Additional Benefits of Breath Training
The whole team at Studholme Chiropractic aren’t the only ones praising the benefits of breathing!
If you do a search online, you’ll find there are many breathing methods with their own specific techniques. Many of these methods work, but only to a certain point. None of these techniques can effectively train the diaphragm appropriately. This creates a problem when the underlying cause of the breathing issue is lack of strength, lack of endurance, and lack of coordination of the diaphragm. We use the Spirotiger in the office because unlike the other methods, it allows us to train all of these aspects of breathing.
In previous blogs, we’ve discussed the performance benefits of breath training. Today we’ll share a few of the many other benefits of breath training.
Stress and anxiety reduction – Deep breathing will help stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system which slows the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and helps calm the body. It’s great to do daily for mediation, relaxation, or simply to help calm your thoughts
Improved sleep and less snoring – This also results from stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. It helps you to fall asleep and stay asleep more easily. Learning to nasal breath has been shown to help with snoring and asthma. You might be wondering how you can control your breathing while you are asleep. A good way to practice this is to sleep with your mouth taped closed. We do it ourselves, and we would be happy to elaborate at your next visit!
Improve Cardiovascular (heart) related disorders – The work of the cardiovascular system depends greatly on the amount of oxygen in the blood and the state of the lungs. It is the decrease, and then the strong increase in the amount of blood oxygen that causes the activation of the diaphragm and lungs to inhale and exhale properly (respiration). When respiration becomes shallower, the heart rate will increase in order to deliver enough oxygen to the brain and the body. Therefore, improving the strength of the diaphragm and ability to inhale and exhale deeper and delivering more oxygen decreasing the burden on the heart (won’t need to raise the heart rate as much).
Here is a neat study showing the benefits of breathing on blood pressure. The beauty of this study is the ease of the intervention. We’ve actually been using the breathing device mentioned in the study for several years now. Novel Workout Improves Health.
Training while injured – Finally, breath training is also a way to maintain lung and heart endurance and function if you are injured and can’t currently do the activities you’d normally do to stay fit. You can still do the appropriate breath training to maintain your lungs and heart so you’ll be ready to return to your activities faster!
