Protect Your Telomeres to Live Longer (and Better)

May 21, 2018 by Dave Asprey

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Telomeres are caps of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect your cells from aging.
These caps naturally wear down over time until they get so short that they can no longer protect the cell. Short telomeres are linked to chronic and degenerative diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s, and early death.
Scientists view telomere length as a reliable marker of your biological age (as opposed to your age by years.)
Telomeres naturally shorten over time, but you can protect and lengthen your telomeres with meditation, exercise, and a diet full of healthy fats and vegetables.

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Take a moment and picture the plastic tips on shoelaces — they protect the ends and stop the string from fraying. That’s one way scientists describe telomeres — caps of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect your cells from aging.

These caps naturally wear down over time. Each time a cell copies itself, telomeres shorten. They get shorter and shorter until they can no longer protect the cell. The cell then either stops growing or it dies in a process called apoptosis — or cellular suicide. Short telomeres are linked to a weakened immune system, chronic and degenerative diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s, and early death. Find out how you can hack your telomeres to live longer and better.

Telomeres and aging

The rate at which telomeres shorten could determine the pace at which you age. Scientists view telomere length as a reliable marker of your biological age (as opposed to your age by years.)[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5514388/ “]Telomeres naturally shorten over time, but certain habits, like smoking, excessive stress, not exercising, and a diet full of processed foods can accelerate the process. People with shorter telomeres than the average length for their age group have a higher risk for serious disease and early death.[ref url=” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3370421/ “] Shorter-than-average telomeres have been linked to heart disease and heart failure,[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17397675/”][ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17043079/ “] cancer,[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17416776″][ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19217888/”] diabetes,[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16443874/”] and osteoporosis.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17347788/”]

In one study, people over 60 with shorter telomeres had a three times higher risk of dying from heart disease, and an eight times higher risk of dying from an infectious disease. [ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/12573379/”]

During a recent Bulletproof Radio (iTunes) podcast episode, Elissa Epel, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of “The Telomere Effect,” says, “When we measure telomeres in midlife, they’re a pretty reliable predictor of who gets disease early and, in some studies, who dies early, so they do matter when we’re older.”

Telomeres and stress

While age and genes have the biggest influence on telomere length, stress follows closely behind.[ref url=”http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/10/chronic-stress.aspx”] In one study from George Mason University, women with kids had telomeres 4.2 percent shorter, or the equivalent of 11 years, than women without children. According to the researchers, the stress of child-rearing may be to blame.

In another study, also of women, those with the highest levels of perceived stress had telomeres shorter by the equivalent of one decade than women who said they experienced less stress.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/15574496/ “]

That’s an important finding — how you view your stress has as much bearing on telomere length as environmental stress. Learning to manage and lower your stress is a powerful way to preserve your telomeres and put the brakes on aging.

The type of stress also matters, and determines how big the impact is on telomere length. While adult stress can shorten telomeres,[ref url=”https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0968000402021102″] people who experience multiple traumas like abuse and neglect as children have higher odds of developing shorter telomeres as adults.[ref url=” http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/09/28/1525602113″] Exposing the body to many years of high arousal accelerates cellular aging, more than single stressful events. “Childhood events may embed epigenetically and alter gene expression almost permanently,” write researchers in one study.

How you can lengthen and protect your telomeres

The good news is that you have a lot of control over the wear-and-tear of your telomeres. And even if you have shorter telomeres, it’s not a done deal — you can lengthen them with certain habits and behaviors. Here’s how to do it:

Meditate

Since how you perceive your stress counts, finding ways to feel more in control is key. Meditation gives you that time and space to sort out your thoughts, so you can recognize which worries are valid, and which are not. This changes your perception and experience of stress. A 2009 paper suggests that mindfulness meditation lowers stress, which in turn could preserve telomeres.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19735238 “] Another study found that women who practiced loving kindness meditation (a technique that encourages compassion) had longer telomeres than women who didn’t.[ref url=”https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159113001736 “] Carve out time each day (put it in the calendar if you have to) to quieten your thoughts and focus on your breath. Even a quick five-minute meditation in the middle of your workday can calm your nervous system and do wonders for your sense of wellbeing.

Limit exposure to air pollution

If you live near a highway or have a long commute, this one could be hard. But air pollution does affect telomere length. One study found that traffic officers had shorter telomeres than people who worked in an office.[ref url=” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19772576/”] Consider investing in a high-efficiency particulate (HEPA) air filter, and sleep with your windows closed if you live near a busy road.

