Importance of Breath
People breathe naturally all the time without thinking about it. But they might not necessarily be meeting the needs of their body through the way they’re using their breath.
Breathing is what provides the body with the required oxygen intake needed to sustain life. Each inhale a person takes, feeds oxygen to the lungs and is distributed throughout the body creating energy within.
As each breath is exhaled, it releases the waste called carbon dioxide, from the lungs and removes it from the body. This helps provide one type of balance inside the human body for a better quality of life.
This is one reason why it’s so vital to breathe properly. Essentially, each inhalation provides the body with energy, while every exhalation disposes the toxic waste to keep our body functional.
Issues occur when a person’s breathing pattern is shallow and/or fast the majority of the time. When ones’ breath is used incorrectly like this, it can increase the persons anxiety, panic attacks, and contributes to their headaches, muscle tension and fatigue, or even other health issues.
When we breathe correctly the breath can function as a way to calm the body and relax oneself. It’s known to reduce anxiety, tension and improve memory, when executed properly.
There are a few different types of breathing patterns that people typically use. Here are some examples:
- Chest breathing: This type of breathing is when the ribs expands and the chest rises and falls. Everything below remains still.
- Abdominal breathing: This type of breathing is when the stomach rises and falls, while the upper body remains still.
- Diaphragmatic breathing: This breathing is done by expanding the diaphragm and includes the movement of both the lower and upper parts. The abdominal, ribs and chest, all rise and falls simultaneously with this breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is an exercise that helps strengthen the diaphragm muscle, improving a person’s breathing. Some associate diaphragm breathing with belly breathing. This type of breath is used in the majority of meditations or relaxation techniques.
To figure out what type of breathing you do, try laying on your back with your knees bent in a comfortable position. Notice how your breathing. Is it short or long breaths and are those breaths fast or slow? Now take in a slow, long breath and exhale in the same way. This is known as a deep breath. Notice which is moving, your stomach or chest. At this point you should recognize how you are breathing and this is probably your normally breathe.
With this knowledge you now can try breathing the few different ways mentioned above and feel the difference in each.
After feeling the difference in these types of breathing patterns, can you guess which is the anatomically correct way to breathe? Hint; It’s probably not the way you normally breathe. In fact, most people do not breathe properly.
To utilize the function of breathing correctly you should breathe from the diaphragm. When breathing this way, the diaphragm will widen, expanding the rib cage and opening the body 360 degrees around that area.
The body’s shoulders should not raise up towards the ears when inhaling or breathing. If they do, it’s an incorrect way of breathing. Although many people breath this way. What they don’t realize is, this incorrect pattern of breathing can be contributing to the increase of their anxiety, panic attacks, fatigue, tension, muscle tightness and headaches, along with other health issues.
Being aware of the way you breathe is crucial for your body’s health. As is getting plenty of fresh air from the outdoors.
More people are finding out how good they feel after they’ve been using a proper form of breathing. They’re becoming aware of how the breath is an important part of life. Those who practice yoga and meditation know the benefits very well, as it is used during each of these practices.
If you’re needing help on breathing better, you can always try taking a yoga or meditation class. The instructors should be able to guide you through the techniques of the breath in either of these practices.
When you begin to breathe properly, you’ll notice having more energy and feeling better. It’s amazing how something we do constantly, without thinking about, can have such an effect on our body and life, but it does.
So, let’s stop taking our air supply for granted and just breathe… correctly.
~Best of Health & Positive Energy, ~ Healing Feather Wellness ~ “Balancing Body, Mind & Spirit” ~ ©2020
Stress Awareness
