This Simple Breathing Advice From A Nobel Prize Winner Can Turn The Tables On Stress During The Coronavirus Lockdown – Forbes

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Just breathe is basic advice thats easy to ignore. But when dealing with increased stressas we are during these strange pandemic weekssimple, controlled breathing is one of the best tools available for getting a grip on our emotions and the effects of stress on our bodies. And it happens to be the one tool we dont have to go anywhere to find its accessible with just a bit of advice and a little time.

First, lets get right to the point and then get into some of the details:

Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth with a simple, controlled breathing exercise like box breathing, bubble breathing or the 4-7-8 method.You can find these and other exercises described many places online and in a variety of relaxation apps. The specific exercise isnt important what matters is finding a straightforward way of facilitating controlled breathing.

Why in through your nose and out through your mouth?

The answer to that question comes from a top-shelf scientific source: Louis J. Ignarro, PhD, the Nobel-Prize winning researcher who co-discovered (with two other researchers) the molecule at the center of the subject, called nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide, also termed NO, is a gaseous molecule that is produced by our arteries in all organs to regulate cardiovascular function. NO causes the muscle cells (smooth muscle) enveloping arteries to relax, thereby causing vasodilation or widening of the arteries, writes Ignarro in a new paper on nitric oxide and COVID-19. This physiological action results in a decrease in blood pressure within the arteries and increased blood flow to all organs through the dilated arteries.

Ignarro, who is also professor emeritus of pharmacology at the UCLA School of Medicine, explains that NO plays vital roles throughout our brains and bodies, some of which were still learning about.

Nitric oxide turns out to be a ubiquitous molecule with many different properties. For example, not only does NO relax smooth muscle, but NO also reacts chemically with certain other molecules in cells to alter their function.

To maximize NO while breathing, Ignarro says he tells everyone to do one simple thing.

One thing I urge everyone to practice during this coronavirus pandemic is to breathe or inhale through your NOSE and exhale through your mouth. The cells and tissues in the nose, but not the mouth, constantly and continuously produce nitric oxide, which is a gas. The physiological significance of this is that nasally-derived NO improves oxygen delivery into the lungs by causing bronchodilation.

So by breathing in through the nose, we draw in the NO gas thats produced in our nasal membranes, pulling it into our lungs where it expands airways and boosts oxygen delivery to our brains and throughout our bodies. This process results in relaxed blood vessels and muscle tissue, both of which are experiencing tension and pressure during periods of stress.

Ignarro says getting more NO into your lungs may also provide protection against viruses and bacteria. The NO produced by our own cells can interact with molecules in invading cells such as bacteria, parasites and viruses to kill them or inhibit their replication or spread. Iganarro is working with other researchers to investigate the effects of NO on COVID-19 in the lungs.

Inhaling through your mouth will NOT accomplish this, he adds. By the same token, exhaling through your nose is highly wasteful in that you would be expelling the NO away from the lungs, where it is needed most.

So, coming back to the simple breathing exercises, no matter which one you choose, its important to follow Ignarros advice and maximize NO with each breath.

When you do, you may avail yourself of the well-researched benefits of controlled breathing, including regulating heart rate and blood pressure, tapping into the brains emotional control regions, and potentially even sharpening your memory. On the more speculative end of the research, its also possible that controlled breathing may boost the immune system and improve energy metabolism.

The bottom line: simple, controlled breathing that maximizes NO is one of the most efficient, straightforward stress-management tools available to us, and we dont have to go anywhere or buy anything to get it. Just breathe.

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This Simple Breathing Advice From A Nobel Prize Winner Can Turn The Tables On Stress During The Coronavirus Lockdown - Forbes