Transforms Your Life & Your Face!
Can chronic neck and shoulder tension be a result of improper breathing? Join us on the Female Health Show as we uncover the surprising connections between how you breathe and your overall well-being. Raquel and Steph break down the critical role of the diaphragm and the drawbacks of relying on accessory muscles for breathing. Learn practical tips to identify and correct poor breathing patterns that might be adding to your stress and discomfort. This episode emphasizes the importance of nasal breathing for better lung function and less inflammation, providing you with actionable advice to enhance your respiratory health.
Ever wondered how your breathing habits can impact your posture and facial structure? We delve into the fascinating differences between mouth breathers and nose breathers, revealing how proper nasal breathing can help maintain postural alignment and reduce inflammation. Listen in as we explore effective techniques like mouth and nose taping to foster better breathing habits. Plus, we discuss the broader implications of breathing patterns on your nervous system and share insights into various methods, including the Wim Hof method and cold therapy, to manage stress through personalized breathing strategies.
The episode also highlights the significant role of nature in stress management and overall well-being. Discover how simple practices like sighing and spending time in green spaces can stimulate the vagus nerve and promote relaxation. Raquel and Steph emphasize the power of negative ions found in natural environments and provide tips for integrating these elements into your daily life. Finally, we explore the crucial connection between nutrition and mental health, offering guidance on consistent breathing techniques and mindful lifestyle choices that can positively influence your stress levels and decision-making abilities. Tune in for a holistic approach to better breathing, stress management, and overall well-being.
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Good morning everyone. It's Raquel and Steph again here with the Female Health Show. Today we're talking about breathing stress and Steph also has decided we're going to talk about the vagus nerve.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we're going to talk about how they're kind of all connected and strategies you can use around how to breathe a little bit better and how to be more aware of your stress levels and how it can influence everything else, and I guess the main reason for this episode is to give you some better education around breathing, the way you breathe, why it's important and then also why your stress can impact the pain that you currently feel. Um, and overall health and well-being.
Speaker 1:yeah, and I think, um, from our last conversation, we we've been typically ending the episode with an idea for a new episode. Yeah, so we're going to be jumping into this deeply today, and you said that you want to talk about how people breathe, like the way people breathe. Let's start with that and let's talk about how people breathe, like the way people breathe. Let's start with that and let's talk about breathing as a whole maybe.
Speaker 2:So breathing as a whole, we take an average of like 20,000 breaths a day, so the way that we actually breathe can be extremely important and can heavily influence how our body feels.
Speaker 2:So I get a lot of clients that come in that are always tight through their neck and shoulders, are chronically tight, and often they will get massages and it might feel good for like a day and then it goes back to being super tight, and often the cause of this is because of the way that they're breathing.
Speaker 2:Now, if we're talking about the way that we breathe, in terms of optimally, we want to use our diaphragm, and that's not to say that people don't use their diaphragm in their breathing, because you absolutely do. Breathing is something that we don't have to think about, we just do, and the way that we breathe is often based on how we're feeling as well. So, example, if our body is super stressed, then we tend to use less of our diaphragm and more of accessory muscles, such as muscles in the neck and shoulder. Yeah, it's more short, sharp, more short, sharp, which is why people can be very tight or often get chronic tightness through their neck and shoulders. That makes sense, yeah, and that is why breathing and the way that we breathe is so important, because it does influence muscles, it does influence the tension that we feel, and then it can also influence our stress.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And if you liken it to just a habit in general, like a bad habit that you might have every night after dinner you have to have a sweet, or every time you go to the gym, you are doing a movement pattern wrong. And if you do that for the amount of repetitions that you're saying that we're supposed to breathe for, to break a bad habit like that or to relearn a new way of breathing or a new way of moving or a new way of living, how hard is that?
Speaker 2:that's extremely hard and it takes a long time as well. You know, it's very easy to turn around and just say, oh, we'll just focus on the way you breathe, they'll just breathe better and it'll fix all your problems. And it's kind of like it may help to alleviate issues, but it's not going to be a quick fix. It's going to be something that you're going to have to be aware of and work on every single day I agree.
