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007 Breathe correctly

              Slow deep breathing is a powerful anti-stress technique. When you bring air down into the lower portion of the lungs, where the oxygen exchange is most efficient, heart rate slows, blood pressure goes down, muscles relax and the mind calms.

 

 

Five minutes of mindful breathing to relax³⁰

1. Close your eyes then breathe mindfully for a minute.

2. In your mind, say "May I have deep peace within me"

3. Sit quietly, and set all your burdens down.

4. Allow yourself to relax and soften following breath sensations and the movements of your chest.

5. End by opening your eyes and moving gently.

Breathe that stress away

              When you are so focused on doing something, you tend to "forget" to breathe resulting in shallow breaths. Improper breathing results in inadequate oxygenation of blood and eventually lowering blood oxygen into the brain. This will result in declining mental ability, headache and stress.

              In turn, stress may also lead into improper breathing that builds up more stress, a vicious cycle of stress-faulty breathing-more stress ensues. It will take an extreme hypoxia (low oxygen in blood) before your autonomic system kicks in to force your body systems to breath.

              Knowledge of this will help you mindfully breathe deeply and regularly alleviating stress and thus breaking the cycle. Combined with stretching exercises and other relaxation techniques, this will bring you a more effective stress management regimen.

              Breathing techniques that are part of yoga enhances well-being, mood, attention, mental focus, and stress tolerance. This can also be a method for balancing the autonomic nervous system and influencing psychological and stress-related disorders.³¹

 

Sleep breathing

              Don't cover your face and head while sleeping. Sleeping with your face covered increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decreases the concentration of blood oxygen that may lead to brain damage.

 

Asthma and technology

              Asthma is one of the most common respiratory problems. Several risk factors are involved and these include heredity and environmental causes. Asthma is more common among people who live in areas high in air pollution. Exposure to chlorinated water in swimming pools during infancy is associated with a higher risk of bronchiolitis with ensuing increased risks of asthma and allergic sensitization.³²

              Lung function test is commonly employed to test if a person has asthma. An artificial breath-sensor system dubbed the "electronic nose" is said to be able to spot more cases of asthma than with the traditional diagnostic tools such as lung function test.³³

 

Hyperventilation syndrome

              When in panic, your adrenalin surges causing you to breathe rapidly. When you breathe too rapidly it will cause carbon dioxide levels to fall below healthy levels and respiratory alkalosis (or high blood pH) develops. In turn, this causes you to try to breathe even faster, which exacerbates the problem. This is a common diagnosis among patients who complain of dizziness associated with breathing problems.

 

Oxygen toxicity

              Oxygen toxicity is a condition resulting from the harmful effects of breathing high concentrations of oxygen. Higher than normal concentrations of oxygen lead to increased levels of reactive oxygen species which are harmful to the tissues in the body.

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