12.02.07
Breathing Exercises for Fitness and Weight Loss
As long as you breathe, you live. No breath, no life. Breathing takes place automatically, but it can also be controlled, regulated and directed at will. It is therefore both a voluntary and an involuntary function.
Proper breathing and good health are inter-related. Normally, children breathe well, with their abdomen. As they grow up and become adults, they lose or give up effective breathing due to their wrong body postures or due to stress, tension, or depression. Most people unknowingly get used to shallow breathing, which does not involve the abdomen. They do not fully utilize the potential of their lungs. They use only the upper and the middle portion of the lungs. That is, they use mainly the chest, but not the entire volume of the lungs during shallow breathing, which is not the most effective way to breathe for good health.
Breathing correctly ensures maintenance of good health. To breathe naturally and correctly for health and fitness, you must replace chest breathing with diaphragmatic and belly breathing. In superficial or shallow breathing, the diaphragm moves very little, because of which the supply of oxygen to the vital organs like the brain and the several other cells in the body remains insufficient. This is the root cause of poor health. If you breathe properly, involving the diaphragm and the abdomen, if you utilize the entire lung-volume, the oxygen exchange that happens in the lungs becomes efficient, slowing the heart rate and reducing the blood pressure. As a result, you feel relaxed, your anxiety levels fall, and you experience calmness of the mind. Slow and deep belly breathing relieves you of your stress and bestows upon you untold health benefits.
Proper breathing exercises, which are slow deep abdominal breathing or diaphragmatic breathing exercises, boost your metabolism. That means your weight can be put under control through good breathing practices. Because of good breathing, your lung muscles become more elastic and allow better oxygen absorption, the immune system gets strengthened, and the levels of anxiety, tension and stress get reduced. Your overall health, both physical and mental, improves considerably.
There are certain precautions you have to take before practicing breathing exercises. If you have any respiratory or heart problems, it is essential for you to consult and take your doctor’s advice. When the atmosphere is polluted, avoid doing breathing exercises in the contaminated or impure air. This is so even if the air is filled with something like incense smoke. If the atmospheric temperature is too hot or too cold, it is not suitable for breathing exercises. Do not wear any tight dress or waist-belt that does not allow the free movement of the abdomen during the breathing exercises.
Although we normally breathe through our nose and not the mouth, some breathing exercises involve mouth breathing as well. Experts believe that nasal breathing raises the levels of energy in the body. However, if you are doing vigorous physical exercises like aerobics, jogging, running, swimming or weight lifting, it is natural for you to breathe through the mouth.
Learning correct breathing techniques for normal and natural breathing that promotes good health and keeps your weight in check. Practice suitable breathing exercises regularly and you will increase your energy levels and lead a long and healthy life.