Speaker 1:So in terms of there was, there was um, we did a short like little workshop day with you. Me and my team had ladies that lift and one of the tests that you you were suggesting, or, just to like, notice in clients is how they breathe, and we've kind of implemented that in some way with recognizing how clients breathe, to understand if or not they're ready to like where they are in their learning. Because I think if you take a deep breath in and it is very short, sharp, and you're not aware of it and you say, hey, like you use a lot of your chest to breathe rather than your belly breathing, some clients will say, oh, I don't know the difference between that. Or some clients will like, yes, I'm really stressed, and they will already make the correlation the connection exactly between the two.
Speaker 1:So it's very hard to maybe visually show clients how we should breathe on a podcast. How would you describe that so someone listening could understand what they need to or what to notice and how to the?
Speaker 2:first one we want to notice is when you take a breath in, is your initial response to breathe in through your nose or is it to breathe in through your mouth? And I think that's a really important one, because there's a big difference between nose breathing and mouth breathing. Now what we want is nose breathing. The reason being is because our nose is used for filtering the air. So, especially like the nose nose hairs, they actually have a purpose um, and it is to filter the air that we are inhaling. Um. It also helps um the air temperature, so when we take a breath in, it controls and adjusts the temperature of the air, so our lungs can better absorb it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I just, I just took a breath in I was like, oh yeah, it doesn't feel cold, yeah.
Speaker 2:So like I don't know if you have experiences, but take a breath in when it's like really cold on, like a walk. Sometimes it can feel like burning through the nose. Yeah, that's because the air is like so crisp and that's also without going down rabbit hole. That's also why, um, asthmatics struggle, because if they tend to be mouth breathers or they tend to favor breathing into the mouth, so they're getting straight cold air into the lungs. Their lungs cartoy that cold, harsh air and so their chest gets really irritated, their lungs get really irritated and they end up coughing and not being able to breathe properly.
Speaker 1:That makes sense because in it I'm not asthm. But anytime I've done vigorous exercise on a really cold day and I've had to like you, don't use your nose as much, you start to mouth a lot, and then you feel that intensity in your chest yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, exactly that, exactly that. So the first one is you want to be mindful of? Am I breathing through my nose? Am I breathing through my mouth? M mouth breathing is often linked with higher stress. You're more likely to snore when you, when you um sleep at night, um. So we want to make sure that, first and foremost, we are breathing through our nose. The second one we want to be mindful of is when we take that inhale. Can we inhale for long or do we feel like the breath gets stuck? Is it very short? What's long? Long would be maybe like a four to five seconds. Let's say, okay, can we inhale for a 45, four to five seconds comfortably? And when I say comfortably, it's like a slow, steady breath. So often when people take a breath in it it's very quick, it's very yeah, and then yeah, or like a quick little sniff, a quick little, and you know the chest rises, the shoulders rise, you see the neck getting all tense and stressed because we're trying to use, we're trying to take a big, deep breath.
Speaker 1:It makes me upset when I see it like for them. Yes, I don't know if you know, but this is not good.
Speaker 2:No, so when you often say to clients, you know, can you take a breath in? They'll take a breath in. And the things that I will watch is what is their neck doing? Is the neck muscles tense, are the shoulders lifting up to the ears or are they nice and relaxed? Now you are going to see the chest lift, because that is part of the breathing mechanics. You'll see the chest raised because it's the rib cage, but are we using the neck and shoulders to try and get that inhale in or are we nice and relaxed? Okay, so like is that more dominant? Is that more dominant? Exactly because if that's more dominant, that means we're using all the muscles in our neck and our shoulders to breathe, which means they are overworking constantly. They don't need to be working that hard, which can lead to ongoing tiredness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, perfect, perfect, like come back full circle. This is related. I was going to say something about the mouth breathing too. I think with mouth breathers, posture, posture, posture is different posture. I was about to say postural alignment. I was like no, no, no, no. Like my brain just had like a lap, like no, we're not doing that no, no you know when like it butts in and you're like want to say something and it changes I don't know how that happens so crazy.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, so the posture changes and you have maybe even like a lot of um, yeah, your jaw and your neck almost look like they're super double chinned and then also it could be the other direction, where it's more forwards and down, something like that. Yeah, and there's some studies, if people want to go down that research pathway too, where if you have a look at mouth breathers in comparison to nose breathers, it's what we're supposed to do. The jaw and the face and the posture is very different and you can actually you can, you can revert, you can go back to nose breathing. But you know, for some people it's difficult if they have, you know, certain nose blockages or whatnot, or the anatomy is not perfect, or they've had a broken nose.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I understand there's those problems which you can rectify, obviously quite expensive, but regardless, there's also mouth taping. You can mouth tape. You are supposedly some space, I think, so you're not fully closed. Um, there's also nose tape which can help widen the nose canal. Um, is there anything else? I'm trying to think of other things with this.
