We can live a long time without food, a few days without drinking, but life without breathing is measured in minutes. Breathing is the most important of all bodily functions. Proper breathing is one of the most important processes of our body to maintain health. Also, if you breathe properly, the risk of diseases, including heart attacks, is reduced. In Eastern cultures, great importance is attached to the correct breathing technique, and for good reason.
What could be more natural than breathing? You may be surprised to learn that most people don't know that breathing is an act we do about 20,000 times a day. It is a process such as breathing that can profoundly affect our health and overall human condition. Many of the breathing exercises are simple, so learning the correct breathing technique does not require a lot of mind and strength. Breathing has long been considered essential to maintain vitality and energy.
There is little emphasis on breathing techniques in Western cultures, which can lead to health problems. Luckily, changing your habitual breathing can be done pretty easily once you figure out how.
Anuloma Viloma / Anuloma pranayama. Dmitry Lapshinov
Exercise Techniques to Improve Breathing
Simple breathing exercises can be done to help the body make better use of oxygen. At the same time, each person will feel a great surge of energy and an improvement in the general condition.
In order to start breathing correctly, you just need to follow these steps:
- Start by counting how many times you breathe each minute. In a relaxed sitting position, most people breathe between 15 and 25 times per minute.
- Take a lying position. Place a heavy book on your stomach just below your navel.
- Keep practicing this until the breathing becomes natural and effortless and the book is no obstacle to taking deep breaths.
BREATH. How to breathe correctly? Breathe with Master Go!
Here are some more general rules for more efficient breathing:
- Breathe only through your nose, as far as possible. The nose pre-warms, humidifies and filters the air before entering the lungs.
- Stand straight with your arms to the side. Start inhaling slowly so that the air fills the bottom of your lungs. To do this, you must relax the abdominal muscles of the abdomen.
- As you continue to inhale slowly, let the air fill the middle part of your lungs. At the same time, you should feel how the chest expands.
- And the last seconds of inhalation should fill the lungs completely. To do this, lift your collarbone and pull your shoulders up and back.
- Now exhale, relaxing your collarbone and shoulders.
Proper breathing is guaranteed to ensure good health for many years.
Why is proper breathing essential for our health?
This is what happens during proper breathing: such a natural process as breathing fills every cell of our body with oxygen, from to vital organs. Without enough oxygen, your body becomes more susceptible to health problems. Those people who do not adhere to proper breathing are likely to have low blood oxygen levels, which can lead to disruption in skeletal muscle and metabolic functions, all of which will lead to muscle atrophy and a weakened immune system.
On the contrary, deep breathing increases the level of oxygen in the blood, improves health in every sense of the word - from stimulating the digestive processes to improving physical fitness and mental performance.
To find out if we are breathing correctly during deep breaths, we can take an elementary test: put your palms on your lower abdomen and inhale a large amount of air. Now take a big breath. If your stomach expands when you inhale and exhale air -.
Proper deep breathing:
- Lowers your heart rate;
- Lowers blood pressure and cardiac output;
- Increases the level of oxygen in the blood;
- Promotes clear thinking;
- Relieves stress;
- Increases metabolism;
- Improves blood circulation;
- Support detoxification;
- Proper breathing can even help prevent heart attacks.
Practicing deep breathing exercises speeds up oxygen consumption. Oxygen is the most important in the body. It is a powerful stimulant and its main function is cleansing. Hemoglobin (respiratory blood pigment) is an iron molecule that has magnetic properties. It reacts to vibrations and carries oxygen with blood components. Iron is composed of positive and negative ions. Negative ions are attracted to hemoglobin. They are the most abundant substances in the body. Deep breathing "charges" hemoglobin.
Why is it important to breathe correctly?
Means that our body replenishes the brain and other vital organs with essential nutrients. If you don’t breathe properly, your health will worsen significantly:
- Your skin may suffer because it does not receive enough oxygen. It can peel off and have an unhealthy appearance;
- Muscles during the simplest workouts can weaken;
- The general condition worsens and a person who does not breathe properly may feel constantly tired and lethargic, because there are not enough vital nutrients carried in the blood.
Deep breathing and the lymphatic system
Deep breathing is essential for the functioning of the lymphatic system.. What is the lymphatic system? Some people talk about the lymphatic system as our body's sewer system. Every cell in your body is surrounded by lymph.
