- By Yash Vardhan Swami, Health Coach, Business Coach, Founder, Trained by YVS
Breathing is something that we do from our first ‘breath’ to the last. However, due to our lifestyle and lack of awareness, we tend to ‘not breathe right’, hence affecting our autonomic nervous system balance, lung health and even posture.
The best part about these exercises is that they do not require any equipment and can be performed at any time during the day. So, how can we optimize breathing for better health?
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Deep breathing while ensuring exhalation (breathing out) is longer than inhalation (breathing in) and has been proven to be parasympathetic in nature. Amazing and fast way to manage stress and anxiety. Deep breathing would also help with lung health, posture, etc.
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Pursed lip breathing: It’s a simple technique that can help reduce the number of breaths we take and can help airways open longer and hence overall lung too. Take a deep breath through your nose, counting to 2. Put your lips together as if you’re starting to whistle or blow out candles on a birthday cake. This is known as “pursing” your lips.
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Now, breathe out slowly using your mouth to a count of 4, repeat for 2-3 minutes. It helps during strenuous exercises too. Nasal and diaphragmatic breathing (also called belly breathing). Today, most of us are chest breathers which put our bodies in a sympathetic state. Hence, taking deep breaths using our nose and breathing into our diaphragm (A dome-shaped muscle just below our lungs) can be amazing for performance, lung health, and even posture.
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Lifestyle and Habits: Ensuring that we are sleeping for 7+ hours every night and using Air Purifiers can be game changers when it comes to lung health. Exercising regularly and performing cardiovascular exercises can be amazing for lung health. Avoiding active and passive smoking, and using N-95 masks in air-polluted environments where the air quality index is low (esp. industrial) would also keep the stress away from our lungs.
