At Least 68 Killed as Spanish Train Is Sent Past a Red Signal

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The Ready Brief #237

Practical preparedness for uncertain times

Today’s issue covers box breathing, a four-count breathing pattern for steadying yourself when stress hits. It costs nothing, needs no equipment and takes a couple of minutes. It is also easiest to use in an emergency if you have already practiced it on an ordinary day. The lead story is a high-speed train crash in Spain that has killed at least 68 people, and on the radar is a Hyundai recall that tells owners to park outside.

Box Breathing: A Four-Count Tool for Staying Clear Under Stress

Under stress, your sympathetic nervous system runs the fight-or-flight response. Harvard Health describes it as the system that directs your response to dangerous or stressful situations. Your heart beats faster and your breathing gets quicker and shallower. That helps if you need to run. It gets in the way when you need to make a careful decision in an emergency.

Box breathing, also called tactical breathing, is a slow, paced pattern meant to move you out of fight-or-flight and toward the parasympathetic, rest-and-digest side. Cleveland Clinic says it is used by U.S. Navy SEALs, and Harvard Health says military and law enforcement personnel use tactical breathing to stay calm in dangerous situations.

Here is Cleveland Clinic’s version. Start by breathing out slowly until your lungs are empty. Breathe in through your nose for a count of four. Hold for four. Breathe out for four. Hold for four. That is one round. Repeat for three or four rounds. Harvard Health’s version has you exhale through your mouth.

That’s it. No app required. No equipment. No training beyond reading the paragraph above.

Dr. Melissa Young, an integrative medicine specialist at Cleveland Clinic, describes breathwork as a way to “move out of the fight-or-flight state and into that parasympathetic nervous system.” Cleveland Clinic adds that regulating your breath may lower the stress hormone cortisol and may help lower blood pressure.

If the holds feel hard at first, shorten the count and keep your breathing gentle. Dr. Young’s advice is to stay at your comfort level and not strain. The counts get easier with practice, and you can lengthen them over time.

When to use it: before any high-stress situation you can anticipate. Before a difficult conversation. Before making an important decision. After a sudden scare or close call. During the first minutes of a disaster when your brain is screaming and you need to think clearly.

For preparedness, the point is that stress makes every other skill harder to use. A written plan, a stocked pantry and a go-bag by the door help less if you can’t think through the first few minutes. Box breathing is a way to get back to the plan.

Practice it during calm times so it comes more easily during stressful ones. Cleveland Clinic suggests practicing once or twice a day regardless of mood, for example first thing in the morning or after a hard day.

Box breathing is not the only option. In a 2023 Stanford study published in Cell Reports Medicine, 108 people practiced for 5 minutes a day for 28 days using one of four methods: cyclic sighing (two inhales through the nose, then a long exhale), box breathing, cyclic hyperventilation or mindfulness meditation. All four groups reported less anxiety. Cyclic sighing produced the largest gain in positive mood and the largest drop in breathing rate. The authors note the study was small and run remotely.

The common thread is intentional control of breath. It is one preparedness skill that weighs nothing, costs nothing and needs no equipment.

Do five rounds of box breathing right now.

Set your phone timer for 2 minutes. Sit comfortably. Four seconds in. Hold four. Four seconds out. Hold four. Repeat until the timer stops. Notice how you feel afterward compared to before. That’s the skill. Now practice it daily until it’s a reflex.

Hyundai Tells 94,622 Genesis Owners to Park Outside Over Seat Fire Risk

First reading. Hyundai is recalling 94,622 sedans: the Hyundai Genesis from model years 2015 and 2016 and the Genesis G80 from 2017 to 2020, according to NHTSA recall 26V664. The front power seat motors can overheat if a seat control switch sticks, and the resulting fire can start whether the car is parked or being driven. A repair is still being developed. Until the car is fixed, owners are told to park outdoors, away from other vehicles and buildings. You can check a VIN on NHTSA’s recall lookup. Next check: owner letters are due to be mailed Dec. 7, and NHTSA has asked Hyundai to file a description of the remedy.

Source: NHTSA recall acknowledgment 26V664

Mark Divine served about 20 years as a Navy SEAL, nine on active duty and eleven in the reserves, and retired as a commander in 2011, according to his SEALFIT biography. He founded SEALFIT, a training company for special operations candidates, and wrote Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level. The third-edition paperback is about $18.

Our takeaway, not a claim from the book: treat breath control like any other drill. Practice it when nothing is wrong, so it is there when something is.

At Least 68 Killed as Spanish Train Is Sent Past a Red Signal

At least 68 people were killed Wednesday morning when a Renfe AVE high-speed train struck a stopped Iryo train between Mora and Orgaz, south of Toledo, on the Madrid to Andalusia line, according to Castilla-La Mancha regional president Emiliano García-Page. Spain’s health minister said 80 people were injured, 15 of them seriously. The two trains carried 544 passengers. Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a computer communications failure set a red signal that stopped traffic, and the Renfe train was then wrongly authorized to proceed. Renfe has suspended ticket sales on the corridor until Dec. 13. It is the line’s second deadly crash this year, after a January crash killed 46. Investigators have not yet set out the full sequence of events. If you travel by train, take a minute after boarding to find the nearest emergency exit and window release.

Source: Reuters via The Business Standard, Al Jazeera, The Olive Press

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

About $20 for the paperback (Riverhead, 368 pages). Nestor is a science journalist, and the book, a New York Times bestseller, looks at how the way people breathe affects their health. The new paperback edition adds material. We suggest it if you want more background than today’s four-count method.

Budget alternative: A clock with a second hand ($0). Watch the seconds and count.

Overrated: Paying for an app to learn box breathing. The method is four counts and four steps, and free guides from Cleveland Clinic and Harvard Health explain it in a few paragraphs.

Underrated: The long, slow exhale. In the Stanford study, cyclic sighing, the method built around a long exhale, did best on both mood and breathing rate.

Apartment prepping. Limited space, rental rules and no backyard still leave plenty you can do. We’ll cover what’s possible when you can’t install a generator.

How was today’s issue? Tap one below. If you pick “Could be better,” tell us what to fix.

PS: Before your next stressful call or meeting, try four rounds of box breathing and see how you feel afterward.

THE READY BRIEF is published for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing here is professional legal, medical, financial, or tactical advice. Preparedness looks different for every household. Use your own judgment, consult qualified professionals when the stakes are high, and adapt what you read here to your actual situation.