How To Breathe Better For Good Health

Here is 10 Ways To help you Breathe better for your good health :-

1. Dig your diaphragm

Place one hand on your upper chest, one on your naval. Inhale. If your upper hand rises before the lower, then you're an upper chest breather. This is a less efficient way to be taking in oxygen and suggests poor posture and anxiety. Aim instead to 'recruit' the diaphragm. Try this: lie on your back and raise your knees. Put on palm on your upper chest and the other over the naval. The aim is to have the lower hand rise first when you breathe in. Breathe out fully - and then a bit more. With practice you will find you can do this by drawing in your abdomen. Pause for 2-4 seconds. Slowly repeat the process a few times.

2. Learn yoga

Pranayama loosely translates as 'breathing harmony'. According to yoga teacher Phil Aston, 'by becoming aware of the nature of the breath and retaining it, you stop nervous impulses in the body and harmonise brain wave patterns. In pranayama, it is the duration of the breath retention which has to be increased. By concentrating on the breath, you can still the mind and gain entry into the deeper realms of the mind.'

3. Train your lungs

Since breathing is an activity involving muscular contractions, it stands to reason that adding some resistance work to the process can lead to improved in- and exhalation. Two small gizmos, both popular with sports people and everyday folks alike, are used in the quest to make each breath more efficient - POWERbreathe and the Youbreathe device.

4. Boost circulation

It's all well and good sorting out your breathing, but if your circulation is sluggish, you've still got a battle on your hands in the quest to get oxygen and nutrients flowing freely around the body. Garlic and ginkgo biloba are the top supplements to be taking to ensure smooth bloodflow.

5. Consider surgery

As we age, our nasal cavities can become far from symmetrical, with nostrils becoming inefficient as polyps block air from entering. If one or both of your nose holes is struggling, visit your GP to see whether simple surgery is required. Nose jobs aren't simply for vanity.

6. Take up Tai Chi

Chi is sometimes translated as 'breath', but it also contains a sense of 'life force', thus showing just how important filling and deflating the lungs is. Tai Chi practitioners, and those who do its precursor Chi Gung, think of breathing as a fluid motion producing a pump-like process to generate that life force. Try this simple Chi Gung exercise: lift the toes slightly when inhaling, and lightly grip the floor with them when exhaling.

7. Quit the ciggies

When you inhale tobacco smoke, your lungs temporarily expand and you get a minor buzz - but then it's payback time. The toxins then cause constriction of the airways and blood vessels. So you crave that expansion and have another drag. Try oats avena sativa supplement to help quit.

8. Breathe less

Russian scientist, Professor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, has devoted over 40 years of research into breathing and in the process discovered that only one in ten people do it correctly. One of the main principles of Buteyko Breathing is refraining from breathing too deeply - doing so can cause an imbalance of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

9. Try a salt pipe

If you're asthmatic and concerned about overuse of that inhaler, try a salt pipe. Containing salt crystals, the pipes provides sea air experience that's been embraced by many sufferers of airway problems. Incidentally, workers in East European salt mines rarely had breathing problems. Not a great job, mind.

10. Stay focused

Clearly, you've been breathing all your life, otherwise you wouldn't still be here...It's going to take a lot of focus to improve your lung work, so try to put aside short periods of 1-3 minutes each day to work on it. Concentrate on getting the sequence right: diaphragm, middle chest, upper chest. Don't let your thoughts stray; stay with the process, and soon it'll be second nature!