Transcript

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (0:00 - 3:45)
Why are we insisting on the word happiness? Because we're thinking long term here. We're thinking about a revolution in the way people think about the good life.

A revolution in terms of the way people think and pursue life's ultimate currency. Happiness. Hello, everyone, and welcome.

Wow, I'm amazed. So from Denver, Colorado, from Berlin, Germany, from Nairobi, Kenya, Buenos Aires, Albania, Brazil, Seattle, USA, Florida, USA, Ireland, Cocoa Beach, Ecuador, Mexico, Singapore. Amazing.

Welcome, everyone, wherever you are and whenever you are. Some of you, you're up late. You know, sleep is also important for happiness.

Breath is, but so is sleep. It's wonderful to see you here. We have a very exciting hour ahead of us.

For those of you who are with us for the first time, we have conversations with the world leaders and shakers in the field of well-being, of happiness. And what we at the Happiness Studies Academy do is share with you some of their ideas, thinking, and most importantly, practices. I'm very excited to be presenting our guest today.

You know, just earlier, I was running my weekly webinar. We have a master's in happiness studies that we offer online. And I was meeting with the students.

And we are just coming to an end of a summer semester. And a few weeks from now, we'll start our fall semester. And the fall semester is dedicated to what we call a happiness retreat.

While it's 100% online, you don't need to go to a physical retreat. What you do as part of that course is create your own space at home, in your office, wherever it is, where you commit to daily practices. One of the central practices that our students commit to as part of the happiness retreat, and again, this is one of the courses that they take as part of the master's in happiness studies.

One of the central practices is breathing. And the person who's responsible for that part of the course is none other than Anders Olsson, who's our guest today. He's an internationally recognized breathing expert and founder of Conscious Breathing.

He's inspired tens of thousands of people around the world to find their inner peace and improve their health and well-being just by doing something as simple as changing their daily breathing habits. He's the author of the wonderful book, Conscious Breathing. Anders Olsson has changed my life.

He's changed the lives of so many people. And I'm so grateful to have you with us today.

[Anders Olsson] (3:47 - 3:51)
Thank you, Tal, for that lovely introduction. I'm pleased to be here.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (3:53 - 4:01)
Anders, I'm going to jump right in to Conscious Breathing. What is Conscious Breathing?

[Anders Olsson] (4:03 - 5:34)
Yeah, it is. We talk about the three pillars. So the first one is breath awareness, the awareness of your daily breathing habits, an understanding of that you may breathe fast and shallow when you're stressed out, or you may hold your breath when you're angry, or starting to pay attention to how you breathe when you sit in the car in a traffic jam, or when you sit in front of the computer, when you eat, when you exercise, when you sleep, etc. And associated with that, the breath knowledge, the understanding of what happens in your body when you breathe in certain ways. And the second pillar is that using this knowledge to read and understand your nervous system, realizing that your breathing is a reflection of the autonomic nervous system, where we have a gas, the sympathetic part, which we also call fight, flight, and freeze.

And it's also stress and activity. And then we have the break, which is called the parasympathetic part. So with the inhale, if I'm exaggerating a little bit, I move in the direction towards fight, flight, and stress and activity, while the exhale, if I'm exaggerating again, takes us in the other direction.

And the third pillar is just then to use that knowledge and help what most people want and need to calm their nervous system.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (5:36 - 6:58)
So the three pillars is breath awareness, read and understand what excites us, what calms us down, and then to use that knowledge in order to calm our nervous system. As you were talking about it, you said the first pillar is breath awareness. I was holding my breath.

Yeah, it's very, very, very common. Yeah, and as soon as you said that, I let go. And that, of course, changes my experience.

So I have a few more questions. I want to go deeper in. And for those of you who are here, I'm going to go on for about 20 more, 25 more minutes maybe.

And then you'll have an opportunity to ask your questions. So if you have questions, write them down. Then we'll ask you to put your hand up and call on you.

But let me go a little bit deeper. You know, in your book, and, you know, I've also, you know, of course, read your book and then read books about your work because, you know, all the experts on breathing, you know, refer to your understanding and to your insights. You emphasize, you really emphasize breathing through your nose.

[Anders Olsson] (6:58 - 9:37)
Yeah. Why? Well, again, if you want to exaggerate, we could say that it's as natural to breathe through our mouth as it is to eat through our nose.

But maybe that's to draw it too far. But the nose is very, very important because it prepares the air for the airways and lungs. It warms and humidifies the air and it cleans a lot of the virus and bacteria and other particles that we inhale.

And research at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden tells us that we inhale up towards 100 billion particles in a single day. So it's a huge difference if we take in all of that through the mouth. The airways and the lungs will then be exposed to cold and dry air, full of bacteria and virus and other particles, meaning that they will be irritated and inflamed.

And when we have a tissue that is inflamed, it will swell. So it will be more narrow airways, which will force the air higher up in the chest. So even though we can breathe through our mouth, it's not very efficient.

And we should bear in mind that we do this activity of moving the air in and out of the lungs around 1,000 times an hour. So obviously, we want to do it in an efficient way. So nose breathing is far more efficient.

