Breathe!

This is, by far my favorite wellness topic to discuss.  Practicing deep diaphragmatic breaths regularly throughout the day is one of the easiest things to do to improve your well-being.  However, its long-term benefits and life-changing effects take a while to see a difference, so continuing to practice is the hardest part.  But let's begin by talking about fresh air…


Fresh Clean Air  

We don’t think about air quality often in our daily lives, but it is a very important element of our wellness.  We exist in the air we breathe, and so, do not notice what our daily environment really looks like unless we travel to a different place.  Then we might notice something is different:  a salty smell by the sea, or a pollution haze in a big city.  When we climb a high mountain, the oxygen concentration gets lower, and we have to breathe more rapidly to function.  Everything gets harder.  Thinking and moving is harder unless you have acclimated to the altitude.  Unfortunately, we don’t acclimate well to polluted air.  If you check out NOAA they state:

“Poor air quality is responsible for an estimated more than 100,000 premature deaths in the United States each year. Costs from air pollution-related illness are estimated at $150 billion per year.”

It is important to note that a great deal of suffering goes unaccounted for in humans and our entire planet.  Indoor air quality is included here and can often be just as bad, if not worse.  Check out the NIH for all the details.  In summary, chemicals, cleaners, molds, and stale air in our homes can also cause us many health issues including respiratory diseases, allergies, mental health problems, cognitive decline, and cancer.  Changing global problems on an individual level is almost impossible, so we won’t spend time here discussing the global changes that need to be made.  However, we can make minor improvements by growing house plants indoors, paying attention to the products we bring home, and using good-quality air filters in our fans and furnaces.  We can also plan to get outside in natural settings daily–where we are surrounded by plants and natural sunlight. Spending 15 minutes a day breathing deeply in such places can reduce anxiety, strengthen your lungs, improve mental focus, reduce fatigue, and boost your motivation.  


Why To Do Deep Breathing? 

Shallow breathing is linked to increases in anxiety and elevated heart rate.  This can quickly cause a panic attack to individuals who are over-sensitive to their breathing rate.  Individuals who practice deepening their breath into the lower part of the lungs often reduce the stress hormones, increase oxygen to the brain, and overall improve their mental health.  By slowing the out-breath the heart rate decreases and a sense of relaxation can begin.  Connect calming thoughts and a person can improve their mental functioning and resilience to stressful situations.  Check out this article for some additional scientific details.  

Over time shallow breathing can lead to weakened lungs and diaphragm–the major muscle that contracts and pulls the air into your lungs.  A lifetime of shallow breathing can result in a very weak breath which increases the risk of dying from pneumonia.  This is one of the major causes of death in older individuals who have multiple chronic health conditions they are managing.  This doesn't sound like fun, so let's make it a habit to breathe deeply and strengthen your diaphragm.  Bonus points: it also helps improve your posture. 


How To Do Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing? 

Doing deep breathing starts in your posture.  In order for your lungs to have enough room to expand you need to lift your sternum up, pull your shoulders back and make room for your diaphragm to expand down into your belly.  Then slowly allow your ribs to expand outward.  You can place your hand on the side of your ribs and feel the movement pushing outwards to help open and focus the mind on the expanding movements.  Allow the air to fill the entire chest cavity, and then maybe just a little more.  The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle that when it contracts, it flattens downwards.  This pushes the stomach out in front.  As this happens the lungs fill with air.  The lungs’ capacity is rarely reached in normal breathing, but when we focus we can get the oxygen rich air deep into the lower parts of the lungs where we have more surface area for the oxygen to pass into the bloodstream.  This also allows for more carbon dioxide to be released from the body.  
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Focus on deepening the air into the lower parts of the lungs and slowing down your exhale.  The process of slowing down your out-breath allows more time for the oxygen to exchange place with the carbon dioxide.  This makes the breath more efficient.  This also begins to slow the heart-rate down and can decrease blood pressure.  All of these small signals reach the brain and begin to downshift the release of stress chemicals that are being released, allowing the body to calm down.  With practice, and by tuning into the body during the breathing process, a person can reverse anxiety symptoms such as tension in the neck, shoulders, abdomen, and can slow down overthinking and overwhelming emotions. 

Altitude Tip:
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Back to climbing mountains…  There is a lesson to learn here as well.  If you are hiking at altitudes higher than your normal, then your body will send signals to make more red blood cells.  This can take a few days.  The red blood cells then have the ability to carry more oxygen to the cells of your body, thus improving your mental and physical performance.   This works so well that athletes try to spend time in high-altitude areas before their competitions.  However, if you don’t change the way you breathe, then this biological change does not help you as much as it could.  Mountaineers often take a deep breath and then take a step, when walking up very steep high-altitude mountains.  This helps them take full advantage of the air they can get.  Modern oxygen tanks help many people reach the highest summits without the proper acclimation process, presenting its own problems.   


Improve your air quality: Breathe!

Get 10-15 minutes of fresh air outside in the sunshine if possible, or just practice diaphragm breathing for 1-2 minutes 3-5 times throughout the day.  Focus attention on the joy of your breath and being alive.