"I suggest you write about something really important..."
An article in The Wall Street Journal on the health benefits of deep breathing was not surprising news to yogis who have advocated this for 1000 years
What shocked me were the responses.
The article begins simply enough:
"Take a deep breath and relax. Behind that common piece of advice is a complex series of physiological processes that calm the body, slow the heart and help control pain."
The responses?
"I suggest you write about something really significant.....yes breathing is important but.........
"It is statins that cause a 3% improvement in cardiovascular disease/events; breathing won't help that.
"We don't think about breathing. Our brain just sort of takes care of it.
"While I'm a little skeptical about controlling ones breath having noticeable health benefits I would readily agree that breathing - in any form - is essential..."
"Wow, what a benefit statement. Let's add, carbon dioxide might cause global warming, and chicken soup could potentially cure a cold and (my Favorite) you may already be a winner at the Publisher's Clearing House.
Wow indeed. Can we all just take a deep breath?
MDs and psychologists agree that controlling your breath is one of the easiest ways to improve mental and physical health. Slow, deep and consistent breathing has been shown to have benefits in treating conditions ranging from migraines and irritable bowel syndrome to anxiety disorders and pain.
Not to mention impatience, anger and road rage, potentially fatal human conditions.
“If you train yourself to breathe a little bit slower it can have long-term health benefits,” said Murali Doraiswamy, a professor of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Deep breathing activates a relaxation response, he said, “potentially decreasing inflammation, improving heart health, boosting your immune system and maybe even improving longevity.”
Now here's some distressing news: people working on computers often hold their breath, referred to as screen apnea.
And don't we all work on computers?
I tried this myself, catching my breathing patterns while typing away. Yes, it's true - not only did I hold my breath but I squinted, frowned and pursed my lips a lot too.
And as a yoga practitioner, I know better.
Belisa Vranich, a New York City-based clinical psychologist, conducted breathing workshops around the country for over a year.
Dr. Vranich says she instructs clients to breathe with their abdomen. (Hey that's what we say in yoga: deep belly breath, balloon the belly out, make a Darth Vader inhale and exhale...sound familiar? We only say this in every hot yoga class)
On the inhale, the idea is to encourage the diaphragm to flatten and the ribs to flare out. Yes again - this is how we do the initial Pranayama of the hot yoga sequence: elbows up to make more room for the ribs to expand, then suck the stomach in using the diaphragm.
Abdominal, diaphragmatic breathing is the essential yoga breath.
Now there are other experts (other than yogis) who agree: air should be breathed in through the nose, and the exhale should be longer than the inhale. Dr. Vranich recommends trying to breathe this way all the time but experts say it is enough to use the technique during stressful or tense times or when it is necessary to focus or concentrate.
So - all the time.
Slow breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, which runs from the stem of the brain to the abdomen. It is part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body’s “rest and digest” activities. (By contrast, the sympathetic nervous system regulates many of our “fight or flight” responses.)
The vagus-nerve activity causes the heart rate to decrease as we exhale. If you try breathing at about five to seven breaths a minute, compared with average breathing rates of about 12 to 18 breaths a minute, you get the vagus-nerve response.
Otherwise know as relaxation.
The vagus nerve’s response includes the release of different chemicals, including acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that acts as an anti-inflammatory and slows down digestion and the heart rate, said Stephen Silberstein, director of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia who is working on an article on the vagus nerve and its functions
Slow, steady breathing is a natural way to stimulate your body's innate sense of well-being.
Heart-rate-variability biofeedback uses breathing to train people to increase the variation in their heart rate, or the interval between heartbeats. The technique has been shown to have benefits for conditions including anxiety disorders and asthma. On average most people reach this balance when breathing 11 seconds per breath.
In Pranayama, we take 10 full breaths in 2 minutes...or about 12 seconds per breath.
Your breathing is controllable - by you. No advanced degrees needed. But in case you'd like the research to back this up, a 2011 Stanford study of 13 students that found on average each took 16.7 breaths a minute when they were doing normal computer work compared with 9.3 breaths a minute when they were relaxed
A follow-up study involving 14 subjects found that giving feedback of breathing patterns on a computer screen allowed the subjects to control their breathing without decreasing their performance on an analytical task
You don’t have to interrupt your daily activities to heal yourself with your breath. (Sigh of relief)
Dr. Vranich, the breathing coach, holds breathing-lesson sessions in her Manhattan studio. “Inhale, relax, and see if you can expand right by your diaphragm,” she instructs. “Exhale, squeeze your ribs at the same time.”
Her students report thing slike: “I feel more focused. I can calm myself down. I am much more aware now."
It all sounds like a breath of fresh air to me.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Reader Comments (6)
I find it absolutely nuts that people replied so cynically to an article about the benefits of deep breathing. Freakin ridiculous!
Sitting here in this very moment, reading this blog post, I changed my breathing to slow, controlled inhales and exhales and instantly felt worlds better than I did moments before! How could this be hogwash?
In final Savasana, when I'm breathing deep ocean breaths in and out, there is no better sense of peace and calm and ok-ness I could possibly drum up from my experiences.
There is not one person I know that would not benefit from lessons in how to breathe well.
I am a perfect example of this. I am a shallow chest breather when I don't pay attention, and especially when I am stressed. If I notice this or my partner notices this chest breathing and prompts me to switch to longer, belly breaths, I instantly feel better. INSTANTLY!
I place myself with full confidence in the Breath-is-Boss Camp!
I agree Grace. Everyone can benefit from lessons in how to breathe well. I do it everyday with my patients that have cardiopulmonary obstructive disease, congestive heart failure, ashma, anxiety, lung and respiratory diseases, etc.
What's amazing to me is that these people just need some education on how it all works and practice how to do it. It dosent come naturally to them and they really have to "think about" how to breath with deep belly breaths. However, once they do understand it makes a world of difference for them. I can see the results in their face, their body langauage and their activity level on how they instantly feel better.
It is really interesting Tina that people need to be educated on how to breathe. You are doing such an amazing thing by educating your patients. I also take deep ocean breaths as Grace mentioned above at work. It helps me to focus, do my job well, and be centered. It is an amazing thing that I keep tapping into absolutely subconsciously. I started doing it in my yoga practice and now I do it every time I need outside of the studio.
I am still fascinating by breathing. We do know how to do it but yet it is different every time I do my Pranayma Deep Breathing. Sometimes, it is so reflecting of the day, sometimes it is a total surprise. Morning berthing is different than the one at night but it is breathing. When you are excited, when you are calm, when you are stressed, you breath differently. It is all related to the entire experience of being, being now. Breathing is living. Inhale....
Sometimes breathing gets hard, sometimes it is effortless. How come? How does it work that way? Why is it connected so strongly to the events and emotions we feel and experience. Perhaps, it is not just physical function of the body that we know how to do the minute we are born, it does seem way more than that. Breathing is living
yes breathing is living... as i read this article i slow my breath, trying to focus only what i am reading and breathing. i use my breath in class to enhance every pose, but when im on the comp its another story. if i open up my documents and something doesn't come to me right away, i tense up and my breathing actually stops! as my frustrations grow the breath is not there to help me relax, it gets worse. now i can use what i have learned in class and practice more when i am at the computer and enjoy posting more and more!