This is how the lymphatic system works: Blood travels from your heart through your arteries into thin, porous capillaries. Blood carries nutrients and oxygen to the capillaries, which are located in the lymphatic fluid around the cells. Each cell receives nutrients and oxygen for their further functioning. In addition to nourishing the cells, the lymphatic system cleanses our body and filters toxins. It is from the lymphatic system, and in order to activate the work of the lymphatic system, you need to breathe correctly and deeply.
Most of us just don't breathe deeply enough.. The more oxygen in the blood, the less fatigue and more developed mental abilities. Therefore, in order to feel healthy and full of energy, you need to start with proper breathing and you will notice how, with the help of proper gas exchange, your body will resist microorganisms.
Top tips to learn how to breathe correctly. Why is it important for the health of the body to breathe through the nose, directing the air to the upper abdomen?
The importance of breathing for health
A healthy breathing process through direct expansion of the lungs and movement of the muscles of the diaphragm provides a micro-massage of the internal organs, while improving the functioning of the digestive and circulatory systems. However, most people breathe incorrectly.Improper breathing significantly reduces the percentage of oxygen absorbed by the body from the air. A number of scientific studies show that a modern person receives only half of the amount of oxygen that the body needs for normal operation.
How to breathe correctly?
Breathing that draws air into the chest and not into the abdomen is wrong. The muscles of the diaphragm in this case do not move up and down, but forward, compressing and limiting the lungs. In addition, this way of breathing makes you breathe through your mouth, not your nose.
Remember how children breathe - they breathe through their nose, and when they breathe, the upper part of their tummy goes down and up, while the chest practically does not move. Such breathing is called "diaphragmatic" and is the most natural for a person.
How to learn to breathe correctly?
Take the most comfortable position for you - sitting, standing or lying down. Place your left hand on your chest, your right hand on your stomach. Try to breathe normally. Spend a few minutes observing exactly how you breathe and whether your stomach or chest moves as you breathe.If your stomach does not move, lightly massage it with your palms around the navel, while trying to breathe so that the air allows the stomach to “open up”. Also, make sure that breathing is deep and carried out directly through the nose, and not through the mouth.
Why shouldn't you breathe through your mouth?
In fact, one of the main functions of the nose is to filter the air that enters the lungs. At the same time, mouth breathing practically does not filter the air, allowing both too cold and hot air, as well as various particles of dust or microbes, to enter the lungs.Don't be surprised if you find nasal breathing "uncomfortable" - give your body a few days and it will restore normal function. Just try to devote a few minutes every hour to consciously breathing not through your mouth, but through your nose.
Breathe with your diaphragm
In the process of diaphragmatic breathing, not only the muscles of the diaphragm itself are included in the work, but also the abdominal muscles of the press, the muscles of the chest, shoulders and neck. All these muscles are extremely important not only for healthy breathing, but also for proper posture.The main postural disorders caused by a weak diaphragm are "open scissors" syndrome and "hourglass" syndrome. In the case of the latter, the lower ribs and pelvis seem to tighten, forcing the center of the abdomen to sink inward, minimizing the arch of the lower back.
Short breaths and long breaths
A healthy breathing cycle consists of a deep breath of 2-3 seconds, followed by a long exhalation of 3-4 seconds and a final pause of 2-3 seconds. Breathing should be rhythmic and as silent as possible.The most correct is the commission of 8 breaths per minute - slow and measured. Mouth breathing with chest movement usually tends to be fast, about 10 cycles per minute, as the body is chronically short of oxygen.
The importance of correct posture
the site has already written that a constant sitting in a sitting position leads to posture disorders. However, the same factor also affects the breathing process - being in a "hunched" position, a person begins to breathe with the chest, and not with the stomach.The position of the body during sleep is also critical for breathing. The healthiest sleep is considered to be on the back, in which two pillows are used - a small pillow under the head and a pillow of medium height, placed under the hips and raising the pelvis.
Improper breathing significantly reduces the supply of oxygen to the body. To restore the habit of correct breathing, it is enough several times a day to pay attention to whether you breathe through your nose or through your mouth, and whether your stomach moves in the process.
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"If you can breathe slowly, your mind will calm down and regain vitality"Satyananda Swami Saraswati (Founder of the International Yoga Society Movement).
People have long thought about the question: "How to breathe correctly?". Just imagine: the first mention of proper breathing dates back to the 6th century BC. An ancient Chinese proverb says: "he who masters the art of breathing can walk on the sand without leaving footprints."
