How Should Your Breathing Change for Different Workouts?

While you may do it naturally, breathing can make or break your fitness routine’s success. If done incorrectly – whether you hold your breath, or breathe too fast, deep or shallow – your breathing can affect the exercise itself, how well you perform it, and your mind-body wellness. Let’s take a look at how you should breathe when performing different activities:

 

1. Strength Training: According to Certified Personal Trainers Jason Anderson and Nicole Nichols, ‘Strength training increases the body’s need for oxygen and automatically results in a faster breathing rate. However, many people have a tendency to hold their breath during strenuous activity like weight lifting. Known as the valsalva maneuver, this can limit oxygen delivery to the brain and cause dizziness, fainting, a spike in blood pressure and other complications. During strength training, the most important thing to remember about breathing is to just do it! Never hold your breath; be aware of how you are breathing at all times, whether through the nose or mouth. Beyond that, fitness experts recommend that you exhale on the exertion phase of the exercise and inhale on the easier phase. The exertion phase is typically the hardest phase of the exercise—lifting, curling, or pushing the weight. The easier phase brings you back to the starting position by lowering or returning the weight.’

 

2. Stretching: ‘Properly breathing while you stretch after your workouts helps your body relax so that you can return to a resting state, in addition to aiding in the mechanical removal of waste by-products of exercise,’ note Anderson and Nichols. ‘It may also allow you to increase your flexibility because proper breathing during stretches will help you to relax more fully and therefore stretch more deeply. Many people tend to hold their breath during stretching or to take short and shallow breaths, but ideally, we should take deep, relaxed diaphragmatic breaths. Most experts recommend inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth when stretching. On every exhale, try to relax more fully or give into the stretch a little further, but make sure that you never stretch past a seven on a scale of 1-10.’

 

3. Pilates: Anderson and Nichols detail, ‘Pilates typically involves lateral or ribcage breathing…With your abdominals engaged (naval pulled toward your spine), inhale deeply through the nose without allowing your belly to rise; instead, think about the air filling your lungs and expanding them laterally and into your back while your belly remains tight and flat as if you are wearing a corset. On your exhale, open your lips slightly and push all of that air out of your mouth both forcefully and slowly, making your exhale audible (like a “whoooooo” or “seeeeeeee” sound). This style of breath keeps the abdominals engaged and helps you to perform Pilates exercises with greater ease and better control.’

 

4. Yoga: ‘Like Pilates, yoga has a unique form of breathing known as “ujjayi” breathing,’ Anderson and Nichols point out. ‘During this slow, even breath through the nose, one should inhale for four to five heartbeats, pause slightly, and then exhale for an equal length of time. The back of the throat constricts slightly to allow the air to create an audible sound. The audible breath serves as a “moving meditation” during a yoga practice…meaning that when poses get difficult, the mind can focus on the rhythm and sound of the breath to stay calm. This breath, which sounds like the ocean, helps you stay in the moment and centred while practicing yoga.’ Stepfanie Romine, a certified Ashtanga yoga teacher, adds, ‘The breath serves as a metronome for the body, each movement timed to the length of an inhalation or exhalation.’

Categories: abdominals engaged, breath, breath serves, Breathing, easier phase, exertion phase, experts recommend, phase, Strength Training, yoga

Dirty Mouth? 6 Natural Cures for Bad Breath

 

Bad breath is an embarrassing problem that strike many people. There are a number of reasons why you might suffer from halitosis, such as eating too much garlic or taking medications that dry out your mouth. Fortunately, there are plenty of home remedies you can use to improve your breath. Here are a few natural cures for the problem.

Brush Your Tongue

When you brush your teeth, brush your tongue as well. Most people believe that brushing their teeth and gums is enough, but the fact is that bacteria gathers on the tongue and can result in bad breath. Brushing your tongue will eliminate that bacteria and you will find that your breath smells fresher.

Drink More Water

Dry mouth can result in consistently bad breath. Drink more water. Bring a bottle of water with you at all times whenever you go out so that you will always have some on hand to drink. When your mouth is kept more moist, it will wash away excess bacteria that lingers. You will also be able to produce more saliva, which is important when you are trying to improve your breath.

Floss Once Per Day

One of the biggest cures for bad breath, according to Eastgate Dental Centre and other dental offices is that you should always floss at least once per day. Flossing will eliminate excess food particles from between your teeth that could otherwise produce bacteria that can lead to halitosis. You should floss either before or after you brush your teeth.

Gargle with Peroxide

Gargling tends to help with a bad breath problem, but if you use peroxide, it’s even better. This is because peroxide has bacteria killing properties that will help to freshen your breath. When you gargle, do so quickly with one swig and swish before spitting.

