Rethinking Breathing: Strategic Overhaul for Enhanced Performance

You might think you know how to breathe, but did you know a majority of us (65%) don't do it quite right? Are you sure you are not one of them? Just as a savvy executive reevaluates business strategies, it's time you reassess your breathing. Coach @Thomas Hague is enlightening us in how to amplify the ROI on your breathing, much like optimizing a key business operation.

Diaphragmatic Breathing: Maximizing Efficiency

Diaphragmatic breathing is like streamlining a business process - it's about light, deep, slow (LSD) breathing that fully engages your diaphragm, akin to leveraging every resource in your company for maximum output. This technique enhances lung capacity and oxygen absorption, boosting your body's performance engine by 20%, Breathing deeper (increased TV) and slower (lower RR) can actually increase the amount of air entering your lungs (MV), akin to boosting your operational efficiency by 20%. (Respiratory rate (RR) x Tidal Volume (TV) = Minute ventilation (MV).

Nose vs. Mouth: Choosing the Right Business Tool

Breathing through your nose rather than your mouth is like choosing the right tool for the right job in business. The nose warms, filters, and humidifies the air, delivering more oxygen to the working cells, organs and the brain, which by itself consumes 20% of the oxygen in every breath we take.  It also helps regulate critical functions to keep you calm and focused – exactly what you need in a high-pressure business meeting or at the starting line of a race.

Mouth Breathing: Inefficient Strategy with Diminished Returns
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Breathing through your mouth? It's like running a production line at suboptimal capacity. It will feel easy, but it keeps the inefficiencies in the system covered up, lacking the ability for continuous improvement, that can boost the output when it really matters. Mouth breathing can lead to shallow breaths that don't fully utilize your full lungs' capacity, resulting in a “dead space” of untapped potential. It also will use secondary breathing muscles including the shoulders and neck muscles which can lead to injuries.

CO2: The Catalyst for Enhanced Performance

In the same way that a business needs a catalyst to drive growth, your body uses CO2 to enhance oxygen delivery to muscles - a key to improved performance under stress. This mirrors the role of strategic stressors in business that, when managed correctly, can lead to growth and enhanced performance in competitive markets. Breathing slower increases the levels of CO2 and reduces the oxygen saturation (SpO2) in your blood. This helps oxygen to be more readily released from the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin into the muscles that require it, known as the Bohr Effect. The higher concentration of CO2 also improves our tolerance, which in turn increases performance.

Your Diaphragm: The Core of Business Stability

Just as a strong core team is essential for business stability and success, a robust diaphragm is key to your breathing and overall health. The diaphragm isn't just another muscle helps maintaining stability and control – be it in your body's movements or in handling daily stress. Training your diaphragm for optimal performance is like training your team for peak efficiency - both lead to better results and endurance, whether in a marathon or a market competition.

Practicing Diaphragmatic Breathing

• Find Your Spot: Sit back or lie down in a comfy position. Ensure your tongue is resting in the top of your mouth gently pressing against your palate and sat behind your front 2 teeth. Let your body loosen up, shoulders relaxed, hands resting gently – one on your chest, the other just below your sternum on your diaphragm. 
• Inhale with Purpose: Inhale lightly, slowly, and deep through your nose, focusing on making your diaphragm move outwards as it contracts, pulls down, and creates Intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). Aim to minimise any movement in the chest and shoulders. Use your hands to give you feedback here or if you have a mirror observe your movements using that.
• Exhale Smoothly: Exhale slowly through your nose and not your mouth. This enables CO2 to stay in your lungs longer which helps deliver O2-rich blood to your muscles, cells, organs, and brain. As you exhale, the hand on your abdomen should move inwards, indicating the diaphragm returning to its natural resting position. 
• Repeat and Focus: Keep this rhythm going for several minutes. Feel the rise and fall of your abdomen, the gentle dance of your breath. As next steps you can use a book on your diaphragm instead of your hand and extend your exhale by one or two seconds to evoke parasympathetic tone, greater recovery times, increased HRV, and lowered HR. .

This exercise is more than just a breathing routine; it's about tuning your body to perform at its best, keeping you focused, and helping you recover faster. Remember, everyone's different, and your breathing is as unique as you are. So, while this is a great start, there's always more to explore in the art of breathing. Let's dive in together and unlock your full potential – both in the office and on the track.

