Patrick McKeown explains when to use box breathing versus 4-7-8 breathing. Box breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system; 4-7-8 stimulates the vagus nerve through prolonged exhalation. He also recommends light, slow nose breathing as a daily habit to boost nitric oxide.
Questions this episode answers
Inhale 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds, exhale 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds.
Inhale 4 seconds, hold 7 seconds, exhale 8 seconds.
Chapters
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My question was I've been practicing with a few different breathing techniques like 4, 7, 8 breathing, box breathing, etc. But I was wondering what's the sense or nonsense of doing this kind of exercises or are there better. You partially answered it during the session or there are better alternatives to practice and control the breath than doing these kind of exercises?
Both exercise are good if you think of box breathing. If you're breathing in for four, holding for four, out for four, holding for four, as you breathe in for four seconds and then you hold your breath for four seconds. This gives enough time for oxygen transfer from the lungs into the blood. Then you exhale slowly for four and you hold your breath for four. So you're activating the parasympathetic response and stimulating the vagus nerve. But then during the breath hold for four seconds, nitric oxide pools in the nose and you breathe in for four. You're carrying that nitric oxide in. So that's all good with the second exercise as well. Is it 4, 7, 8, we don't teach it ourselves. But again, breathing in for four, is it a suspension for seven and then an exhalation for eight?
Yep, yep, that's right.
So it's prolonged exhalation again. It's going to be helping to activate the body's relaxation response. Prolonged exhalation stimulates the vagus nerve. Now you could do it this way, do it with air hunger and that would even make it better. Again. So breathe in so light and so slow for four. And when you're breathing in for four, you can have your hands either side of your lower ribs. So this way you could breathe in for 4, 7, 8 and target the biochemistry and the biomechanics as well. And of course, it's not just about doing the breathing exercise during the day, but it's about thinking, how should you be breathing throughout the day? Nose light, slow and deep.
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