There’s a lot more to it than just ‘in and out’!
Being and feeling well is more aligned with how well we breathe than most people realise.
Less than optimal breathing shows up in many ways. Weight gain, poor sleep, anxiety, fatigue, incorrect posture, lack of motivation, reduced immunity and a host of other problems are the result of poor breathing.
As if that isn’t enough, it’s also been said that aging well is directly proportional to how well you breathe. And none of us want to age badly!
We tend not to consider our breathing unless we have a problem, yet the way we breathe can make or break our health. Breathing is the most fundamental of all human functions, but we take it for granted and forget how very important it is.
Improve your breathing, and you will naturally improve your posture, general health and emotional well-being.
Improve your breathing technique
Good breathing techniques improve the fitness of the diaphragm and many internal organs including the intestines, heart and lungs will function better as a result. Even your joints benefit from better breathing.
Deep breathing can also help you manage your emotions. Most people have experienced the feeling of relief as their whole body relaxes upon taking a deep breath after a stressful episode.
Have you ever noticed how tight your chest feels when you are stressed? The tension prevents us from breathing properly and can set off a chain reaction in the body that can be harmful to our health in the long term.
On the other hand, when you learn to breathe more deeply, you can use it to ease emotional problems and calm your nervous system. How many times has something upsetting that happened in your day gone around and around in your head and caused you a bad night’s sleep?
When you practice good breathing techniques, you focus on the breath and movement, not the stressful situation, and can let go of the problem rather than lose sleep over it.
If you breathe better during the day, you can breathe better at night.
Effective, proper breathing can be very physically healing as well. If you are recuperating from an illness or injury, you need to relax during recovery to heal better. This is where restorative breathing techniques that help deal with stress and promote sleep are highly beneficial.
Our own health is up to us – proper breathing techniques are fun and free and have huge benefits to our mind and body.
Check out the next post where we will be diving more deeply into the how, what and why of breathing to reduce stress.
