Good Breathing Boosts Your Wellbeing
11th Mar 2020
Good breathing is essential for whole health, physically, mentally and emotionally. So how can you get some good breathing going?
Breathing happens without thinking about it, and it does wonderful things for your body. Breathing in gives you oxygen which feeds and energises your body. Breathing out removes harmful toxins from your bodily system. When you're worried or stressed, or rushing around, your breathing is shallow and you use only the top portion of your lungs, so the rest of the lungs struggle for air
Also your blood does not receive enough oxygen to deliver to each of the trillions of cells which make up every part of your body, so your body doesn't function at optimum level. You may experience low energy, fuzzy thinking, poor concentration. Your muscles will lack energy. Your digestive system won't make efficient use of the food you eat or get rid of waste products effectively.
A few times a day, say to yourself 'breathe'. It will help you relax for a while, take in more oxygen, and, importantly, while you are concentrating on your breathing, you won't be thinking about your problems.
GOOD BREATHING
The air you breathe should be able to find its way down to your abdomen. Your breathing muscles are in the neck, shoulders, chest and abdomen, plus the diaphragm.
Most of your inhaling should be done by the diaphragm, so that breathing is deep and fills the whole lung with oxygen. The idea is to expand the stomach first and the chest last.
How to do it
- Place one hand on your chest and the other over your stomach.
- Inhale, and notice which hand rises first.
- If your upper hand rises first, you are upper-chest breathing.
- If your lower hand rises first, you are breathing correctly with your diaphragm.
When you get good at it, try this
- breathe in to a count of 4
- hold for 4
- breathe out to 4
So have a go a few times a day, while sitting or walking, standing in a queue or anywhere. And feel the benefits!
Copyright © 2020 Brenda Martin
