When done properly, deep breathing can create a host of physical and psychological benefits for your body. From allowing you to deepen your stretch and improve your range of motion to decreasing your stress levels, good breathing technique can enhance your quality of life. Done improperly, however, if can jeopardize your health and lead to discomfort. Here are some of the most common problems people have when practicing deep breathing.
Chest Breathing
Breathing through the chest instead of the abdomen is one of the most common mistakes people make in terms of creating a more efficient flow of oxygen through the body. When you chest breathe, you breathe only deep enough to cause your chest to rise and fall, which does not completely fill the lungs, particularly the lower lungs, where the most oxygen intake occurs. As a result, less oxygen reaches your blood and fewer nutrients reach your muscle tissue. To find out if you're a chest breather, put one hand on your chest and one hand on your abdomen and breathe in. If the hand on your chest is pushed out more than the one on your abdomen, you breathe through your chest and may want to change your breathing technique.
Quick Breathing
Even if you try to breathe deeply through your abdomen, you may still breathe too shallowly because your breaths are short. In the same way that chest breathing does not allow oxygen to reach your lower lungs, quick breaths don't bring in enough air at one time, creating the same problem. Determining if you are a quick breather is easy: Simply count how long you breathe when you slow down your breath. A good deep breath should last for a count of 15, including both the breath in and the breath out.
Holding Your Breath
Deep breathing can also cause a problem if you wait too long to exhale. This is a common mistake for people who are new to mind-body classes and fill their lungs before their instructor finishes counting them through the "in" breath. When you do this, you are actually holding your breath for a short period of time. This will bring less oxygen to your muscles and increase the carbon dioxide in your body. At the same time, your heart will pump out less blood, leading to a change in blood pressure and a feeling of dizziness. Be sure to breathe out directly after you breathe in, even if your "in" breathe was not as long as your instructor's.
