Day 35/60: Breathe!

You cannot Survive without Breathing!

I am on day 35 of 60. Every single day, I have been taking a step to continue my wellness achievement program and sharing insights live on Facebook. It has been a wonderful journey to restore my health. I feel fantastic. Find out more about what I am doing and why I went on cleanse through these blog posts.

According to Dr. Pandey, M.D., the most important component of our diet is water. The link to her YouTube video is excellent, but water is most important?

No doubt, water is ever so significant, and dehydration can be life-threatening, but breathing tops my list. Besides being the top dog of importance, ironically, it’s the most overlooked nutrient in our diet.

Take a Better Breath!

Breathing is an autonomic activity, which means most of the time, we do it naturally without even thinking about it. We take our breaths for granted and don’t bother to think about it since it is happening automatically, without our conscious knowledge.

If we take a closer look at the way we breathe, we can influence our life positively. For the next few days, we will explore some breathing techniques for relaxation. Now let’s talk about how breathing plays a role in relieving stress.

Breathing for Stress Management

The breathing-cadence mechanism increases when stress builds, and we begin to take small, shallow breaths. What’s supremely cool, is we can intercept this autonomic increase just with conscious breathing. Intercepting this rapid stress cycle consciously guarantees a change in your body’s physiology. The research finds that an intentional elongation of exhalation while breathing lowers stress hormone (cortisol), which helps reduce stress.

The easiest and simplest way to control your stress is to focus on your breathing, for deep inhalation and prolonged exhalation. Take a deep breath, hold it for a couple of seconds, and then let it out very slowly. Doing this exercise at least three times helps you immediately relax. It does so by stimulating the vagal relaxation response throughout your body and calming the nervous system’s fight-flight-fear response.

How Does Conscious Breathing Help?

Besides stress management, conscious breathing can also change your life in so many other ways. Its benefits range from mental peace to physical well-being. Here a few reasons why I believe you should take control of your breathing habit:

• Since it activates the parasympathetic pathway of the autonomic nervous system, it lowers your blood pressure and heart rate.
• The rest and digest mechanism of the parasympathetic nervous system involved in conscious breathing also improves your digestion.
• It allows you to focus on the present moment and be mindful of what you do, which in turn affects the decisions you take and the choices you make.
• By conscious intake of more oxygen, deep breathing enhances your oxygen supply and stimulates an increase in your body energy levels.

• The appropriate balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood reduces lactic acid formation in muscles, which reduces aches, fatigue, and lethargy.
• Studies show that mindfulness meditation can help you with better sleep and immune functioning.

Breathing Techniques

On day 29, we discussed using stress to advantage. In the upcoming days, I will talk about different breathing techniques, which can help you instantly relax. Make sure to not miss excellent ways to cope with your stress.