Benefits of Abdominal Breathing Breathing is moving the diaphragm up and down. Because the diaphragm descends when you inhale, squeezing your organs down, your belly expands, not your chest. For this reason, when you exhale, the diaphragm will rise more than usual, so you can take a deep breath and exhale more carbon dioxide that tends to stagnate at the bottom of the lungs.
Basic Introduction
Abdominal breathing can be divided into two types: forward breathing and reverse breathing. Gently expand your abdominal muscles, inhale as deeply as you feel comfortable, and relax your muscles as you exhale. Reverse breathing is the opposite of forward breathing, that is, gently contract the abdominal muscles as you inhale and relax them as you exhale. The subtle difference between reverse breathing and forward breathing: Breathing only involves the lower abdominal muscles, the pubic area just below the navel. Gently contract the muscles in this area as you inhale and relax as you exhale. Breathing becomes gentle in this way, taking up only about half of the lung capacity. The tip of the tongue rests lightly on the palate.
Principle
Abdominal breathing is a normal physiological phenomenon of human beings, and it is also an important way of maintaining health. A person’s breath carries the energy of life. Scientists have found that the average human lung is the size of two footballs, but most people use only one-third of their capacity in their lifetime. A new survey by American health scientists shows that, in both developed and developing countries, at least half of the urban population breathe incorrectly. Many people’s breathing is too short, often when the fresh air inhaled has not penetrated into the lower end of the lung lobes, they exhale in a hurry, which means that they have not absorbed the beneficial ingredients in the fresh air. People sitting in the office, due to the cramped and fixed sitting posture, usually breathe short, short and fast, and the ventilation volume each time is very small, so under normal breathing frequency, there is still insufficient ventilation, and carbon dioxide in the body accumulates; Working with the brain for a long time, the body consumes a lot of oxygen, which in turn causes hypoxia in the brain. As a result, white-collar workers often have office syndromes such as dizziness, fatigue, and lethargy.
Notes
First, breathe deeply and slowly.
Second, inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
Third, every breath should be controlled for about 15 seconds. That is, take a deep breath (bulge your stomach) for 3-5 seconds, hold your breath for 1 second, then slowly exhale (retract your stomach) for 3-5 seconds, hold your breath for 1 second.
Fourth, every 5-15 minutes. Do it for 30 minutes.
Fifth, people who are in good health can extend the breath-holding time, and try to slow down and deepen the breathing rhythm. People with poor health can not hold their breath, but they should take enough breath. Practice 1-2 times a day, sitting, lying, walking, running, and you can practice until it is slightly hot and slightly sweaty. Try to bulge and retract the abdomen 50-100 times. If your mouth overflows during breathing, you can swallow slowly.
Features
abdominal breathing
increases the range of motion of the diaphragm, which moves Directly affects lung ventilation. Studies have shown that abdominal breathing: for every centimeter of the diaphragm, lung ventilation can increase by 250 to 300 ml. Adhering to abdominal breathing for half a year can increase the range of motion of the diaphragm by four centimeters. This is of great benefit to the improvement of lung function, and is one of the important rehabilitation methods for senile emphysema and other pulmonary ventilation disorders.
First, expand lung capacity and improve cardiopulmonary function. It can maximize the expansion of the thorax, make the alveoli in the lower part of the lung expand and contract, allow more oxygen to enter the lungs, and improve cardiopulmonary function.
Second, reduce lung infections, especially the possibility of pneumonia.
Third, it can improve the function of abdominal organs. It can improve the function of the spleen and stomach, help relieve the liver and gallbladder, and promote bile secretion. Abdominal breathing can lower blood pressure by lowering abdominal pressure, which is very beneficial for hypertensive patients.
Fourth, soothe the nerves.
Breathing styles
There are two main types of breathing: chest breathing and abdominal breathing. Thoracic breathing is mainly based on the movement of the ribs and sternum, and the front and rear, left and right diameters of the thorax increase during inhalation. Because air goes directly into the lungs when breathing, the chest cavity expands and the abdomen remains flat.
Abdominal breathing
Abdominal breathing is mainly based on diaphragmatic movement, and the upper and lower diameters of the thorax increase during inspiration. Normal thoracic abdominal breathing.
Breathe for about 10-15 seconds and inhale about 500ml of air. During abdominal breathing, the diaphragm muscle will drop, the abdominal pressure will increase, and it will feel as if the air is directly entering the abdomen.
Chest breathing
Most people, especially women, mostly use chest breathing, with just the ribs moving up and down and the chest slightly expanding, many of the bottoms of the lungs The alveoli have not been completely expanded and contracted, and they cannot be exercised very well. In this way, oxygen cannot be fully transported to various parts of the body. Over time, various organs of the body will have different degrees of hypoxia, and many chronic diseases will be born as a result.
So learning to breathe can effectively increase the body’s oxygen supply, purify the blood, and strengthen the lung tissue. In this way, we are better able to resist colds, bronchitis, asthma and other respiratory diseases; at the same time, because the diaphragm and intercostal muscles are also exercised in breathing, our vitality and endurance will be correspondingly increased, and energy will also be increased. more abundant. Here are some tips to help you figure out if your breathing is healthy: If your chest and abdomen tighten when you inhale, but bulge when you exhale, you’re breathing the wrong way.