Get active

Yet another benefit of exercise — it reduces oxidative stress and boosts proteins that help stabilize telomeres. [ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19948976/”] In one study, men and women who didn’t exercise much or at all were biologically older by 10 years than those who were very active. But you don’t need to run a marathon or put in hours each day at the gym. People who do moderate aerobic exercise just 45 minutes, three times a week, have telomeres similar in length to marathon runners.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5546536/”]

“There is such a marginal benefit of being a marathoner versus being a moderately fit person who’s doing endurance jogging,” says Epel. “There are other more important things to do than to exercise for hours a day.”

But take note office workers: “It’s not just how active you are,” says Epel, “it’s really how much sitting you do, so people like me are in trouble. I exercise every day, but I sit on my butt for hours the rest of the time.” Get up regularly from your desk — at least once every hour — and walk around or do some stretching. A standing desk, although pricey, is a great long-term investment in your health.

Maintain a healthy weight

Obesity causes telomeres to wear down quicker. One study found that the loss of telomeres in obese people was equivalent to 9 years of life.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19255364/”] One way to keep your weight steady is to practice intermittent fasting — when you cycle in and out of periods of eating and not eating. Intermittent fasting not only boosts weight loss, it makes cells more resilient and promotes cellular repair. It also lowers oxidative stress — when free radicals overpower the antioxidants in the body. Since oxidative stress shortens telomeres, reducing this type of stress will help preserve them.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14623283″]

Boost your NAD+ levels

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (known as NAD+) is a coenzyme, found in every cell, that rewires your metabolism and activates sirtuins — proteins that help maintain the length of your telomeres.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18337721/”] Since NAD+ levels drop as you get older, consider taking supplements of this coenzyme or practice intermittent fasting, which increases NAD+ supplies.

Load up on healthy fats and veggies

One study found that telomeres didn’t shorten as quickly in people with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids than people with low levels of the fats.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20085953/ “] Another study found that women with shorter telomeres and lower levels of vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta carotene had an increased risk of developing breast cancer.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19089916/”] Eat plenty of lightly cooked leafy greens and broccoli, berries, wild salmon, and other fatty fish.

“Eat your damn vegetables,” says Michael Fossel, MD, PhD, author of “The Telomerase Revolution”, in a Bulletproof Radio (iTunes) podcast. “It’s really not rocket science when it comes to maintaining telomeres.” But he emphasizes that moderation is key: “You need a good diet, but if what you do is end up stressing yourself worrying about it the whole time, you’ll just undercut yourself. Chill out, relax, go meditate.”

Give TA-65 supplements a try

Made from a Chinese root, this supplement claims to activate telomerase — the enzyme that rebuilds telomeres. A 2009 study found that TA-65 increased telomere length and lessened DNA damage in mice. But before you rush out to buy it, it doesn’t come cheap — expect to shell out $600 for a three-month supply. A slightly cheaper option is cycloastragenol — believed to be the active ingredient of TA-65. One study found that, like TA-65, it activated telomerase in mice.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25095809″]

Test your telomeres at home

You can now order telomeres testing kits in the mail. With the prick of a finger or swab of a cheek, companies like TeloYears and Titanova tell you how your telomeres compare in length to others your age. Whether the information is accurate is another story — people have received conflicting results when trying different tests.[ref url=”http://www.kpbs.org/news/2017/may/19/teloyears-titanovo-telomere-testing/ “] [ref url=”https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/science/i-had-my-dna-picture-taken-with-varying-results.html”]

Most scientists agree that while knowing your telomere length could nudge you to adopt healthier habits, there are still too many unknowns. For instance, it’s not clear whether telomeres are the same length throughout all tissues and cells of the body.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166469/”] So a test that analyses telomeres in saliva may be offering just a small snapshot of the bigger picture.

Tests typically cost around $100 a pop — money perhaps better spent on a fresh farmer’s market haul or new walking shoes.

How TV Star Erik Tsou Shed His Depression and Became a Happy Father

May 18, 2018 by Team Asprey

At one point, father and husband Erik Tsou weighed 220 pounds, and as he points out, he isn’t a tall person. Born with achondroplasia or dwarfism, Tsou acknowledges his struggles with weight started in childhood. Now, glancing at a photo of himself at that weight, Tsou admits he looked happy – it was a fun time in his life – but his health suffered tremendously from the excess weight.