And the way the nose is constructed, it helps to drive the air to the lower part of the lungs. And that is where we want our air to end up, because that engages the diaphragm, our most important breathing muscle. We have most of the alveoli in the lower part of the lungs, which is where the gas exchange takes place, where the oxygen we inhale is transferred over to the blood, and the carbon dioxide produced in our body is transferred from the blood to the lungs, and we exhale it.

So when you use nasal breathing, it's a lot more efficient. And we replace, you can say, quantity with quality, because you need to breathe less. You need to breathe less?

Yeah, with nasal breathing, yes. Because when you breathe shallow, it's not very efficient. So you need to compensate.

It's similar to driving a car and having the parking brake slightly engaged. You need to push harder on the gas pedal. So you will breathe faster when you breathe through your mouth.

You will breathe more volume per each breath, yeah.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (9:37 - 10:09)
Mm-hmm. So I was watching those who have their cameras on when you said you need to breathe more through your nose, and simultaneously, I saw mouths being closed. So people started...

So we have two choices. One choice is that we take you with us everywhere to constantly remind us. What are other choices that we have for learning to breathe more through our nose, if it is that important?

[Anders Olsson] (10:12 - 10:48)
Yeah, I think a reason why a lot of us, we have a tendency to turn to mouth breathing way too fast, way too often when there are some stress in our lives. I think it's because we have these, what do you call it, mirror neurons in our brain, right? So we mirror.

So if we see a bunch of stressed out people, we will also be stressed out, and we will open our mouth just like they do. So if we start understanding the importance of nasal breathing, I'm sure we will be able to help each other to change this horrible habit. Yeah.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (10:50 - 11:22)
Okay. So changing society is one thing. So everyone becomes nasal breathers, or more of them become that, and then we'll watch them, we'll mirror them.

But short of that, what are the tips that you would give, again, two, three, four tips that you would give us that we can start right now, not next week, right now, so that we can breathe more in the right way, more consciously?

[Anders Olsson] (11:23 - 13:05)
Yeah. So the first tip is to pay attention to your daily breathing habit. Put your lamp on it, focus on it.

It is an automatic process. We're not supposed to do that, right? It's supposed to take care of itself.

But the society we have created is not totally natural either. We are bombarded with stimuli which affects our breathing. If we watch the news, and there are a lot of violence, et cetera, our breathing will mimic that.

So the first thing is to become aware of your daily breathing habits. The second thing I would advocate is to do physical activity with mouth closed, only do nasal breathing. And that physical activity includes just doing a walk, a breath walk.

It's very, very simple. And the third thing I would advocate is to start taping your mouth shut at night to ensure that you're only breathing to your nose. And the fourth thing would be to apply conscious breathing in your daily life when there is stress going on, or when you just need a break from work or whatever you're doing.

Turn to your breath for three to five breaths, and close your mouth and prolong the exhale. And as we talked about initially, the exhale is tied to relaxation. So that's a way to calm down and become more present.

And as you run the Happiness Academy, when we are more present, we will automatically become happier.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (13:09 - 14:16)
So OK, so it's paying attention, breathing through your nose when you're engaging in physical activity, shutting your mouth when you're asleep so that you breathe through your nose, and then apply it at specific times during the day or when you're experiencing something. Just take three. And I like this.

So three to five deep breaths with your mouth closed and longer exhales than inhales. That's pretty simple. Yeah, I want to go back to the exercise because this is something that I've been doing after I started doing it after reading your book.

One of the exercises that I do or types of exercises that I engage in is what's called the HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training. So yeah, you know, when I go for a walk, I can keep my mouth shut. But when I jog or even more so when I do high intensity interval training, very difficult to do that.

Is that something that you get better at? Something that you even recommend doing or not?

[Anders Olsson] (14:17 - 15:55)
I absolutely recommend doing it. But as everything, we need to take things step by step. And when I started doing nasal breathing during physical activity, I could never, ever dream that I should be able to do it while during high intense activity.

But a lot of it was actually more of a mindset or a. I think the mind limiting me and when I actually tried and put my focus on it, it was easier than I thought, actually. But you have I'm a bit stubborn.

So I guess I just went cold turkey and closed my mouth and never looked back sort of. So what you have to do is to to lower your intensity, most likely. And in the beginning.

And what you're saying is gradually it will become easier and easier. Yes, absolutely. Yes.

But and we have different starting points, just like if I'm very unfit and going to the gym for the first time, I won't start with 100 push ups. I will start with one, maybe. And then I work myself up.

So really, our starting point could differ a lot. And it hasn't much to do, actually, with how fit we are, because fitness and conscious breathing, those they doesn't need to go hand in hand. Actually, I've seen quite a few athletes who they train like this very forcefully.

So actually, it could even be harder for them to to make the change.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (15:56 - 16:11)
And Anders, you've worked with athletes. You know, you've worked with the professional athletes as well. And you taught them.

What has been the effect on on their performance? I mean, do you do you see a does it make a difference in terms of their performance?

[Anders Olsson] (16:12 - 17:54)
Yes. And one thing that stands out is really the I mean, most professional athletes, they don't have any problems with pushing themselves training. But many of them are not so good at the other part, the recovery, which really lays the foundation for the ability to to engage in the next training session.

If you have poor recovery, it will take longer time until you can train the next time. Right. So that is a key.

