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Breathing Exercise: For Health, Happiness & Longevity
DIR By: LightMove
Date: September 27, 2021, 3:47 am
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Like the beating of your heart, your respiratory system doesn’t
need monitoring to continue on — every second, of every minute,
of every hour, of every day.
Whether you think about breathing or not, it happens.
This, in turn, leads many people to believe that they simply
don’t have to think about their breathing. In this article,
however, we’ll be countering this notion: Even though it’s not
compulsory to give your breath much thought, when you do,
amazing things can happen.
Conscious breathing (or breathing mindfully) can transform your
life. It can change the way you think and process emotions, how
your muscles work, how often you get ill, your chances of
developing chronic diseases, and even how smooth and shiny your
hair looks.
Surprised? Most people are. But as soon as they adopt some of
the methods we’ll be outlining in this article, they become
converts almost immediately.
So, let’s get started. We’ll begin by explaining why how you
breathe is so important and how exactly breathing works. From
there, we’ll talk about the benefits of breathing and explain
how to improve your own breathing habits with some useful tips
and exercises. Finally, we’ll go over some of the most
frequently asked questions we receive about better breathing.
Breathing Basics: Why Proper Breathing Is Essential
It may be a natural body function, but many of us take for
granted the power that breath has over our entire body. Let’s
learn how breathing works and why improving your breathing is
essential for health, wellness, and longevity.
How Breathing Works
From the nervous and cardiovascular systems, right down to your
body’s individual cells, deep breathing has the ability to
transform and renew your health.
Below, we’ll examine the science of breathing, in order to
highlight how stimulation of these systems can bring you closer
to achieving overall better health, stress reduction, and
longevity.
Digging Deep Into The Science Of Breathing
When you engage your breath, you are activating your nervous and
cardiovascular systems. With each inhale and exhale, your breath
helps regulate, recover, and restore your body. The science
behind deep breathing is a great reminder of how our bodies have
a natural ability to be resilient.
The Diaphragm And How It Works
The main muscle responsible for breathing is the diaphragm. This
is a dome-shaped muscle, which partitions the abdomen (below)
from the thorax (above).
When you inhale normally, the diaphragm (assisted by the
intercostal muscles) contracts and flattens. This pushes on the
abdomen and simultaneously causes the lower ribs to go up and
out. Essentially, the ribcage rises and expands. As a result,
volume increases in the abdomen and chest, and the lungs are
inflated.
During exhalation, the diaphragm returns to its resting
dome-shaped position. The lungs, in turn, deflate, and air is
expelled through the mouth and nose.
The Throat Anatomy
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The science of breathing is all connected to the anatomy of the
throat and lungs breathing exercises, the throat anatomy
explained. This is a technical breakdown, without going into
great detail but a short explanation of the different components
and how breathing actually works from a scientific standpoint.
As you can see there are a lot of different components involved
when you take a breath.
Larynx - Larynx is another name for the voice box. It consists
mainly of cartilage, soft tissue, and muscles, including vocal
cords, and is also the upper part of the trachea or windpipe.
Pharynx - Pharynx is the muscle-lined space connecting the nose
and mouth to the larynx. It is also the upper part of the
throat.
Nasopharynx - The Pharynx or the upper part of the throat
consists of three parts and Nasopharynx in the upper part of the
Pharynx
Oropharynx - The Oropharynx is the second and middle part of the
throat or Pharynx.
Laryngopharynx - The Laryngopharynx is the third and lower part
of the Pharynx.
Hypopharynx - The hypopharynx is where the esophagus stars. More
about the esophagus below.
Pharyngeal - This is the muscle group that forms the Pharynx,
the Pharyngeal group.
Stylopharyngeus - The lateral muscle group of the Pharynx and
part of the Pharyngeal muscle group.
Trachea cartilage - Also known as the Tracheal rings. The
Trachea cartilage helps support the trachea, making it flexible
and able to move.
Epiglottis - The Epiglottis is a flap that folds over the vocal
cords, preventing food and liquid to enter the lungs
Cricoid cartilage - It is a cartilage ring that supports the
back of the Larynx, aka voice box.
The esophagus - Is the tube that connects the throat to the
stomach, starting at the Hypopharynx
Hyoid bone - Has two important roles, one is to hold up the
tongue but also support and hole up the Larynx that sits below
it.
Windpipe - The windpipe transports the air from your nose or
mouth to the lungs with each inhale or exhale
The Benefits of Better Breathing
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Carving out a few minutes each day for deep breathing can help
you reduce stress, feel calmer, and have more energy — all good
things when it comes to living a healthy, well-balanced
lifestyle.
But improved diaphragmatic breathing has additional benefits as
well — some of which might surprise you. From improved hair
growth to better posture, breathing affects the whole body from
the inside, out.
Let’s take a look at the top benefits of deep breathing.
