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A two part series on Breath Control

 

Have you ever paused to think about your breathing?
Are you aware of how you are breathing?

Breathing, through the gift of air, connects us with every living thing through a balanced exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen. During normal breathing on average adults breathe 16-18 times a minute, with children's breathing being slightly faster due to a faster metabolism.

Breathing is the most natural thing we can do; however many of us do not know how to perform this function properly. Breathing cools the body and supplies oxygen to all the tissues to sustain life and expels carbon dioxide, water vapour, alcohol vapours and toxic gases. Oxygen is essential to life; we use it to metabolise the food we eat and to create energy.

As a baby, breathing is free, full and uninhibited. Their breathing is diaphragmatic which requires minimal energy expenditure and improves the ventilation in the lower part of the lungs. As we grow, we develop stresses in the body and tight muscles. The diaphragm being a muscle can tighten and the effect can cause the chest back and the throat to tighten also.  Many muscles work in unison with the diaphragm and intercostals to achieve full respiration.  These muscles can remain rigid and drawn from childhood into our adult life. So the muscles never return spontaneously to their original resting state. Most people only use their lungs to their full potential when they laugh or cry deeply and this in its self can bring a release of emotional tension making us feel more relaxed and relieved. Relaxed breathing should be moderate and rhythmic feeling natural and easy.

Most of us breath too shallow and to fast which can cause health problems. Some conditions like stress dehydration, asthma, heart disease can promote poor shallow breathing. Shallow breathing only expands the top of the chest, we need to learn to breathe full and wide into the area that expands the ribs, filling the bottom most portion of the lungs and feel it as if breathing into the small of the back. This breathing allows us to move without restricting the amount of oxygen we are inhaling and allows muscles to become nourished, whilst exhaling expels the unused gases and chemicals. This makes us more clear headed, relaxed and gives us increased stamina.

As we breathe in we expand the ribcage and then as we breathe out it contracts.  After the exhalation there is a brief resting phase of the diaphragm muscle, which is known as equilibrium. There is still air in the lungs at equilibrium and this is vital for levelling off the ratio of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. The body in all circumstances will seek balance. Poor and shallow breathing disturbs this balance.

Poor breathing can also alter the pH balance (acid/alkaline balance of body fluids).  Carbon dioxide is used to maintain the body's acid levels. Low carbon dioxide levels are caused by over breathing in more oxygen than you can convert into carbon dioxide, (hyperventilation) and can cause the body to become, stressed and fatigued. Other effects from this could be muscle cramps, chest pains, pre-menstrual syndrome, palpitations, cold feet and hands, dizziness, dry mouth, impaired concentration and memory, disturbed sleep and sometimes allergies. Conversely a lack of oxygen can also cause headaches, dizziness, cold feet, fatigue insomnia, food intolerance, backache, anxiety panic attacks and muscular tension. As your body seeks balance at all times, the habit of poor breathing reinforces or causes the above conditions to occur.

Types of breathing

Opera singers breathe air in below the diaphragm, puffing out the stomach. A musician, playing brass or woodwind breathes into the stomach and proceeds to fill the entire chest cavity and throat with air. Sportsmen and athletes will have a far greater breathing ability and lung capacity because of their aerobic training.  During our normal everyday breathing generally only two thirds of the air in our lungs is expelled on exhalation and then replaced when you inhale. The other third of air remains stagnant in your respiratory system because the lungs and the bronchial tract do not collapse totally during exhalation.

As we are breathing in, the ribcage moves up and out and the diaphragm flattens. This creates extra space in the chest cavity producing a slight vacuum and then air rushes into the lungs through the nostrils or the mouth. The lungs have a very rich network of capillaries allowing the carbon dioxide in your blood to be exchanged for oxygen. As it is an involuntary process we are not always very aware of our breathing, but we can control it consciously, such as being able to hold our breath until the brain forces you to have to take air into the lungs. We may also need to re-learn the correct way of breathing which can have untold benefits for our overall health and well-being

Correct and full breathing is needed to bring nourishment to the muscles during exercise and activities. It will also help to regulate and improve functioning of glands in body.  Exercise forms such as Pilates and yoga will teach you to breathe more slowly and effectively. This will train you to breathe in an n entirely new way. Whenever you become anxious or stressed and breathing becomes more erratic, deeper and fuller breathing will really help you to calm down. If you can voluntarily slow your breathing into a deep rhythmic pattern, prolonging time between the inhalation and exhalation, oxygen absorption becomes more efficient and the blood returning to the heart is therefore more enriched with oxygen which triggers the brain to slow the heart rate and keep you calm. Also this increased oxygen supply to the brain keeps brain cells healthy and active because as you get older it needs three times more oxygen than the rest of your body.

In my next article I am going to give a short introduction to the Pilates breathing and exercises which will help you to improve your breathing capacity and control.