Practice method
Abdominal breathing
Lie on your back or sit in a comfortable meditation position to relax your body .
Observe natural breathing for a while.
Place your right hand on your belly button and your left hand on your chest.
As you inhale, expand your belly as far as you can, keeping your chest still.
As you exhale, contract your abs in as far as you can, keeping your chest still.
Repeat the cycle, maintaining a consistent rhythm with each breath. Carefully feel the fall of the abdomen.
After a period of practice, you can remove your hands and just focus on the breathing process consciously.
Don’t be nervous or forceful during the breathing process. If you are a beginner, you should pay more attention to the practice process and the impact on the body. When you inhale, you will feel that the breath begins to pass through the nose and throat and is fully concentrated in the lungs. When the volume of the lungs gradually increases and the thorax is kept still, the diaphragm will be forced to sink, and the abdomen will bulge slightly outwards. out of the body.
Using the abdomen as a ball, inhale through the nose to make the abdomen bulge, pause for a second or two, and then exhale through the mouth until the abdominal wall sinks. About five or six times a minute is enough. Usually twice a day, optional in the city at 10 am and 4 pm, each about 10 minutes.
The key to abdominal breathing is to try to reach the “limit” volume whether you are inhaling or exhaling. The contraction and expansion are extreme, and it is better if every breath reaches the lower dantian.
Abdominal breathing is generally used for health care. Because the amount of oxygen inhaled is two to three times higher than normal, it can also be used to treat diseases in various parts of the human body. For example, if you have a headache, when you take a full breath, your heels suddenly lift off the ground, forcing the gas to go straight to your head, and then exhale. Of course, for different rehabilitation treatments, there should be drug cooperation, and it should be carried out under the guidance of a doctor.
Deep Abdominal Breathing
It is easy to learn, you can stand, stand, sit, lie down, and do it at any time, but preferably lying in bed. Lie on your back on the bed, loosen your belt, relax your limbs, concentrate your thoughts, and get rid of distracting thoughts, which can also be said to enter a qigong state. Slowly inhale through the nose, expand the belly, hold each breath for 10 to 15 seconds, and then exhale slowly, breathing 4 times per minute. The length of time to do abdominal deep breathing is controlled by the individual, and it can also be combined with chest breathing, which is the alternating movement of the respiratory system. If you can insist on doing abdominal deep breathing every day for many years, you will receive the miraculous effect of “unintentionally inserting willows and willows” to strengthen your body and age.
Benefits
Generally mammals adopt abdominal breathing, which has the advantage of giving full play to the functions of heart and lung cells, increasing lung capacity and strengthening the heart Function, increase the power of the digestive system, thereby enhancing and activating its function, which is beneficial to eliminate the accumulation of toxins in the intestinal tract and the release of internal stress. Humans, on the other hand, mainly use abdominal breathing in fetuses and infancy. From learning to walk, they change to local thoracic breathing. Due to changes in breathing patterns, most pulmonary lobe cells are idle for a long time and lose their activity, reducing lung capacity, thereby affecting human lifespan and the development of potential. Long-lived animals are mostly abdominal breathing. Such as turtles and snakes. Why is abdominal breathing so relevant to life? Because the abdominal cavity contains all the organs except the heart, brain, and lungs. Including the digestive system, hematopoietic system, reproductive, periuric system, endocrine system and part of the lymphatic system, and has a large number of blood vessels and nerves, so the abdominal cavity is very important. However, since human beings walk upright, they mainly rely on thoracic breathing, and abdominal breathing begins to degenerate, so that abdominal movement is weakened, resulting in easy accumulation of waste and slow blood flow. In severe cases, the blood flow in the abdominal cavity is narrowed. It can also affect the blood supply to the brain. Therefore, it is very important to strengthen abdominal breathing and promote abdominal movement.
The advantage of abdominal breathing is that through the change of abdominal pressure, the volume of the thoracic cavity increases, the negative pressure in the thoracic cavity increases, the pressure of the superior and inferior vena cava decreases, and the blood return is accelerated. Due to the regular increase and decrease of abdominal pressure, the activities of intra-abdominal organs are strengthened, which improves the blood circulation of the digestive tract, promotes the digestion and absorption function of the digestive tract, promotes peristalsis, prevents constipation, accelerates the discharge of toxins, and reduces autopoisoning. achieve the purpose of slowing down aging. Because the intestinal system is the main channel for the temporary storage of waste products in human food metabolism, the amount of bacteria in the feces is amazing. The retention of feces not only accelerates the reproduction of bacteria, but also increases the absorption of intestinal toxins. Abdominal Qigong is the most It is an effective laxative, so it is of great significance for anti-aging. In addition, it is also effective in the prevention of colon cancer and hemorrhoids.
In addition, abdominal breathing also includes pelvic exercise, that is, while doing large abdominal breathing, it is combined with anus retraction and anus relaxation exercises and abdominal lifting, the purpose is to promote pelvic blood flow, because the pelvic cavity Organs involve the human endocrine system and the genitourinary system is a part that cannot be ignored.
Abdominal breathing can be performed during running, walking, sitting, or lying between work and spare time. This method is convenient and easy to do. If you insist on it every day, it is of great significance to eliminate abdominal fat, eliminate abdominal waste, improve abdominal blood circulation, and promote the life activities of abdominal and pelvic organs.
