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Good morning and welcome to Episode 058 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

Today Dr. Trayford shares brain training tip 58! There is just so much potential for one to be able to care for one’s brain. Today’s tip will give your brain more oxygen than it has had in a while! Dr. Trayford and Jason model this breathing technique so you can try it right along with them. Follow the 1:4:2 ratio for your breathing by inhaling, holding and exhaling. Dr. Trayford recommends doing this 10 times in a row; try to fit three sessions into your day. You’ll feel more calm immediately!

In this tip we touch on a previous breathing technique (Cross Reference in Final). This tip looks at a breathing exercise that uses a 1:4:2 ratio. This relates to the amount of time it takes you to breathe in to the amount of time you hold it and the amount of time you breathe out. So 1:4:2. If it takes you four seconds to breathe in, you would hold it for sixteen seconds and then breathe out for eight.

The average person breathes in from anywhere from four to five seconds and with these exercise you want to breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. This allows you to purse your lips to slow down the rate you exhale. Most people breathe out way too fast.

The most important part of this is controlling the rate that you exhale, but with this one you’re also adding the element of holding it a little bit. When you think about it. It’s a little bit like taking a wet towel or a sponge and ringing it out. Trying to get every last bit of water out.
This exercise is designed to get as much oxygen out of the air you breathe.

Breathe in through the nose. Hold it for 20. Then we breathe out for eight. And you want to breathe out until everything is out. You might even feel a little bit light headed.

Jason” I’m not light headed, but I am a little vulnerable at the moment.
For some people when they start doing this, they do feel a little light-headed at first simply because the brain isn’t used to getting that much oxygen.

It can be somewhat disorienting if you’re not breathing very well. We’ve actually had metabolically challenged individuals pass out from doing this.

Jason: So it’s the amount of oxygen you get that makes you feel light headed.

We can actually test this oxygen levels and we watch people’s oxygen levels go up. You see some people that are used to running at 94 or 95% and all of a sudden they’re holding at 100%. The brain is used getting rather cruddy fuel. So it takes a little bit for your brain to get used to it.

If you have challenges with breathing you might want to consult your physician.

You want to do a set of 10 of these exercises three to four times per day. And your brain can operate on a higher level. Make sure you’re sitting down, don’t be driving and try to be in an area with clean air. You don’t want to do it while you’re driving and sitting behind a truck putting out diesel exhaust.

If you have any concerns regarding the information and applications discussed in this podcast, please consult your physician and a doctor who is experienced in functional neurology. Michael Trayford DC, DACNB is available for consultation by calling (828) 708-5274. Thanks for listening. Continue reading →