And I come to think of one study I did a few years ago, one of the participants, he was really fit and he had this used to have the Swedish record in triathlon Ironman distance. It was eight hours, 15 minutes. And when in the study, they were biking as fast as they could.

And on one occasion, they had their nose taped so they could only breathe through their mouth. And on the second occasion, they had the opposite. They had their mouth taped so they could only breathe through their nose.

And his pulse with mouth breathing was 155. But with nasal breathing at the same load on the bike, 295 what it was only 139. And that's a huge difference.

155 versus 139. So what I see is increased endurance, lower pulse, faster recovery, less sweating, and less sore muscles. All of these things, they keep coming up over and over again on the people we work with.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (17:55 - 18:57)
Yeah, that's so interesting. So I follow the work on peak performance in athletics. And if you look at the best athletes, let's take tennis as an example, top 10 versus top 100.

There's very little difference in terms of abilities, in terms of the speed of their serve, their running speed, their strength. The difference is very small. But where you do find the difference is in terms of recovery.

And recovery on both the micro and macro level. So on the micro level, it's recovery between points.

On the macro level, it's recovery between matches. So yeah, you may be able to win the first round of Wimbledon. But are you going to be ready two days later to play another five or four setter?

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (18:58 - 19:16)
So it's the micro level recovery and the macro level recovery. It sounds like breathing is helpful in terms of both. Because your pulse doesn't go as high.

So there's less to come down. It also comes down quicker if you breathe through your nose. And also, in terms of your next match, you're recovering more promptly.

[Anders Olsson] (19:17 - 20:06)
Yes. And as you said at the beginning, sleep is very important. And it's not only about the hours we sleep.

It's also about the quality of our sleep. And per definition, if I rest and I have my mouth open, I am engaging in a low-grade form of hyperventilating. Meaning that I upset the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance.

I inhale a little bit more oxygen than my body needs. And I exhale too much carbon dioxide. And this means that we are moving slightly towards sympathetic and fight-flight direction, which is obviously not the state we want to be in when we are sleeping.

And we are supposed to recover and repair and heal and boost our immune system. Yeah.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (20:06 - 20:38)
So a little bit of self-disclosure here, Anders. I have tried taping my mouth. I did it a few times. On a few occasions, I woke up with a tape in my hair. So I think that's simply saying that I need to try. And again, you gave me motivation. My commitment, I'll try it again tonight. Because I do realize how important it is. Because again, it's whatever, seven hours, eight hours. You do a lot of breathing in that time. If you do it through your mouth versus through your nose.

[Anders Olsson] (20:39 - 22:27)
Yeah. And can I just say, interesting that you mentioned tennis. If you look at tennis, I think that serves as an example for people in their work life as well, in other sports as well.

So if you look at the three best male tennis players of all time, they have something in common. Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. They have won 55% of the duels, the balls that they have played in their entire career, which means that they are actually losing almost every second ball.

45% of the balls they lose. So they have trained their ability to lose and realize that if I can get back on track after I lose, if I can become present and get out of the stress and into the zone, into the flow faster than my opponent, I'm able to win the match. So I mean, we can take this in the bigger picture.

We may think, oh, I'm too unfit or I'm too fat or I'm this or I'm that. I can't make a change. I look at all these people that have cracked the code and they are so good.

But actually the difference is very, very small. I think it's not only about these tennis players. I think it's in general in life.

And of course, then a thing like breathing that we all carry with us 24-7. It could be so easy for us to take the first step to just realizing that I can just take a few more of the thousand breaths each hour in a slightly different way, in a calmer way. And over time, that will have a real positive impact.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (22:28 - 23:16)
Yeah, I love that. And you know, there's a quote, it's falsely attributed to Churchill. But there's a quote that says, you know, it's not about how many times you fall down.

It's how many times you get up again. In other words, it's the ability to recover from those 45 percent, I had no idea, of failures. Yeah.

How promptly do you recover? That's resilience. Yeah, exactly.

In a nutshell. Okay, so you've referred, okay, so resilience, one benefit of breathing, recovery, physical and psychological, mind and body are connected. That's a benefit of conscious breathing with those three elements.

What are other benefits of conscious breathing?

[Anders Olsson] (23:17 - 24:30)
So my own experience, the reason why I am so nerdy with this subject is because it helped me a lot. I say that I have lived most of my life being stressed out and making other people around me stressed out. And when I found the power of our breath, it helped me really almost immediately to just calm down, to unlock my turbo and slow down and become present and zoom out and see the bigger picture and start enjoying life more.

So reducing stress is a huge thing. And if we think about it, if you have a person that is the ultimate stress, a panic attack, and you have a person that is in deep relaxation and meditation and in harmony, the main difference between those two states is not sleep, it's not food, it's not exercise. The main difference is breathing.

The person in meditation is breathing low and slow and rhythmically, while the person in a panic attack is breathing fast and shallow and probably through the mouth or a chaotic breathing, holding the breath.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (24:34 - 25:00)
So the main thing is stress, relaxation. And the impact of that, obviously, you find in different areas. I want to go more specifically.

What about relationships? What about communication? How does conscious breathing affect those?

How and why? Right.

[Anders Olsson] (25:01 - 25:41)
Yeah, I think if you want to be good at relationships and good at communication, the starting point is to get to know ourselves. And if you're able to slow down, then you're able to zoom out. You're able to get the bigger picture.

