You do it naturally & automatically. But are you doing it right?
Oxygen is vital to our health. It’s what every cell in our body needs and craves. Yet many of us, through incorrect air intake are breathing too shallowly or just improperly causing a chronic state wherein we lack oxygen.
Posture plays a big role in our ability to breathe correctly. When you sit, do you slouch over, leaning forward, or is your back straight with relaxed shoulders? Hunching forward not only is bad for your back it makes it nearly impossible to breathe as it compacts your rib cage and your diaphragm.
Increasing your self-awareness when it comes to how you breathe can have a massive positive impact on your health.
Oxygenation can be a great preventative treatment for:
- Asthma
- High blood pressure
- Aches and pains (from bad body posture/mechanics)
- Cancer (as cancer cells are less likely to form in an oxygen-rich environment).
As well as boosting your health by:
- Increasing energy levels
- Increasing feeling of well being.
- Alleviating pain through slow focused deep breathing
- Helping to manage stress
HOW TO BREATHE PROPERLY
* Relax
Stand up and plant your feet firmly on the floor, hip-width apart. Relax your shoulders. Soften your joints – ankles, knees, and hips. Feel your spine straighten up through the top of your head to the ceiling, so that you feel loose but also have height. Keep the head straight but neck loose.
* Diaphragm Breathing
When you breathe in – your shoulders should not go up and down. Your stomach should go out and in underneath your rib cage. This is where your diaphragm is located. Your diaphragm is a muscle that is used to push and pull air in and out of your lungs.
* Feel
Place both hands, one on top of the other, over your stomach (using the belly button as the central point). Breathe in and feel your stomach expand, breathe out and push the stomach gently back in with it.
* Expand
Feel your body expand as you breathe. Place your hands just above your hips on your bottom ribs – you should feel these expand in and out as you breathe. There is a belt of muscles under the diaphragm and that’s what’s sending the breath out. To expand your breath capacity this is what you should concentrate on: it will help give you a longer stream of breath.
* Balance
Breathe out for as long as you can. Then, with your mouth open, allow the breath to be recalled automatically back in. Breath equalizes itself: you will always breathe back in the amount you breathed out. This is one of the most profound parts of breath training – allowing the body to breathe by itself.
So breathe deeply, purposefully, and slowly allowing the air to fill your lungs knowing you are doing something good for your body.
If you have issues with breathing Dr. Jason Kaster, D.C. may be able to help you through a combination of chiropractic adjustments, supplementation, and nutrition.
Chiropractor in Ft Myers, FL, and Naples, FL
Chiropractic care is a safe, alternative treatment when applied appropriately. Chiropractic treatments help in dealing with the symptoms of many conditions. Are you going to wait for your symptoms to be felt, or are you going to prevent it as soon as possible?
Dr. Jason B. Kaster, a chiropractor in Fort Myers and Naples, can help you and your family achieve their optimal health.