Oh S***. It's Valentine's Day?

By: breathingsmarter
Lifestyle, , , , Leave a Comment on Oh S***. It's Valentine's Day?

Of all the Hallmark holidays, Valentine’s Day gets a bad rap. Maybe it’s the aisles of cringeworthy cards and bad chocolates that start popping up the day after New Years, or the expectation and inherent dread of doing something “special.”  But ultimately, Valentine’s Day is an excuse to celebrate your nearest and dearest, and make…

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Fighting off this season’s nemesis, the flu

By: breathingsmarter
Exercise, WellnessLeave a Comment on Fighting off this season’s nemesis, the flu

At Intake, we like to start each morning by scrolling through the news and freaking ourselves out. For instance, listen to this timely piece of winter news: The CDC has estimated that this flu season (from October 2019 until the date of this post in January), there have already been between 9 and 14 million…

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Our (Every) New Year's Resolution

By: breathingsmarter
Lifestyle, Wellness, Leave a Comment on Our (Every) New Year's Resolution

Happy New DECADE, Nose Breathers! Maybe it’s no surprise that the simplest New Years resolution we’ll be making in 2020 is to focus on our breath. Of course, we’re already in the business of focusing on our breath, but we see it this way: as much as each new year is an opportunity to incorporate…

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20 Last-minute Gift Ideas

By: breathingsmarter
Lifestyle, , Leave a Comment on 20 Last-minute Gift Ideas

For procrastinators, last-minute shoppers, and victims of unexpected holiday guests December is in full swing, and it seems like you can barely unlock your phone without seeing app notifications and emails dedicated to gift-guides. These were excellent about three weeks ago, but now Christmas is upon us, and the time of leisurely shipping windows has…

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Did Thanksgiving Make You Fat? We Have Good News.

By: breathingsmarter
Science, , Leave a Comment on Did Thanksgiving Make You Fat? We Have Good News.

Here at the Intake Office, we like to eat. An entire season dedicated to pie, mashed potatoes, and excuses to skip the gym and stuff our faces with those we hold near and dear is right up our alley. But inevitably, the new year rolls around and we have to sober up to the fact…

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TRAVEL: Our favorite places in Portland, OR

By: breathingsmarter
LifestyleLeave a Comment on TRAVEL: Our favorite places in Portland, OR

Our go-to’s in the west coast’s weirdest city Portland may not be as weird as it once was (thanks to a rapid influx of out-of-state expats over the past few years) but there’s still no place quite like this rainy northwestern city. Portland is home to one of the country’s largest municipal parks, as well…

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Yogic Breathing: How Your Nose Can Contribute to Your Zen

By: breathingsmarter
WellnessLeave a Comment on Yogic Breathing: How Your Nose Can Contribute to Your Zen

At the Intake Office, we’ve been trying to practice our zen a little more. There are so many ways to do this–taking a walk on the beach, hitting up your Mindfulness app, Kondo-ing your living space–but our favorite (of course) is breathwork. If you practice yoga, you’ve probably dabbled in Pranayama, the formal practice of…

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TRAVEL: Our favorite places in Santa Barbara, CA

By: breathingsmarter
LifestyleLeave a Comment on TRAVEL: Our favorite places in Santa Barbara, CA

A Love Letter to Our Hometown of Vineyards, Coastlines, and Endless Sun When you live in the same place for a long time, it’s easy to lose sight of the reasons you love it. In the past few years, we’ve seen our home weather devastating fires, flooding, and mudslides, and it’s been a wake up…

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Help Prevent Exercise-induced Asthma with Nose-only Breathing

By: breathingsmarter
Science, Leave a Comment on Help Prevent Exercise-induced Asthma with Nose-only Breathing

Many studies, such as this one, that compare nasal to oral breathing deduce that, during exercise, oral breathing tends to be favorable because not enough air can be inhaled through the nose. Even for those of us with physiologically “perfect” noses, nasal breathing during exercise (especially without a nasal dilator) has to be practiced in…

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Balance Your Hydration Level and Body Temperature by Adjusting the Way You Breathe

By: breathingsmarter
Science, Leave a Comment on Balance Your Hydration Level and Body Temperature by Adjusting the Way You Breathe

Our noses evolved to be our body’s air conditioners: our nasal passages humidify air and filter out particulates so that the air we inhale into our lungs is as non-irritating as possible. The internal nose alone provides 90% of the respiratory system’s air-conditioning requirement. This means that your lungs and throat have to nearly double…

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