Shallow Breathing, Its Effect On Health And A Simple Exercise.
84What Is Hypertonia?
Do you have any of the following: chronic, stubborn high blood pressure, head pressure, dizziness, headaches, numbness, dizziness, (especially upon standing quickly), chronic fatigue, memory problems (possibly bordering on amnesia), nervous irritability, chest pressure or heart palpitations, sexual impotence, constipation or more? Do you have to take drugs to keep them under control? Maybe there’s another answer or collateral that will work for you.
All of the above can also be symptoms of suffocation. By far the largest majority of people are shallow breathers. Stress and tension contribute to shallow breathing. Many instances of shallow breathing, like apnea, a temporary stopping of breathing, can contribute to suffocation, a little at a time and can be diagnosed as Alzheimer’s. Bacteria, viruses and most diseases are anaerobic, they can’t live in an oxygen rich atmosphere. Some doctors and researcher feel that hypertonia, the old term for chronic tension and stress, is the number one cause of hypertension (high blood pressure). Hypertonia upsets the chemistry balance of the entire body. It affects cellular oxygenation, nervous function, muscle action and tension, blood circulation, digestion and the body’s long-term physical and emotional condition. Anxiety and depression can also be symptoms of hypertonia. Think about it. What would the reactions be if we were being asphyxiated?What if you could positively affect all of the above symptoms by practicing a simple exercise, one you could do at home, riding in a car, at work, lying down, seated or standing? Would you be willing to spend five minutes, three times a day for a few months to begin seeing results? Or, do you just want to take a pill and let someone else be in charge of your life, health and well-being? What’s the magic exercise? Deep breathing. Deep breathing is more than pumping iron, running or other aerobic or anaerobic exercise(s), it’s a science, long established in promoting health and longevity. The following are the basics of how healthful deep breathing may help you. In the beginning, until you get a little practice under your belt, lying down is easiest. Wear as few clothes as you feel comfortable with and practice naked if possible. Restrictive or tight clothes can hinder your progress. Once you’ve learned the basics it will be possible to practice almost anywhere, anytime and in a sitting or standing position.Lie down and place your hands, one on top of the other, on your navel. First, breathe in through your nose and direct the breath into your abdomen. You should feel your hands rise upward. Expand your abdomen until it’s full, this fills the lower lobes of the lungs. Next begin breathing into your chest. Expand the chest until your upper lungs, or what’s called the super lobes, are filled. Don’t rush the process, breathe in slowly until your lungs are completely filled. On a personal note: if I breathe into the abdomen first, because of an accident when I was young, my sternum pops. It makes breathing in, abdomen first, very uncomfortable so I breathe into the chest first and then fill the lower lungs last. The reason for the other way is because most people won’t breathe into their lower lungs second from the force of (bad) habit of breathing shallow.There are two schools of thought concerning the out breath. Is it better to breathe out through the nose or through the mouth? Research indicates that breathing through the mouth signals the body to go into the fight or flight mode. I breathe in and out through the nose. Try humming quietly for 20 seconds on the out breath. You’ll find it’s difficult at first, but will be possible with some practice. You may want to consult with your health care provider and have your progress monitored. Don’t stop taking your medication but, with time, practice and patience on your part, your doctor may see fit to lower your medication in stages or possibly take you off it completely. There are times when it may be necessary to see a competent chiropractor. If your spine or neck is misaligned, it can pinch nerves that will affect the blood pressure. The whole process sounds easy but it takes conscious thinking to break lifelong habits. My blood pressure is perfect but my tendency is to shallow breathe because I feel there’s always more to do than time to do it in. I’ve been working on my known bad habits for years, but fall back into them when I fill my life with too many things, and when I do, I begin to shallow breathe. Anxiety, where time is concerned, is my bug-a-boo. I try to do my breath control upon awakening in the morning and before going to sleep at night. The hard part for me is during the day.vote upvote downshareprintflag
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Hi, sorry to take so long getting back to you but we're on the road doing testing on my mileageman1.com MPG increasing products. I've found that I have to be conscious of what I'm doing or I begin to hold my breath. A lot of people who suffer from apnea are also overweight. Legally, I can't diagnose or prescribe but I hope this is helpful.
I think I havethe same problem. When I am working I think I tend ot hold my breathe. I have been feeling severe fatigue lately and have been unable to figure it out. I have slight Anemia from recent surgery so maybe that and a combination of the stress and shwllow breathing are a clue. I will try your breathing tips. My problem also started after some airfare. IU am ready to get back to normal.
