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It Helps Your Lungs
One of the most obvious benefits of breathing properly is being able to take in as much oxygen as possible. For those with healthy lungs, breathing feels natural and easy. However, if you’re dealing with a respiratory condition like asthma, your lungs may lose some of their elasticity – and you’ll have less room to bring in the fresh oxygen, making breathing more difficult. Learning to breathe properly will help improve the elasticity of your lungs. Some people experience COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which can also cause the diaphragm to be less effective. Doing breathing exercises in conjunction with reducing triggers for COPD can make your lungs more efficient.
People who smoke could also benefit from proper breathing when they are not inhaling smoke from cigarettes. Of course, it’s even more beneficial to cut out smoking altogether and reduce nicotine intake by vaping, and these days, vaping devices like those made by Blinc are widely available.
It Helps You Cope With Stress
Deep breathing has long been associated with practices like mindfulness and meditation. It has also been used to manage the symptoms of a number of health conditions associated with stress, including anxiety, depression, and even irritable bowel syndrome. When you’re stressed, your breathing can often become more shallow and rapid. If you can learn to relax through proper breathing, which reduces the amount of cortisol – a stress hormone – surging through your body, this will almost certainly improve your quality of life. You’ll find that slowing your breathing down has both physical and mental benefits.
Some of the Best Breathing Practices
The good news is that there are a number of tried-and-true breathing practices out there. For example, there’s diaphragmatic breathing (when you breathe in through your nose and expand your abdomen). There is also numbered breathing (such as the 4-7-8 method), rib-stretch breathing, and tidal breathing, as well as a number of practices derived from pranayama breathing techniques, which in recent years have been popularized by Wim Hof. Needless to say, there is an abundance of resources available to help you start breathing properly.
It’s important to recognize that if you are stressed, or if you have issues breathing, learning to breathe properly will make a significant difference in your quality of life, health, and happiness.