Speaker 2:They're probably from a um, something that's that gives good feedback. The tape can be great, because you've got the feedback of the tape on your nose, which will then start to stimulate those nerves which will then make you want to inhale through your nose, and it's just a way to be consciously more aware of doing it. So the way to change something in terms of like, if you've got a habit and you're so used to doing that habit, the way to break that habit is firstly to be aware of it. So the more you're aware of it, the more you're going to be able to rectify and practice rebuilding a new habit. So tape on the nose or tape on the mouth can be a good way to start because it's a constant reminder nose breathe, nose breathe, nose breathe or, you know, keep, keep your mouth shut, essentially.
Speaker 2:So it's something that I prescribe often to my clients, um, and I don't necessarily tell them to do it throughout the night, because often they might not be able to handle big adjustment, big adjustment, and I might say start off with like 10 minutes, or if you're working from home, um, you don't have any meetings, mouth tape, um, or pop it on your nose whatever you feel most comfortable with on a walk for the nose tape, maybe not the mouth?
Speaker 2:that would be a bit like yeah I see a lot of people with nose tape at the gym, yes, and when they exercise to encourage a little bit more breathing through the nose, um, and just little, little um, like implementing little things like that can be a great way, a great starting point to start rebuilding that new habit of, you know, just being more aware of the way we breathe. I agree Because if we're constantly. Oh sorry, no, I was going to say if we're constantly, if we're constantly breathing kind of short and shallow, then the body is constantly inflamed.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:It's more in a fight or flight state which goes into stress yeah, stress, and the body can't heal when it is in that environment yeah, and we spoke about that last week as well yes, when it is inflamed and the inflammation is its body's ability to defend itself and if you're constantly trying to defend itself and you can't heal.
Speaker 1:So when it comes to breathing and like I think this is the next progression into the conversation about sympathetic nervous system you have your fight or flight response and you also have freeze, which is, I think, an addition to this concept now, but it it really is about whether or not you can handle it and how you, how you work through it and what you do when you are stressed. There's emotional stress, there's mental stress, there's physical stress, there's psychological, spiritual, all of it mind, body, soul stress. How do you combat that? And breathing is probably one of those things that don't really discuss a lot, because it's not the fun, it's not the secret, it's not like oh, what can I do? Supplement, routine, it's. It's really just conscious effort and sometimes those conscious effort things for people feel really, really hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it's about learning how to regulate your nervous system and your and your body, but also in a way that works best for you, because I think you know, if we're talking about breathing, for example, there are many different strategies out there that you can implement for focusing on the way you breathe. We see a lot of people especially now there's a massive craze on like ice baths and jumping in the bath or doing a cold plunge and focusing on breathing. There's also the wim hof method that a lot of people talk about and a lot of people implement. There's also meditation. There's so many different ways that we can implement breathing, but you've got to also do what works well for you, because in certain, with certain strategies or certain instances, it may actually do the opposite.
