Entering life as a baby our bodies breath natural and in the correct way, as time pass most of us forget how to breathe correctly. We start to breathe shallow and in our chest producing tension and anxiety. Most people underestimate how important breathing the correct way really is and how necessary it is for a healthy body.
Breathing right will produce more efficient lungs to fully oxygenate the body producing healthy cells. Breathing engages the lungs where it takes in oxygen and gets rid of toxins at the same time. Together with the lungs, the diaphragm and intercostal muscles work together to inhale fresh air and exhale toxic air.
Using your diaphragm for breathing and not your chest will cause your lungs to fully fill up with air making breathing more efficient. This deep breathing will also help the lymphatic system to get rid of all the toxins in your body more efficiently.
So how do I breathe correctly?
The correct way of breathing is using your diaphragm. Your diaphragm is a flat dome-shaped muscle at the base of your lungs and just above your stomach. Inhale through your nose and pull the air down to your stomach. Then you exhale through your mouth. Diaphragmatic breathing is also called stomach breathing. When you inhale your stomach rises/expands instead of your chest pulling air into the bottom of your lungs. When you do shallow/chest breathing you neglect the bottom part of your lungs and stale toxic air never escapes the lungs making the lungs partly ineffective.
Breathing exercise:
It is good to concentrate on your breathing for a few minutes each day to cleanse your system. At first, it might feel uncomfortable, but after a few days, it will become easier.
- Slowly inhale through your nose, using your diaphragm pull the air right down to your stomach. Count how long it takes to inhale.
- Keep the air in your lungs holding your breath for 4 times longer than you took to inhale. This will help the lungs to properly take in oxygen and fully oxygenate the blood and activate your lymphatic system.
- Exhale slowly through your mouth. Do it for twice as long as you inhaled. This is because your body eliminates toxins through your lymphatic system when you exhale cleansing your body. Push all the air out using your abs muscles.
For example, if you take 4 seconds to breathe in, hold your breath for 16 seconds and then breathe out for 8 seconds. Do this exercise 3 times a day at least. As your lungs get stronger and lung capacity increases you can start to push the numbers and extend the time for inhaling, holding breath and exhaling. But do this without straining yourself.
Why should I inhale through my nose?
Your nose is designed to filter the incoming air so that clean air enters the lungs. Nasal hair filters out pollen, dust and allergens, bacteria, viruses etc.
Inhaling through your nose will also warm and moisten the incoming air to make it easier for your lungs to use and also prevent the nasal passage from dehydration.
Your nose also regulates the amount of air you can take in, breathing too fast like breathing through your mouth does not give your lungs enough time to exchange toxic gas from the body and oxygen from the fresh air.
Core muscles and breathing
The most important muscle for breathing is the diaphragm. When you breathe in the diaphragm contracts and pulls down in your stomach making more space in your chest so your lungs can take in air. When you exhale your diaphragm relaxes reducing the cavity in your chest and pushing air out.
Another muscle that is important with breathing is your intercostal muscles which create and move the chest wall and are situated between your ribs. They raise the ribs and expand and contract the chest. They are also responsible for forced exhalation by depressing the ribs and decreasing the space in the chest.
Effects of deep breathing and lymph
Every cell in your body needs oxygen to survive and be healthy. Healthy cells mean a healthy body. To have a healthy body you need a healthy bloodstream. This system transports nutrients and oxygen to all the cells in your body. Deep breathing oxygenates the bloodstream which oxygenates the cells of the body to stay healthy. Deep breathing also controls the flow of lymph fluid. Lymph also contains white blood cells to protect the body from pathogens. This lymph fluid surrounds every cell in your body and the amount of lymph fluid is more than double the amount of blood pumping through your veins.
How does the lymphatic system work?
Unlike the bloodstream that has a pump, the lymph does not have one and movement of the fluid of the lymphatic system is slow. This interstitial fluid is the connection between the bloodstream and all the cells in the body. Metabolic waste from the cells ends up in the lymph through lymph nodes. This waste goes into the capillaries and gets transported and destroyed. On the other side, oxygen in the bloodstream moves from the capillaries to the lymph fluid and into the cells.
Importance of lymph nodes
When your lymph is not working well, toxins build up in the lymph fluid and less oxygen gets transported into the cells leading to unhealthy cells. In fact, the lymphatic system is so important that if you would shut it down completely you wouldn’t see tomorrow. This is because of trapped blood proteins and excess interstitial fluid buildup around the cells.
How can I make my lymph system work faster?
Deep breathing using the diaphragm triggers the lymphatic system to work faster and together with frequent aerobic exercise will result in healthy lymph and immune system. Muscle movement also helps lymph to work faster.
Conclusion
So basically, healthy deep diaphragmatic breathing through your stomach results in a larger lung capacity for more oxygen to enter the bloodstream. a Healthy oxygenated bloodstream will again result in the lymphatic system working faster end to its full potential resulting in healthy oxygenated body cells.
A Healthy circulatory system will give you more energy throughout the day to accomplish more.
Another way to help your body work better and more efficient is through aerobic exercise. Athletes are giving the bloodstream its most vital element- oxygen. Athletes stimulate their body’s immune system to work optimally by stimulating the movement of lymph. Another important thing to mention is eating patterns and portion control. Rather eat smaller portions 5 times a day than 2 or 3 big meals. Excess food in the belly hinders the diaphragm to contract downwards making breathing uncomfortable and diaphragmatic breathing nearly impossible.
