Improve your breathing and your life will improve
But why is it important to breathe well? Is a good breathing rhythm something useful for our health?
Why it is important to breathe well
Proper breathing would improve the lives of 80% of people
The hectic life, the problems, the anxieties and the stress that we experience daily can make our way of breathing constantly dysfunctional .
It is estimated that nearly 80% of anxious people, and 10% of the general population, are unable to breathe properly .
If we add to this situation all the people who suffer from disorders that can cause dysfunctional breathing such as asthma or diabetes, it is possible to reasonably argue that 80% of people could benefit from practices related to conscious and therefore deep breathing.
What does dysfunctional breathing mean?
Inhalation and exhalation constitute a respiratory act. It is a breathing characterized by an irregular breathing pattern, such as dominant chest breathing, frequent and deep sighs , hyperventilation syndrome that can cause double the number of breaths per minute that ideally should be performed.
These irregular breathing patterns, however, do not present evident anatomical anomalies or physiological alterations.
For this reason, it is difficult for them to be diagnosed as real pathologies.
A dominant thoracic breath can only provide 1/3 of the oxygen
In clavicular breathing, also called accessory breathing, the muscles of the shoulders and chest are used to expand the rib cage, the lungs fill only to 30% of their total capacity. The respiratory rate indicates the number of breaths performed in a minute. The respiratory rate at rest is 12-16 breaths per minute while during physical exercise, it can reach up to 35 and 45 breaths per minute.
Conversely, breathing techniques that correctly engage the diaphragm allow you to fill your lungs completely, even tripling the amount of oxygen that circulates in your blood .
What are the main factors that can develop shallow breathing?
The factors appear to be mainly related to one's psychological, emotional and metabolic state .
A person who is in a situation of very intense stress or anxiety tends to have a very rigid diaphragm and this causes shallow, chest-like breathing, therefore shallow.
Furthermore, a metabolic disorder, such as metabolic acidosis, can also cause compensatory hyperventilation, stimulated by a low pH.
What are the most common symptoms?
Some vague and nonspecific symptoms may be: dizziness, palpitations or shortness of breath, shortness of breath, feeling of heaviness on the chest, inability to take a deep breath.
Why is this situation called subclinical?
Given the extreme difficulty of understanding and identifying this type of dysfunction, doctors around the world have repeatedly given patients an uncertain diagnosis or even ignored it altogether .
Unfortunately, the methods commonly used by doctors and health care providers to diagnose this condition can vary considerably, be inaccurate, and often involve the use of inappropriate tools.
Did you know that anxiety, sleep disorders and depression can be reduced by improving your breathing?
While it is true that situations of strong stress, anxiety or metabolic disorders can alter your breathing, the opposite is also true.
That is, by consciously modifying your way of breathing, you can improve your psychological, emotional and metabolic state, finding more energy and quality of life .
Many techniques associated with breathing have also been successfully used in various disciplines such as meditation, yoga, martial arts, mindfulness, etc.
A quick and easy test to measure your breathing condition
Take the “pause-control” test designed by Dr. Buteyko to measure your breathing condition.
If you breathe correctly you should introduce 4 to 6 liters of air into your lungs per minute .
To test your lung capacity you don't need big machines, you just need a chair and a watch with a second hand or the timer on your smartphone.
The test takes place in 4 phases:
- Sit comfortably on a chair with a straight back.
- Relax and exhale normally.
- Inhale and exhale normally, after exhaling cover your nose with your fingers and keep it closed.
- Also keep your mouth closed and count how many seconds you can wait without feeling discomfort from the lack of air.
Here's how to do the "pause-control" test
Don't push yourself too hard . The accuracy of the test depends on whether you stop before you reach the threshold of real discomfort.
Here are the results
- 50-60 seconds of control pause indicates that you are in excellent health and your breathing is optimal.
- Less than 25 seconds means that there is something to improve, probably you do not have any particular pathology yet. However, we recommend that you adopt preventive measures such as conscious breathing exercises and therefore deeper breathing acts.
- If, however, your test does not exceed 10 -15 seconds you have a serious breathing problem. Our advice is to urgently start doing breathing exercises to force yourself to take deeper breaths.
Deep breathing exercises are among the most underrated health techniques
Few people know that breathing techniques can also improve the self-regulation of physiological, affective and cognitive processes associated with problematic behaviors such as impulsivity or the inability to plan.
Breathing training allows people to synchronize their breathing with their heart rate (e.g. HRV biofeedback) while also improving blood pressure, the lymphatic-vascular system, the immune system, posture and the ability to utilize fat more easily, ensuring a better body composition.
A practical exercise to improve your breathing and reduce your breathing
You can also sit comfortably, but if you have the possibility we recommend lying on your back on the floor or in bed.
Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly just below your navel. This helps you feel the movement of your diaphragm as you breathe.
- Inhale slowly for about 4 seconds through your nose and visualize the air going directly into your belly, inflating it, while the other hand, placed on your chest, remains as still as possible.
- Exhale for about 2 seconds, letting the air out passively.
- Rest for about 4 seconds without inhaling or exhaling
- Breathe well in this way for at least 5-10 minutes , always remaining very concentrated on the correct execution of the exercise, possibly without thinking about anything else.
At first it might seem unnatural or even difficult to do, but I assure you that it only takes a few days for it to become automatic.
Whether your goal is to get rid of pain, recover from an injury, lose weight or improve your athletic performance, start breathing with your diaphragm now and start enjoying all the benefits it offers you right away!
This occurs with approximately 6 breaths per minute.
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GO TO THE NUTRITIONAL TESTSources:
- European Respiratory Review 2016 25: 287-294; doi: 10.1183/16000617.0088-2015
- Front. Physiol., 22 June 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00782
- Psychophysiology. 2017 Mar; 54(3): 358–365. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12791
