Take a breath
Like a lot of people, since mid-March 2020 I’ve had some trouble sleeping. I’ll conk out as soon as I turn the light off, only to wake up again at 2:30 a.m. At first, my cat got very excited, hoping this was a tweak in her breakfast schedule.
I know I should avoid doom-scrolling on my phone, so I opt for a Sudoku or a soothing novel. After half an hour or so, I turn the light off again and focus on slow, shallow breathing. It doesn’t always help me get back to sleep, but I’ve begun thinking a lot about the act of inhaling and exhaling.
Several of the articles and essays in our January wellness issue of ASBMB Today touch on breathing — what it can do for our minds and bodies and even for our ability to support and care for the people around us.
Breathing, like wellness, isn’t something I do just for myself. If I’m going to contribute anything to the world, I need to have a functioning (loosely defined) brain and body. Sometimes I glance at fitness websites and roll my eyes at the sheer narcissism of all that sculpting and supplementing. And, sure, it’s about looking good and living long.
But at the heart of it, I think we all take care of ourselves as a gift to those around us as much as to ourselves. If we feel good, we can be more thoughtful, more helpful, more a part of the world.
And it all starts with being sure we have air.
Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?
Become a member to receive the print edition monthly and the digital edition weekly.
Learn moreGet the latest from ASBMB Today
Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.
Latest in Opinions
Opinions highlights or most popular articles
'I can do it without making a face'
Betty B. Tong describes the life lessons she learned 35 years ago as a Chinese graduate student in the U.S.
Why AlphaFold 3 needs to be open source
The powerful AI-driven software from DeepMind was released without making its code openly available to scientists.
Summertime can be germy
A microbiologist explains how to avoid getting sick at the barbecue, in the pool or on the trail.
Shades of cultural difference
“I was perplexed,” Humphrey Omeoga writes. “(M)y greetings frequently went unacknowledged. In Nigeria, people are always willing to accept and return greetings, especially from a foreigner.”
A primer to starting grad school
No matter what program you've chosen, the first few weeks can be challenging. Here are a few tips for smoother sailing in your first month.
Advancing science through adventure
“Everyone around me assumed that the privilege and support of my family, coupled with my natural proclivity for science and writing, would lead me inevitably to biomedical science,” Yamini Dalal writes. “And so it has.”