The tipping point for Tsou arrived with his mother’s declining health from diabetes. “Then [her death] really changed my life and made me think about how I wanted to live. I wanted to be healthy.” So, from 2009 to 2011, Tsou embarked on a disciplined fitness routine, hitting the gym five days a week. He lost 40 pounds, though eventually his progress plateaued.

While he was disappointed that his health improvements had apparently maxed out, there was another light in his life. He met his wife, Tracy, who starred on the reality TV show “Little Women: LA.” “We got married and right away we wanted to have a child,” Tsou shared. “Though then we had two miscarriages and it was very hard on Tracy.”

Around the same time, Tsou woke one morning and went to get out of bed when his leg gave out. A specialist confirmed his leg wasn’t receiving sufficient fluid from his spine and he’d need surgery. “After the surgery, I was definitely not the same man…not just physically but mentally.” Tsou shares that his depression took a long time to heal.

However, another tipping point came one morning when Tsou tried Bulletproof Coffee. “I made [the coffee], and that day, I was hooked. It has changed my life to a point where I’m able to get through my day being kickass.”

As his life started to change for the better, Tsou received more terrific news. Tracy confirmed that they would have a baby. “[The baby] was going to be a boy and he was going to be average height… Happy is not even the word to describe it,” Tsou shared with delight.

Tsou opened up about how he hopes his son will see him one day. “I want my son to look at his father and say, ‘We all deal with something in our life, but It’s not about what you’re dealing with, it’s how you overcome the obstacle.”

Now a grateful husband and father, Tsou believes Bulletproof Coffee and a Bulletproof lifestyle have made him a better person. “I look forward to waking up in the morning because I know I’m going to have my Bulletproof Coffee. I’m going to be ready to start my day and make it count.”

Here’s Why Everybody Needs a Vitamin D Supplement

May 18, 2018 by Team Asprey

Standing in the hot Miami sunshine, Dave Asprey breaks down the science behind a very Bulletproof nutrient – vitamin D – which you can get from the sun and in supplement form. Watch this video to learn what you need to know if you’re taking vitamin D supplements and why sunlight is actually your best way to get it. Here’s what you’ll also learn about vitamin D:

Vitamin D health benefits, including radiant skin and fending off disease
How to properly expose yourself to the sun for vitamin D benefits
How to combine sunlight and supplementation for best vitamin D levels
What your vitamin D levels should be
The benefits of taking vitamin K2 with vitamin D
Why you want to get sunshine in your eyes each day

Since most people don’t get enough vitamin D via the sun — blame desk jobs and sunscreen — supplementing with D3 will help boost energy, balance hormone levels and keep your risk of many diseases, including cancer and heart disease, low. Aim for 125mcg, or 5,000 IU, a day. Be sure not to take vitamin D without vitamin K2.

Try: Vitamins A-D-K The combination works together to support your bones, heart, and immune system.

The Secret to Longevity: Keep Your Heart (and Mitochondria) Strong

May 17, 2018 by Team Asprey

If you want to live forever, or at least until 180 like Dave, look to your heart. In a recent Bulletproof Radio (iTunes) podcast episode, mechanical engineer-turned-physician Peter Attia, who now specializes in the applied science of longevity, revealed that a strong and healthy heart is the real secret to longevity.

Proof? According to Attia, centenarians live longer than the rest of us because of their genes. Yet they still fall prey to the same diseases the rest of us get, only decades later — and what always takes them down, says Attia, is heart disease.

What you might find even more surprising: The key to a healthy heart actually lies in your mitochondria, those miniscule powerhouses in your cells that fuel your entire body, including your heart.

How mitochondrial health equals a strong and lasting heart

Arteries fail due to chronic inflammation

Conventional medicine doesn’t always get it right with heart disease – from diagnostic tests to heart-healthy advice, there’s a lot that’s unclear regarding how to properly care for your good ole pumper.

So first, some background information that’ll simplify any confusion:

Cholesterol isn’t the real villain when it comes to heart attacks and strokes. Your arteries go out – first and foremost – due to inflammation.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5003124/”] Remember, at its root, and in acute instances like when you cut your finger, inflammation is just your body’s way of protecting itself. In that instance, a swat team of white blood cells surround your cut, protecting it from infection.