Otto Heinrich Warburg (a German biochemist, one of the outstanding scientists of the 20th century in the field of cytology) revealed a sad pattern in 1931: lack of oxygen is a direct and sure way to the formation of cancer.
So, if you care about your health?
If you want to comprehend something new, effective and useful? Then this article is especially for you! Read, analyze, put knowledge into action, work - live in joy.
And first, let's figure out what types of breathing exist and, most importantly, what is their effect on us:
- Clavicular(If you hunch over, your shoulders are raised, your stomach is compressed, then this means that you are depriving yourself of oxygen very much). Get better!
- chest breathing(In this case, the chest expands due to the work of the intercostal muscles, which contributes to the saturation of the body with oxygen. This method is more physiological during pregnancy).
- Deep breathing involving the muscles of the diaphragm(With such breathing, the lower sections of the lungs are mainly filled with air, this is how men and athletes breathe most often. The most convenient way during physical exertion).
Breathing is the mirror of mental health. Psychiatrist Alexander Lowen has long studied emotional blockages (neurotic and schizoid disorders in people) that prevent proper breathing. They found a stunning clear relationship between the character and the type of his emotional disorder. And as it turned out later, schizoid personalities are prone to breathing with the upper part of the chest. And people of the neurotic type use shallow diaphragmatic breathing.
Dr. Lowen came to the conclusion that by restoring the correct way of breathing, people get the opportunity to have a normal life.
The dangers of "wrong" breathing
If we breathe incorrectly, then less oxygen enters our lungs, which means less oxygen reaches the cells of the body. Did you know that the condition of the skin and hair directly depends on the work of the lungs? So, if there is a violation of gas exchange in the lungs, a number of functions pass to the skin, and this leads to the appearance of wrinkles and other troubles. Scary??? Then be sure to correct your breathing.
Proper breathing training
Start your workout by evaluating your breathing habits: just breathe and watch yourself do it.
Ask yourself: How do I breathe - through my nose or mouth? Breathing through the nose has physiological significance:
- The nasal mucosa warms
- Filters
- Humidifies the air you breathe
This does not happen when a person breathes through the mouth.
So, the first important rule of proper breathing is breathe through the nose.
Now ask: "Am I breathing in the same rhythm or not?" Have you experienced rapid breathing? What is your breathing rate at the moment? Count the number of breaths per minute (normal rate is 16 to 20 per minute).
Ask yourself a question: "Are there any extraneous sounds when breathing?". What happens when you take a breath? What happens when you exhale? With proper breathing:
- It should not be noticeable how the chest rises and falls.
- And the wall of the abdomen should rise with each breath and retract with each exhalation.
Breathe right means to breathe child — breathe in the lower abdomen(abdominal breathing).
By changing the rhythm, pace and depth of breathing, you affect the chemical reactions and metabolic processes in the body, your appearance, your thoughts, mood and attitude to the world.
Quickly adjusting to proper breathing is quite difficult, but still possible if desired. The important thing here is constant practice.
So, when training breathing, you need to:
1. Breathe with minimal air consumption.
2. Inhale as slowly as possible (draw in the air).
3. Exhale - as freely as possible (let the air out).
4. There should be no pauses after exhalation.
5. Never inhale or exhale as deeply as possible.
6. Breathing should always be accompanied by a slight noise.
Yogi breathing
The concepts of "breathing" and "yoga" are inextricably linked.
Yogis have been practicing effective breathing for several millennia, they have developed a unique technique that works incredible miracles:
- Heals insomnia
- Mental disorders
- Diseases of the heart and intestines
- Takes away headaches.
General principles of proper breathing in yoga
Before you start practicing proper breathing, remember some of its features:
- With a full breath, all areas of the lungs should be involved - the top, subclavian and brachial parts.
- Middle - under the chest.
- Bottom - supradiaphragmatic part.
And, what is very important: the internal state should be balanced and positive, no irritability!
- Take a comfortable position: sit or lie down
- Draw in the abdomen, pushing all the air out of the lower part of the lungs, and relax it again.
- Then exhale slowly and deeply through the nose - such a breath will fill the bottom of the lungs. At the same time, the stomach should rise.
- Following the bottom, fill the middle part, during which the chest will expand. And the very last - the top, under the collarbones.
- After filling your lungs, hold your breath.
- Then slowly exhale all the air in reverse order. First of all, release the upper part of the lungs, then the middle and lower ones.
