Habit 3: Change your life by breathing right on The Murfreesboro Post

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Habit 3: Change your life by breathing right

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By: DR. MARK KESTNER, Post Columnist

Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:00 am

This column highlights a single simple habit each week that can make life better.

Change can be intimidating if we become overwhelmed. However, inch by inch, anything is a cinch. Small steps can create transformation.

Recall that the last two weeks focused on habits that involved building and enriching relationships by sending a handwritten note each week to a friend or colleague and slowing down to chew more thoroughly and drink less with meals?

This week the habit suggestion involves a physical habit that can lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and reduce your risk of stroke, heart attack and other serious health challenges.

Interestingly, the habit involves modifying a habit that you may have already adopted: breathing.

Breathing is something that our bodies will handle for us automatically, if we allow it. However, when we are tense, anxious, stressed or upset, our bodies often default to a shallow, rapid breathing pattern.

This column will not delve into all of the negative ways shallow rapid breathing can impact our health. Let’s just point out that you will see significant improvements in you health by adopting a very simple habit of intentionally performing deep breathing exercises regularly.

Stop for a minute as you read this. Have you noticed your breathing before this moment? Probably not.

Now, intentionally inhale a slow, deep breath until you feel the need to stop. Di you notice that it felt that this breath was much fuller than you were probably breathing earlier?

Try this exercise before you read the rest of the column.

Take a nice deep breath in, as long as you can without straining, at the end of the inspiration, pause for a second. Then, just as slowly as you breathed in, allow the air to ease out until it seems like the breath is complete. Now pause for a second before breathing in again.

Repeat this for five cycles, counting with each inspiration and expiration. It should be something like, breath in slowly, count one, pause, breathe out slowly, count two, pause, breath in again, count three, pause, etc.

Stop when you reach 10 and start over with one.

You may find that you have to stop and suck in air at some point to catch your breath. If you do, that is OK, just start back to the exercise as soon as you feel that you have got enough air.

Doing this exercise for only a couple of minutes can be a very relaxing habit. It can dramatically change how you react to stressful situations.

Some studies have shown that it is possible to actually lower blood pressure by doing this type of breathing exercise for 15 minutes twice per day.

This exercise can also help prepare you for situations that might involve stress or confrontation. By doing the breathing cycle routine prior to becoming involved with difficult situations, you improve your alertness, confidence and ability to avoid being reactionary.

There are certainly other recommendations about various forms of breathing exercise.

The point of this column is not to propose that this simple exercise is superior to any other. It is simple a great place to start and can be added to anyone’s routines.

For more articles about simple habits that are may enhance your health and wellbeing, click on the 52 Healthy Habits tab at www.DrKestner.com.

Watch for another easy suggestion for adding more enjoyment to your life next week.

Tagged under Living Well, Mark Kestner

Member Opinions:

By: MotivAider on 10/20/11
Doing an exercise like this can do wonders for people. The problem is, they often don't do it even though they know it works and truly intend to do it. The mind is a very busy place, and good intentions like these routinely get lost in the shuffle.

A clinical psychologist, I invented a simple electronic device called the MotivAider (http://habitchange.com) that's designed to enable people to stay focused on actually doing what they intend to do.