Success is mine! (in evil Stewie Griffin voice)
Learning to breathe…the right way.
This week’s post will be one FULL of medical information about a process so significant, yet so elementary, I do not know why there wasn’t a greater emphasis on it during our early childhood.
In just one week, I have incredible news. In just week, after exercises in heavy breathing, meditation, thought/stress/anxiety tracking, and problem-solving, I have reduced the majority of my symptoms more than 75%. I have not changed my diet at all. Now, I don’t want to jump the gun and say, “I AM HEALED”, as it has only been a week, but I am feeling real good. Was this entire disorder a mental manifestation? Who knows, but what I do know is that a little bit of self-help goes a long way.
Chest Breathing vs. Diaphragmatic Breathing. (Note: Much of this information taken from the book, Controlling IBS: The Drug Free Way)
Chest breathing stimulates a network of nerves that controls your heart, stomach and intestines. An important job of this part of the nervous system is to regulate digestion and the muscle contractions that eliminate solid waste. So when you breathe from your chest, it activates the parts of your nervous system that produce many uncomfortable sensations experienced during periods of stress. Chest breathing also supplies the muscles with more oxygen to fuel the cells in the body, preparing you to fight or flee.
When psychological stress activates the fight-or-flight response, problems arise: Because you aren’t fleeing or fighting, there’s no outlet for the surge of physical tension, so activation the fight-or-flight response during a stressful situation is a bit like pressing one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake at the same time. Your body, like your car, revs up. Revving up your body like this can disrupt the delicate balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide that your body needs to stay on an even keel.
Chest breathing also makes it hard to draw air into the lowest part of the lungs, where there’s a concentration of small blood vessels that carry oxygen to the cells. With these blood vessels on the sidelines, chest breathing can make you feel tense and out of breath.
Doesn’t the above description seem like the absolute worst way to breathe? YES.
Now, on to the right way to breathe, the diaphragmatic way. I say breathe yourself to a new life.
Background-most people have an idea of how this works. Diaphragmatic breathing relies on a dome-shaped muscle beneath the ribs called the diaphragm. When you breathe in, the diaphragm moves down and the lungs expand with air, drawing in oxygen. As you breathe out, the diaphragm moves up, and the lungs contract, expelling air.
Diaphragmatic breathing activates the part of the nervous system that puts a brake on the fight-or-flight response. It’s impossible to be physically relaxed and stressed at the same time, so that controlling your breathing patterns you override the physical part of stress that can aggravate bowel symptoms. With diaphragmatic breathing, there’s a good mix of oxygen coming into the lungs and carbon dioxide coming out, and the fight-or-flight system comes to a screeching halt. Diaphragmatic breathing also releases the body’s own painkillers (called endorphins), so you’ll feel more comfortable.
Did you guys just read that? Our body releases its own painkillers…what??? AWESOME!!! I don’t think I have to go into further explanation about the importance, or rather large significance that the correct way of breathing offers all of us; it just makes so much sense. When I spoke of heavy breathing earlier, I mean something as simple as taking just 10 minutes out of your busy day, finding some privacy, getting comfortable in a chair or if possible, lying down, and doing the following:
1. Close your eyes.
2. Count one as you breathe in, and say relax as you breathe out.
3. As you breathe in, your belly should push out; as your breathe out, draw your belly in. Keep your chest still throughout.
4. Focus your attention on the number or relaxing word without letting other thoughts cross your mind. (Thoughts will obviously constantly pop into and out of your mind, and when they do, just gently push them away and get back to the practice).
5. Maintain a comfortable rate of breathing that is even and smooth.
6. Count up to 10 and repeat.
7. Practice two to three times daily for at least 10 minutes.
Slow deep breathing like this is very good for you, lowering your blood pressure and heart rate, increasing the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart and brain, and resetting the balance of brain and body. These physical changes in turn produce a variety of positive psychological effects such as reduced worry and anxiety, as well as improvements in your emotional well-being.
There are many other types of methods and strategies to use, this was one of the easiest. In this crazy world we live in, we all need to take a step back from life, and take a few deep breathes. Trust me, it does work, and it does wonders for your mental health, and in turn for me, it does wonders to my physical health as well.
7 months ago
