Pulmonary or lung function might be used to predict your general health and how long you will live, according to a study reported in PubMed.gov by the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York. It is therefore sensible to analyze how you breath and use your lungs, and consider whether chest breathing, or stomach breathing, uses your lungs optimally in delivering life-giving oxygen to your body.
Chest Breathing
Breathing is the most natural action for humans and other living creatures. According to the American Medical Student Association, chest breathing involves using only the top lobes of the lungs. It is inefficient, does not fully engage the lungs, results in less oxygen transfer to the lungs, and poorer nutrient delivery to the body.
Stomach Breathing
Stomach breathing, belly breathing, or abdominal breathing, is also known as diaphragmatic building. The diaphragm is a large muscle between the chest and stomach. According to American Medical Student Association, when the diaphragm is contracted, it is forced downward, causing your stomach to expand. The resultant pressure forces air into your lungs, engaging lower, middle and upper lobes.
Test
You can test whether you are a chest breather or stomach breather. Place your right hand on your chest, and your left hand on your stomach and breath normally. If your right hand rise more, you are a chest breather, and if your left hand rises more, you are a stomach breather.
Considerations
According to Dr. Rodger Niemi of the Renaissance Chiropractic Center, people with high levels of stress and anxiety tend to breath through the chest. Shallow breathing through the chest disrupts the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide necessary for a relaxed state, and intensifies your feeling of anxiety. According to the University of Missouri, shallow chest breathing and the aging process may cause a 20 percent reduction in oxygen blood levels. This limits energy levels and affects mental alertness.
Warning
Learning stomach or diaphragmatic breathing techniques will enable you prevent deterioration of the respiratory system that accompanies aging, according to the University of Missouri. A lifetime of chest breathing causes stiffness of the rib-cage and surrounding muscles. This limits your rib-cage's ability to expand, inhibiting inhalation and exhalation. Stale air is left in the lungs and less oxygen is delivered to the blood stream. This can ultimately lead to respiratory disease, sluggishness or heart disease.
Complete Breathing
Learn complete breathing by sitting upright, and exhaling until no air is left in your lungs. Inhale and relax your stomach muscles. Your stomach will expand like it is filling with air. When your stomach stops expanding, keep inhaling, pull air into the middle of your chest and feel your chest and rib cage expand. Hold your breath momentarily, then exhale slowly. As you exhale, relax your chest and rib-cage, and pull your stomach in to force out remaining air. Close your eyes, relax completely, focus on your breathing technique, and continue the exercise for about five minutes.
Complete breathing involves stomach breathing, and full chest breathing, and engages all portions of your lungs, oxygenating your blood, and expelling carbon dioxide, and waste products from your blood and body.
References
- PubMed.gov: Pulmonary Function is a Long-Term Predictor of Mortality in the General Population: 29-year Follow-up of the Buffalo Health Study.
- American Medical Student Association: Health Hint: Breathing Exercises
- Dr. Rodger Niemi @ Renaissance Chiropractic Center:
- University of Missouri: Breathing Exercises
