There are many benefits to deep breathing and it is a practice we should all engage in every day. When engaging in deep breathing, you need to breathe deeply into your abdomen in a slow, rhythmic pattern, in and out through the nose. Set aside ten minutes, minimum times, once a day, to engage in deep breathing.
Deep breathing reduces stress and anxiety and releases tension by delivering more oxygenated blood to the brain. When you are stressed you shallow breathe, which does not effectively deliver an adequate amount of oxygen to the body. Your muscles become tight and constricted and this then places more stress on the body and its systems. Deep breathing calms the nervous system as the brain, spinal cord and nerves are receiving more oxygenated blood and therefore functioning more effectively and communicating better.
Deep breathing releases toxins more effectively. When you exhale you release carbon dioxide from your body that has passed through your bloodstream and into your lungs. Your body benefits by releasing more of this natural waste product more effectively through deep breathing.
Deep breathing strengthens the immune system by allowing more oxygen to travel through your bloodstream. This oxygen attaches to the haemoglobin in your red blood cells and aids your body to metabolise nutrients and vitamins essential to good health. By helping to eliminate more carbon dioxide and increasing oxygen, the quality of your blood will increase.
Deep breathing strengthens the lungs by exercising them and allowing them to work at a greater capacity. As we age our lung function and lung capacity decreases, which can lead to shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing.
Deep breathing elevates your mood by increasing neurochemicals in the brain.
Deep breathing is anti aging as it improves cellular regeneration, and takes the body out of its ‘fight or flight’ response and into the ‘rest and repair’ mode. The ‘fight or flight’ response directly effects the sympathetic nervous system, which is faster acting than the parasympathetic nervous system, and releases hormones into the bloodstream to allow body functions to speed up, become more alert and get ready to address and immediate stressor. The ‘rest and repair’ response directly correlates to the parasympathetic nervous system, which is a slower moving system and is responsible for controlling homeostasis (bringing balance to the body’s systems). The parasympathetic nervous system restores the body to a state of counterbalance and calm, allowing it to rest and repair itself after a stress response. In modern society we spend too much time in the sympathetic response mode and not enough time in a parasympathetic state, leading to long term health issues including adrenal problems, hormone issues, migraines and auto immune disorders.