Just breathe
Or maybe not… We all breathe 25000 times a day on average and apart from the obvious necessity of life, there is more to breathing that you may think!
All humans have lost our ability to breathe correctly! It’s true and a fascinating book by James Nestor aptly called Breath has really opened my eyes, (and nose) to this. It has without doubt led me to want take more notice and interest in my breathing. Effective breathing can help you sleep better, digest food more efficiently, improve your body’s immune response, and reduce stress levels! Did you know any of this? How cool is it that something as easily as learning to breathe properly can be an alternative to a lot of the worst bits of living healthy. The slightest adjustment to the way we inhale and exhale can help jump-start our performance, rejuvenate internal organs, halt snoring, allergies, asthma, and even straighten spines. It is a fascinating read.
James Nestor – ” We get more energy from our breath than we do from food or drink and so how we take that breath in, how we exhale it, determines so much of our health, our energy levels and so much more. I mostly concentrate on exhaling longer than inhaling because I don’t want to be jacked up, I don’t want my heart rate up, I don’t want my blood pressure up, I want to be in balance”
Breathing Techniques
Breathing is an incredibly powerful tool. Taking the time to pause and do some breath work can help you stay grounded, focused and energized throughout your day
There are so many different breathing techniques, but they are all variations on the same theme. When you start exhaling more than you inhale you will notice something happening, your heart rate will go down, you will relax more and feel more focused. Deep, diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing and harnessing your breath, is using your breath to focus your body to calm down. We tend to stop breathing correctly around 3 yrs old. If you think of a baby breathing , watching their belly expand and contract, but this all stops! Now for me to try and get it back, and breathe my way back to self improve.
My Mouth Breathing
Now that I am paying more attention to my breath I noticed that I tend to breath more with my mouth that I should. Breathing through the mouth is something that 25-50% of the population does. I am exposing my lungs to everything in the environment. If you watch any other animal in the wild, it’s breathing through its nose and humans need to follow. You get 20% more oxygen breathing through your nose & 6 times as much nitric oxide.
I am slowly working on this and invested in mouth tape to help the process along (to the delight of Gavin- my partner) . This seems to be doing the trick and making me much more conscious of using my nose at all times, I haven’t quite managed the jogging yet though!!
Breathing Techniques – simple
4,7,8 – Self Improve
Breathe in for 4
Hold breath for 7
Breathe out for 8 , holding your tongue at the roof of your mouth
Repeat 4 times – twice a day
Box Breathing Techniques
This is more of a relaxing breathing technique. I like to do this in combination with trying to ease my neck, so I lie on my back with a rolled up towel underneath my neck, and complete the technique below. I feel great after this.
Breath in for 4
Hold for 4
Breath out for 4
Hold for 4
Repeat 10 times and try and clear your mind and only think of the breath.
These are the two I am concentrating on as part of my routine just now , but will add more as I go.
Just don’t forget to breathe………..
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