Be the Positive Change Series
Care For Your Body
Breathe
What does every living human do at least 14,000 times each day without taking a break? If you just said look at your cellphone, we need to talk…
The answer of course is breathe! You may have noticed breathing is necessary.
Just try quitting…see what happens.
When we breathe, we take in oxygen which is an essential gas for cellular function. Oxygen is our “fuel burner” used by mitochondria to break down glucose into energy. When we breathe out, we expel carbon dioxide, which is a by-product of the cellular process. This means our exhalation is a waste product we want out and away from our body to maintain health and optimal cellular function.
So, you may be thinking, “what’s the big deal, I can do this in my sleep?”
You can, but there’s more to this, so stay with me.
There is a practice called breathwork. Which is commonly used in practices of yoga and mediation. Practices which have been known for millennia to have significant health and wellness benefits. Breathwork can help you control your stress response, mood and emotions. Controlled breathwork can also treat conditions like depression, anxiety and emotional disorders.
Basic breathwork skills, which include 3 big breaths, slowly in and out, are taught to children struggling to control an emotional outburst. More advanced breathwork techniques are used during childbirth to control the pain of contractions. In fact one of the fastest ways to control your heart rate is to take a big breath enough to fill your lungs, then let it all out in a long slow vocal sigh.
Breathing may be autonomic, but recognizing the power it has in health and wellness could be the difference between chronically stressed versus calm and collected.
Resources:
Coursera, Santos, The Science of Well-Being https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being
Chopra, How Breathwork Benefits the Mind, Body, and Spirit https://chopra.com/articles/how-breathwork-benefits-the-mind-body-and-spirit
Body Structures and Functions, Fong, Centgage, 2019.
