Message from brother Eric today. He is still working in the hospital this week, but reaches out from time to time.

“Musings from the front lines:

“The correlations are those with worse disease are those who do not or cannot take deep breaths at baseline [before catching anything]. Smokers, silica damage, other chronic lung disease, obesity, sleep apnea… it makes some sense.

“Deep breathing stimulates surfactant production. Surfactant in the lower airways works like a detergent, and detergents opsonize and neutralize viruses.

“There you go – hand washing for the lungs. Take 10 deep breaths (ideally fresh air) multiple times a day.”

My thought: use something I already do several times a day – like washing my hands! – to remind me to take 10 deep breaths regularly.

(Speaking with a friend today – 24 April, 2020 – who has epilepsy, she cautioned that in those with the condition, repeated deep breathing has the possibility of triggering an epileptic episode. She said it is safer to take a deep breath, then a few normal breaths, and only then another deep breath.)