Improvement of Respiratory Illness and Diseases
Deep, slow, and mindful breathing breaks the cycle of gasping
breaths and airway constriction, which are often associated with
respiratory illnesses such as asthma and COPD (chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease). When taking in shallow and slow
breaths through the nose, as many people commonly do throughout
the day, you gradually lengthen the time between your breaths,
which exacerbates this problem.
With regular practice, the technique of deep breathing has the
ability to reduce wheezing and promote calm, regulated
breathing. In fact, deep breathing exercises are regularly
recommended1 by leading health professionals, doctors, and
researchers who work with respiratory illness sufferers.
Pulmonary Function Test
A Pulmonary Function Test, also known as PFT is a respiratory
assessment test to measure the lung capacity in a human. Doctors
do a so-called lung function test to get an accurate respiratory
assessment. To perform the PFT they use a machine called
spirometry. This lung function test measures lung capacity by
measuring how much air you can inhale. This is done by first
blocking your nose with a clip so you can't inhale through it,
then the spirometry is used, placing your mouth on the PFT,
simply inhale into it. In this way, doctors are able to
determine how much air you are able to inhale.
Greater Relaxation and Sounder Sleep
Once you start breathing deeply, you’ll notice tension release
and an overall calming effect. You might even feel your
heartbeat regulating and see your pulse lowering if you wear a
health tracker. If you are experiencing trouble sleeping, a
breathing exercise for sleep is an excellent option.
This calming effect also triggers a relaxation response, and in
turn, this allows you to fall asleep faster when it’s time for
bed. During your sleep, you’ll notice that you wake up less
frequently. Improved oxygen in the blood also enhances the
metabolism, giving you the boost of energy you’re looking for
before you start your day or a workout. The body does this using
the baroreceptors, which expand the arterial walls, thus
controlling blood pressure but also allowing for the blood to
absorb additional oxygen throughout the body.
All of this is behind the reason why the National Sleep
Foundation recommends deep breathing relaxation exercises2 to
help people fall asleep when they’re restless.
Better Posture
It’s no secret that our daily environment doesn’t facilitate the
maintenance of good posture. From all-day sitting at desk jobs
and while driving, to hours spent in front of the TV or computer
at night, the less our bodies are able to fight the forces of
gravity and maintain a strong, stable core, the worse off our
posture becomes.
According to Judith Marcin, MD, “Over time, [a sedentary
lifestyle] weakens the strength of our respiratory muscles. It
also creates tension in the upper body that can alter our
posture and undermine our health3". Furthermore, when you
breathe from the chest instead of the lower abdomen, it’s the
muscles in your neck and shoulders that end up doing most of the
work.
It should go without saying that these muscles were not meant
for this kind of work, and over time, the shoulders will round,
and the head will drift forward, which strains the neck and
weakens the back muscles. Shoulder and neck pain is often common
when this occurs.
But there’s good news. The action of deep breathing almost
automatically corrects rounded shoulders, opens the chest
muscles, and allows the rib cage to expand.
Reduced Stress and Enhanced Mood
The mind-body connection remains an enigma to many medical
experts. Still, even scientists agree that there’s something
special about the link between the mind and emotions and how you
breathe.
Notably, when we are stressed, the airways in the body become
tighter, making it harder for air to travel from the mouth to
the lungs. Essentially, your body has to work harder to transfer
air, and you end up breathing faster, which perpetuates the
problem.
This is, of course, why they always tell people to “take a deep
breath” during times of stress or when someone is nervous before
a big presentation or performance. It’s not without reason.
Achieving mind-body calming starts with the breath. Slow and
relaxed breathing allows for more oxygen to reach your cells,
and it calms the nervous system.
Similarly, mindfulness practices like mindful yoga and
meditation can help reinforce this mind-body awareness. Those
who regularly practice mindful deep breathing, such as yogic
breathing, report this practice4 as alleviating “anxiety,
depression, everyday stress, post-traumatic stress,
stress-related medical illnesses, or fight or flight response".
Yogic breathing is not as intimidating as you may think. It is a
more advanced breathing technique that focuses on breathing
awareness and retention. Whether you’re looking to balance out
your nostril breathing, find a deeper mind-body connection, or
feel a sense of cleansing and renewal, this practice will help
you make each breath count.
Enhanced Learning and Cognitive Performance
A recent study published in Scientific Reports found that
breathing exercises can enhance humans’ ability to retain newly
learned information5. In this study, two groups of healthy
humans were taught to trace a unique path in a fixed timeframe.
After they learned the path, one of the groups rested for 30
minutes while the other group engaged in a breathing practice
for the same duration.
After this, both groups were tested on their abilities to recall
the unique trace path that they had been taught 30 minutes
prior. The results showed that "The breathing-practice group
retained the motor skill strikingly better than controls, both
immediately after the breathing session and also at 24hours.”