You're able to get to know yourself. You're able to realize who you are and what you like and what you don't like. And then you are able to engage in good communication, become a good listener and enjoy better relationships.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (25:43 - 27:20)
Okay. Breathing, conscious breathing is good for us. You know, you had me at hello, right?

You know, ever since I read your book. So one of the distinctions that we make, whether it's in our certificate program, whether it's in our master's degree, in our short programs, we make the distinction between ideal and optimal. Ideal is perfect, ideal world.

Optimal is best possible, given the constraints of reality. So, you know, I could say, you know, ideally, I'd like to, you know, go out on dates with my friends, you know, five days a week. Ideally, I would like to exercise three hours a day.

We don't even have an ideal world. We have optimal. Optimal, I see my friends, you know, once a week for a friend's date.

And, you know, I exercise an hour a day. Yeah. That's ideal.

And that's optimal. I want to know with breathing, what's the ideal day in terms of your practices? So if you had unlimited amount, how much would you practice your breathing?

What would you do? And then what would be optimal? Best given the constraints of reality.

Someone is working, you know, they have other obligations. What would you say to them would be not ideal?

[Anders Olsson] (27:24 - 30:47)
That's a really interesting question. Yes. So when I do the physical activity, I would strive to do as much as possible through my nose.

When I talk, I would strive to inhale through my nose before saying something. Because if we inhale through the mouth, we may fire ourselves up and start to talk faster. And at some point, people will stop listening to us because we sound so boring and we make them stressed out.

So when you inhale through the nose before talking, you will actually buy yourself a microsecond or whatever it is to help whatever comes out of your mouth be better, smarter, nicer. And I would also inhale through my nose while putting food into my mouth so that I'm more present in eating, enjoying the food more, but also digesting the food better. So I would try to implement these tips and tricks in my daily life.

And I would definitely do maybe one hour, one time per hour or every second hour, take this short break, 30 seconds, one minute, just turn to my friend. And I would use this device, the Relaxator, because I spend a lot of my time in front of the computer. And I have noticed that even though I work with breathing, I have done for 14 years now, tell people how to breathe.

When I'm up working with something and I may be very into the subject, almost having my face in the screen, super excited and whatever, my breathing will follow these states. There is a risk, a tendency that I will hold my breath, that I will start to breathe faster. So when I use this, it will help me to stay calm and focused and creative because it helps me to prolong the exhale and it helps me to give this low and slow and rhythmic breathing, which in essence, makes sure that the brain gets an even supply of oxygen.

The number one thing the brain wants is oxygen, right? So I think a reason why when we sit there and concentrate and we find it hard, oh, I need a cup of coffee. Oh, I need some chocolate.

Oh, I need to call my best friend. Oh, I need to do this and that. It is because we are either holding our breath or we are breathing too fast and chaotically, which deprives our brain of oxygen.

And that is when the brain needs to take a break. So honestly, I can put this in my mouth and forget about time and space and wake up five, six hours later and realize, hey, maybe I should go and get something to eat because it helps me to stay so focused. I'm not saying we should use it that much, but as an understanding of how important oxygen is for the brain and specifically this steady supply.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (30:48 - 30:57)
And Anders, where would you get this Relaxator, which is a device that you created? You invented it? Where would I get it?

[Anders Olsson] (30:58 - 31:01)
At our website, consciousbreathing.com

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (31:03 - 31:10)
And so you actually, when you do your work, you use the Relaxator.

[Anders Olsson] (31:11 - 31:18)
Yeah, especially if I have a tight deadline, if I have a long to-do list, then I think it's fantastic, yeah.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (31:21 - 31:34)
OK, so I must say, I expected a different, well, I expected you to say some of the things that you said, but I also expected you to say and spend one hour just conscious breathing in the morning, no?

[Anders Olsson] (31:35 - 32:51)
Of course, yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, I should probably do that, yeah, before going to bed and before getting up in the morning. I do that routine quite a bit, actually.

Yeah, good point. How long? Again, ideally versus optimally.

Oh, yeah, it's tricky, but I tend to, because what I find with me, I don't like to be boxed in. So whenever I come up with the idea, OK, this is great, I want to do this for the rest of my life, I want to spend 10 or 20 minutes, then at some point I find that that, which is beneficial for me, actually start to own me. And I realize life is up and down.

So if I like something, I may do it a week or two weeks or two months, and then something comes in the way and I can't do it and I'm fine with that. And then I may start doing it again, but more like this on and off. So I would say five minutes in the evening and five minutes in the morning is good, but optimal would probably be like 30 minutes evening and 30 minutes morning.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (32:52 - 33:49)
All right. So it's actually not that much. So imagine if we here on this call and those of you are viewing the recording, commit to five minutes of conscious breathing in the morning, five minutes of conscious breathing at night before you go to bed.

Then maybe have every hour, every two hours, a reminder, you know, your phone can remind you to spend one minute taking three to five conscious breaths. And then find another form of reminder, you know, whether it's the Relaxator or some other thing to remind you when you when you talk or when you're doing work in front of the computer, you know, to shut your mouth, breathe through the nose and go to bed with that tape.

[Anders Olsson] (33:52 - 34:11)
Yeah. And actually some people, I don't have a problem at all with closing my mouth. I do that automatically since many, many years ago, but some people find that hard.

