‘Immunity’ has been the buzzword everywhere in the recent past. But we don’t seem to have gotten enough of it (pun intended). That’s no wonder as our immunity is built not just through food but there several other factors that help build or improve our immunity. One of them is proper breathing. When we are born, the first thing we do is “breath in”, and when we die, the last thing we do is “breath out”. If the ‘life’ that we live between the two extremes has to be lived healthily, then we must understand the importance of correct breathing. We have to practice to breathe properly. We breath (in-out) 23000 times/day (960 times/hour). Out of this, if we do it correctly just 20-30 times a day (or just 5 times an hour), it will make a huge difference and help us become more conscious, aware, and mindful. A new-born child breathes in the correct way until s/he is 5 years old. We, adults, do it wrong because of so many factors such as wearing tight pants and waist belts, prolonged sitting at one place, etc., makes us breathe through our upper body.
Almost all of us do not breathe correctly: we just chest breathe or upper-body breathe (dysfunctional breathing) when we need to take in a deep breath. We just raise our shoulders and chest which triggers a response from our sympathetic nervous system (called the 'fight or flight mode’). Doing so can sometimes lead to physical or emotional stress. Not only that, but dysfunctional breathing also results in our brain getting much less oxygen than is required. Typically, our brain consumes 20% of the oxygen we inhale. Therefore, any oxygen deficit can lead to various situations and conditions including a sort of mental fog, negative thoughts, anxiety, depression, migraines, or even improper decision-making.
The proper way of breathing is functional breathing (also called as belly breathing, abdominal breathing, or lower body breathing). The benefits of abdominal breathing or functional breathing are that it activates our parasympathetic nervous system (called the ‘rest and digest mode’) that helps calm down a person. One can practice it when one is about to take an interview (when one is understandably nervous); or when one is in an anger-laden and irritable situation, or when s/he is craving for any food – that is when one is required to focus and concentrate.
Let’s see how you can practice functional breathing. In fact, you can practice it even now as you read this if your stomach is empty (or at least after a 2-hour gap post a meal).
- Breathe in: while you do so, your tummy should bulge – similar to a balloon that is being inflated with air.
- Breathe out: while you do so, your tummy should shrink in – as in like a balloon that is relapsing when the air inside it is being removed or let out.
You can practice this on empty stomach early in the morning. Sit on the floor with crossed legs and keep your chin upright (like it is when you meditate). Doing this exercise will make you relaxed if you are about to attend a meeting, or are in a stressful situation, or when you have a headache, etc. If you cannot, for some reason, sit on the floor, you can just sit upright on a chair and do the exercise — about 10-15 breaths in, and 10-15 breaths out.
Make sure you have at least 5 correct breaths/hour (or 20-30 correct breaths /day), which can be gradually increased to 100 breaths/day.
Do this, and let us know how you felt.
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Author
Dt. Anjali Khandale (M.Sc., Nutrition & Dietetics)
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