Aging Stronger Through Better Breathing
August 16, 2008
A few weekends ago, while I was at the Ranch- (for those of you who were at the gym and missed my article, I traveled to Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts with eleven other women, where we gave ourselves full permission to enjoy ourselves-
No one even accused us of being completely irresponsible for missing the Sunday soccer games
or ridiculed us for splurging on such a self-indulgent luxury.
At least not to our faces.) Anyway, at the RANCH (are you annoyed with me yet?)
I took a few revelatory workshops on Breathing.
I know the words “revelatory” and “breathing”
don’t usually appear in the same sentence but after all, what is the first thing people advise you to do
when you are freaking out? (“Take a breath.”)
How about during the extreme moments of childbirth? (“BREATHE!!!!!!”)
What is the recommendation for when you step up to a podium to deliver a speech? (breathe)
Or up to bat in the bottom of the ninth when the score is tied? (breathe)
Not to mention at the crest of a roller coaster (big breath)
or when you are trying to stop crying? ( this is the classic kiddie hiccuping breath-Often demonstrated in the grocery store by the kid who can’t have the candy.)
Then there is the “sigh” of relief when you get the call from the doctor that the test results are negative,
before which you were “holding your breath”.
Don’t forget the life-or-death CPR rescue breathing or the brown bag for hyperventilation breathing.
And of course,
the most annoying advice barked by your Kickbox Instructor,
“Don’t forget to breathe!!”
Do we all concur that Breathing is VITAL?
Now this BREATHING workshop was not an Extreme Sports Version of Breathing,
although that’s an interesting thought.
I figure that, either I am getting noticeably geriatric by getting all turned on about breathing techniques or
as I get more chronologically enriched,
’m just becoming more in awe of the ingenious biomechanics
of this machinery we call our body
. Here are some tidbits I learned in my Breathing class.
Take this simple test.
Right now, on a scale of one to ten, rate your own energy level.
Then rate your stress level.
We will get back to this.
Now take a peak at a clock with a second hand and count how many in-and-out breaths you take
in one minute.
Six breaths in one minute is ideal.
Seventeen breaths is three breaths away from hyperventilation.
When you are breathing over fifteen breaths per minute (which is typical when you are stressed or rushed)
your brain is getting forty percent less oxygen than it needs for every day bodily functions.
This affects your brain’s performance in things like test-taking and driving.
This oxygen deprivation is why kids who have studied for tests and know all the answers,
do poorly when they get into the classroom-
thanks to no oxygen to the brain.
Tell your kids to take six, 6 count breaths
before they start their test-
this should get them into a better college.
You’re welcome.
Also, we all know some people (moi)
who cannot sit still as well as others.
This is due to an unhealthy cerebral spinal fluid rhythm, caused by-
you guessed it-
poor (or shallow) breathing!
Did you know that there is a Pursed Lipped Breathing (PLB) Technique?
You put the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth and it stabilizes your core!
If your neck hurts when you do abdominal flexion (sit-ups), try this technique.
Your core will engage and take over for the muscles you are straining in your neck.
Who Knew?!
Your pop surprise bonus is that exercise helps you breathe better.
It increase oxygen, therefore blood flow
to the brain,
so you can think more clearly.
Many runners and cyclists tell me that they do their best thinking (brain-storming, if you will)
during their workouts.
I used to think that my showers,
post-exercise, felt better
because I was sweatier, a blonde idea, I know,
but now I think it feels better
because my body is more revitalized
from the vigorous breathing that exercise induces. Cool!
The way we can age stronger
is by reducing our stress levels.
We do this by breathing more slowly and deeper into the belly.
One minute of deep abdominal breathing
stops the production of adrenaline by the adrenals, two pea shaped glands that sit on top of the kidneys.
Twelve minutes of deep belly breathing will cause your body to start releasing those “feel-good” hormones- like endorphins and serOtonin,
two of the poster children of the hormonal world. ENDORPHINS GIVE YOU A BUZZ AND SEROTONIN REGULATES MOOD, EMOTION, SLEEP AND APPETITE (BUT THAT’s ALLLLLL IT DOES.)
When we are stressed, the hypocampus,
a gland in the brain, initiates a stress response
that triggers a tremendous deterioration
of the body.
Every bodily function works harder to do it’s job.
Not only does this drain your energy and make you feel more tired,
Just like someone digging a ditch with a shovelgets more tired than someone digging with a backhoe,but it also produces free radicals,
It also sends an alarm signal to the adrenal glands that react by releasing adrenaline.
Adrenaline races through our system triggering a release of Cortisol, which dips your blood sugar level, thereby triggering an “I need more energy!” response,
which makes you hungry for some wheat thins
or two bowls of Lucky Charms,
which makes you gain weight,
so your jeans don’t fit which pisses you off which makes you mean to your husband which ruins your marriage, causes divorce, financial ruin, contempt from your kids and in the trickle-down theory, ruins your entire life.
So I ask you. I beg you.
Breathe.
Deeper.
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