So then I could actually recommend them to tape their mouth even at daytime, not in all situations, of course, but when feasible.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (34:13 - 34:51)
OK, message loud and clear. Thank you for that, Anders. We're going to open it up now for your questions.

So if you have a question, just go down to below to. What is it called again? I don't have it on reactions and then click on the hand just like Luke did right now and Cindy and Steph.

And we'll call on you. This is wonderful, Anders. And I can't wait to hear your questions.

So is it Luke? Is that how you pronounce it?

[Luc Therrien] (34:54 - 34:54)
Yes.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (34:55 - 34:55)
Hi.

[Luc Therrien] (34:58 - 35:06)
Technical question. As you can see, I've got a beard, a mustache. Does the tape work or when I will pull it out in the morning, will I pull out the hair?

[Anders Olsson] (35:07 - 35:21)
No, you won't pull out the hair. It will work for a lot of people that have beards. Yes, it works.

But please pay attention to when you pull it out. You should take it a bit careful.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (35:22 - 35:32)
OK, and also it's the kind of tape we're not talking about, you know, tape with superglue on it. We're talking about specific tape, right?

[Anders Olsson] (35:32 - 35:48)
We have this product. It's sleep tape. We have tested a few different tapes to come up with the one that we think is best.

You can also purchase it on the website, consciousbreathing.com. Amazing. Thank you.

Thank you.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (35:50 - 35:50)
Stef.

[Stef Martens] (35:53 - 35:56)
Hi, everyone. Can you hear me OK?

[Stef Martens] (35:57 - 36:19)
Thank you for the conversation. My question is, I'm not sure if you can answer it, but what is the difference between conscious breathing and the Wim Hof method? Because he talks about altering the oxygen levels.

And with that, you also get resilience and health, like kind of like the same benefits, but doing kind of like the exact opposite.

[Anders Olsson] (36:20 - 38:32)
Yeah, so with the Wim Hof method, with the breathing Wim Hof have you engaged in is very forceful breathing, which means that you take in a lot of oxygen and you exhale a lot of carbon dioxide. So you increase oxygen in your body and you lower CO2. And that is a stress for the body.

So the body needs to adapt. And that's one way of using your breath. We should bear in mind, though, that oxygen is very toxic.

We can't live without it. The reason why we are so extremely dependent on our breathing is because we need oxygen. So if we stop breathing, we die within minutes.

And that's because we need the oxygen to produce energy efficiently. But the only possible explanation why we store so little oxygen in our body that we only survive for a few minutes is because it is toxic. It is reactive.

It lays the foundation for what we call the free radicals, which is free oxygen radicals, which leads to inflammation. So there is a risk that we have to bear in mind. We're taking in a lot of this oxygen, even though we stress the body so the body adapts and we may develop more resilience.

I'm not certain that it's the optimum way of doing it, because at the same time, you lower the carbon dioxide. And when you do, studies show that you also increase adrenaline. So after a Wim Hof breathing session, most people feel relaxed and harmonious, but they do so via clenched fist in a way.

They do so by engaging in fight flight. So you experience the harmony via the fight flight route. I think it's more beneficial to experience the harmony just by engaging in a breathing pattern that is more relaxed in itself.

Does it make sense?

[Stef Martens] (38:34 - 38:44)
Yes, yes, yes, it makes sense. I would love to read a little bit more. I'm a biologist by training, so I would love to read more of the science behind the two of them.

[Anders Olsson] (38:45 - 38:46)
Yeah.

[Stef Martens] (38:46 - 38:47)
But yeah, thank you.

[Anders Olsson] (38:47 - 40:02)
So carbon dioxide and oxygen, they are like yin and yang. So oxygen is the reactive, is the yang, while carbon dioxide is the opposite. It's the calming ingredient, if you like.

So they work hand in hand in the body. And yeah, I talk a lot about carbon dioxide and the benefits of carbon dioxide and what happens when we lower the levels, what problems our body will experience. For example, carbon dioxide has a widening and relaxing effect on the smooth muscles, which surrounds many parts of the body, including the airways and the blood vessels.

So this type of breathing not only increases the adrenaline, it also constricts the airways and constricts the blood vessels. And it makes a lot of sense because if we have asthma, for example, we get medication that contains adrenaline or cortisol. And those are stress hormones in order to help open up the airways.

The adrenaline helps open up the airways and the cortisol reduces the inflammation in the airways so that they can stay open.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (40:04 - 40:50)
You have a question? Thank you, Steph. You know the- Uh, just one second.

You can raise your hand and I'm going to call on people. Um, so, you know, one of the main differences, I think, between the Wim Hof approach and yours is, you know, Wim Hof talks about doing this exercise in the morning for, you know, 10, 15 minutes, you know, three sets. And you talk about basically a change in the way we breathe, not just throughout the day, but throughout the day and night.

It's not an exercise. That's why, you know, as I pushed you towards an exercise, you said, well, you know, you need to change your daily habits. You need to change the way you talk to people, eat, sleep.

[Anders Olsson] (40:51 - 41:05)
Yeah, that's the key I want to get across. The thousand breaths you take each hour. Can you improve a few of those?

Then you're on your good way. Love it. Thank you.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (41:12 - 41:14)
Oh, he can go first.