Speaker 2:So a good example is if you're someone that is extremely stressed, you suffer with quite a lot of anxiety. Cold therapy may not be best for you as a starting point, because the minute your body goes into that cold state, that um plunge, you automatically hyperventilate and your body kind of like freaks out and then you've got to basically override that and calm your body down. But if you're already in a very heightened anxious state, it might actually do the opposite and bring on like a panic attack. Yep, so you have to be very careful in the strategies that you try to implement, and not all strategies are going to work for everyone Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So there's not a right or wrong or like best. No, it's just more. So you've got to start off small and you've got to do something that's going to work best for you. That's not to say that that person with high anxiety can't ever do a cold plunge, but that might not be their start point. They might just focus on some small slow inhales, or they might use the tape, or they might just focus on some small slow inhales, or they might use the tape, or they might do some meditation, or they might do, um, just some general breathing work, like sitting down, just being more aware and more mindful of their breathing, and then, once things start to settle down in terms of if they're feeling less anxious, they're feeling less stressed, then they might be able to implement a cold plunge.
Speaker 1:Absolutely agree. Personally, a cold plunge is not my go-to, absolutely not. I don't mind it, but I don't really think for me personally, I just don't enjoy it. So I wouldn't say it's my like relaxing, zen moment. I do prefer a meditation in the sun or outdoors.
Speaker 1:Going for a walk really helps my mind just move. And it sounds so weird that your mind needs to move. But sometimes when you're sitting down or you're doing work and you're in your head and you're just like busy, busy, busy, you don't allow your thoughts to collate and like collaborate. And you know, I just find when I'm walking the, the forward motion of just stepping, stepping, stepping I think there's research on this too is that it allows your mental space to also move forward and flow through what it needs. Flow, yeah, and that's why people who actually our society because it's so sedentary, we're also probably more stressed because we're not allowing those things to just move and go through the motions. And, yeah, collaborate with your headspace rather than trying to fight everything. And sometimes my best ideas happen on a walk or in the shower, when you're just doing what sounds like nothing, essentially but just giving yourself time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're calming your nervous system, you're getting blood flow, you're getting circulation to the muscles, circulation to the brain, and that can be stimulating, because you're starting to stimulate those nerves. Yeah, that is so interesting and then going down. This will actually probably lead really nicely into stimulating your vagus nerve let's go go ahead tell us about the vagus nerve.
Speaker 2:So your vagus nerve is a cranial nerve and it's one of the biggest ones because it connects to all of your organs and it connects to your diaphragm and it also connects to your gut, so its control is your rest and digest functions. So when your vagus nerve isn't stimulated, you are any in a very high stressed state now. Your body cannot heal in this state. So stimulating your vagus nerve can be extremely beneficial and is very important for resting, for bringing down your um heart rate, for improving your digestion yeah, your digestion, your blood pressure um calming your body down.
Speaker 2:A calm nervous system promotes better mood um better circulation.
Speaker 1:So we actually want to do things to help stimulate our vagus nerve and help improve our what we call vagal tone so with vagal tone and how you're discussing, how it's related to pretty much your, your brain, to gut access, and there's also another access which is your, your sex, your sex organs and your brain and gut. It's all. It's all related. Um, what was I going to say on this? Um, how where do you start, because this is quite broad and so you start with your breath, so you start with your breath.
Speaker 1:The episode name it just goes back it just goes back.
Speaker 2:You start with your breath purely because the exhale um stimulates your vagus nerve. Yeah, okay. So that's why we start with our breath, that's why we focus on the way that we are breathing, that's why we try and encourage better airflow and oxygen levels into our body, a better exhale, a long exhale, because we want to stimulate that vagus nerve. If we stimulate that vagus nerve, then we start to bring our body back to homoestasis, so that kind of like rest and digest mode, not that high stress, fight or flight mode, which is the body's best position to be in to promote good health, good mental health, like better mood circulation um, good digestion, bring down the blood pressure.
Speaker 1:I forgot this yeah, and then that's the environment where you can heal. Yes, it's the better. Isolation is the better aspect of actually getting to that yes and digest pathway you just did such a good hey.
Speaker 2:So a sighing is a. Um, sighing is a is a is a reaction that the body does to relax the body, to get it back into a rest and digest state. So if you feel like your body sighs a lot, that's your body trying to relax and calm and regulate your nervous system. Oh, just on that note interesting yeah, okay, or just like annoyance well, that too, but annoyance, so we don't get mad.
