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Breathing for your Health’s Sake (written
about 15 years ago – I am now almost free from allergies )
You
thought everyone automatically breathed properly?
Unfortunately,
quite a lot of us don’t, so we must learn how.
Everyone overbreaths, or hyperventilates, to use
the
correct
term when, for instance, excited or frightened.
Most people's
breathing returns to normal very quick17.
Why does overbreathing matter?
It
causes a lack of Carbon Dioxide in the blood.
This
can cause an astonishingly long list of bodily malfunction.
I find it amazing that
although Doctors have in the past noted that I hyperventilated, none
thought of explaining what they meant by the term, or of teaching me to breath
properly.
Some of the symptoms attributable to
hyperventilation are :-
I. The lack of Carbon Dioxide can cause
Migraine.
(I can
now stop a left sided migraine by concentrating on breathing
correctly.)
2
– It can make
you prone to allergies.
I am hopeful that I shall not be troubled
by most of mine when I have fully mastered the correct breathing technique,
3. Muscular
pains all over the body.
- I have, at times, been in such agony
that the simple maneuver of changing gear when driving was too unbearable
to contemplate.
4.
Symptoms like Angina and Coronary disease.
5. A sensation of being ‘apart’ from what
is going on around you.
6.
Tetany (NOT the same as tetanus)
A
frightening sensation when the muscles go rigid.
I t can
be confined to the jaw, arms or legs, or symptoms can go
all over
the
body. It can be mistaken for an epileptic fit.
7. Continual exhaustion - even
after a good night's sleep.
8. Faintness
or blackouts
Putting
the head between the knees may only aggravate the condition, as with the
body folded up it isn't possible to breath properly.
9. Peculiar symptoms involving the eyes
10. Odd sensations of one's blood not going
through the veins in the prescribed fashion.
11. Cramp.
12. Excessively cold hands and feet.
13. Trembling.
14. Continual sighing.
I5.
Strong aversion to noise. eg radio and television.
There
have been times when even a watch ticking on the opposite side of the room has
driven me to distraction.
16. Underarms smell sweaty shortly after
washing.
If you
have any, or all of the above symptoms, and would like to know whether your
condition is caused by hyperventilation, the first thing is to discover of
you are, in fact, breathing correctly.
Contrary
to popular belief, you should NOT follow the instructions
in any of the many Yoga books I have read.
Breathing
the Yoga way could make you worse. Yoga is rooted in Oriental mysticism.
It's
European exponents do not have the benefit of modern physiologists
knowledge of the detrimental effects of excessive or irregular breathing.
They
suppose that the body needs extra oxygen obtained by breathing this way.
It is
in fact, impossible to have too little oxygen in our bodies if the lungs
are normal and we are breathing normally. It is
the Carbon Dioxide level that is crucial.
Yoga
is a religion, the breathing was devised to get the
participants into a trance like state. ( see 5. above)
Though
we can all benefit from the relaxation.
The
RIGHT way to breath is through the nose, into the abdomen
only.
The
chest should not move at all, when we are at rest.
BREATH
IN.- ---BREATH OUT - PAUSE BREATH
IN - BREATH
OUT PAUSE - BREATH IN -
Hyperventilators
usually find it difficult to control their breathing and slow down in this
way.
An
emergency measure to check and even reverse symptoms of
overbreath1ng is to hold an open paper bag (NEVER plast1c) loosely over the
nose and mouth,
Breath
into this calmly and steadily, concentrating on breathing into
the abdomen to a slow count of three.
OUT
---PAUSE- --IN ---OUT- --PAUSE- --IN –
Use
stomach muscles to push your abdomen out as you breath in, and pull your
stomach in as you breath out.
I had
been a bad hyperventilator for many years before my problem was finally
diagnosed correctly -because two specialists in differing fields of
medicine had met by chance.
At
first I found it virtually impossible to pause between breathing out and
breathing in again -so I was allowed to breath out slowly instead, for
twice as long as I breathed in.
At
first I found that whilst completely relaxed and
concentrating on my breathing, I could follow the instructions;
but to breath correctly and walk at the same
time was a virtual impossibility.
But I
had seen the light at the end of the dark tunnel in
which I had been imprisoned for so long.
Good
health was within my reach at last. All I had to do was work
at my breathing.
And
work I did.
I found
in the early days that I had to slow down my activities.
For
instance, if I walked slower, I was able to breath in time with my strides.
one
stride while breathing into my abdomen, two
strides while breathing out.
Frosty
mornings make things more difficult,
as does a strong wind
This is
not as easy as taking tablets three times a day. but
much more rewarding.
For
the first few weeks particularly breathing properly can be really hard
work.
Results
are in direct proportion to the effort expended.
On the
other hand, be careful not to make the same mistake I did;
of breathing too deeply into your
abdomen-
it is just possible to hyperventilate that way too!
I,
personally, still have a long way to go. I'm
told it could be more than a year before correct breathing is
so natural to me that I perform what aught to be a natural function in my
sleep.
By the
grace of God I’m winning the battle.
Each day
+ feel better, and am now able to eat a few foods that for so long have
made me extremely ill, and the smell of some chemicals
now hardly affect me.
I t is
easy to be discouraged, because there are the . inevitable
days when breathing the right way is almost too much effort.
At
these times I find that I am too tense, so relax.
Deliberately.
Relaxing
is not something to do when one has time spare.
It is
something we all need to make time for.
It is
virtually impossible to breath properly while slumped
in a chair, half doubled up.
The
easiest place to relax 1s on your bed; so 1f you suspect you
hyperventilate, and perhaps if you don't, try waking at least fifteen
minutes earlier each day. Use this time, before the activities of your day
demand attention, doing abdominal breathing .
If you normally feel
like 'death warmed up’ at this time of day, it is possible that the
improvement
in your general health could amaze you.
.footnote~-
For
someone like me who has suffered from an apparent allergy to almost
everything it can take considerable courage to admit that your ill health
was caused by ‘just’ your breathing; and of course it is so much easier to
blame an unknown ‘something’, than to correct your breathing.
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