Enhanced Physical Endurance and Performance
Whether you partake in active sports such as soccer, basketball,
or volleyball or you’re looking to increase your physical
stamina strictly for athletic performance reasons, deep
breathing exercises (and in particular, yogic breathing) can
have a huge range of benefits.
This was recently proven to be true6 in a study testing the
effects of yogic breathing practices on the lung functions of
young swimmers. The study was published in the Journal of
Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine.
Two groups of young swimmers were designated. One group was
chosen randomly and taught to train in yogic breathing practices
while the other group was the control. In the end, “there was a
significant improvement in the YBP group as compared to the
control group in maximal voluntary ventilation … forced vital
capacity … and the number of strokes per breath.”
Deep Breathing's Effects on Balance
In addition to improving endurance and overall athletic
performance, diaphragmatic breathing has also been shown to
improve balance. A recent study published in the Journal of
Physical and Manipulative Psychological Therapeutics tested 13
healthy individuals7 from the University of Western states.
Over an eight-week period, the subjects were taught a series of
breathing exercises. These exercises were performed on a regular
basis at home and in-clinic, and at the same time balance was
assessed by the researchers using the Modified Balanced Air
Scoring System and the OptoGait's March in Place protocol.
In the end, the “study indicated that promotion of a
costal-diaphragmatic breathing pattern may be associated with
improvement in balance.” This conclusion stemmed from the fact
that as their associated breathing scores improved, the subjects
showed a decreasing error rate in single-leg stance balancing
exercises. In other words, they were able to stand and balance
on one leg more easily and for longer as their deep breathing
scores improved.
Improved Hair Growth
Did you know that it has even been shown that deep breathing
exercises can help promote hair growth? When practicing deep
breathing, your body delivers more oxygen to the hair follicle
and stimulates more blood flow, which, in turn, helps hair grow
faster and stronger.
How To Breath Better
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The truth is, most of us don't breathe correctly. This may have
been a learned habit that we acquired because we were taught to
“suck in our gut,” or it may simply be a matter of getting
older. Research has shown that children tend to deep breathe
deeper and slower than adults, but when exactly this change
occurs is not completely known.
Regardless of where you're starting out, you can learn to
breathe better. Here are some techniques and tips that we
recommend exploring in your journey toward healthier
diaphragmatic breathing. Before diving in, however, let’s go
over what poor breathing looks like.
Understanding Poor Breathing
Poor breathing is short, shallow, and high up in the chest.
Optimal breathing includes longer, deeper breaths and occurs low
in the abdomen.
To test your breathing, try this:
Put your right hand on your chest and your left hand on your
stomach. Take a deep breath as you count to three. When you do
this, which hand do you feel moving the most?
If it's your right hand (the one on your chest), you’re
breathing from your chest. If it's your left hand (the one on
your stomach), you are breathing from your abdomen. You want to
do the latter— breath from your abdomen.
When you breathe from your chest, your breaths are automatically
going to be short and shallow because they're only scooping up
the air from the tops of your lungs. The bottoms of your lungs
are bigger and fuller. That's where your lungs store most of
their air, and it's where you want to gather your breath each
time you inhale.
Difficulty Breathing
Breathing is more than just inhale and exhale. What’s important
is the quality of your breathing, how you allow it in and out of
your lungs how you perform your exhales and inhales, how you
take that air in and out in a certain pattern and time frame.
There are a number of different symptoms you can experience when
it comes to breathing issues. Shortness of breath when under
anxiety and/or stress, wheezing when breathing, heavy breathing,
agonal breathing also known as labored breathing, shallow
breathing, and rapid breathing. Whatever the issue is with your
breathing, there is often some type of breathing treatment that
can address some if not all of these issues. All you need to do
is find the one that fits your needs.
*Please note that not all problems can be solved with a certain
breathing technique. If you are having difficulty breathing,
agonal breathing, or abnormal breathing patterns that won't go
away, seek medical attention as soon as possible or call 911.
You should also seek medical advice or breathing treatment if
you experience any of the following issues:
Issues While Breathing
Chest Pain when breathing
Back pain when breathing
Sharp pain when breathing
Lower back pain when breathing
Trouble breathing after eating followed by pain
Middle back pain when breathing
Wheezing cough
Feel the need to breathe but feeling that you are not able to
get enough air with each inhale
Sharp pain in breast
Dull pain under left rib cage
Breathing Exercises
It is extremely important to use the correct breathing training
method, the wrong method will make your breathing training
meaningless.Strengthening vital capacity, learning better
breathing methods, can effectively enhance physical fitness, and
can also inhibit the emerge of lung diseases. OPUMP can help you
to effectively complete the breathing training course, develop
good breathing habits, and record your every breathing state.
You can learn about your progress from training records, and
better breathing performance can bring you a better physical
condition.
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