How to breathe correctly
Not everyone knows how to breathe correctly, because for the majority this issue does not seem to be any serious. Breathe and it’s good.
However, these questions have troubled people for thousands of years. An ancient Chinese proverb says: “He who knows how to breathe properly is able to walk on the sand without leaving footprints.”
You may be surprised, but recent studies have shown that oxygen deficiency often leads to the formation of cancer.
In this article, we will tell you what dangers bad breathing can lead to. We will also look at several effective exercises and life hacks that help you breathe properly, and, therefore, provide the body with enough oxygen.
I must say that even if you are closely related to medicine, this information may be of interest to you.
First, let’s look at the types of breathing to understand how it affects us:
Clavicular. Such breathing occurs when a person slouches. His shoulders rise and his stomach shrinks, as a result of which the body does not receive enough oxygen.
Breast. With this type of breathing, the chest expands due to the work of the intercostal muscles, which contributes to the saturation of the body with oxygen. So, for example, girls breathe during gestation.
Deep breathing. In this case, the muscles of the diaphragm are involved. In general, oxygen enters the lower parts of the lungs. As a rule, men and athletes breathe like this. An interesting fact is that this type of breathing is the most convenient and correct during physical exertion.
It turns out that breathing can say a lot about a person. American psychotherapist Alexander Lowen has long studied emotional blockages (neurotic and schizoid disorders of people) that interfere with proper breathing.
As a result, he managed to prove the connection between the nature and type of emotional disorder. It turned out that the neurotic type of people was predisposed to shallow diaphragmatic breathing, while the schizoid type took air into the lungs through the upper chest.
Studies have shown that if a person is taught to breathe correctly, he will be able to lead a full life.
The danger of bad breath
As already mentioned, if we breathe incorrectly, then less air enters our lungs. As a result, oxygen starvation occurs in the body. Modern medicine has proven that the condition of the skin and hair directly depends on the functioning of the lungs.
Thus, if gas exchange fails in the body, this leads to wrinkles and other negative factors. To prevent this state of affairs, it is important for a person to learn how to breathe correctly.
Proper breathing training
At the very beginning, an honest self-examination regarding proper breathing should be carried out. Start simply inhaling and exhaling air, watching how you do it. Ask yourself: Am I breathing through my nose or mouth?
The mucous membrane during breathing through the nose plays an important physiological role, as it warms, filters and humidifies the inhaled air. This does not happen when breathing through the mouth, which is why breathing through the nose is so important.
It is also appropriate to answer the following questions:
Do you breathe in the same rhythm?
Are you worried about rapid breathing?
What is your breathing rate today? To do this, it is enough to count the number of breaths taken within 1 minute (the norm is 16-20 breaths).
Do you hear extraneous sounds when breathing?
How does your body behave when you inhale and exhale?
Proper breathing looks like this:
when breathing, the movement of the chest is almost imperceptible;
The abdominal wall rises when you inhale and retracts when you exhale.
To breathe properly, you need to do it like children – breathe in the lower abdomen (abdominal breathing). With changes in the rhythm and depth of breathing, serious chemical processes occur in our body that affect metabolism, thoughts, and even appearance.
Learning how to breathe correctly will not work right away, but this should not scare you. Regular exercise will help you achieve this goal and improve your well-being.
Next, we will look at a set of effective exercises that will help you breathe properly. This will require:
Breathe with the least amount of oxygen.
Breathe in slowly, as if drawing air into the lungs.
Exhale to produce as freely as possible.
Do not take too deep breaths / exhalations.
Proper breathing should be accompanied by a barely noticeable noise.
Yogi breathing
Yogis have developed a highly effective method of proper breathing that allows you to best oxygenate the body. It helps fight the following ailments:
insomnia;
mental disorders;
headache;
diseases of the heart and intestines.
Diaphragmalnoe-dyhanie
Diaphragmatic breathing
General principles of proper breathing in yoga
To learn how to breathe correctly, you should use all parts of the lungs (upper, subclavian and brachial parts); middle (under the chest); bottom (supradiaphragmatic part).
