Breathing
Can poor breathing habits affect your health? Absolutely.
In fact, many health challenges are accompanied by over-breathing, or hyperventilation.
- Asthma
- Anxiety
- Snoring, Sleep Apnea
- Allergies, Rhinitis
By cultivating healthier breathing patterns, we can often alleviate these challenges. Taking a big deep breath may be your natural instinct when you read this, but what if we breathe lightly instead?
Ideally the breath adjusts to our needs throughout the day. When we exercise, we breathe more so oxygen can get to our muscles. When we’re relaxed, the breath is lighter. But what if we develop poor breathing habits? If we talk a lot, breathe through the mouth, or are breathing more quickly for long periods of time due to stress we may develop the habit of over-breathing. This alters the levels of carbon dioxide in the body, causes constriction of smooth muscle surrounding blood vessels, airways and organs, and reduces blood flow to the brain, limbs and heart.
But breathing is automatic, right?
Yes, AND we can breathe under voluntary control. Though awareness of habits, willingness to change them, and breathing exercises you can develop healthier breathing patterns!
Looking for more information?
- Our News page has blog entries about breathing.
Contact Melissa for more information.
Contact Melissa Campagnolo for more information at melissa@viniyogaconnection.com or 416-903-3148.
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