Speaker 2:It does a sigh to calm down otherwise it's like I'm gonna bite someone's head off, so I'm just going to sigh instead. Just sigh and just breathe, yeah, sigh. It's like don't bite their head off, just sigh, just breathe. Stimulate my vagus nerve.
Speaker 1:I wanted to actually tap into how the nature also plays a role in, like green spaces and positive ions, negative ions, because I think it does relate in terms of toning the vagus nerve and also just in general, what we're discussing today about stress. So, um, green spaces have a positive effect on our mental health and also slowing down, um, mentally and also our breathing. So, like when you're walking or when you're out in nature, you tend to slow down, you tend to relax, and that's why they do say being outdoors and being in spaces that are green do promote that ability to relax. So, like city workers or people who are in offices all day, you're in a shoebox kind of room. It doesn't promote any form of relaxation. So if you need to get out on your lunch break rather than just sitting in the lunchroom, I would highly recommend that. Having green plants in your house also promotes, like it's, a natural air. What's it called? Humidifier, recycler, what's the word, steph? Come on help me. It helps with the oxygen in the room and also just looking at green in general. The color is supposed to also stimulate a relaxing state, because our mind correlates green with green spaces and nature and nature, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And the other thing is positive electrons and negative electrons. No Positive ions, negative ions Sorry, yeah, totally messed that up. Positive ions are actually really bad and that comes from screens being on our phone. Electronics typically is what gets the blame Work demands and whatnot. So you're like always focusing on the output. And then negative ions are actually the healthy ones and you get a lot of them from waterfalls, beaches, green spaces.
Speaker 1:You kind of get the gist like being outdoors in general and they are supposed to help transfer in our body the positive to the negative ions.
Speaker 1:So again, positive ions are the bad ones, the negative ions are the good ones. We want more negative ions, or a balance at least. So if you do find that you're always in a heightened stress state you're breathing sharply, you're a mouth breather as well you really find it hard to to get into a calm state or just to even have no thoughts in your head. Sometimes that can be really challenging, especially if you're in a really high work mode and you've got to be on the go um implementing some form of grounding, whether it's in the park, in the backyard, being out in outdoors laying on a chair looking up at the sky if you don't have access to waterfalls and beaches, like in the northern suburbs. You don't have much of that, so you know, I think making something in your day in correlation with outdoors can really help with the transfer of what's going on, because internally we have our vagus nerve, we have all these systems and processes that the body is going through and all these things that are just naturally occurring that you don't even know.
Speaker 1:You don't even you aren't even aware about, don't even you aren't even aware about. So if you're listening to this episode, we're both assuming I can say, I think for both of us that you're interested in how to improve your ability to handle stress and also breathe better. So I think these are some like just touch points with not only using the mouth tape, not only using the nose tape and trying to breathe, you know, more slowly in, slowly out.
Speaker 2:Also trying to have some touch points with nature is super important and, I think, just being more aware of hey, how do I actually breathe? Because you can go about your day and you can breathe. We don't need to actually think about the way we breathe. We just do it, yeah, but based on our environment, based on our lifestyle. This can based on the challenges that we face or the stresses that can alter the way I breathe, which can then it's like a snowball effect. It changes everything. So, being mindful of hey, how am I feeling lately? Am I super stressed? If I am stressed, how do I actually breathe? Am I? Is my breathing short? Can I actually take a slow, deep breath in?
Speaker 2:Because often when we say deep breath, people just think that they need to get in as much air as possible. So that's when they end up using all the neck and shoulders and it's like it needs to be deep. But what doesn't have to be deep? We want it to be slow and steady, like slow and calm. So you know, how are we breathing? Are we breathing, um, with our nose, like you said? Are we breathing with our mouth? Um, can this influence, potentially, our tight shoulders that we're feeling 24 7? You know, if you, if you are someone that constantly feels tight through their traps constantly feels tight through the neck and shoulders. You're getting massages. It's not doing anything. Have a look at the way you're breathing, because that might have a massive influence on why your shoulders and neck are so tight constantly have you naturally been a good breather?
Speaker 2:no, definitely not. I think I'm more like I'm because I'm aware of it and because I've learned more about it. I definitely make sure I find time to mindful breathe. Do you do meditation?