Eat Yogurt

Eating yogurt can also help to fight bad breath. Yogurt will replenish good bacteria in your stomach, which is conducive to a healthier mouth that has less bad bacteria. If you eat yogurt on a regular basis, you should find that your breath is considerably better.

Chew Gum

Chew gum more often. Chewing gum will allow your mouth to be more hydrated, which will kill excess bacteria as saliva is what washes it away. The flavoring in the gum will also help to freshen your breath.

When you use these natural methods, you will quickly find that your bad breath will be a thing of the past.

Categories: Bacteria, bad breath, breath, chew gum, dirty, eat yogurt, excess bacteria, mouth, natural cures, tongue, Yogurt

How to Breathe When You"re Exercising

It’s as simple as breathing in and breathing out – or is it? When we exercise, getting enough oxygen into the body is vital for our stamina and strength. There is an art to inhaling that most people don’t value enough. The best breathing techniques could improve your stamina and boost your performance, helping you reach your peak fitness. Smooth and efficient breathing can hep the body to perform it’s various functions properly, as well as helping to calm the mind, enable you to exercise for longer, and to put an end to those stitches in your side. When you’re running, getting your breathing right is the difference between a difficult running session around the block and real endurance. Studies have even proven that improper breathing can impair your speed and performance.

 

There’s no set rule for runners, but most agree that they find it comfortable to take a breath every two foot strikes. This means that you take one left step and one right, whilst breathing in, then two steps whilst breathing out. This works best as your diaphragm and the surrounding organs are at the liberty of gravity, so by getting your breathing in line with your movements you will be able to breathe more comfortably. There is some debate as to whether it is better to breathe through your nose or your mouth, and the studies conclude that breathing through your mouth is the best option as this causes the least amount of resistance – if you are breathing through your nose, you’re making things unnecessarily hard for yourself. Of course, nose breathing does have its benefits, as it increases the CO2 saturation in the blood, which can calm you down. It also helps to minimise the amount of allergens you inhale and to warm the air as it enters the lungs (great for outdoor workouts in the colder months). It depends on what is best for you, so trial both ways of breathing and see which you prefer.

 

When you’re taking part in high intensity sports, breathing is something of a difficulty. But your breathing is crucial to stabilise your core and postural control muscles. When you’re anticipating a heavy weight or impact, you should take a deep breath and then brace the core – this will help to protect the spine. With any exercise, it’s best to breathe from the diaphragm rather than the chest as this increases the amount of oxygen you can provide to the muscles. Your ribcage should expand in a 3D pattern, top to bottom, back to front and to the sides. Aerobic exercise is just one of the forms of exercise that can benefit from good breathing practices.

 

The main thing to remember is that you need to breathe out, as many people try and hold their breath subconsciously. Holding the breath increases pressure in the chest cavity, but holding it too long can stop the blood getting back to the heart and can raise your blood pressure. It’s even possible to train your respiratory muscles which has been proven by researchers to improve your performance and stamina, particularly in high-intensity sports. Of course, there are other factors which can impede your breathing – smoking, allergies and asthma can all affect your breathing ability, in particular during exercise sessions. Giving up smoking will improve your breathing, in everyday life and during exercise, but if you’re worried you have asthma or allergies you should speak to your GP who can advise you how to exercise safely and control these conditions.

Categories: breath, Breathe, Breathing, exercise, high intensity, intensity sports, performance, stamina

Could You Lose Weight Simply by Breathing In and Out?

Many people know that they need to lose weight to benefit their wellness and well-being, but they struggle with exercise and eating salads. Losing weight simply by breathing in and out may sound like a dream come true, but it could be a real possibility if the Long Breath Diet turns out to actually work.

 

Miki Ryosuke, a former actor, claims that he has lost over two stone as well as five inches from his waist in just seven weeks, simply by following the Long Breath Diet. The 55 year old actor says that to follow the diet you simply have to spend just two minutes each day focusing on taking deep breaths and exhaling aggressively.

 

The guru for the new diet says that he invented it purely by accident whilst he was doing some breathing exercises to help him cope with some long-term back pain. Whilst doing these breathing exercises, he noticed that he was starting to lose weight without doing anything altogether. Following on from this, he drew up what is now known as the Long Breath Diet. This involves the dieter holding a specific body position and then inhaling for three seconds followed by exhaling strongly for seven seconds.

 

Ryosuke is confident that those who are carrying out these breathing exercises for two to five minutes every day will soon start to see the weight fall off them.This can be achieved by clenching the buttocks and then standing with one foot in front of the other, with most weight being on the back foot. Holding this position, the dieters should then inhale for three seconds and slowly raise their arms up above their head. Once they have done this, they then breathe out tensing all of their muscles at the same time for seven seconds.

Categories: breath, breath diet, Breathing, breathing exercises, diet, long breath, Lose weight, simply, weight, weight simply