[Cindy Areglado] (41:14 - 41:15)
That's fine.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (41:15 - 41:22)
No, no, go ahead, Cindy. I'm trying to find out who's speaking, but why don't you go ahead?

[Cindy Areglado] (41:22 - 42:46)
So we're talking about conscious breathing. I'm designing a training program for a class I'm taking on digital training to put it online. So I'm doing meditation and mindfulness.

And I run into confusion myself. I teach laughter wellness. I teach Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga.

So I teach all these different things. And Wim Hof, I do his breathing too. And I have terrible sinuses.

So my question is, a lot of people do. They have difficulty breathing through their nose. And, you know, with all the Zumba and all the exercise that I do.

And then at night, I do have difficulty sleeping if I don't take Cameo T. So my question is, even in designing my training, I run into confusion. They say you should inhale like two times, right?

When you inhale and you should double the exhale. Then some say you should hold it. And then they do this one here through the nostrils.

Then laughter yoga, you're taking in all this oxygen through laughter. And then they have you breathing really calmly and slowly. So my question is, there's so many techniques out there.

How do I, even in Qigong, we teach belly breathing. So it's so challenging for me to figure out, am I teaching the right things? Or is this something that you're just saying, we should just be more conscious of our breathing throughout the day?

Try to breathe through our nose more often?

[Anders Olsson] (42:48 - 44:16)
Yeah, it's a really good question. And I agree with you. There are tons of different breathing exercises and modalities out there.

So it is a bit of a jungle. And one thing, we are individuals and we are attracted to different things. But there are also the biochemistry that we have to look into.

And one exercise I would recommend, if we talk about your sinuses, that is actually humming. To close your mouth, put the tongue in the roof of your mouth, which is its resting position. And when we do so, we tell the brain that it can relax.

And then you just... And studies have shown that not only does the air circulation increase a lot, but also the production of nitric oxide. It's a substance produced in our nose.

It increases up to 15 fold. So 1500% when you hum. And nitric oxide is antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal.

So the air circulation and the increased nitric oxide production could potentially help you to circulate more of the trapped air and the trapped virus and bacteria out of your nose, your sinus.

[Cindy Areglado] (44:16 - 44:22)
So I should put... When I put my tongue there, then I hum? I do it simultaneously?

[Anders Olsson] (44:23 - 44:27)
Yes, yes, exactly. So the tongue is resting in the roof of your mouth, yeah.

[Cindy Areglado] (44:28 - 44:41)
Well, that makes sense though, right? Because when we hum, it's very calming. It's a nice vibration through the body.

And so when you sleep, what would your recommendation be? Because that's where I really struggle, right? It's when I'm sleeping.

[Anders Olsson] (44:42 - 44:42)
Right.

[Cindy Areglado] (44:42 - 44:44)
So try to breathe through your sinuses.

[Anders Olsson] (44:45 - 46:26)
Well, in my view, to a large extent, the reason why we have narrow airways or problems with blocked nose is because we have lower levels of carbon dioxide. And the body is smart and they want to have optimum levels. So it figures that almost all carbon dioxide leaves the body on the outbreath.

So we want to prevent that. So let's constrict the airway. So let's put some constrictions in the nose.

And when you address that, when you start to slow down your breathing, many, many people testify to the fact that their nose have started to open up, started to function better. So there is really hope. I don't know how many people have said that they've been addicted to nasal sprays because of their blocked nose and problems with their sinuses.

And since they started understanding that they are probably breathing too fast, too shallow in their daily life and started to work on that, they have been able to quit the nasal spray. So if you struggle at night, it's not only about at night as well, right? It's probably something you are doing at daytime as well, because we are awake more than we sleep, hopefully.

So that means the way you are breathing and living and thinking and acting during daytime will be reflected at night when you sleep. So I would start to pay attention to my daily breathing outside of the Qigong and the mindfulness, etc.

[Cindy Areglado] (46:27 - 46:30)
So we should be keeping our mouths shut most of the time.

[Anders Olsson] (46:31 - 47:09)
Yes. And when you go to sleep, I would advise you to tape your mouth shut. And if you think, no, I can't because my nose is blocked.

Actually, a lot of people say that when they put the tape on, there is something because you then put your lips together. The tongue usually goes up in the roof of the mouth. You communicate to the brain that you enter into a relaxed state and then you will automatically slow down your breathing.

So you will then, hopefully, your nose will open up just by putting the tape on. There are a lot of people telling us that, actually.

[Cindy Areglado] (47:10 - 47:14)
My husband's going to love that idea. He's going to make me wear it all day.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (47:14 - 47:17)
Yeah, hence it's good for relationships, Cindy, right?

[Cindy Areglado] (47:17 - 47:27)
Yeah, he'll love it. He's like, that's the best idea you've had, because I keep trying to get him to meditate and to calm down. He's going to love that idea.

Thank you so much.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (47:28 - 47:31)
Thank you. Thank you. Raquel?

[Raquel Souza] (47:33 - 48:12)
Hi. I'd like to know if the breathing can improve or disimprove, I don't know how to say, the memory. And what would be the best way for the belly?

The same question as in Cindy. If it's from the breasts, the breasts are in the belly. And I don't know if we can give you an example, because I heard some lie.