Hi Jim, people I've talked to, and I've noticed it myself, have told me they have problems breathing after too big a meal. That makes sense because we only have so much room in our chest and abdominal area. If too much is stuffed into too small a space, something has to compress and the easiest is the lungs, with the heart being next. Try eating lighter, more frequent meals and see if that helps. If so, please give me feedback through this article. Thanks, Larry
Is there any relationship between Shallow breath and negative thoughts, fear,dipression
In regards to Manoj - yes, absolutely. Anxiety is a HUGE cause of unusual breathing patterns, especially shallow breathing - it's from all the tension and worry and general anxiety. When we are anxious we tend to think more about our breathing and what we are feeling - this causes us to breathe shallow.
I have been wondering about shallow breathing and pauses contributing to my chronic headaches. I notice I do this a lot. Lately, I have been doing a fair amount of manual labor in warm weather and have been feeling great, I think, because it's forcing me to breathe. One day away from the above and whamo, bad headache.
If I start consciously breathing deeply, it can cause me to feel light-headed and head-achy. Is this normal? Thank you for this information.
Hello Pat, it sounds like you are hyperventilating. Try slowing your breathing cadence when deep breathing and don't force yourself to breathe too deeply. Work up to it over time.
I have been trying to find a connection/cause between a bunch of stuff that's been going on with me for a couple of years...and finally started reading about Traditional Chinese Medicine -- and it describes my symptoms to a "T". Look up "SPLEEN QI (or "chi") DEFICIENCY" and read about it. "shallow breathing" is one of the symptoms, along wiht "letargy, little desire to speak, poor appetitie, low, soft voice". "Spleen" is not the same in TCM as in W. Medicine -- these things are more like the medieval idea of "humors" of the body. Also, I hae just discovered that I am "hypothyroid" -- after having this notion dismissed by doctors for 3 years (people usually gain weight and I am still 5'10" and 145 lbs). Well, in TCM, the first thing they do is check your pulse i both arms and look at your tongue. I looked at mine last night -- and it was thick,as if swollen and to my surprise "scalloped" around the edges. Know what the Mayo Clinic's website (and otehr very reputable ones) say? Just one thing: THYROID PROBLEM. And yet...my expensive, big city GP never even looked at my tongue and hadn't a clue. Makes you wonder why the hell you pay insurance...
what a great page! deep breathing is no different than any yoga, qi gong or meditation with mindful breaths.... some of the ways of slowing your exhale is to make some sort of long sound like AAAA or OHMMMM, mostly to extend the breath out, but dont force it... i found one full breath of inhalation and exhalation is usually 4 breaths per minute... I read a site the recomended 20 minutes a day... even most people who meditate have trouble doing this... I feel 10 min at a time 2 or more times a day is good.
I love this pg. too. I will start the deep breathing. I used to do deep breathing along w/ Meditation .. way back before i had hiBP .. now i know i have to do it and stick w/ it in order to get this under control. Thanx.
Thanks
My friend has been diagnosed with vascular Alzheimers Disease and I noticed has rapid shallow breathing. Have you found any correlation between these? It seems obvious to me that he is getting less oxygen to the brain than he should be getting. Any comments or suggestions?
We were caregivers for my mother the last ten years she was alive. Doctors had given her less than six months to live, and told us she should be admitted to a home for Alzheimer's patients, when we began caregiving her. We changed her diet, took away her cigarettes, alcohol and junk food and she lived another ten years. Old habits, bad habits in particular, die hard and it was not an easy task, for any of us. We talked her into going for walks with a young dog we'd gotten for her. The dog walked pretty fast and she had to walk hard to keep up, which increased her respiratory rate and oxygen uptake. Up until the last six months or so, she was able to do her own check writing and balance her checkbook, sometimes with help from one of us. Most of us seem to have a problem with shallow breathing, myself included. It can be a constant chore to breathe deeply but well worth the effort. Lack of oxygen contributes to stress, fight or flight and many other diseases, as a cause and exacerbating the problem. Alzheimer's is difficult for everyone involved. My hopes and prayers go out to you. All the best in your search to be of help to your friend. Larry
Hello. I feel that I too have shallow breathing, as for a very long time now I have noticed that I am almost constantly holding my breath and it takes me a few moments to realize I am doing it. A lot of times when I stand up from sitting, laying down, and sometimes even just leaning back up from a crouched position, I feel very dizzy. The feeling is as if you are extremely fatigued, like getting out of bed at three in the morning from a deep sleep, and simply wanting to fall back onto the sheets and sleep. Even just now while writing this, I had to stop and keep breathing. I'm a very normal person, however as mentioned above I don't speak much. I don't do a lot of exercise, but I'm not overweight (162 lbs, but due to my family traits, this is completely normal.) I'm close to 6'0, at least 5'8, I am unsure of my exact height. Another thing I have noticed lately is that I forget a lot of things as mentioned above. Even things that happened only a minute ago. You could tell me something and I wouldn't remember it on some occasions. In fact, I barely even remember what I did this morning when I got out of bed. It's a vague flash of my bathroom and my fathers car before heading off to school. I have almost no idea what I did in a couple classes today without really thinking about it. More specifically and shorter.. I can't pull memories off of the top of my head. Sometimes I can't remember things at all. Can you give me your opinion on this? Will deep breathing help solve some of my problems?
