Importance of breathing
In addition to the previous subject of matter, here will be presented just a small observation of the basic automatic action which our bodies do without us controlling it much.. or we could do so? It is breathing. Starting and finishing everything with - inhale and exhale.
We don’t pay a lot of attention to the breathing. Everyday activities include a lot of rush, often stress, we exercise, eat and sleep without paying attention to this crucial factor which can benefit or not, depending on how it is performed.
I found myself in the struggle to fall asleep after having my first child. She was waking me up very often during the night so that finally, my body was “trained” to never fall asleep deeply, even when I have fool support of my husband, my mother and know that baby will be fine and that I can relax and sleeeeep.. nope.
Sleeping became a problem and it brought other problems like poor concentration and easy irritability. After 7,8 months of the struggle, an idea popped out of the blue and I tried one simple thing. Imitating my sleeping rhythm of breathing, how deep and slow I breath when I sleep and tried to perform it while resting next to my baby (breastfeeding, putting her to sleep then rest-trying to sleep). AND it WORKED. I just fall asleep..or lost my conscience:D after so much exhaustion..every other time it worked. After my regular mother's activities, I could easily fall asleep in less than 5 minutes. And no matter that baby waked me up every hour or so, I was pretty rested in the morning.
Being rested brought back concentration, will to read, draw, exercise and do all other activities which were present in my life before baby. And I am now very well focused on my baby, which is the most important part of this “small” issue solving.
We don’t breath properly. Every time we are under stress we either stop breathing regularly or speed it up (hyperventilation). The first way of reacting is common for quiet and calm people who don’t express their feelings in front of the others (introverts, mostly) and the second is for those who are full of temper, love attention etc. Hyperventilation brings a problem of anxiety while stopping breathing brings high blood pressure. Either-way- controlled breathing can be the prevention and improvements to these problems.
Slow and deep breathing is characteristic of a relaxed body, when we are enjoying a moment and when we are surrounded by a pleasant environment, people..A well-trained person who learns how to control and improve its emotions can affect others positively, by transferring its calmness.
Now we can learn something about the history of breathing. I never knew any of it before and now it is becoming essential :)
History and Presence of breathing techniques
Starting from the significance of oxygen levels for our metabolism and overall activity of our organs, correct or proper breathing for various situations is very important. Lack of oxygen can lead to difficulties in the way how organs operate and finally, death. Our brain can survive several minutes without oxygen and after that, no matter if all other organs are back in function, the brain can not recuperate its normal activity.
Proper breathing is essential for exercising, during labor-giving birth, while in stressful situations etc.
The Chinese call it qi, Hindus prana; on the other side there is a Greek term pneuma and the Hebrew term ruah (breath, energy in breathing, the divine presence), Latin used spiritus to explain it which means spirit or respiration, as we know it now.
The most common is knowledge of breathing in yoga techniques, where is a whole doctrine built around it. They believe that respiratory control can even prolong life, which is maybe even true in a way that we can learn how to overcome the stress with breathing and go easier trough anxiety, lower blood pressure and it also can be helpful while having contractions in labor.
Breathing techniques became an essential part of psychological therapies. Research proves that people reach hyperventilation when they feel fear and it can lead to a panic attack or even anxiety problems.
After learning about it, I realized how often is this case all around me. Many familiar faces suddenly show specific signs of anxiety and after talking to them, it proves right. Is this genetically predetermined or just triggered by life pressures? If so, why not everyone has it? (next blog subject)
Since I never experienced a panic attack or depression, I can not talk much about it but research shows evidence on how breathing techniques can help stop panic attacks and easy anxiety difficulties. Slow, deepen and facilitate breathing and “using it as a metronome to distract attention from negative thoughts”, fear etc. (ref: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper-breathing-brings-better-health/)
Today there are so-called "cardiac coherence techniques". It is developed to help people navigate breathing to slow and stabilize the heartbeat and as such, it proved well effective. Being part of the parasympathetic nervous system, nerve vagus controls the activity of many internal organs. Research shows that breathing techniques could help easy its function and improve it. Vagus is also responsible for triggering the release of hormones that relax the body (acetylcholine).
Another very common technique is called “365 days”, invented by Dr. Stefania Doria and colleagues, which include breathing exercises three times per day, including 5sec inhale followed by 5 sec exhale. It proved as a stress release.
Finally, we can conclude that knowing something about this automatic and essential behavior and how to control it, can help us perform better and improve some aspects of our life (sleeping, exercising, giving birth..). Easy and effective: please inhale-waaaaait-exhale!:)