It's better if you have a deep inhalation and just go to the belly. And others say the opposite. This is my question.

First, if it's good to improve the memory. And how would be the best way?

[Anders Olsson] (48:13 - 51:27)
Yeah, there is a very interesting connection between the nose and the brain, the amygdala, which is our fear center, and the hippocampus, which is our short-term memory center. So one study showed that when the participants looked at different pictures in one study, they looked at pictures that made people in the study afraid. And they were able to react quicker when they saw the pictures while inhaling.

They saw that the amygdala was active on the inhalation through the nose only, not through the mouth. And the same for memory. They remembered better when they inhaled through the nose.

And it's really interesting when you look at the brain and the neocortex, the nose was the area that was developed first. And then, so the nose is, we don't pay much attention to the smell in today's society. We have our vision and our ears.

But the oldest senses is actually the smell. Probably during evolution, it has been very, very important for us. And there are actually studies telling us that we choose our partner based on how they smell.

So it is very important for the memory, the nasal breathing. I would love to see more studies looking at this. But there is no doubt that it has an effect on the brain that we may not be aware of.

And then you asked about chest breathing or belly breathing. And a big idea is that you should just have the belly go in and out. But actually, it's our breath is, we should think of it more like a 3D breath, 360 breath.

That the diaphragm, our most important breathing muscles, which is attached to the six lowest ribs. It goes all the way. It separates the chest from the abdomen.

So it goes all the way from the sternum at the front, all the way attaching to the spine. So when we inhale, the diaphragm goes down. And it expands in all directions, both forward and back and to the sides.

So if you put your hands to the sides at the lowest ribs, and then you take a big breath in and do what we call the exercise diaphragm activation. So you push your hands out to the sides, take a big breath in. Yeah.

So that's really a good way to help getting the breath down from the shallow, stressed breathing down into the belly. But it's more than just belly in, belly out. It's a 360 breath we want to have.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (51:27 - 51:42)
And then the emphasis is on then breathing out even longer than you breathed in. So yes, do the belly breath, deep breath, but then breathe out for a long time. Yes.

[Emmanuelle Delgleize] (51:51 - 52:34)
Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for this presentation. That's great.

Very interesting. So I have a question which is related to the two previous ones in some extent. So we mentioned that the breath can be blocked by the nose.

And my question was about the diaphragm that you just touched about the diaphragm. Because I feel suffocating when I breathe through the nose. And my question was, could it come from a diaphragm that is blocked?

Or should I ensure first that I'm not blocked to be able to breathe properly through the nose? I know that sometimes there is some manipulation for the diaphragm. So I don't know if it's related.

[Anders Olsson] (52:35 - 53:51)
So a reason why we have a blocked nose is probably because we are using our mouth. If you don't use it, you lose it, sort of. And it is possible to train the ability to use the nose more and more and more.

The more we use it, the same with our muscles. If we just lay in the sofa and watching TVs, our muscles will start to diminish. But as soon as we start using them, the body will prioritize building our muscles.

And the same with the nose. So we have erectile tissue in our nose. And my view is that they expand.

They get bigger as a defense mechanism for this over-breathing, where we exhale too much carbon dioxide. Because carbon dioxide is essential for all bodily functions, actually. Much more than we think.

I have studied this subject a lot. And you can read many articles on the website about it. And so carbon dioxide is crucial.

I want really to emphasize that. And that is what we increase in our body when we do exercise. Specifically, if we do it with...

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (53:58 - 54:23)
Okay, I think we just lost the star of our show. But hopefully he'll be back very shortly. Udi, if you can keep an eye out for him coming in and helping join when he's...

[Emmanuelle Delgleize] (54:23 - 54:29)
Yeah, excuse me. I'm not able to see the hand raise icon on my screen.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (54:29 - 55:05)
Oh, I'm sorry, J.V. It's all the way below. And you go on to reactions. And you can click on it.

Yeah, it says recognize hand gestures. And play time for raised hands. But not raising the hand as such.

It just... And any sign and you can... And we'll see your hand up.

So I see Anders is back. Yes, I'm back. Yes.

So...

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (55:09 - 55:10)
Thank you, Emmanuelle, for your...

[Emmanuelle Delgleize] (55:11 - 55:32)
Yeah, so to summarize, practicing with the nose. And just last point. I understand the benefit of inhaling because it's filter the air and all that.

But I do not understand why exhaling through the mouth makes a difference compared to exhaling through the nose.

[Anders Olsson] (55:35 - 56:43)
You want me to reply to that?

Thank you. So when we inhale through the nose, the air is usually colder and drier than in the lungs. So that means when the nose warms the air and humidifies the air, the nose will get slightly colder, slightly drier.

And all the particles and bacteria and viruses that get strapped in the nose, they are stuck there, right? So then when we exhale, the air leaving the lung is body temperature, 37 degrees Celsius. It's very moist, 100% moist, because actually we have 80% water in the lungs.

So it's a lot of water in the lungs. And so this warm and moist air will then rewarm and re-humidify the nose and the particles that got trapped on the inhale, we will then breathe them out. So that's why it's better to do nasal in, nasal out.

[Emmanuelle Delgleize] (56:45 - 56:47)
Okay, got it. Thank you so much.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (56:47 - 57:46)
Thank you, Anders. And Anders, can you switch your camera on or?