- Pull your stomach in to understand that all the air has come out.
- Hold your breath again.
Now let's talk about meditation.
Word " Meditation” in Sanskrit sounds like dhyana, which translates as “concentration”. In China, this word was transformed into "Chan", and in Japan - "Zen".
Meditation- philosophy, and who comprehends it, begins to gradually realize the essence of life, its purpose in it, and also see the true meaning behind being.
To meditate at home, you will need a separate space - it must be absolutely clean, used only for meditation. It is helpful if you take a bath or shower before starting meditation. Cleanliness of the body is important for the purification of the mind.
Bird dance
This is an amazing exercise that allows you to plunge into the world of childhood, throw off the shackles of reality, and become freer. The birthplace of dance is the Baikal region, it was there during one of the trainings that he was born.
It is best to perform it to music:
- close your eyes
- Relax
- Start breathing slowly, coherently and deeply
Imagine the flight of a bird. What did you feel watching him? Did you want to soar up and dissolve in the sky?
Immerse yourself completely in the exciting sensation, let go of the conventions, allow yourself to be a bird - light, free, soaring.
Correct breathing exercises
Exercise number 1.
- stand up straight
- Take one foot forward
- Imagine that you have a balloon in your hands.
- Start tossing it slightly, accompanying each throw with a sound.
First use only vowels:
U - O - A - E - I - S.
And then start adding consonants to the beginning of the syllable:
BU - BO - BA - BE - BI - BY;
VU - IN - VA - VE - VI - YOU;
Lowering the ball, repeat everything from the very beginning.
Exercise 2
Diaphragm exercise.
You will need text, absolutely any text, but poetry is best. It is important here to be able to pronounce words without closing your mouth. That's all!
Friends, and never forget to watch your posture and stop snacking on foods high in carbohydrates (they cause blood sugar fluctuations, and as a result, breathing becomes faster).
As you can see, following the rules is not difficult at all, the main thing is to be diligent and focused.
Breathe easily, freely. Breathe right!
Have you thought about how you breathe? In life, we use less than half the volume of our lungs, we inhale the air superficially and rapidly. Such an incorrect approach disrupts the vital activity of the body and provokes the appearance of many ailments: from insomnia to atherosclerosis.
The more often we inhale the air, the less oxygen the body absorbs. Without holding the breath, carbon dioxide cannot accumulate in the blood and tissue cells. And this important element supports metabolic processes, participates in the synthesis of amino acids, calms the nervous system, dilates blood vessels, excites the respiratory center and makes it work optimally.
What is dangerous wrong breathing?
Rapid shallow breathing contributes to the development of hypertension, asthma, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular and other diseases. In an effort to make up for the excess loss of carbon dioxide, the body turns on the defense system. As a result, overvoltage occurs, which leads to an increase in mucus secretion, an increase in cholesterol levels, narrowing of blood vessels, spasms of bronchial vessels and smooth muscles of all organs.
How to normalize the breathing process?
Enrichment of blood with carbon dioxide is facilitated by sleeping on the stomach, fasting, water procedures, hardening, sports activities and special breathing practices. It is also important to avoid stress, overeating, taking medications, alcohol, smoking and overheating, that is, to lead a healthy lifestyle.
What are the benefits of breathing exercises?
- Prevention of bronchial diseases (bronchial asthma, obstructive, chronic bronchitis).
- Massage of internal organs, improvement of intestinal peristalsis and strengthening of abdominal muscles.
- Concentration of attention and increase of intellectual activity.
- Reduce fatigue, fight stress and.
- A surge of energy, vivacity and excellent well-being.
- Young elastic skin and even weight loss.
Five general rules for performing breathing exercises
- Start with the lightest, gradually increasing the load.
- Exercise outdoors (or in a well-ventilated area) and wear comfortable clothing.
- Don't get distracted during class. Concentration is important for maximum effect.
- Breathe slowly. It is slow breathing that contributes to the greatest saturation of the body with oxygen.
- Do exercises with pleasure. Stop exercising if you experience any unpleasant symptoms. Consult with a specialist about reducing the load or increasing the pause between sets. The only acceptable discomfort is slight dizziness.
Types of breathing exercises
yoga practice
Many centuries ago, yogis discovered the relationship of breathing with the emotional, physical and mental development of a person. Thanks to special exercises, the chakras and channels of perception are opened. Breathing exercises have a beneficial effect on the internal organs, you gain balance and harmony. Yogis call their system pranayama. During the exercise, you need to breathe only through the nose.
