Learning To Breathe

Breathing may be a natural reflex, but it's still possible to learn bad breathing habits which can mean that the body is unable to relax.

You might think that most of us have had enough practise at breathing throughout our lives that it would come fairly naturally...

Breathing may be a natural reflex, but it's still possible to learn bad breathing habits such as hyperventilation, overbreathing, shallow breathing and breathing from the chest instead of the diaphragm.

Bad breathing is often one of the side effects of extreme stress. Besides the obvious effects on oxygen and carbon dioxide levels within the body, poor breathing also leads to bad posture and tension and can mean that the body is unable to relax.

This month, we're going to look at ways to improve your breathing habits and general posture in order to control the effects of stress and lead to better health. We'll also look at how simple breathing exercises have been claimed to help chronic asthma sufferers and people with other respiratory disorders.

EXERCISES TO DE-STRESS

You Can't breathe properly if your shoulders are hunched or your ribcage is crunched up...

(1) Place a blanket on the floor rolled up like a cigarette. Now lay down with one end positioned at the base of your spine. Lay down over the blanket so that the vertebrae are protected. Spread your arms out to the side, palms up. Lay there for as long as you are able, gradually increasing the time until you can lay there for at least 10 minutes.

(2) In the shower, or after a bath,(always when the muscles have been warmed) stand with your arms behind you and hold onto one wrist. Take a deep breath in and then draw an imaginary backwards half circle with your shoulders and as they are drawn back, pull your hands back as if you were trying to touch the wall behind you. Repeat the exercise 4 to 5 times at least.

(3) Again, in the shower or after a bath, bend at the waist and with your arms in the same position as above but this time try not to touch the ceiling. Do this with bent knees to protect the spine. Repeat as above.

(4) Stand upright with your feet about 18 inches apart and let your arms hang by your sides.

(5) SMILE! - this helps put you in a relaxed frame of mind.

(6) Imagine a string attached to the top of your head pulling you upwards and one on your feet pulling you down. Allow them to lengthen your neck and stretch your spine.

(7) Lift your shoulders as if to give a big shrug. Hold them tight - now let your shoulders fall down and back.

DO THIS AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN REMEMBER THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

BREATHING TECHNIQUES

CALMING

Sit comfortably in a chair. Drop your shoulders down naturally and feel them widen from the spine outwards to your arms. At the same time pull gently up as if a string is attached to the top of your head pulling you up. This will expand your lungs.

Look straight ahead as if looking at a point on the opposite wall. Make that position comfortable. Do not strain at all. Take FIVE slow but deep, gentle steadying breaths.

Breathe in easily and gently to the count of THREE and out just as gently to the same count. Think of the lung in 3 lobes and give a count to each one and expand each of them outwards rather than deep breathing. This breathing should not be noticeable to others. It is therefore possible to practice this type of breathing in the middle of a meeting!

If you get used to breathing like this at least 3 or 4 times a day you can reduce your blood pressure and lipid count (the fats, including cholesterol circulating in the blood stream) and so can be a preventative approach to keeping the blood pressure down. It is also a useful first aid measure to get you through all kinds of difficult situations. Use it particularly if you feel yourself getting uptight during the day.

RHYTHMIC CIRCULAR BREATHING TO AID SLEEP

This is useful to switch off the mind from the problems of the day. Make yourself comfortable in the position you want to sleep. Close your eyes and settle down. Place your hands flat across your stomach with just the tips of the fingers touching. Now bell out your stomach as you breathe in and press your fingers down to flatten the stomach as you breathe out. As the stomach bells out, filling the lower lobes of the lungs with air, your fingers will seperate and be drawn well apart. They come together agian as you breathe out. Practice this "belling" out and deflating, moving the stomach muscles and the diaphragm as much as possible but keeping the shoulders and the top of the lungs as still as you can, thus allowing the diaphragm to do all the work.

Feel the breath filling up slowly from the diaphragm, through the chest to your mouth then as you breathe out imagine yourself blowing the breath out of your mouth round in a circle back through an imaginary hole in your tummy to the diaphragm and then start all over again.

As you breathe in from the diaphragm count to four and blow out back to the diaphragm to another count of our. The most important part of circular breathing is the full involvement of the mind - follow the breath at all times - keeping a mental picture of the circle in your mind. Then, because there is nothing more interesting going on - you will fall asleep. If you wake during the night - do the same procedure all over again.

LEARNING TO BREATHE

In the 1950's Professor Konstantin Buteyko discovered that asthmatics hyperventilate or over-breathe, reducing carbon dioxide levels in the bloodstream, which can lead to asthma attacks, hayfever and allergies etc.

He went on to develop a treatment for these conditions, consisting of exercises that reconditioned their breathing. This enabled asthmatics to retain more carbon dioxide and therefore restored their brething to that of a normal healthy person.

Thousands of people in Australia, New Zealand and Russia have benefited from this technique. The exercises are usually taught over five consecutive days for about 1 1/2 hours per session, depending on the individuals condition.

Some lifestyle changes are also taught. Improvement in the condition is normally noticeable within the first week or two.

Fiona Robinson (42) has suffered from sever asthma since she was 18 months old. Prior to learning the Buteyko method she led a very restricted life and had tried many treatments without much success.

Buteyko has changed her life. She always wanted just one "asthma-free" day and now she has one nearly every day.

Fiona, who was too ill to work before Buteyko has now trained as a practitioner. For further information, or for a general chat about the method, contact her on 0208 206 0046.

Alternatively, visit www.wt.com.au/~pkolb/buteyko.htm for more information on the Buteyko Technique.

POSTURE:

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

When you sit for long periods and your spine is curved you put 8 times as much pressure on your back.

Incorrect posture, when sitting can be worse for your discs than standing because you adopt more unnatural positions when sitting than standing.

It is important to maintain the hollow in your back when sitting. Sitting with a straight spine puts immense strain on your lower back.

Over long periods this causes over-stretching of the ligaments and distorts the discs in the vertebrae.

If you use a Computer

- The keyboard should be at or just above elbow height

- Feet should be firmly on the floor or on a footrest

- Thighs should be comfortably supported

- You should be sitting in an adjustable chair for height and tilt

- Use a copy holder to hold the material you are typing - this brings it closer to eye level and allows you to balance your head. It also brings what you are reading closer to you and avoids tilting your head which puts strain on your neck and throat muscles.

- The top of the screen should be level with your eyes.

If you have to sit for long periods either in a car or at a desk, find an opportunity to lie down for 10 minutes.

Lying down allows the fluid in the spine to be re-absorbed into the discs which enables the back muscles to loosen up and smooth out.

This has the effect of re-charging energy in the spine. At the same time, cover the eyes with an eye cushion or mask.

Light penetrates the eyelids and so covering them puts them truly at rest.

- Whilst laying on the floor bring your knees up and hug them but keep them apart (about shoulder width) keeping your feet flat on the floor.

- Ease out your neck - chin at right angles - it is important that your head is not tilted up or down.

- Rest for 10 minutes

Tuesday, 30 January 2001

© 2001 Bromley Health Management