Laughing can change your breathing pattern and have an impact on your breathing rate and oxygen levels, as shown in a study when a patient's ventilation increased when they laughed, and decreased when they held their breath or breathed faster.
Hyperventilating leads to a decrease in carbon dioxide, preventing oxygen from being liberated from hemoglobin and reaching the brain, which can result in feeling less alert despite bringing in a lot of oxygen.
The body and mind have a two-way relationship where one controls the other, creating a loop. By learning to manipulate the oxygen and carbon dioxide ration in our bodies, we can couple the learned physiological mechanisms with the tools that involve the mind to achieve powerful results, including calming down and achieving mental control.
Dr. Andrew Huberman deep dives into the relationship between the breathing system and the brain, exploring how different patterns of breathing influence all aspects of our mental and physical health, and how to leverage it towards specific goals in our lives.
In this podcast, Naval Ravikant discusses the modern complexity of life and his theory of a digital disease that affects the average person, causing anxiety and addiction.
The year 1967-68 was pivotal in framing the interests of the speaker as he discovered two important books: The Teachings of Don Juan and the Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs (ESPD). The influence of these books and the scientific method eventually led him to his professional interests in psychedelics.