Did you know that the most important nutrient your body will ever need is oxygen? You can live approximately 30 days or more without food, four or five days without water, two or three days without sleep, but only three minutes without oxygen.
Most of us don’t think much about breathing. It’s an activity that we know is necessary and since it’s automatic, we assume that it more or less takes care of itself. The average person takes about 20,000 breaths per/day and usually accomplishes this with no conscious effort. With this in mind, you might be surprised to learn that the way you breathe can have a huge impact on your health and happiness.
The main function of breathing is to oxygenate each and every cell in your body. This means everything from brain cells to muscle and skeletal cells to the cells which make up all your organs and glands. The problem is that most of us are shallow breathers and don’t take in adequate oxygen to maintain healthy cell function. Inadequate levels of blood oxygen increase your risk of health problems or disease.
The benefits of deep breathing are many from stimulating organ and gland function to more effective elimination of toxins from the body to increased fitness and mental clarity. Alternative health guru Dr. Andrew Weil says,
“If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly.”
Many of us are familiar with the idea of deep breathing for relaxation and stress management. Taking a series of deep breaths will increase the amount of oxygen in the blood causing the body to release endorphins. These are naturally occurring hormones which re-vitalize stressed cells and promote a state of relaxation. In addition to taking in more oxygen with each breath, deep breathing will also release greater amounts of carbon dioxide with each exhalation.
Dennis Lewis, a leading expert on breathing talks about the impact of deep breathing on our health,
“ Deep breathing can have a powerful influence on our health. To understand how this is possible, we need to remember that the diaphragm is attached all around the lower ribcage and has strands going down to the lumbar vertebrae. When our breathing is full and deep, the diaphragm moves through its entire range downward to massage the liver, stomach, and other organs and tissues below it, and upward to massage the heart. When our breathing is full and deep, the belly, lower ribcage, and lower back all expand on inhalation, thus drawing the diaphragm down deeper into the abdomen, and retract on exhalation, allowing the diaphragm to move fully upward toward the heart. In deep, abdominal breathing, the downward and upward movements of the diaphragm, combined with the outward and inward movements of the belly, ribcage, and lower back, help to massage and detoxify our inner organs, promote blood flow and peristalsis, and pump the lymph more efficiently through our lymphatic system. The lymphatic system, which is an important part of our immune system, has no pump other than muscular movements, including the movements of breathing.”
Are You Deep Or Shallow?
So how do you actually do it? Are you a shallow breather or a deep breather? Here’s a simple test. Place your hand on your lower abdomen and exhale. Now, take a deep breath. If you feel your abdomen expand as you begin your deep breath, you’ve probably got the right idea. If your chest expands and your shoulders lift without much movement in your abdomen, then you need to learn some simple deep breathing techniques.
If you’re a shallow breather, and most of us are, it may seem like a lot of effort to try and make the shift to being a deep breather. What are you supposed to do, walk around hyper-ventilating all day? Absolutely not! The great thing about deep breathing is that it doesn’t require a lot of effort to begin experiencing the benefits. Rather than trying to deep breathe for a certain amount of time each day, just take 10 deep breaths at a time. Do this periodically throughout the day and as you become more comfortable with it, you can increase the number of breaths and the frequency of your deep breathing sessions.
Here’s how you do it. Breathe in through your nose, allowing the air to expand your abdomen and rise up through your chest cavity. At first, you will actually have to physically push your abdomen out as you begin breathing in, then expand your lower chest and finally expand your upper chest. It may help to place your hand on your lower abdomen so you can feel it pushing out as you begin to inhale.
Our tendency is to do this in exactly the opposite way by sucking our stomach in and immediately expanding our upper chest and lifting our shoulders. After inhaling, exhale naturally through the nose or mouth. This exhalation should not be controlled in any way. Just simply let your breath go. The idea is to completely relax during exhalation.
Take It To The Next Level
Once you feel comfortable with this basic deep breathing technique, you may want to increase the benefits of deep breathing by combining it with exercise. If this interests you, go to www.deepsloweasy.com and click on ‘athletic stretches and exercises’ for suggestions on how to breathe as you work out.
At first, you will have to focus on the actual breathing in order to learn the technique. But once this becomes second nature, you can use your deep breathing sessions as times of worship, prayer or meditation. The effect of deep breathing is to relax, to calm, to quiet, to still. The idea of ‘quiet times’ or being still before God in an attitude of waiting, listening or worship is one that was frequently practiced by Christ Himself. Because we live in a culture of constant noise, busyness and stimulus where quietness is rare, even a few moments of stillness here and there, listening for God’s voice or offering praise to God for some good thing in your life can make a huge difference.
Begin teaching deep breathing to your kids. Use this as an opportunity to instill a habit which will not only be physically beneficial but which will also help them develop an awareness of God’s presence in their lives.
