Breathing correctly increases your ability to get enough oxygen to your body, creating healthy tissue and allowing for proper function. Breathing is both voluntary and involuntary. It is necessary for sustaining life and can be trained to be more effective. Many factors affect breathing, such as age, injury and disease, strength and flexibility.
Significance
Oxygen is necessary for every living cell in your body. You receive this oxygen from the air, breathing it into your lungs, where it is transferred to the blood and carried to your cells. Carbon dioxide is then picked up and sent out of the body through exhalation. The greater your ability to intake oxygen and disperse of carbon dioxide, the healthier you will be.
Effects
According to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, aging and poor breathing habits can reduce your oxygen intake by as much as 20 percent. The aging process creates a reduction in flexibility in your entire body, including your lungs. There is also an overall decrease in muscle tissue and strength, which affects the muscles that promote breathing. Training can decrease these effects, minimizing the decreased oxygen supplies that you get.
Injury and Disease
Injury to the ribs or back that cause breathing to be painful can cause you to decrease the depth of your breath, which decreases the flexibility of the structures that support breathing. It is important for you to be aware of this as new habits of shallow breathing are easy to form, lasting long after there is no pain involved. There are many lung diseases and disorders that can create breathing issues. Some of these are asthma, chronic bronchitis, exercise-induced bronchospasm, emphysema and cystic fibrosis. Exercising your breathing can alleviate the breathing issues that are related to these problems.
Breathing Exercises
To increase the strength of your breathing muscles and the flexibility of the surrounding structure, you must exercise. Lie on the floor on your back with your knees bent. Place your hands on your stomach, underneath your ribcage. Breathe in through your nose, keeping your chest still but allowing your stomach to rise as much as possible. You can then allow your chest to fully expand. Hold for several seconds and exhale through your mouth. Once you are able to do this exercise in pieces, put it together to create a smooth rolling motion.
Breathing Techniques
Some techniques can be used to increase your ability to breathe correctly. One technique, according to the American Student Medical Association, not only increases this ability, but increases your energy levels as well. This technique is called the bellows or stimulating breath. Breathe in and out through your mouth as quickly as you can in short puffy breaths. Do this sitting down, and begin with one to two minutes at a time. Hyperventilation can cause you to become light-headed. Another technique is the Chinese method, which is an intake of three breaths through the nose without exhaling between. With each breath your raise your arms out to the side a little bit higher. After the third breath exhale, allowing your arms to drop smoothly back to your sides.
