Leonardo Da Vinci Essay, Research Paper

BETTER BREATHING

Do you ever pay attention to your breathing when your exercising?

Ever notice getting out of wind while on a treadmill or rowing machine?

Maybe you should consider training your respiratory muscles at the same

time you condition your body. Our breathing pattern plays an important role

in exercise training. After all, the air we breathe holds the vital oxygen our

bodies consume to live and function. During times of exertion, anxiety, or

illness our bodies can consume up to 10 times the amount of oxygen we do at

rest. Shallow, rapid breathing, upper chest breathing, and mouth breathing

are ineffective breathing patterns that can not adequately meet the oxygen

demands of the body during these times. The following material will instruct

you in proper breathing techniques which will make more oxygen available to

the organs and tissues of your body, allowing it to function at a higher, more

efficient level.

PURSED-LIP BREATHING

Pucker up, it s time to learn how to improve your breathing .

Pursed-lip breathing can increase the oxygen content in your blood, reduce

carbon dioxide buildup in your body, reduce trapping air in your lungs,

reduce shortness of breath, and calm your nerves.

If you are interested in any of these results you will want to master the

art of pursed-lip breathing. And such an easy task it is! Please follow these

steps and breathe through pursed lips whenever you need to.

1. Lie down, sit upright, or stand.

2. Breathe in slowly through the nose. This fills the lungs from the

bottom portions of the lungs to the top .

3. Pause long enough to purse your lips as though you were going

to whistle or give a kiss.

4. Breathe out slowly through the pursed lips. This will slow down

your exhalation. You will notice it takes longer to breathe

out than in. The restriction caused by the pursed lips may

produce a SLIGHT feeling of pressure in your throat or chest;

this is normal.

5. Exhale fully, NOT forcefully.

6. Repeat steps 1-4.

*Remember, when doing purse lip breathing correctly, you will always

breathe out 2-5 times longer than your breathe in.

*DO NOT forcefully exhale. This can cause airway collapse.

*DO NOT hold your breath. This builds up too much pressure in your

chest.

DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING

(BELLY BREATHING)