Respiratory Rate Retraining Protocol
For people with elevated overnight respiratory rate / sympathetic dominance: read your respiratory rate, reduce arousal inputs, and retrain breath cadence during light exercise.
Assembled by Cited from Andy Galpin's recorded recommendations across multiple sources. It is not an ordered program and was not created or endorsed by them — it's our grouping of what they've said on the record.
Components
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In a protocol
Galpin recommends measuring respiratory rate overnight as a sensitive, low-cost indicator of stress and overall physiology; targets ~10–11 breaths/min, action above 13, problematic above 15.
“Respiratory rate is a phenomenal insight into everything that's happening in your body
TT▶ 38:00Dosagetarget 10–11 bpm; take action above 13; problematic >15CaveatsReference ranges of 12-20 are 'common' not optimalCertaintyexplicitstrong endorsementMeasure overnight respiratory rate; target 10–11 bpm, act above 13 -
In a protocol
For people with elevated respiratory rate / sympathetic dominance, do walks and low-intensity sessions without headphones/podcasts to learn to read and regulate physiology.
“no longer get headphones when we exercise
TT▶ 49:00CertaintyexplicitrecommendationReduce input: no headphones/podcasts on walks and low-intensity sessions -
Endorsement In a protocol
Galpin recommends Emily Hightower's Skill of Stress course on reading and regulating physiological stress states.
“Skill of Stress. It is fantastic
TT▶ 49:20Certaintyexplicitstrong endorsementEmily Hightower's Skill of Stress course to learn to read and regulate state -
In a protocol
During light exercise, intentionally cap inhale/exhale to ~3 seconds each to retrain a lower breath rate.
“3 second inhale, 3 second exhale
TT▶ 53:00Dosage3s in / 3s outCertaintyexplicitrecommendationCadenced 3s in / 3s out breathing during light exercise to retrain breath rate