Everybody knows that without BREATHING you simply cannot live, but what most people do not know is that the way you breathe greatly influences your health. Deep breathing can be a simple, but potent, relaxation technique. It aims to fixate on full, cleansing breaths to ease the mind-body. Deep breathing is the foundation of many relaxation practices that can be traced back to Eastern cultural traditions, like meditation and yoga. Any form of fitness can have a beneficial effect. Besides exercise and deep breathing practice, the way you breathe throughout the day can have a significant effect on your health!
Many health professionals can affirm the association between internal stress and improper breathing. Alternative health expert Dr. Andrew Weil stresses the importance of proper breathing by saying, “If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly.” Not only does stress instigate poor breathing, but poor breathing stresses the body overall.
Most people fail to breathe through their diaphragm, which is the primary breathing muscle. As a result, the muscles of the chest and neck are recruited to assist the diagram in breathing. Therefore, the chest and neck muscles get tired from all the extra unnecessary work. This affects upper body posture and increases susceptibility to injuries of the spinal joints, shoulders and can lead to hard painful knots. A lot of these conditions are at least partially due to respiratory dysfunction.
Ideal breathing patterns are very important for optimal health. Six breaths per minute would be ideal, but not easy to accomplish, considering the poor habitual mouth breathing habits you may have instilled over the years. Proper deep breathing, preferably through the nose, increases blood oxygen levels, balancing pH levels and improving health. Conversely, shallow breathing can be quite damaging over time. Shallow breathing is often triggered by mouth breathing. Breathing through the nose, at least during the inhale, is far superior to mouth breathing, and allows for much more efficient oxygenation of the tissues and organs with long even breaths through the diaphragm.
According to a study published in The Lancet, cardiac patients who took 12 to 14 shallow breaths per minute were more likely to have low levels of blood oxygen. This “may impair skeletal muscle and metabolic function, and lead to muscle atrophy and exercise intolerance.” (1)
A major study out of Japan also showed evidence that deep breathing exercises are advantageous for reducing blood pressure. In this 2005 study of 21,563 subjects, researchers discovered that blood pressure was significantly lower after performing six rounds of deep breathing exercises for 30 seconds each time! (2)
When breathing in a healthful way, the stomach goes out when you inhale and goes back in when you exhale. Conversely, shallow breathers are more likely to habitually pull their stomachs in when they take a breath. You really only have to worry about using the diaphragm upon inhalation, the lungs collapse elastically and allow air to be released with no labor.
Practice using your diaphragm with this very simple technique:
- Lie down on your back with your knees up.
- Place a book flat on your stomach.
- Take a deep breath in through the nose, hold for a few seconds to assure carbon dioxide retention, then breathe out fully.
- If the whole book elevates, you used your diaphragm correctly!
- Having the book raise up at least 2- 4 inches is the goal.
Repeat 10-20x- Amazing benefits with consistent practice!
Benefits of proper deep breathing:
- Releases tension and decreases stress levels.
- Works to correct long-instilled incorrect breathing patterns.
- Helps regenerate cells and oxygenates the blood, which feeds the brain and all the vital organs.
- Stimulates digestive function, and improves mental and aerobic performance.
- Deep breathing triggers the lymphatic system to help release toxins more efficiently.
- Massages internal organs and balances the nervous system.
- Reduces negative emotional states.
- Decreases pain and strengthens the immune system.
- Stimulates fat loss.
- Helps balance pH levels and control inflammation promotes homeostasis and helps to prevent and reverse disease.
DEEP BREATHING EXERCISES
Here are three examples of breathing exercises you can practice by themselves or in conjunction with meditation:
1)
- Simply breathe in through your nostrils as deeply as possible for a count of 4.
- Then hold your breath for 4 seconds.
- Then exhale through your mouth, clearing every bit of air from the lungs about 8 seconds (in order to eliminate all excess carbon dioxide). Hold 4 seconds at the bottom, then repeat.
- Repeat a few times throughout the day for 3-5 minutes each time.
2)
- Another great way to calm the mind is to sit comfortably with your back straight.
- Focus on the inhaling and exhaling of each breath.
- Count each breath without fixating on any thoughts.
- When a thought comes into your mind, recognize it, then release it freely.
- Count each breath, from 50 to 100 breaths, repeat for 5-10 minutes.
3)
- Sit comfortably and breathe deeply in through your nose from the abdomen, getting as much fresh air as possible in your lungs, rather than shallow breaths from your upper chest.
- Put one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. The hand on your stomach should rise upon the in breath.
- Exhale as much air as possible through your mouth, pushing out while contracting your abdominal muscles simultaneously.
- Continue breathing and inhaling so that your lower abdomen rises and falls. Count slowly as you exhale.
Over breathing, rapid shallow breathing, or hyperventilating can also be very damaging. You may be thinking what’s wrong with a little extra breathing, more oxygen, right? Actually, the direct opposite is happening. Even though you are breathing in plenty of oxygen, less is getting to the tissues. In order for the body to utilize the oxygen, it must have sufficient carbon dioxide (CO2). When you hyperventilate, the blood doesn’t have enough time to retain the much-needed CO2.
Dutch scientist Bohr concluded that when the blood is deficient in carbon dioxide, oxygen remains bound to the hemoglobin of the blood and cannot be utilized by the cells, leading to oxygen deprivation in the tissues and organs like the brain and kidneys, as well as an elevation of blood pressure. That’s why the paper bag trick works so well when your hyperventilating- it allows for re-inhalation of carbon dioxide to re-balance blood levels.
Hyperventilation is not that uncommon and can occur from high emotional stress, anxiety and panic disorders, diabetic ketoacidosis, heat exhaustion, chronic illness (like kidney and lung disease), diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Even prior to developing these conditions, these individuals tend to be very acidic. One of the ways the body can compensate is by hyperventilating, which increases the alkalinity of the blood to safe levels.
Russian Medical Scientist Professor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko put in 40 plus years of research into breathing and found that only one in ten people breathe correctly. Professor Buteyko developed a test called the Control Pause Breathing Test to measure the depth of breathing and resultant retention of carbon dioxide.
Using a timer perform the method as follows:
- Sitting down, close your mouth and breathe normally through your nose for 30 seconds or so.
- Take a normal breath in through your nose.
- Allow a normal breath out through your nose.
- Then close your nose shut with thumb and forefinger, and watch the timer for the second count.
- When you feel the need to breathe, release the nose and take a breath in through the nose, remembering to keep the mouth closed.
- The number of seconds that have passed is your control pause.
- If your Control Pause was less than 10 seconds you have health issues.
- Less than 25 seconds your health needs some attention.
- 30-40 seconds is satisfactory and 60 plus seconds is amazing!
Shallow breathing and shallow rapid breathing, or over breathing both starve tissues of valuable oxygen. The correct ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide through proper breathing allows for the healthy release or retention of oxygen from the blood. A lifetime of poor breathing takes time to correct, so be patient and keep practicing! Breathing exercises can be practiced anywhere at any time. They can even be done while you’re lying in bed prior to sleeping, which can promote a faster and a more restful sleep. As you see, something as simple as breathing correctly is primordial for optimal health!
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_relief_meditation_yoga_relaxation.htm
1- http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/stress-management/deep-breathing.htm
2- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16231755