Speaker 1:What's your kind of go-to with breathing when you're feeling stressed?
Speaker 2:I won't do meditation purely because I don't find like I can't do it. Not that I can't do it you can, I can do it, but it's something that I, you, have to work, I think. Is it that you struggle? Yeah, okay, I struggle to sit and be um, still, and so, for me, meditation is like, not the thing like how long like is it?
Speaker 1:do you time it? Do you try to maybe a two longer than one?
Speaker 2:or I have tried small ones, small meditations, five minutes dints. Initially I get bored.
Speaker 2:I get bored and I get over and I feel like I can't be proper. But that's the point, that's the whole point, right, that's the whole point. I know, and it's one of those things where it's like people and this is 100% me people think that one session of meditating and you're instantly just going to feel like Zen, relaxed Zen, like I'm floating up in the air with my legs crossed, giving Aladdin, giving proper Aladdin vibes on my magic carpet, like, except you've got the zoomies in your head, like you're just going everywhere.
Speaker 1:I think that's normal, though, because it's so normal they do say with meditation, not to expect, firstly, that you're going to have no thoughts, because that's almost a given that you will be thinking of something, especially when you're trying really hard not to like fighting. That is not not necessarily a good thing, because you will have more, it's just about noticing. And then I think the second one is um, you said you find it hard to what, um, you get bored.
Speaker 1:I think that's actually the point of of meditation sometimes is that you do find that there is nothing and that's actually a healthy thing, because in the past, with meditation, I was like like, oh my God, I need to meditate because I need to calm down my thoughts and whatnot. And then I'd do it and I'd be like, okay, I can't relax Like I just am thinking about everything, which is fine. So going out and doing something, I think I realized I heard on I think it was Brené Brown or someone on her podcast was talking about meditation and how it's not just sitting down.
Speaker 1:It could be swimming, it could be the sport that you play that helps shut off all those things. Yeah, for me that's golf, that's being out in nature, that's the snowboarding that I'm doing with James all the time Like it's not. I'm not really thinking about work, I'm not thinking about my problems. I'm thinking just about how can I not hurt myself? How do I do I need to judge, like, where do I need to turn? How do I need to hit this ball? How do I need to position my body when I'm in the gym? Like I'm having a lot of mindful moments in my day-to-day because I'm not just in my head, I'm actually in my body.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and I often find like, for me, going on like a hard hike is something that'll like, that's my meditation, something where it's like it's in the moment I have to focus on all the rocks that I have to step on and I'm smelling the nice greenery, the nice air. Yes, um, and you're just present, like you're not on your phone. You're not thinking about your phone, you're not thinking about anything else. You're just thinking on about the track, walking, how sore your legs are.
Speaker 1:That is it I think we need to change, like the term meditation and, yes, meditation doesn't necessarily have to be sitting down, shutting down and like totally turning off, because I don't necessarily think that it is possible. For those of us who have a lot of demands and do think a lot, especially some people who are overthinkers I don't necessarily think it's the right concept being still or present. Yeah, I think just doing something that allows you to focus on another part of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's the thing in terms of, like you know, breathing strategies or like breathing techniques, it's also do what works well for you. There's a lot of different strategies you can use that we have spoken about. Pick which one you feel relates most or resonates most with you and give that a go and stick with that, because consistency is a thing that's going to get you out of that habit of the way you breathe, and it's something that you need to do every single day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can't just like do it once a week and expect to be calm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially because you know if you are someone that is, you know, quite stressed, and you've adapted this very sort of stressed way of breathing where all you're doing is you're taking little short, shallow breaths, you're using your neck and shoulders heavily, and you've been doing that over and over again for however many years. It's not going to take just this one session and this one day to magically flip the switch and go back to you know optimal breathing, or you know optimal breathing, or you know just breathing a little bit better. It's like this is something that you're going to have to retrain, retrain your muscles, to relax.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Retrain your nervous system to calm. Start using your rib cage a little bit more. Start using your diaphragm a little bit more. Start using your nose a little bit more, using your body in a different way over and over again until it becomes the new habit the norm the norm okay, so what else did we have for today?