Thank you. No problem. So we'll take another...

We're going to go over a little bit if it's okay with you, Anders. We'll take a couple of more questions. I just want to remind those who have your hand up, I'm not going to be able to get to all of you.

And I'm going by order in terms of who put their hand up first. You can go on the consciousbreathing.com website. There's a place here for contact.

They will get back to you. Or you can, if you have questions for Anders, you can send us at info at happinessstudies.academy. That's one word. Info at happinessstudies.academy. And we'll respond to your questions. Let's get to Jessica, please. Can you unmute yourself, Jessica?

[Jessica Wallin] (57:47 - 57:50)
Yes. Hello.

[Jessica Wallin] (57:55 - 57:58)
My question... I have two questions.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (57:59 - 58:01)
If you can pick one, please. The most important one.

[Jessica Wallin] (58:01 - 58:44)
Okay. I have used the Relaxator. I have used Relaxator.

Not so much, but I think it's a little bit hard. Because I have to use my muscles around my mouth to keep the Relaxator where it is supposed to be. So I get some tension.

[Anders Olsson] (58:45 - 58:46)
Yes.

[Jessica Wallin] (58:46 - 59:02)
So how can I do to make it not so tensed? And I suppose that it can be better if I exercise this.

[Anders Olsson] (59:10 - 59:52)
So some people can experience that in the beginning, some tensions. And that's because obviously we're not used to hold something like this with our lips. But the best thing is to hold it with your lips.

Try to just let it rest there. And it is very lightweight. But if you feel the tensions, that is usually something that goes away after some time.

Because when you use it, you will start strengthening your lips and other muscles around your mouth. So if you notice tensions in the beginning, just keep on doing it. Just like any other muscles, you will train them and they will start to work better.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (59:55 - 1:00:02)
Thank you, Jessica. I do want to take one more question from someone else if it's okay.

[Jessica Wallin] (1:00:02 - 1:00:04)
Okay, that's fine. Thank you.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (1:00:05 - 1:00:12)
Thank you, Jessica. And Anders, so the impact of the Relaxator is similar to the impact of a tape?

[Anders Olsson] (1:00:13 - 1:00:31)
No, the tape only ensures nasal breathing. It's still possible to over-breathe and to breathe fast and shallow and hold your breath with taping your mouth. The Relaxator helps ensure the low, slow diaphragmatic and rhythmic breathing as well.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (1:00:32 - 1:00:45)
So yeah, it's different. Thank you. Okay, final question.

Unfortunately, Raj, can you unmute yourself, please? You're still muted.

[Raj Patil] (1:00:59 - 1:01:18)
Yeah. You told that breathing out should be more and breathing in should be. Can you just guide the count for breathing in?

Suppose it is four or breathing out, it should be eight or something like that. Roughly.

[Anders Olsson] (1:01:20 - 1:01:42)
Okay. I mean, if you want to get more into activity, you can just do the opposite. You can breathe in more.

But if you want to find more relaxation, it's a great way to just prolong the exhale. And the important thing is to find your rhythm. I can tell you to inhale for three and exhale for six.

[Anders Olsson] (1:01:44 - 1:02:38)
That could be very stressful for you because you're a unique individual. You may only be able to do inhale for two and exhale for three. So the important thing, as many things in life, is to find our own rhythm.

What works for me. So listen in to your body and think of it in terms of prolonging your exhale slightly. And if a lot of us, we are like me, we are competitive and we think, okay, the longer I prolong my exhale, the better.

But we may not realize that we're then pushing ourselves too hard. So the headline of the conscious breathing concept is to achieve the relaxation. So if you push yourself hard and you may then increase the tensions, remember that it's a key to try and stay relaxed.

So relax.

[Raj Patil] (1:02:38 - 1:02:39)
That is the motive.

[Anders Olsson] (1:02:40 - 1:02:40)
Yes.

[Raj Patil] (1:02:40 - 1:02:43)
Thank you. I got the answer. Thank you very much.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (1:02:43 - 1:03:52)
We've come to an end. Anders, this was fascinating. I must say, I read your book, we've spoken, I watched your videos.

I learned a lot today. And I'm very grateful for all the work that you have done, for all the lives, including mine, that you have changed for the better. And I don't think it's a coincidence that to breathe in shares and to breathe out shares an etymological connection to the word inspire.

So thank you for inspiring us. Thank you for the work that you do. And thank you all for spending time with us.

Once again, if you have any questions about this or anything else, you can contact consciousbreathing.com or info at happinessstudies.academy. Thank you so much for having me, Tal.

[Anders Olsson] (1:03:52 - 1:03:54)
And can I mention one final thing?

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (1:03:54 - 1:03:55)
Please.

[Anders Olsson] (1:03:55 - 1:04:08)
We have a foundation course, which is really popular, Conscious Breathing Foundation course. The next one starts on August 24th. And please feel free to join if you want to learn more.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (1:04:08 - 1:04:11)
And again, they can join on the website.

[Anders Olsson] (1:04:11 - 1:04:13)
Yes, they can join on the website. Yeah.

[Tal Ben-Shahar] (1:04:14 - 1:04:22)
Thank you, Anders. Thank you. Thank you so much.

And please keep breathing. Take care.