How to Get More of the Most Important Nutrient for Life

 How to Get More of the Most Important Nutrient On the Planet!

There is a nutrient that is the most important nutrient that you need to get into your body every single day. This nutrient is related to things as far ranging as Dementia and Alzheimer's down to chronic fatigue and an inability to run. It does SO much in your body; you literally cannot live without it.

So, what is the most important nutrient for life?

It is OXYGEN. The basic logic follows that you can live months without food, days without water but only a few minutes without oxygen.  That makes good ole oxygen the absolute most important nutrient you can ever get! Most people that I say this to say, “Well, wait a minute, I breathe every second of the day. I get plenty of oxygen. I am not anemic. I KNOW I get plenty of oxygen!!.” Well, the problem is that most of us are not breathing correctly. There are a few simple things we can do to learn to breathe properly and develop the habit pattern to learn always to breathe that way. When we look at the things that are being related to lack of full 'oxygenation' it starts becoming scary the disorders that are associated with lack of oxygen. Things like, Dementia and Alzheimer’s have been started to link to hypoxic states (lack of oxygen). Why is oxygen so important for brain function? Well, the brain is about 2% of your total body weight but yet it consumes 20% of your oxygen. If you are only shallow breathing, only down to 1/2 or 1/4 of your lungs, then you are not getting as much oxygen as you should or can. Thus, it becomes massively important actually to activate all of your lungs. Some of you may be thinking, “I go to the gym or go for a run every single day, and I breathe hard, so that’s enough, right?” No, that’s not even close. It’s a start, but typically you go straight from that run to the office and sit at a desk and aren’t breathing right. You sit slumped forward, and that completely traps your diaphragm and it doesn’t allow the upper part of your lungs to expand to fullest capacity and absorb as much oxygen as you possibly can. Your posture is not allowing you to get all that oxygen from your lungs to your heart, your muscles, and to your brain. Every single cell needs oxygen to function. It is massively important to breathe and breathe properly on a regular basis. Most of the things that are stopping us are posture and the fact that we don’t know how to breathe! Other than in a yoga class, I have never heard of someone teaching someone else how to

Most people already believe they get enough oxygen.  They're living afterall, right?  However, although every single one of us is breathing, the problem is that most of us are not breathing correctly.  

This is an easily fixable thing, but we have to make sure we learn to breathe properly and develop a habit pattern to always make sure we're breathing that way.

When we look at the things that are being related to lack of full 'oxygenation' it becomes scary the disorders that are associated with lack of oxygen. Things like, Dementia and Alzheimer’s have been linked to hypoxic states (lack of oxygen).

Why is oxygen so important for brain function?

Well, the brain is about 2% of your total body weight but it consumes 20% of your oxygen. If you are only shallow breathing, which is down to 1/2 or 1/4 of your lungs, then you are not getting as much oxygen as you should be. Thus, it becomes massively important actually to activate all of your lungs.

You might be thinking, “I go to the gym or go for a run every single day, and I breathe hard, so that’s enough, right?”

Unfortunately, that’s not even close.

Yes, It’s a start, but typically you go straight from that run to the office and sit at a desk and spend the entire day not breathing correctly. You sit slumped forward, and that completely traps your diaphragm and it doesn’t allow the upper part of your lungs to expand to fullest capacity and absorb as much oxygen as you possibly can. Your posture is not allowing you to get all that oxygen from your lungs to your heart, your muscles, and to your brain.

Every single cell needs oxygen to function. It is massively important to breathe and breathe properly on a regular basis. Most of the things that are stopping us are posture and the fact that we don’t know how to breathe!

It's something we take for granted every day, yet no one, outside of yoga classes, really encourages deep breathes.   

Proper breathing means that your diaphragm contracts, you pull down on your lungs, and you expand your lungs fully and completely so that all of it is getting air. Then your body can pull out the oxygen from that air. For your lungs to fully fill, your diaphragm has to contract fully. That means your abdomen goes out and in.  

In today’s society, especially in the US, we live in a mindset of constantly sucking in our belly. You have to let that belly out, and push out when you breath in. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Why is “in through the nose” so important when you are breathing?

Well, first of all, it filters the air you take in. Your mucous membranes and lymphatic tissue in your nose pick up any potential toxins, viruses, and bacteria and stop it before it gets inside you and potentially causes issues. The second part is that moistens and warms the air as it is coming in so that it is not as cold or dry (depending on the climate you live in).

Ayurvedic Medicine and eastern philosophies will teach a centering point for breathing, and that is putting your tongue behind your two front teeth which pushes up on your cranium and allows your nose to open up properly. Put your tongue on the hard palate just behind your two front teeth and as you breathe in push up. When you breathe in you should feel your abdomen going out.

If you must talk, then talk on the breath out.  These are the steps on actually how to breathe. It’s pretty darn simple! If you are trying this for the first time, and it’s

These are the steps on actually how to breathe. Yes, it’s pretty darn simple! If you are trying this for the first time, and it’s

If you are trying this for the first time, and it’s backward or it’s hard and you can’t do it, it’s because you've been doing it wrong your whole life.  If this is hard for you at first, get your back against a wall to correct your posture, and that will help get it there and get that flow of the abdomen. If that doesn’t work, get down on your back so that you can’t use those accessory breathing muscles around your neck to pull up on your rib cage forcing you to properly

If this is hard for you at first, get your back against a wall to correct your posture, and that will help get it there and get that flow of the abdomen. If that doesn’t work, get down on your back so that you can’t use those accessory breathing muscles around your neck to pull up on your rib cage forcing you to properly breathe.

One of the best tricks that I have used to make sure I am getting enough movement and breath is to set a timer on your phone to go off every hour on the hour.  When the timer goes off, you to get up, get a glass of water and do ten breaths.

If you're doing it correctly you will more likely be a little light headed so be sitting in a chair. Because you are getting oxygen to the brain, you will notice that your energy will stay up and high throughout the day. You won’t have that 3 o’clock afternoon energy crash or have that bone tired feeling at the end of the day.

Trust me on this.

Set that time, breathe in every hour, and watch your energy completely change.  Comment below if you see a difference.  

And remember your health should be easy so make it that way!