Speaker 2:we've done a pretty good job, I think I think we've done a pretty good job, and I think that goes to in terms of, I guess, like who it's for, in terms of, oh, am I someone that needs to be breathing? But I think everyone could probably do with learning, firstly, how to breathe better, how to take in more air, how to be a little bit more still and grounded and practice mindfulness, um, and to at least implement something that helps to stimulate their vagus nerve. Yeah, I think that's. It doesn't matter who you are. You could be, you know. You don't have to be an athlete, you can be gen pop, you can be just training. You can be someone that wants to be a bit more active, someone that's overwhelmed and super stressed or suffering with anxiety or mental health.
Speaker 1:Actually, light bulb. Yes, I just had a lovely moment. The vagus nerve right, you were saying originally that it's the nerve that travels from the brain to the gut, right, this? Okay, I totally forgot about this. Your gut and I know you've heard me say this before, for sure, your gut has 90, 90, 60 percent sorry, 60 of our serotonin, which is a hormone that is our feel-good chemical and what you feed your body yes relates to what you think. Yes, oh, my God, I can't believe.
Speaker 2:I forgot this.
Speaker 1:So essentially like if you're giving your body, if you're malnourished, A, you're not eating a lot of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbs and fats that are healthy. And when we say healthy, they're good for you and they're not just KFC, McDonald's packaged foods from the shops, they're pre-prepped meals, I think, home-cooked nonna, yaya, like baba, whatever, whoever it is, nana has made it and they have made it authentically from the village, like you're thinking.
Speaker 2:From the garden home-grown.
Speaker 1:Yeah, from the farm, from the neighbor's goat, the neighbor's I don't know whatever. The neighbor's chickens, yeah, neighbor's chickens, Exactly Like it's farm, it's fresh, it's wild. These foods are what is going to also stimulate this positive environment internally and it's going to relate to how you think. I think there is a study. I don't know, maybe I'm making this up, so don't quote me but I think there is a study, I'm sure there would be anyway. It's about gut health and healthy foods, like the healthier you eat, the better.
Speaker 1:You're also going to feel about yourself and I think, when it comes to stress, often we're stressed because maybe you know, there's things in our day that we can't control. We're going through motions of work and it's demanding and you're struggling to keep up. Perhaps and maybe the thing you put in your mouth will also help you calm down and help you reassess, because I notice when I'm hungry I don't necessarily make good decisions, not in terms of like risky decisions but I might not just be able to process things as quickly as I would if I'm well fed and if I'm well nourished, if I'm like when we went overseas. I'll give a good example we were in Barcelona and we went out the night before, so I was drinking a little bit. I woke up that morning. Every time I drink, I have terrible anxiety the next day. And I did drink a bit too much. I won't lie we're in Europe.
Speaker 2:I was having a ball came back that morning.
Speaker 1:We got home very, very late. I felt terrible, like terrible, terrible, terrible. We had to go to La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and see Gaudi's big church thing. Whatever he made, it was amazing. And I was so hungry though like I was so hungry after drinking all that night and dancing and doing like 20, 30,000 steps that whole day I was almost going to pass out. So we found some food. We've got some orange juice, I got some fruit. I needed protein, but everywhere in Europe besides Greece, it just it was really hard to come across, just like a piece of chicken or I just really struggled Anyway.
Speaker 1:Anyway had some carbs, still didn't feel good, I still didn't feel nourished, but I felt better than feeling like I was, and I wasn't necessarily able to listen as well to the audio tour that we're on because I was so hungry and I was feeling so like just out of whack. Just it felt stressed. Yeah, I felt robbed of my energy. I just I didn't have.
Speaker 1:I didn't have anything to give. So I think if you're going to the gym and you're not well fed, if you're trying to do work, work, and you're not well fed, if you're trying to have a deep conversation with someone and and you're stressed out and you're not well fed, you're not well hydrated, these are going to impact your interpretation of yourself, your interpretation of others, your interpretation of your work. It's going to interrelate to everything that you do and how you show up for yourself too. Um, yeah, that that's what I have to say about that.