However, chronic inflammation – when that same swat team of white blood cells are on duty 24-7 without rest or a water break, so to speak – causes bigger problems. Your body begins to rebel against itself because it’s overloaded. In the case of your heart, inflammation wreaks serious havoc because it leads to the buildup of fatty deposits called plaque.[ref url=”http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2012/12/international-study-points-to-inflammation-as-cause-of-plaque-buildup-in-heart-vessels-researchers-say.html”] Your body thinks plaque is foreign, so your white blood cells try to fend it off. Yet, when the white blood cells are overloaded from combating plaque — and eventually unsuccessful — the plaque ruptures. Its contents leak into your blood and create a clot that blocks healthy blood flow. These clots lead to the majority of most heart attacks.[ref url=”https://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-matters-magazine/news/behind-the-headlines/blood-clot-breakdown-and-heart-attack-prevention”]

Chronic inflammation is linked to poor mitochondrial health

To keep your arteries strong and clear of plaque, you need to reduce body-wide inflammation. Without inflammation, cholesterol can’t accumulate in your arteries to begin with. The best way to keep inflammation at bay? Plain and simple: manage and maintain your mitochondrial health. Here’s why:

Mitochondria make the body’s most basic fuel called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from oxygen and food you consume. If you eat crappy, inflammatory foods, the fuel it produces will also be faulty — and you won’t operate at your best. Think of ATP as the gas in your car. If you get a junk tank of fuel, your car won’t hum like it should.

In addition to fueling your body, mitochondria break down cellular waste to use as fuel.[ref url=”https://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/brain-drain-glymphatic-pathway-clears-av-requires-water-channel”] However, if mitochondia are overstressed and overworked, the waste builds up and mitochondria weaken. Your body won’t be able to handle even small everyday exposure to toxins, like pesticides or pollution, because your mitochondria aren’t functioning properly.

The connection between mitochondrial health and a strong heart

Your heart muscles have more mitochondria than any other organ in your body – 5,000-10,000 mitochondria per cell, in fact.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23271420″] These little guys are necessary because your heart muscle cells have the high-demand job of continuously pumping day-in and day-out over your entire lifetime. They never, ever get a break.

That’s why the way to a strong heart – and a bad-ass long life – is by bringing your A-game to mitochondrial health.

6 mitochondrial ways to a strong heart

Here are six mitochondrial fixes that will ramp up your cardiovascular system STAT:

Minimize your exposure to 3 environmental toxins

Most chronic inflammation is the result of unwanted substances in the body, such as environmental toxins like pesticides, mold, and food toxins called mycotoxins.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4579563/”] Science strongly supports the fact that environmental toxicity lowers mitochondrial function[ref url=”https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/134/1/1/1666668″][ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4312177/”], which in turns lowers vascular function.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3786553/”] To keep your mitochrondria in tip-top shape, eliminate these three toxins:

Pesticides

Pesticides like glyphosate, the active ingredient used in weedkillers like Roundup, affect mitochondrial ability to generate ATP.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16263381″] While it’s nearly impossible to avoid glyphosate completely – unless you live off-the-grid on your own land – there are steps you can take to both minimize your exposure and get pesticides and herbicides out of your body.

Eat organic food that originates from sustainable farming practices. This reduces your exposure to water- and soil-based chemicals. The Bulletproof Diet is based on organic food for this very reason.
Detoxify from chemicals that are already in your body by breaking a sweat. Both exercise and time in a sauna help your body to excrete chemicals naturally.[ref url=”https://search.proquest.com/openview/b5c17f8e0ea2f658e4a92f6b9339509f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=32528″] Read on for more ways to detoxify from glyphosate.

Environmental mold

Mold, particularly as a result of water-damaged buildings, is a definitive culprit in compromised mitochondrial function[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654247/”], Follow these steps to minimize your mold exposure immediately.

If you suspect mold in your home, have it professionally inspected. An ERMI (Environmental Relative Moldiness Index) Air Test evaluates the risk for indoor mold growth and associated health effects in your home or office.
Remove and remediate any existing mold from your home. If an ERMI reveals you do live in a mold-ridden environment, get out immediately. Stay with family or friends until a remediation specialist has given you the green light to go home again.
Prevent new mold from forming in your bathroom and other damp areas with Homebiotic, a probiotic spray that prevents mold growth.

