Breathing a Certain Way Does What?

OK, if you are reading this, you must be breathing. 

The problem, for many of us, is we may be doing it all wrong. Yeah wrong! Wait, there is a right way and a wrong way? According to experts, the answer is a big YES!

It may not surprise you, but lots of people could be healthier in society. Maybe your blood pressure is too high. May be poor breathing. Are you feeling more stressed out? May be poor breathing.  Need to lose some weight? Correct breathing may help!  Do you lose focus, and your metal clarity comes and goes?  Yeah….it could be that breathing thing again!

According to recent research, up to 80% of office workers suffer from something called continuous partial attention. Yeah, we are pointing at you Larry, and you too, Moe!

These are just some of the things that may be going on in your life that are impacted by not knowing how to breath properly. I am sure most of us never think about breathing. We just do it.  Thank goodness our subconscious takes care of this 24/7 for us.  If it did not, Larry and Moe would be in big trouble! And so would you and myself.

Many people are studying the effects of -- breathing too fast, breathing too much, or breathing through our mouths. And it may surprise you, all of those items listed are bad for our health and our endurance.

We all need more energy during the day, not less. Simple breathing techniques done with some consistency can help with that afternoon crash.

Training yourself to breathe thru your nose offers huge gains in energy and endurance. The body makes energy from food and……stop the presses…...air! The key for exercise and life is to stay in that energy-efficient, clean burning, and oxygen eating aerobic zone for most of the time during exercise and, at all times, during rest.

Whatever happens to the nose affects what is happening in the mouth, the airways, and in the lungs. Mouth breathing causes the body to lose 40% more water. So, it is easier to become dehydrated if you breath incorrectly also!

Mouth breathing may also make us dumber! Oh boy!! I do not need that!!

A Japanese study showed that rats that had their noses obstructed and were forced to breathe thru their mouths developed fewer brain cells and took twice as long to get thru a maze. Not sure about you but I can’t afford to lose any more of my brain cells!

And if you think this concept is just recent, you are wrong! Thousands of years ago, an ancient Chinese sage said, “the breath inhaled thru the mouth is called “Ni Chi” (adverse breath), which is extremely harmful - states a passage from the Tao. “Be careful not to have the breath inhaled thru the mouth”. So, there you have it. 

What has been discovered – the most important aspect of breathing wasn’t just breathing thru the nose. The key to breathing, lung expansion, and a long life was the transformative power of the exhalation.

Breathing coordination is when the respiratory and circulatory systems enter a state of equilibrium, when the amount of air that enters us equals the amount that leaves

Paced, slower breathing relaxes the body and calms the mind. We all could use that!

To prevent many chronic health problems, improve athletic performance, and extend longevity, we need to focus on how we breath, specifically the balance oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the body. We need to learn how to inhale and exhale slowly.

When breathing at a normal rate, our lungs only absorb a quarter of the available oxygen. The majority is exhaled back out. By taking longer breaths, we allow our lungs to soak up more in fewer breaths. Just as we have become a culture of over-eaters, we’ve become a culture of over-breathers.

Chinese doctors 2000 years ago advised 13,500 breaths per day (or 9 ½ breaths per minute). The key to optimum breathing, and all the health benefits is to practice fewer inhales and exhales in a smaller volume. Breathe less!

The perfect breath is 5 ½ seconds inhaling and 5 ½ seconds exhaling. It is pretty difficult counting that ½ second, so I find 5 seconds works great for me.

“If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just on tip. It would be simply to learn how to breath better,” wrote Andrew Weil, the famed doctor of health.