Breathe!

Renee Lehman

(4/2018) Have you ever felt vulnerable while driving? Maybe the driver of the car in front of you suddenly stops, or a driver goes through a stop sign as you begin to enter the intersection. This is a potentially life threatening situation! Your body triggers the "Fight – or – Flight" response to this stressful situation. To get you out of this situation, your adrenal glands (sit on top of the kidneys) secrete an increased amount of cortisol, the "stress hormone". Cortisol has the following effect: it increases your heart rate, tenses your muscles, makes your breathing rapid and shallow, and gives you a burst of energy. You are alert and you quickly apply the brakes and stop your car. You calm yourself down when you realize that you are safe. This is definitely a positive effect of cortisol and may have saved your life!

Unfortunately, in our modern-day, high-stress culture, the body’s stress response is activated so often that the body does not always have a chance to return to normal. In fact, we are not aware that we often perceive our life as though it was an emergency. Therefore, we are in a chronic state of "Fight – or – Flight", meaning sustained high levels of cortisol being released by the adrenal glands. Higher and more prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream have shown to have negative effects on our bodies. These can include: increased resting heart rate, higher blood pressure, higher blood sugar levels, suppressed thyroid functioning, lowered immunity, and increased abdominal fat (which is associated with a greater amount of health problems, such as heart attacks and strokes).

So how can you control this chronic stress response to keep you healthy? It is easier than you may think possible, and it doesn’t cost anything! What is it? Taking a DEEP BREATH. Yes, this heightened state can be controlled, and the body can relax just by the way that you breathe! Watch a baby breathe. The baby’s belly raises and lowers as s/he breathes in and out. Also, think about how your body naturally does this when you take a deep breath or sigh when a stress is lessened in your life.

Most of us breathe like rabbits, taking short, shallow breaths with our chest. This activates the "stress receptors" in the upper lobes of our lungs.

You can see if you are a chest breather by placing your left hand on your chest and your right hand on your abdomen. Take a breath in and see which hand raises more. If your left hand raises more, you are a chest breather.

Along with activating the "stress receptors" in the lungs, chest breathing is also inefficient because the greatest amount of blood flow occurs in the lower lobes of the lungs, areas that have limited air expansion in chest breathers. This is important because this results in less oxygen transfer to the blood and subsequent poor delivery of nutrients to the tissues. Chest breathing also puts more of a strain on the neck and rib muscles (since they help to raise the chest up when you inhale). Do you have neck tension? Wouldn’t you like to get rid of it?

If your right hand raised more with the breath that you took earlier, you are an abdominal/diaphragmatic breather. This deeper breathing is more natural and similar to how babies breathe.

Abdominal breathing brings the air into the lower lobes of the lungs where the "calming receptors" are located. By breathing deeply into your abdomen, you will help control your body’s "stress drive" AND your body won’t believe that your life is an emergency. This also brings the air to the lower lobes of the lungs where the valuable oxygen transfer occurs to the blood. Then when you exhale, you voluntarily contract the abdominal muscles and all of the residual air is squeezed out of the lungs.

Try this stress reducing breathing technique:

• Consciously keep your mouth closed.
• Take long, slow breaths in through your nose.
• Breathe this air deep into your lungs and fill up the lungs (like filling a glass full of water).
• Now exhale out through the nose, letting the air go out of the upper lungs first then lower lobes last.
• Forcefully contract your abdominal muscles to push the last bit of air out of your lower lobes of the lungs.
• Repeat.

In general, exhalation should be twice as long as inhalation. The use of your hands on the chest and abdomen will help to train your breathing. Once you feel confident breathing into the abdomen, you will no longer need to hold your hands in these positions.

If you had difficulty breathing deeply, just keep practicing! It is possible that your back and intercostal (between your ribs) muscles are too tight. Stress, lack of exercise, too much exercise, or "bodily – held feelings" often cause the muscles around your torso to become tight and restrict movement of your ribcage. As stress and holding dissolves, the breathing parts of your body (belly, diaphragm, ribs, lungs, and back) can move in an easier way.

Another breathing technique that you could try is called "Darth Vader Breathing." Star Wars fans rejoice! This technique is a variation of a breathing technique developed in India thousands of years ago, and is also a very calming breathing technique.

Try the Darth Vader breathing technique:

• Close your mouth and inhale deeply through the nose.
• Fill the lower lobes of your lungs first, then the middle, and finally the upper lobes.
• Take as much air as you can into your lungs.
• Exhale through your mouth and make a sound as if you were snoring, pushing the air to the back of your throat (pretend that you are blowing on a pair of sunglasses to fog them for cleaning). You will sound like Darth Vader’s breathing.
• Repeat.

You should notice your abdominal muscles contracting slightly. The more you contract these muscles, the more pronounced the Darth Vader sound.

In the course of one day, we take approximately 28,000 breaths. With abdominal breathing, we can teach our bodies that life is a "rejuvenating and calm 28,000 breaths" a day.

As you practice this deep breathing, you decrease the level of your body’s stress response and therefore create better health and well breathing. So breathe deep and easily, there is no bear to fear!

If you are interested in learning other breathing techniques or other ways to create a relaxation response, check out the following websites: www.tcmworld.com (Nan Lu, OMD, TCM World Founder’s website); www.mbmi.org/home (Benson - Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine); and www.drweil.com (Dr. Andrew Weil’s website).

"Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor." - Thich Nhat Hanh

"He lives most life whoever breathes most air." - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Renee Lehman is a licensed acupuncturist and physical therapist with 30 years of health care experience. Her office is located at 249B York Street in Gettysburg. She can be reached at 717-752-5728.