For more tips on how to combat mold, read Top 11 Ways to Beat Toxic Mold In Your Home And Life.

Mycotoxins

Toxins in food called mycotoxins also inhibit mitochondrial function.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3268453/”] Mycotoxins, produced by mold, arise from the manipulation of food – through growing, cooking, and fermentation processes. To keep mycotoxins out of your body, avoid foods that most often contain them (more on that below) and take supplements to detox from mold exposure.

Avoid gluten, yeast, wheat, corn, grain (other than white rice), barley, peanuts, cottonseed, grain-fed meat and dairy, mushrooms, and commonly available chocolate. Even unfiltered tap water, unfiltered alcoholic beverages (beer and wine), and commonly available coffee can contain high mycotoxin levels.
Consume more organic vegetables and wild-caught fish, which bind to mycotoxins, thereby helping to remove them from your body.

Avoid overeating, especially sugary carbs

Overeating can cause you to get LPSs (lipopolysaccharides) which cause mitochondrial inflammation[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4691133/”], and have been linked to everything from Parkinson’s Disease to autism.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3025048/”] LPS is a compound made of fats and sugar that’s normally protective. However, when LPSs release into the bloodstream, they become a dangerous toxin that drives up inflammation. The solution? Eat plenty of fibrous veggies rather than binging on sugary carbs.

Bind and release your toxins

Take supplements that bind to toxins and flush them out of your system. Those include calcium d-glucarate, chlorella, and charcoal. Activated charcoal can absorb chemicals, drugs, pesticides, mercury, and even lead before they inflame your body.[ref url=”https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hn-5203004″] Take 1-2 charcoal pills after you suspect exposure. Read Activated Charcoal: A Strange Way to Detox for more tips on how to use activated charcoal to bind unwanted materials from your body and release them rapidly.
Get all the details on the best supplements to eliminate toxins here.

Increase bile flow throughout your body

Bile is a fluid that helps you to digest fat properly, as well as to break down toxins. It’s secreted by the liver, though stored in the gallbladder. With insufficient bile, your body will have trouble binding and excreting the toxins that accumulate in it.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4091928/”] It’s somewhat of a catch-22 because toxins impair your body’s ability to produce bile, yet bile is a necessity to help you excrete toxins. What to do?

Consume saturated fats, like grass-fed meat and butter, to stimulate bile production.[ref url=”https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00897604/document”]
Avoid foods containing mold alfatoxins like peanuts, corn, milk, cheese, nuts, and soybeans that impair liver function, thus lowering bile production.[ref url=”https://www.nature.com/articles/215882a0″]
Supplement with ox bile and lipase. Most people have been on a low-fat diet at one time or another, which has the effect of down-regulating the natural bile production in your gallbladder. When you switch to a high-fat diet, take the enyzme lipase to help you to digest fat better. Aim for a high-quality lipase supplement that is free of toxic mold species like Aspergillus. You can also combine lipase with ox bile, which further assists to break down fats and promote fat-soluble vitamin absorption.

Supplement to support maximal mitochondrial health

Supplementation can go a long way toward improved mitochondrial health. In particular, Bulletproof offers two supplements that help you sustain high energy at the cellular level:

Unfair Advantage helps your mitochondria to create more energy (ATP) and keeps them running at peak performance. This formula pairs active PQQ with CoQ10, a well-known enhancer of mitochondrial function, to increase its overall effects.
KetoPrime mimics the effect of calorie restriction, which assists your body to create new mitochondria. KetoPrime also helps to boost the overall output of your mitochondria, thereby giving you clean-burning energy sans jittery stimulants.

493. It’s Not Dementia, It’s Distraction: Dr. Peter Attia

May 17, 2018 by Dave Asprey

Deep Breathing Strengthens Your Brain and Boosts Attention Span, Says New Study

May 16, 2018 by Team Asprey

It turns out the yoga masters were right — breathing properly really can improve your attention span and help you focus better. A new study has found a direct neurophysiological link between the breath and the brain.[ref url=”https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psyp.13091″]

Breathing regulates noradrenaline, study finds

Researchers at Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and the Global Brain Health Institute found that focused breathing affects levels of noradrenaline, a natural brain chemical messenger. Noradrenaline gets released into the bloodstream when you are curious, focused, or emotionally aroused. It enhances your attention to detail and improves overall brain health by promoting the growth of new neural connections.