Don't forget. It is the small daily steps that turn into positive habits, patterns, and beliefs ingrained in body and mind. Enjoy the journey!

BONUS TIP from @Coach Glenn: Use your own heartbeat to optimize your breathing. 

Heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) basically means breathing at the resonance frequency (RF) of your heartbeat, approximately 6 breaths/min or every 10 seconds. This significantly improves you heart rate variability (HRV), which is a key marker of health, mood and adaptation to stress. But do you do it?

If you find yourself calm enough, you might start noticing your heartbeat. In order to lower your breathing rhythm you can use your heartbeat as an internal clock and it helps with your inward meditative focus. Try out different patterns 3x breathing in through the nose (LSD), 3x breathing out through the nose (LSD). You can alternate to 4x4 or 5x5. See which relaxes you the most. You can also try to do a quick calculation by dividing your heartbeats/min in rest. by 10 and that should be the total beats per breath cycle. For instance 60 beats/min /10 = 6, hence 3 in + 3 out

Oxygen Series:

• The power of Oxygen with Coach Glenn (24/1/2024)
• Optimal Breathing with Coach Glenn and Thomas Hague (31/1/2024)
• Stress reduction in the boardroom with Coach Glenn and Rik Van Dijck (7/2/2024)
• Breathing patterns for executive athletes with Coach Glenn (14/2/2024)
• Hypoxic training, benefits and techniques with Coach Glenn and Olympeak tenten (21/2/2024)
• Conclusion: Executive wellbeing with Coach Glenn and Tim De Vilder (28/2/2024)

 

Introduction

Oxygen, the silent yet omnipresent force, is more than just a breath of air. It's the cornerstone of vitality, especially for those balancing the rigors of executive leadership with the demands of endurance sports. Understanding its multifaceted role not only enhances performance but also enriches overall well-being. Knowing that 65% of us are not breathing optimally is cause for pause.

Over the next few weeks, we will dig deeper into how business executives and executive athletes can harness the power of oxygen from efficient breathing and stress relief, to optimizing performance from race day to the boardroom. We want to start, however, by clarifying why oxygen is important in all aspects of health for all executives, athletes or not.

Cellular Respiration: The Fuel of Life and Decision-Making

Every moment, whether in a high-stakes meeting or during a grueling marathon, your cells are at work, converting glucose into the energy molecule ATP (Adenosine triphosphate), a process heavily reliant on oxygen. Remarkably, with oxygen, this conversion is about 15 times more efficient than its anaerobic counterpart. Imagine this efficiency mirrored in your daily business operations and athletic training, indispensable in sustaining both mental acuity and physical endurance.

Oxygen: The Brain's Silent Partner in High-Pressure Environments
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Your brain, a mere 2% of your body weight, commands an impressive 20% of its oxygen supply, reflecting its immense energy requirements, especially in cognitively demanding scenarios. In the high-pressure world of business, where split-second decisions can have monumental consequences, ensuring your brain is well-oxygenated is not just a health concern but a strategic advantage. Adequate oxygen supply ensures mental sharpness, creativity, and effective problem-solving, key attributes of successful leadership.

Strengthening the Immune System: Oxygen's Protective Role

As the guardian of your health, your immune system relies significantly on oxygen. This vital element fuels the cells that defend your body against illnesses, playing a pivotal role in maintaining a robust immune response. For business professionals and athletes alike, a strong immune system is non-negotiable. It's the foundation of resilience, enabling you to face daily challenges without the setback of illness. Lower oxygen levels can suppress immune function, emphasizing the importance of proper breathing and oxygenation for overall health and fortitude.

Wound Healing and Tissue Repair: A Miracle of Oxygen

In the fast-paced world of business and endurance sports, your body's ability to heal and repair is crucial. Oxygen plays a starring role in this process. Vital for wound healing and tissue regeneration, oxygen is the unsung hero in cellular repair processes. Just as a business leader fosters growth and recovery within their organization, oxygen facilitates the repair and regeneration of tissues. This process is essential, whether recovering from an intense workout or rebounding from the daily wear and tear of a busy executive life.