Breathing for Health

We can all agree on the most important elements of life – air, water, foods and sunshine.

Without sunshine, things won’t grow normally.  Without foods, one may only last about a month.  Going without water for 5-7 days will end a life.  But it only takes a few minutes to kill someone if there is no air supplied to the body.

Let pretend that you were forced to hold your breath, say, covered by a pillow, for about 5 minutes.   You will feel weaker by each passing  minute and eventually pass out:

• First minute passes: you feel weakness in your limbs
• By the second minute: you feel very sick
• By the third minute:  you feel like you need an ambulance
• By the fourth minute:  you feel like screaming ” I don’t want to die yet!”
• By the fifth minute: you are passed out and may never wake up again

If we take these 5 minutes experience and prorate them over the life span of 60-70 years, that is the process of you getting sick, ailment or diseases.

With every breath we take, we not only satisfy the lung, but more importantly we need to satisfy all the cells in the body.  Every cells in the body needs air or oxygen to operate its function.  Each time we hold our breath, forget to breath or breathing very short breaths, some of the cells are forced to stop functioning and die because they didn’t get the air supply they need.  If there are no new cells to replace the died out cells,  the body is slowly taking the toll.  This is when the aging process is expedited, ailments are formed and the chances of developing cancer increased.

Have you noticed that we tend to breath differently when we are in different moods?  We breath shorter, quicker breaths when we are mad, excited, in a hurry.  When we are under stress, frighted, or are very concentrated when doing something, we sometime forget to breath for a couple seconds.  Most people are leading a hectic life in today society.  We are often pressed for time, under lot of pressure from work, school or just from day-to- day life and most likely not giving our body the oxygen it needs to function at optimal level without even knowing it.  Some cells are dying out that may lead to decrease in your immune ability and not able to fight of diseases.

To illustrate, you may notice that when you are in a crowded room and it is not adequately ventilated, you feel very tired, even fall asleep.  This is because when you sleep, the body doesn’t require as much oxygen to operate.  You may yawn even you are not sleepy, it’s a sign that doesn’t get enough oxygen, it forces you to open the mouth and breath in air.

To make up for the missing or forgotten breaths through out the day, try to take in deep breaths whenever you can, such as when waiting for the buss, waiting for your turn in line, waiting for an appointment.  Yoga and Tai Chi are good breathing exercises you can take. Do at least 10 minutes of breathing exercise a day with deep breath filling up the lungs.  Breath in slowly through the nose filling the lungs total capacity, and slowing breath all the air out.

Be sure to open the car window when driving, letting the fresh air in.  The air inside the closed car is recycled air and not enough oxygen.   Even when you have the air conditioning going, open up the window once in a while helps exchanging the air to ensure you have enough oxygen supply.  Opening the windows in your homes is also necessary for staying healthy.  Air in a closed environment is many time worst then out door air.  So make sure your home is well ventilated and not cluttered (blocking air passage).  If you live in a heavy industrial area or are near highway that are polluted, consider using a quality air filter to filter out impurities.  Breathing in polluted air is also a reason for sickness development.

• Take a walk and the park, near water falls or woody areas, relax and deep breaths, you will feel energized
• Take a few deep breaths when you feel angry or jittery, this will quickly calm you down
• Learn to control you emotions.  Stress, anxiety, angry or depressed are all bad for your health since you most often forget to breath when under these kind of moods.

The air is free and God gives us the function to breath for a purpose – to stay alive.  So learn to breath, control your breaths for better health.