This article appeared in the September/October 2021 issue of Discover magazine as "Know Your Breath." Become a subscriber for unlimited access to our archive.
Some of us are better at holding our breath than others. But we’ve all been put to the test.
Tune in to your body next time you plunge your head into water. Close your lips and conserve the air within. Many people describe a wave of relaxation in this moment — an all-consuming calm, a quieting of the mind, a slowed mental state — until the lungs demand another breath. When that happens, most of us experience a rush of anxiety. The mind goes on immediate alert at the mere prospect of lacking oxygen, even if your blood and organs have plenty for another minute or two. But you don’t need to go swimming to find this anxiety.
You’ve likely held your breath plenty over the past tumultuous year and a half. Treading cautiously in supermarket aisles. White-knuckling it through social isolation, then reentry. Gasping at political upheaval and racial tensions. On many levels, 2020 forced humans everywhere to consider their breath as an act of survival.