From what you describe in your comments, I would say that deep breathing would help but do not hyperventilate. Do you take any music classes in school? You might try choir or other classes, wind instruments are one but require an instrument which costs money. Singing and wind instruments can be a way to increase your breathing and be fun in the process. Try power walking or walking fast but work up slowly. For the last year, we have been involved with moving from one state to another and time for walking and running just didn't fit into the schedule. Starting over, or starting at all, is difficult. My work outs began again by walking, then walk running, then running slowly and only until my respiratory rate was increased to the point of panting or needing to breathe through my mouth and then transitioning back to walking until my breathing was back to normal. At that point, the regimen began again. After a period of time, and we're all different and need to listen to our body and inner voice, I was able to increase the running, decrease the walking in between and pick up the pace. Now, I feel comfortable doing a four mile run. Will I increase the distance in the future? That depends on whether I feel I need to and will not hinge on whether others think I should or some other external reason.
Hey Larry, thank you for your website. In the past I might have a few skipped beats in one day but I have recently begun having severe heart palpitations. There is no pattern to this. I could have several skipped beats in one minute or I may go 20 minutes without one. I have begun consulting a cardiologist and am in the midst of a series of tests. As far as I know I am otherwise healthy and exercise several times a week. I have noticed that when I take deep breaths, the palpitations are almost totally gone. Can you tell me why this is and what is going on? Thanks
I noticed that in addition to constantly stressful living conditions, joblessness, social anxiety, sleep apnea, and living with my parents, adding on 3 or 4 more stressful events, such as beginning the school semester, and getting rejected 3 times by friend, and making several car repairs- and planning an end-of-summer vacation, then add on insufficient sleeping conditions- constant barragement of loud noises...plus loneliness= inability to get decent stress free sleep.
Besides this I have a deviated septum in my left nostril which makes breathing through my nose give me only 30% of the o2 I get when I breathe thru my mouth. It's no wonder why I have the pressure on my chest, headache, and exhaustion.
The only thing that helps is getting away from this stressful house and yoga, and exercise.
I found this page by searching "shallow breathing effects." I have been suffering strange symptoms beginning with jaw spasms, developing into numbness/tingling here and there, then into muscle twitches and soreness. I've always known that I have hypochondria and anxiety issues. Despite being able to attribute all these symptoms to extreme anxiety (which my doctor did), my hypochondria takes me for a ride whenever the symptoms are at their peak, thus creating a vicious cycle, as you can imagine. I discovered this past week, that when I take a deep breath before speaking, and focus on breathing throughout my sentences, that I don't experience jaw pain, difficulty speaking, or a feeling of breathlessness from speaking a few sentences. Posture seems to contribute, as well, since I am "scrunching" myself up in the shoulders and neck. I am now able to breath through most numbness and tingling that I feel as well. It is amazing how much stress and breathing affect every part of our bodies. In addition to the advice here, Dr. Weil's breathing series (CDs) are nice and can be found cheap on Amazon. Happy breathing, all!
Thanks for this web site - I have found it very encouraging. A few nights ago I actually fainted - fell smack bang backwards into our pa gear and sustained a couple of colourful bruises. I had been singing and playing guitar full on, finished the gig, and stood up to talk to some nice folks who were paying us some very nice compliments. I was lov'n it, went whoozy (I don't drink alcohol), blank, next thing people were helping me to my feet. Went to the doctor today and shallow breathing (after having finished the gig) was pinpointed as part of the cause for the blacking out and fainting. I also suffer with low mood, lethargy, lack of motivation sometimes so am going to seriously put deeper breathing via exercise and conscious effort into my lifestyle. Once again thanks for your page.
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L B Masters 3 years ago
I also breath too shallow, but I have also noticed that I have a habit of stopping, or holding my breath for some reason. Can you tell me why?