Improve Your Health with Deep Breathing Exercises

Deep breathing promotes improved health and is very therapeutic for a number of reasons. Deep breathing is an excellent stress buster and increases energy levels tremendously not to mention the fact that it helps curb insomnia and is helpful when it comes to weight loss. The extra oxygen you ingest when you deep breath allows you to burn the calories you take in at a faster rate, thus speeding up your metabolic response.

But the benefits don’t end there. Deep breathing is a wonderful way to relax the body as well as quiet and calm the mind and soul. It helps contribute to an overall feeling of well-being. And who doesn’t need that? Deep breathing also allows oxygen to be more freely distributed to every cell in the body. The brain and all of the body’s organs work much more effectively when the oxygen supply is doubled. Deep breathing can also reduce tension in muscles, lower Blood pressure and release endorphins in the brain (otherwise known as the body’s natural painkillers).

Deep breathing exercises are physically energizing and help one charge one’s overworked batteries. This type of breathing is beneficial for those who suffer from frequent headaches. Deep breathing has the ability to change extreme tiredness into energy and restlessness into tranquility.

Quality of Life

Deep breathing is one of the simplest ways to improve one’s quality of life. It is estimated that the average adult uses only approximately one third of his/her lung capacity. Factors that add to the problems we encounter with our health include chronic tension and poor posture.

Learning to breath correctly helps take strain and stress off the human body and can contribute to a calmer demeanor. Babies and children have it down pat- they breathe with their entire lungs and their breathing comes from deep down in their diaphragm, as it should. (The diaphragm is a Muscle found in the lower abdomen)

Two Kinds of Breathers

There are two kinds of breathers, the chest breathers and the diaphragm breathers. Those who breathe from the chest have irregular breathing and their air intake is slow and laborious. This can lead to added tension on the body as well as the mind. The healthier way to breath is to be a diaphragm breather. Those who partake in this correct form of breathing take in more air and breath it deeper into their lungs.

This type of breathing is even and more consistent. Fast, shallow breathing from the chest causes carbon dioxide to be expelled too rapidly, which is bad news for the body. However when deep breathing takes place, it involves more than just the muscles of the respiratory system. It also includes the stomach, lower ribcage and lower back. Breathing is slower in this case and combined with the rhythmical action of the diaphragm, abdomen and stomach, helps to bring on what is known as the “relaxation response.” This response comes from our parasympathetic nervous system and allows the body a complete sense of relaxation, from head to toe.

The Relaxation Response

The relaxation response is a type of breathing that has a very positive effect on the body’s overall health, including physical, mental and even spiritual well-being. Our nervous system, which is so often filled with tension, is soothed in this case and stress is reduced.

Relearning the Ability to Deep Breath

Deep breathing, as previously mentioned, is an ability we once all possessed as youngsters but lost somewhere along the way. Stressful life circumstances have a way of affecting the way we breathe and it is generally acknowledged that we face a higher level of stress as we age. Relearning the technique of deep breathing takes practice and perseverance but it most definitely can be done.

There is more than one way to use deep breathing to solicit the relaxation response in the body. The wisest thing to do is to experiment with each of the ways and then choose the one that works best for you. Take the time to master that particular approach and you will soon begin to reap the benefits of the deep breathing experience. Keep in mind that deep breathing is all about breathing from the abdomen and not the chest. You defeat the purpose if you won’t go the distance and breath as deeply down into your abdomen as you are able to. Don’t be nervous, as this will only bring on more stress. Deep breathing might seem awkward or even forced at first, but stick with it. Eventually it will become second nature to you.

Goal of Deep Breathing

Your goal in doing deep breathing exercises is to calm the body and mind, not stimulate or excite it to action. This is an exercise in being still and restful. To determine if you are doing your deep breathing exercises correctly, place your hand on your stomach and feel its movements. In other words, feel your stomach move out as you inhale and in as you exhale.

Deep breathing allows an individual to take in somewhere in the area of ten times more air than in normal breathing where you are completely unaware of how much air you are taking in.

The Process of Deep Breathing

Lie down in a comfortable place.

Place your feet approximately eight inches apart and turn your toes in a slightly outward direction.
Bend your knees.

Pay attention to how your body feels and in particular take note of the areas where you sense tension.
Place one of your hands on your chest and the other on your abdomen.
Now you are going to begin the deep breathing process.

Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose into your abdomen and then slowly exhale through your nose. This is known as “nose abdomen breathing.”
What you are attempting to do is make sure that you are indeed breathing from your abdomen and not from your chest. This is very important.

Once you become comfortable and accustomed to this type of nose breathing, it is time to turn your attention to your mouth for breathing purposes.
This is what you do- when you exhale use your mouth and then as gingerly as possible, make a faint smile and breathe out through your mouth.
As you slowly let the air out of your lungs, practice making a quiet, relaxing whooshing sound. It sounds silly but it works!
Breathe in and out slowly, and then repeat.

Practice this time and time again until you get it right (and don’t worry, you will get it right, eventually!).

Continue with the process of slow, long and deep breaths. This action should make your abdomen rise and fall. Pay close attention to the sound of your breathing and the sensations it evokes in your body.

Notice how relaxed and calm you feel after each deep breath is taken. Ahh!
A deep breathing session should last for approximately ten minutes.

After you have finished your deep breathing your body should feel much better than it did before you started. A great deal of tension should also have been released during the process. Once you become skilled at doing deep breathing exercises, you should find them effortless to do anywhere you are and at any given time.

For More Information

Deep Breathing
http://www.authentic-breathing.com/deep_breathing.htm

The Deep Slow Easy Breathing Exercise (Animation Included)
http://www.deepsloweasy.com/html/intro.htm

Seven Keys to Overcoming Anxiety
http://www.trans4mind.com/anxiety/page7.htm