Pranayama is the ability to consciously control breathing and control the energy of the body with the help of inhalations and exhalations.
Kapalabhati - belly breathing
Sit in a comfortable position with a straight back. Close your eyes and focus on the mid-eyebrow. As you inhale, inflate your stomach: relax the abdominal wall, and the air will automatically enter the lungs. As you exhale, pull your stomach to the spine, the movement should be active. The chest and upper lungs are not involved in the process. Start with 36 breaths. When you get used to it, bring it up to 108.
Nadi shodhana - breathing through the left and right nostrils
Close the right nostril with your thumb, and through the left, inhale and exhale evenly. Perform five cycles (inhalation and exhalation count as one cycle), then change the nostril. Inhale and exhale through two nostrils - also five cycles. Practice for five days and move on to the next technique.
Inhale and exhale through the left nostril, then close it and inhale and exhale through the right. Change fingers, alternately covering the left and right nostrils. Perform 10 breath cycles.
Gymnastics Strelnikova
This gymnastics is designed as a way to restore the singing voice. However, practice has shown that the method of A. N. Strelnikova, based on gas exchange, is able to naturally and effectively heal the entire body. The exercises involve not only the respiratory system, but also the diaphragm, head, neck, and abdominals.
The principle of breathing is to quickly inhale through the nose every second during the exercise. You need to inhale actively, intensely, noisily and through the nose (while the nostrils should close). Exhalation is imperceptible, it happens by itself. Strelnikova's system includes many exercises, three of which are basic.
Exercise "Palms"
Stand up, bend your elbows and point your palms away from you. Clench your hands into fists while taking sharp and noisy breaths. After completing a series of eight breaths, rest and repeat the exercise - a total of 20 cycles.
Exercise "Carriers"
Place your feet slightly narrower than shoulder width, hands at waist level, palms clenched into fists. As you inhale, lower your arms sharply, unclenching your fists and spreading your fingers. Try to strain your hands and shoulders with maximum force. Do eight sets of eight times.
Exercise "Pump"
Leave your legs in the same position. Inhale noisily, slowly bend over and stretch your arms towards the floor without touching it. Then slowly return to the starting position, as if you were pumping. Do eight sets of eight times.
Buteyko method
According to K. P. Buteyko (a Soviet scientist, physiologist, clinician, philosopher of medicine, candidate of medical sciences), the cause of the development of diseases is alveolar hyperventilation. With deep breaths, the amount of oxygen received does not increase, but the amount of carbon dioxide decreases.
An interesting fact serves as confirmation of this theory: the lung volume of a patient with bronchial asthma is 10–15 liters, a healthy person - 5 liters.
The purpose of this breathing exercise is to get rid of hyperventilation of the lungs, which, in turn, helps to cope with diseases such as bronchial asthma, allergies, asthmatic bronchitis, angina pectoris, diabetes, and so on. The Buteyko system includes artificial shallow breathing, delays, slowdowns and difficulty in breathing up to the use of corsets.
The initial stage of training
Measure the control pause - the interval from a calm exhalation to the desire to inhale (so that you do not want to breathe through your mouth). Norm - from 60 seconds. Measure the pulse rate, the norm is less than 60.
Sit on a chair, straighten your back and look slightly above the eye line. Relax the diaphragm, starting to breathe so shallowly that a feeling of lack of air appears in the chest. In this state, you need to be within 10-15 minutes.
The meaning of Buteyko exercises is to gradually reduce the depth of breathing and reduce it to a minimum. Decrease the inspiratory volume for 5 minutes, and then measure the control pause. Train only on an empty stomach, breathe through your nose and silently.
Bodyflex
This is a method of combating excess weight, sagging skin and wrinkles, developed by Greer Childers. Its undeniable advantage is the absence of age restrictions. The principle of bodyflex is a combination of aerobic breathing and stretching. As a result, the body is saturated with oxygen, which burns fat, and the muscles tense, becoming elastic. Start mastering gymnastics with five-stage breathing.
Five-stage breathing
Imagine that you are going to sit on a chair: bend forward, resting your hands on your legs, slightly bent at the knees, push your buttocks back. Place your palms about 2-3 centimeters above your knees.
- Exhalation. Squeeze your lips into a tube, slowly and evenly release all the air from the lungs without a trace.
