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  Being human, we forget the wonder of breathing. We take it for granted. It takes a health crisis or bad air quality for us to appreciate this basic, yet profound ability. Yoga, meditation and other relaxation techniques all depend on focusing on the breath. There are many benefits of meditation and proper breathing is an important part of learning how to calm the mind and body. The first thing to consider is how well you care for your body and lungs. Basic guidance is to do the following: Don’t smoke Avoid exposure to indoor and outdoor pollutants Prevent infection by washing your hands with soap and water and avoiding crowds during flu season Be sure to get regular aerobic exercise to keep your lung capacity strong and healthy The Physical and Emotional Benefits of Breath Meditation Meditation practitioners for thousands of years have known that befriending one’s breath keeps the mind and body healthy. It also is good for living a more peaceful life. Scientists have be...

  If you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you're likely all too familiar with two bothersome (and sometimes distressing) symptoms: shortness of breath (dyspnea) and chronic coughing due to the build-up of mucus in your airways. Medication can help, of course, but there also are breathing exercises and techniques for dealing with these symptoms. In fact, certain breathing exercises—particularly those that help strengthen the diaphragm—may offer benefits beyond bringing in-the-moment relief. According to the American Lung Association, in COPD: "Stale air can build up in the lungs, leaving less room for the diaphragm to contract and bring in fresh oxygen. With the diaphragm not working to full capacity, the body starts to use other muscles in the neck, back, and chest for breathing. This translates into lower oxygen levels, and less reserve for exercise and activity. If practiced regularly, breathing exercises can help rid the lungs of accumulated stale air...

  Millions of people quit smoking every year, and  lung health after smoking cessation  has become a prominent theme among healthcare professionals. About 47 percent of smokers attempt to quit annually.  This is not surprising given that the number one cause of preventable death in the worldwide is smoking. Over  400,000 people  die every year from smoking, and an additional 50,000 people die from secondhand smoke as well. A lifetime of smoking can also lead to a variety of  lung diseases  like  chronic obstructive pulmonary disease  and  interstitial lung disease . Unfortunately, smoking cessation is the beginning of a long road, but the destination is a much healthier and happier place. Lung Health after Smoking Cessation The human body is constantly fighting for a state of equilibrium. That is why our body fights infection and heals itself when we are injured. When smoke is introduced into the lungs, the body fights back. When sm...

  Strength training can improve your bone mass , lean muscle mass, cardiovascular fitness, strength, and enhance your sense of well-being. But how often are you strength training your breathing muscles? There's no right or wrong answer, but according to a new study in the  Journal of the American Heart Association , doing high-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training (IMST) for five minutes a day can help aging adults prevent cardiovascular disease. The study recruited 36 adults ages 50 to 79 that had above normal systolic blood pressure (the number that measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats). Half of the group did high-resistance IMST for approximately five minutes a day and the other half completed a placebo protocol with a lower resistance level. "So what we did in this study was 30 breaths a day, six days a week for six weeks," says Daniel Craighead, PhD, assistant research professor at the Integrative Physiology of Aging Lab at the ...

  The science of breathing stands on quite ancient foundations. Centuries of wisdom instructs us to pay closer attention to our breathing, the most basic of things we do each day. And yet, maybe because breathing is so basic, it’s also easy to ignore. A brief review of the latest science on breathing and the brain, and overall health, serves as a reminder that breathing deserves much closer attention – there’s more going on with each breath than we realize.Breathing training devices such as  OPUMP  can help us develop good breathing habits and help us better control our breathing. Controlling your breathing calms your brain. While the admonition to control breathing to calm the brain has been around for ages, only recently has science started uncovering how it works. A 2016  study  accidentally stumbled upon the neural circuit in the brainstem that seems to play the key role in the breathing-brain control connection. ...

  You work out to improve your cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility. You train your clients and students for the same reasons. But have you  forgotten to breathe? “By learning to control your breathing, by understanding how the respiratory system is integrated with your body, by using conscious breathing in all your pursuits, you will improve nearly every aspect of your life,” explains Al Lee, co-author of  Perfect Breathing  (Sterling Publishing, 2009). “Whether you’re a casual gym-goer, a mall walker, a mountain biker, an actor, singer or dancer, putting your breath at the core of your discipline will help you achieve far more than you ever thought.” “During exercise, the body’s demand for oxygen increases and our breathing volume or ventilation must also rise,” explain Matthew Pine and Mark Watsford, both from the human performance laboratory at the University of Technology, Sydney. “This requires numerous muscles surrounding th...

  Most people know that smoking adversely affects your lungs and overall health. However, not everyone is aware that exercise for lungs after smoking can help make your lungs healthy again. This excellent method helps increase your lung capacity and keep your lungs healthy. Only remember that you should  quit smoking and start working out! Lung Health after Smoking Cessation There are several pieces of information about the  dangers of smoking to lung health . However, it is not often discussed how precisely the lungs recover after a person quits smoking. The human body is continually battling for a state of balance. That is the reason your body fights infection and mends itself when you are injured. When smoke is presented into the lungs, the body retaliates. Once the smoke leaves the lungs, they begin to recover right away. Though the response is fast, the development is steady with regards to lung improvement. Here is a look at the progression you may get to smoking ce...

  It's hard to believe that something as simple as  taking a few deep breaths  can transform your body and state of mind. Yet science shows it does.  Deep breathing  sends a message to your brain that has a calming effect. It can lower your heart rate and breathing rate, decrease your blood pressure, reduce muscle tension and help you feel less stressed overall – all essential for your health and well-being. The best part is that breathing is something you do naturally every day and requires no additional supplies or equipment. With a few simple guidelines, your own breath can become a source of deep relaxation. How Does it Work? When someone is stressed, heart rate, blood pressure and breathing increase. These are normal reactions that pass once the stress is over. If the  stress continues, however, the body works in overdrive, leaving the person vulnerable to health problems and interfering with the ability to enjoy life. The symptoms connected to long-te...

  Objectives:   Two distinct types of specific respiratory muscle training (RMT), i.e. respiratory muscle strength (resistive/threshold) and endurance (hyperpnoea) training, have been established to improve the endurance performance of healthy individuals. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis in order to determine the factors that affect the change in endurance performance after RMT in healthy subjects. Data sources:  A computerized search was performed without language restriction in MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL and references of original studies and reviews were searched for further relevant studies. Review methods:  RMT studies with healthy individuals assessing changes in endurance exercise performance by maximal tests (constant load, time trial, intermittent incremental, conventional [non-intermittent] incremental) were screened and abstracted by two independent investigators. A multiple linear regression model was used to identify effects of subject...