When you’re stressed, you produce too much noradrenaline, making it difficult to focus. When you’re feeling lethargic, you produce too little of it, which also makes it hard to focus.

The researchers measured the study participants’ breathing patterns, their attention span, and activity in an area of the brainstem called the locus coeruleus — where noradrenaline is made. They found that those who focused well on a demanding task had better synchronization between their breathing patterns and attention, as opposed to those who had poor focus and inconsistent breathing patterns.

“This study has shown that as you breathe in, locus coeruleus activity is increasing slightly, and as you breathe out it decreases,” says Michael Melnychuk, PhD candidate at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and lead author of the study. “Put simply, this means that our attention is influenced by our breath and that it rises and falls with the cycle of respiration. It is possible that by focusing on and regulating your breathing you can optimize your attention level and likewise, by focusing on your attention level, your breathing becomes more synchronized.”

Breathing exercises could help those with ADHD and traumatic brain injuries

The researchers suggest further research be done to help us better understand how breathwork can serve as an alternative to medication for people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and traumatic brain injuries, as well as slow down or prevent cognitive decline as we age.

“Brains typically lose mass as they age, but less so in the brains of long-term meditators,” says Melnychuk. “More ‘youthful’ brains have a reduced risk of dementia, and mindfulness meditation techniques actually strengthen brain networks. This study provides one more reason for everyone to boost the health of their brain using a whole range of activities ranging from aerobic exercise to mindfulness meditation.”

Two breathing practices that improve concentration

Curious what type of breathing practices lead to greater concentration? There are two types to choose from, depending on what it is that’s affecting your difficulty concentrating.

If you’re easily distracted and therefore can’t concentrate, mindfulness meditation will help you focus better. Mindful meditation homes in on the sensations of breathing — without attempting to control your breath. Your goal is to simply observe.
If your state of arousal — you’re drowsy while driving or you’re having a panic attack – is affecting your ability to focus, controlled breathing like pranayama can help by calming your nervous system.

Once you’ve figured out which breathing technique is most suitable for you, follow these step-by-step guides for great concentration:

Mindfulness breathing

Mindfulness breathing is used during a typical mindfulness meditation session to help you bring your attention to the present moment. As you allow yourself to experience the fullness of your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations during mindfulness meditation, you use the breath as your navigational compass. You observe the in-breath and out-breath without trying to change it. In this way, the breath becomes your most basic tool to bring you into the present moment after your fleeting thoughts and feelings pass. A typical mindfulness meditation session lasts 15-20 minutes, practiced once a day.

Step-by-step guide to mindfulness breathing

Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position or lie down if that’s more comfortable..
Close your eyes.
Center yourself on your breath — just observe its natural rhythm without making an effort to adjust it.
Focus on the rise and fall of your chest, the sensation in your nostrils, and the sound the breath makes in your throat.
If you’re feeling really irritated or stressed, you can use mindfulness breathing to calm down by counting. Inhale through your nose for 3 seconds, hold the breath for 2 seconds, then exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds. Then return to your normal breath and continue to observe.

Pranayama breathing

Pranayama breathing, also known as belly breathing, is a yogic technique that helps you to breathe with your diaphragm. According to pranayama yoga, there are three kinds of breathing.

High breathing – breathing primarily with your upper chest and lungs — leads to shallow breathing and is what you do when you’re stressed or angry.
Low breathing –the best form of breathing –uses your lower abdomen and diaphragm to pull air in and out of your lungs.
Middle breathing – in between high and low breathing – is better than high breathing, though not as good for you as low breathing.

Knowing that low breathing is best for you is step number one. Now, how do you do it? Essentially, you’ll want to focus on breathing into your stomach. First, inhale through your nose, which will cause your stomach to compress, then you follow the breath up your body. Your chest and shoulder blades will not move, though your stomach will extend.

Step-by-step guide to pranayama breathing

Inhale (Puraka in yoga-speak) one continuous, long breath.
Pause and hold (Abhyantara Kumbhaka) before exhaling without moving your muscles.
Exhale (Rechaka) in a controlled, relaxed, and continuous fashion.
Pause after exhaling (Bahya Kumbhaka), just as you did for the first pause.
Start the cycle over again.

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