- Inhale. Without opening your mouth, inhale quickly and sharply through your nose, trying to fill your lungs with air to capacity. The breath should be noisy.
- Exhalation. Raise your head up 45 degrees. Make a movement with your lips, as if smearing lipstick. Exhale from the diaphragm with force all the air through the mouth. You should get a sound similar to "groin".
- Pause. Hold your breath, tilt your head forward and pull your stomach in for 8-10 seconds. Try to get a wave. Imagine that the stomach and other organs of the abdominal cavity are literally placed under the ribs.
- Relax, inhale and release your abdominal muscles.
Muller system
Danish gymnast Jørgen Peter Müller calls for deep and rhythmic breathing without pauses: do not hold your breath, do not take short breaths. The goal of his exercises is healthy skin, respiratory endurance and good muscle tone.
The system consists of 60 respiratory movements performed simultaneously with ten exercises (one exercise - 6 breaths and exhalations). We recommend starting with an easy level of difficulty. Perform the first five exercises slowly six times. Breathe in through your chest and through your nose.
5 exercises to strengthen the muscular corset
Exercise number 1. Starting position: hands on the belt, feet next to each other, back straight. Alternately raise and lower straight legs forward, to the sides and back (one leg on the inhale, the other on the exhale).
Exercise number 2. Place your feet a short step apart. While inhaling, bend back as much as possible (with your head), move your hips forward, bend your elbows and hands clenched in fists. As you exhale, bend down, straighten your arms and try to touch the floor with them. Do not bend your knees while doing this.
Exercise number 3. Close and do not lift your heels. As you inhale, tilt your torso to the left while moving your half-bent right arm behind your head. Exhale and return to the starting position. Repeat the movements to the right side.
Exercise number 4. Spread your feet as far apart as possible. The heels are turned outward, the arms hang freely at the sides. Turn the body: the right shoulder - back, the left hip - forward, and vice versa.
Exercise number 5. Place your feet shoulder-width apart. As you inhale, slowly raise your arms in front of you. Do a deep squat as you exhale. Straighten up and lower your arms.
Contraindications
No matter how great the benefits of breathing exercises, they should be performed carefully. Before starting any activity, consult your doctor. Gradually move on to increasing the load to avoid the unpleasant symptoms of hyperventilation.
Breathing exercises are contraindicated for people after surgery and with certain diseases. Limitations are severe hypertension, a high degree of myopia, a previous heart attack, glaucoma in the acute stage of the disease against the background of hyperthermia, acute respiratory viral infections, decompensated cardiovascular and endocrine pathologies.
Strange but true: the natural process of inhaling and exhaling can make a big difference in your life. Properly selected breathing technique can improve health and provide. The main thing is the desire to learn and a competent approach.
This method is a powerful counter-intuitive approach to many of the health problems associated with improper breathing, such as asthma, hypertension, anxiety, and sleep apnea.
Two years ago, I interviewed Patrick McKeon about the benefits of the Buteyko Method, a powerful approach to many of the health problems associated with bad breath. Two of the most common problems are rapid breathing (hyperventilation) and mouth breathing., both of which have adverse health effects and can be especially harmful if they occur during exercise.
Breathing calmly means breathing correctly
While it may seem like you definitely know how to breathe, because you would die if you stopped doing it for a few minutes, most of us breathe in ways that put our health at risk.
In fact, the entire field of breathing and breathwork has tremendous potential, as most of the common breath concepts that govern yoga, Pilates, and meditation techniques tend to focus on long, deep breaths. but in fact, you need to do exactly the opposite.
Syndrome of chronic hyperventilation
Syndrome of chronic hyperventilation was originally registered during the American Civil War, at that time it was called "irritable heart". The term "hyperventilation syndrome" was coined in 1937 by Dr. Kerr and his colleagues.
The following year, another group of researchers found that you could bring on the symptoms of the syndrome yourself by taking 20 or 30 deep breaths through your mouth in one or two minutes.
As Patrick noted, once you get used to fast breathing, it becomes permanent and to recover, you usually need to use a certain technique to relearn how to breathe correctly, such as method developed by a Russian doctor Konstantin Buteyko(it is described at the end of the article).
In 1957 Dr. Buteyko coined the term "deep breathing disease", for more than a decade researching the health effects of rapid breathing.
During his training, one of the assignments involved monitoring patients' breathing volume. At that moment, he noticed something interesting. The sicker the patient was, the harder he breathed.