Speaker 2:So now to say, and in extension, that if you're constantly putting bad food into your gut, your gut becomes inflamed. Yes, your vagus nerve has a direct link from gut to brain. So guts inflamed vagus nerve is now telling brain in body is inflamed. This is like caffeine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like if the first thing you have of the day is caffeine, your gut is already having extra anxiety. Almost yes, because it's stimulated. It's not like coffee's not anxiety, but it's stimulating.
Speaker 2:You've put stress into your body, so you're actually starting the day more stressed than normal. And if you're starting the day well, stressed, you're constantly in fight or flight state, which means your heart rate's going to be elevated. You can't breathe properly, yes, you're not going to be able to digest properly. Your blood pressure's going to be increased. Your blood circulation, blood flow is going to be very stagnant because, remember, you can't heal in a fight or flight state. You have to, like the body heals, in a rest and digest and calm sites state. So I lost my words.
Speaker 2:But when you're in that state, like you can't function optimally, no, so it's like you're already starting your day and setting yourself up in a stress state, not necessarily setting yourself up for failure, but you're setting yourself up or you're starting the day in a way that your body cannot optimally function, yes, and you can experience brain fog as well. You know, if your body is teething, you're in this super stressed state. You then start to develop low mood, brain fog, body's feeling inflamed and then it's like a constant snowball effect in terms of you're not getting good serotonin levels, your mood's very low, um, work is just so heavy, go, go, go.
Speaker 2:You start to get very tight through your neck, through your shoulders, because you're constantly taking in those short breaths, you're constantly restricted, and then it's just a continuation of that snowball effect I would say, though, strategy for those who do have caffeine in the morning, as a first go-to, pair it with some form of food, so that you can actually digest, because when you just have a liquid it goes straight through you, goes straight through your bloodstream.
Speaker 1:It's very easily absorbable because it's liquid already. There's no actual peristalsis that needs to happen in the gut to actually break down any of that macro level food. So if you are going to have liquid, either have a protein shake with it and maybe pair some for banana, that's probably like the best thing I got or berries with a protein shake is very nice, so it's a little bit more digestible. So the body slowly releases that caffeine in the bloodstream. Um, does that?
Speaker 2:make sense. Yeah, and we spoke about this in terms of, like, nutrition and inflammation and your gut and your body. We actually spoke about this last, on our last episode. So if you want to learn more about how to feel your body, right, jump on our last episode, um, where we speak about that in quite a bit of detail.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did, I think, um, just to wrap up as well, like you've done such a good job. I think you've really gone into detail, steph, so I hope the audience is thoroughly understanding, firstly, how to notice if they're breathing correctly and if they can improve, and also just some like little tidbits here and there in terms of what you're doing with your breathing and outdoor spaces, being more aware of your conscious environment, and how you can make some adjustments, and also what you're doing with your body and what you're doing with nutrition to help with the vagus nerve, but also just other activities, like we were saying before, not just meditation, not just ice bars. Find what works for you so that you're able to implement it easier. Make it easy for yourself, don't make it hard and try. Do the thing that you think, like what the influencers are doing.
Speaker 1:Don't worry about what they're doing. Don't worry about what me and steph are doing. Do what you think is going to help you, because that's that's the only person that matters in this conversation. Is you like? We all have our own ways working. We have our own ways of helping our stress levels.
Speaker 2:You've really got to find what's going to be easy to implement in your day yeah, and if you have any questions around your breathing or exercises, you can do as a starting point, um, you can always reach out to us. Or in terms of, you know, stimulating your vagus nerve, you know you can always jump online and you can actually like google vagal tone and vagus nerve if you want to learn more about that and um, yeah, if you have any other questions, you know where to find us.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I think that was good. Hopefully, that provided just a better insight and a bit more awareness around the importance of breathing well yeah and how that can be linked into stress I agree, I love it.
Speaker 1:I forgot about the exhalation today, so it was like a good mental reminder for me that yeah, it's not about the inhalation but an exhalation. That's right. Yes, yeah, cool, beautiful. Thanks everyone.