Count your breaths for 60 seconds right now. Sit still. Don't perform.

In large adult studies, a resting respiratory rate of 16 breaths per minute or higher is associated with higher mortality. Clinics treat pulse and blood pressure as vital signs. Resting breath rate is in that family and almost nobody tracks it.

What actually moves the needle is not a viral "add 3 years" protocol. That number usually got mixed up with air-pollution research. Slow breathing around 6 breaths a minute (5 seconds in, 5 seconds out, through the nose) is the pattern that shows up in trials for heart-rate variability, baroreflex, and blood pressure.

Ten minutes. Chair. Mouth closed. Timer.

If your count was 16 or above, you have a training target. If it was already slow, you still have a skill to keep.

I built Breath and Balance around that one block — not ice baths, not pills, not hour-long holotropic sessions.