Later, he also discovered that he could lower his blood pressure simply by slowing his breathing down to a normal rate, and in this way he successfully "cured" his own hypertension.
Signs and effects of hyperventilation syndrome
Signs of bad breathing include:
Breathing through the mouth
Breathing with the help of the upper chest, with its visible movement with each breath
Frequent sighs
Noticeable or audible breathing during periods of rest
Deep breaths before starting a conversation
Irregular breathing
Regular sniffing
Yawning with a deep breath
Chronic rhinitis (nasal congestion and runny nose)
Apnea during sleep
Consequences of chronic rapid breathing include negative impact on the cardiovascular, neurological, respiratory, muscular, gastrointestinal systems of the body, as well as psychological effects, such as the:
-
Tachycardia
Sharp or unusual chest pain
-
Cold hands and feet
Raynaud's disease
Headache
Capillary vasoconstriction
Dizziness
fainting
Paresthesia (numbness, tingling)
Difficulty breathing or a feeling of constriction in the chest
Irritant throat cough
Muscle cramps, pain and muscle tension
Anxiety, panic and phobias
allergies
Difficulty swallowing; lump in the throat
acid reflux, heartburn
Gas, belching, bloating and abdominal discomfort
Weakness; exhaustion
Decreased concentration and memory
Intermittent sleep, nightmares
Nervous sweating
Heart palpitations
What is normal breathing and what causes it to be disturbed?
The normal breathing volume is approximately four to six liters of air per minute at rest, which corresponds to 10 to 12 breaths per minute. But instead of focusing on the number of breaths, Patrick teaches you to breathe softly and calmly and he even came up with a saying "breathing calmly means breathing correctly."
Meanwhile, the breathing volume of people with asthma tends to be 13 to 15 liters of air per minute, and people with sleep apnea inhale an average of 10 to 15 liters per minute.
In short, asthmatics and people with sleep apnea breathe too much air - three times as much air as they need - and this disturbed breathing pattern is part of the diagnosis.
So why does breathing become wrong in the first place? According to Patrick, most of the distorted breathing patterns have their roots in modern lifestyles. The main factors that affect breathing are:
-
The belief to take deep breaths
Lack of physical activity
Genetic predisposition or family habits
High room temperature
Processed foods (acid-producing)
Binge eating
Excessive talkativeness
Breathing as a stress reliever
Of these factors, stress plays a huge role, if only because most people experience it all the time these days. Unfortunately, the usual advice to “take a deep breath” to relieve tension only makes things worse. According to Patrick, one of the most An effective way to eliminate stress is to slow down your breathing.
Stress makes you breathe faster and causes an increase in the frequency of breaths, so to prevent or relieve stress, you need to do the opposite: breathe slower, softer and make breathing more regular. Ideally, your breath should become so light, soft and gentle "that the hairs in the nostrils should remain motionless."
It is very important to breathe through your nose and not through your mouth. According to the late Dr. Maurice Cottle, who founded the American Society of Rhinology in 1954, your nose performs at least 30 functions, all of which are important additions to the functions of the lungs, heart, and other organs.
Part of the benefit of breathing through the nose is due to the presence of nitric oxide. and when you breathe calmly and slowly through your nose, you carry a small amount of this beneficial gas into your lungs.
Nitric oxide not only helps maintain homeostasis (balance) in your body, but it also opens up your airways (bronchodilation), blood vessels (vasodilation), and has antibacterial properties that help neutralize germs and bacteria.
Breathing through the nose also helps to normalize breathing volume. This is important because when you constantly inhale too much, more air entering your lungs can cause blood gas disturbances, including the loss of carbon dioxide (CO2).
How does your body regulate breathing?
Your breathing is primarily regulated by brain receptors that check the concentration of carbon dioxide and pH levels (and to a lesser extent oxygen levels) in your blood.
We generally think that the reason for our need to breathe is the importance of oxygen in the body, but the stimulus to breathe is actually the need to get rid of excess carbon dioxide. However, carbon dioxide is not just a waste gas. It performs a number of important functions in your body.
Your body needs a certain amount of carbon dioxide all the time, and one of the side effects of breathing too fast is to remove too much carbon dioxide. As the level of carbon dioxide gets lower, so does the hydrogen ion, leading to an excess of bicarbonate ions and a deficiency of hydrogen ions, causing the blood pH to change to alkaline.
