Breathing: For Better or Worse
What quality of breath are you drawing?
Many Americans practice chronic shallow breathing; this leaves us well short of our best when it comes to staying happy and healthy. Here are reasons why it helps immensely to relearn how to draw a good breath!
- Every single cell needs a constantly refreshing supply of oxygen to perform cellular respiration go about its daily business.
- We breathe up to 18 times a minute This translates to a lot of opportunities for you to get either not enough or just the right amount!
- Better circulation keeps you keep sharp and focused and your immune system and skin strong in their fight against bacteria and infection.
- Your heart rate will lowers and blood pressure will flow more evenly.
- Breathing thoroughly will detoxify your body
And these are only the physiological benefits! Deep breathing has been shown to make you feel calmer and happier.
It feels best when your lungs are getting their fill
This is a matter of using the diaphragm, the sheet of muscle that separates the thorax from the abdomen; the diaphragm is the main muscle involved in the breathing process- many people are unaware of this fact. When it comes to relearning how to breathe, it is best to start here.
Known most commonly as deep breathing, a diaphragmatic breath begins when you contract the diaphragm and air enters the lungs. In this way, the abdomen expands (rather than the chest) and oxygen saturates all of the necessary cells. Diaphragmatic breathing is the natural state of resting breath for mammals when they are relaxing in the wild.
Chiropractic helps make diaphragmatic breathing easier by adjusting nerve interference in the phrenic nerve, which is the main power source for the diaphragm located between C3 and C5 in the spine. We can help you relearn how to breathe and ensure that your diaphragm and the accessory breathing muscles are in great working order!
Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C.
