Breathing Exercise Techniques For Better Health

How breathing exercises can benefit you? 

You perform it anywhere from 12 to 20 times per minute and 17,000 to 30,000 times each day or more. We’re talking about breathing. It’s so simple that if you’re not congested or ill, you probably don’t even know you’re doing it already.

However, the fact that most people don’t even give their breathing techniques a second thought. This shows that you’re missing out on something that could have a significant impact in many ways on your health and your well-being.

Breathing techniques to practice

Here are some of the breathing techniques that you can practice daily for a few minutes and be healthier day by day:

#1. Sama Vritti

Beginners who have never practiced any breathing exercises should try this one. In this technique, you inhale and exhale through the nose for the same number of counts, such as four. As a result, you would take four breaths in before four breaths out. One of the simplest workouts, you can do this one anywhere, at any time.

#2. Alternate Nostril Breathing

The name of this breathing technique is “Nadi Shodhana,” which translates to “channel cleaning.” To do this, alternately inhale and exhale through each nostril as follows:

• Put your right thumb on your right nostril while sitting with your legs crossed.

• Then as you exhale through your left nostril, release your thumb from your right nostril and cover it with your left ring finger. Use your right nostril to exhale.

• Breathe in through your right nostril. Once more, release your ring finger from the left nostril and place your thumb on the right nostril. Then use your left nostril to exhale.

• Thus, this is how you finish a cycle. You can repeat each cycle for up to five minutes

#3. 4-7-8 breathing pattern

In this technique, you should keep the tongue on the roof of the mouth during the breathing exercise. Besides, there are three phases to this exercise:

• You take four silent breaths via your nose.

• Then you should exhale slowly for seven counts.

• After that, exhale loudly while creating an eight-count “whoosh” noise with your pursed lips.

Remember that breathing out takes twice as long as breathing in.

#4. Diaphragmatic breathing

You can use your diaphragm effectively by practicing diaphragmatic breathing. We also know it as belly breathing. Practice belly breathing while you’re feeling calm and refreshed.

According to a meta-analysis published in 2020, this kind of breathing is especially beneficial for patients who have trouble breathing because of cancer. People with other diseases like heart illness or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can also benefit from this exercise.

Additionally, it might help in lowering stress and addressing issues with eating disorders. Other such problems include constipation, high blood pressure, migraine attacks, and other medical concerns.

Engage in 5–10 minutes of diaphragmatic breathing, 3-4 times per day.

You can feel exhausted when you first start. However, with practice, the method will get easier and seem more natural.

• Place a pillow behind your head and lie on your back with your knees slightly bent.

• For support, you can put a pillow under your knees.

• You may feel the movement of your diaphragm by placing one hand on your upper chest and the other below your ribs.

• Then, feel your stomach pressing into your hand as you take a slow, deep breath through your nose.

• Besides, try to keep the other hand still as much as you can.

• Purse your lips as you exhale and contract your abdominals, keeping your upper hand perfectly still.

Moreover, you can make the workout more challenging by resting a book on your stomach. Once you’ve mastered belly breathing while lying down, you can make it more challenging by trying it while seated. After that, you can put the concept into practice while going about your usual business.

Tips to improve breathing

• Use your nose as your primary method of breathing.

• Your breathing pattern often reflects how you’re feeling. For example, when you’re anxious, you breathe quickly. Meanwhile, when you’re relaxed, you take calmer, longer breaths. You can also change your mood by becoming conscious of your breath.

• Maintain a straight spine and extend your muscles. By doing this, you can maximize your inhalations and expand the surface area of your muscles.

• Moreover, to allow for a full inhalation after an exhale, make sure your exhalations are long and thorough.

Breathing is an automatic activity. However, these breathing exercise techniques allow us to control how much air enters and leaves our bodies. This helps in relaxation, enhances oxygen delivery to the body, and decreases blood pressure. Moreover, it helps purge the body and encourages healthy living. This is important since, in the modern world, living a bad lifestyle puts one at risk for catastrophic conditions. These also include kidney failure, cancer, heart attacks, and many more.

So, to protect yourself from unwanted illnesses and unforeseen charges, it is currently of the utmost necessity for you to choose online health insurance policies as well as critical illness covers. Many websites even offer an online health insurance premium calculator. This enables you to choose your insurance plans with knowledge and get a better lifestyle.