Thus, if you breathe in more than your body needs in a given period of time, even up to 24 hours, your body increases its normal breathing volume. As a result, stress begins to chronically affect your body.
What's more, if you're constantly inhaling too much, it doesn't take long for your body to become "overwhelmed" - even minor emotional stress can trigger symptoms, whether it's a panic attack or a heart problem, as rapid breathing narrows the arteries, thereby reducing blood flow to the brain and heart (as well as to the rest of your body).
But the catalyst for this problem is not the stressor, but the fact that you are constantly inhaling excessive amounts of air. One traditional panic attack remedy is to take four or five breaths through a paper bag to increase carbon dioxide levels and improve blood flow to your brain.
A more permanent solution to the problem is to change your breathing habits.
Hyperventilation reduces the amount of oxygen taken in
Hyperventilation not only reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released, but under its influence, less oxygen is also transferred to the tissues and organs of your body - t that is, it has the opposite effect of the common belief about heavy breathing.
This is an integral part of why forced breathing through the mouth during exercise is not recommended. In a nutshell, hyperventilation can cause severe constriction of your carotid arteries and can halve the amount of oxygen available to your brain.
That's why you can feel a little dizzy when you breathe too hard, and this may be one of the mechanisms that can cause even physically fit marathon runners to die suddenly - usually from cardiac arrest. So be sure to breathe through your nose while exercising.
If you start breathing through your mouth, lower the intensity to return to breathing through your nose. Over time, you will be able to train with more intensity and continue to breathe through your nose, which will mean that your fitness improves. Continuous nose breathing is also a basic step that will help restore normal breathing volume.
Buteyko breathing method
1. Sit straight without crossing your legs and breathe comfortably and continuously.
2. Take a small, quiet breath in, and then exhale through your nose. After exhaling, pinch your nose to prevent air from entering it.
3. Start the stopwatch and hold your breath until you feel the first definite urge to inhale.
4. When you feel it, resume breathing and pay attention to the time. The desire to breathe can manifest itself in the form of involuntary movements of the respiratory muscles, or twitching of the abdomen, or even contractions in the throat.
This is not a breath-holding contest - you measure how long you can comfortably and naturally hold your breath.
5. Inhalations through the nose should be calm and controlled. If you feel like you need to take a deep breath, you have been holding your breath for too long.
The time you measured is called the "control pause" or CP, and it reflects your body's tolerance for carbon dioxide. A short CP time is associated with low CO2 tolerance and chronically low CO2 levels.
Here are the criteria for judging your Control Pause (CP):
CP from 40 to 60 seconds: indicates a normal healthy breathing pattern and excellent endurance
CP from 20 to 40 seconds: indicates mild respiratory distress, moderate exercise tolerance, and potential future health problems (most people fall into this category)
CP from 10 to 20 seconds: indicates significant respiratory failure and poor exercise tolerance; it is recommended to do breathing exercises and lifestyle changes (especially pay attention to poor diet, overweight, stress, excessive alcohol consumption, etc.),
CP less than 10 seconds: Severe breathing problems, very poor exercise tolerance, and chronic health problems Dr. Buteyko recommends consulting with a doctor practicing the Buteyko technique
Thus, the shorter the CP time, the faster dyspnea will appear during exercise. If your CP time is less than 20 seconds, NEVER open your mouth during a workout as your breathing is too inconsistent. This is especially important if you have asthma.
The good news is that you will feel better and your endurance will improve every time you increase your CP time by five seconds, which you can achieve by starting to do the following Buteyko breathing exercises.
How to improve control pause (CP) time
Sit up straight.
Take a small breath in through your nose and then exhale in the same way.
Pinch your nose with your fingers and hold your breath. Don't open your mouth.
Gently tilt your head or sway until you feel like you can no longer hold your breath. (Pinch your nose until you feel a strong urge to breathe).
When you need to inhale, open your nose and inhale gently through it, then exhale with your mouth closed.
Regain your breath as soon as possible.
Proper breathing is an easy and free way to improve your health and fitness
The Buteyko Method is a powerful and inexpensive tool that can help you improve your health, life expectancy, quality of life and your athletic performance. I highly recommend incorporating it into your daily routine, and when you're ready, into your workouts.
Just remember to make slow progress in the exercises and gradually decrease your mouth breathing time.
© Joseph Mekrola
If you have any questions, ask them
P.S. And remember, just by changing your consumption, we are changing the world together! © econet
