Your body can survive 40 days without food, 4 days without water but only 4 min without oxygen. This is why breathing is so important – it’s how you get one of your bodies most essential elements – oxygen!

All human function, performance and energy is based on oxygen being present in your body. While the respiratory system pulls oxygen in and the cardiovascular system distributes oxygen to your cells it’s the mitochrodia that use oxygen the most – converting basic cellular nutrition into a powerhouse molecule used to fuel all chemical reactions – ATP (aka your energy).

Lack of oxygen (aka hypoxia) has been connected to numerous health conditions including elevated blood pressure, stroke, neurodegenerative disease, respiratory coysiditnos and cancer.
Cancer has a longstanding connection with hypoxia. The mitochondria of healthy cells convert sugars into energy using water and oxygen (a process known as oxidative phosphorylation). The mitochondria in cancer cells convert sugar into energy via anaerobic glycolysis, a fermentation process that occurs without oxygen. It’s believed that the switch from aerobic (with oxygen) to anaerobic (without oxygen) is the defining factor of a cancerous cell.

A human adult takes 12-18 breath per minute, averaging approximately 18,000 – 26,000 breaths every 24 hours – with the majority of these breaths preformed in a shallow, deoxygenating, method known as “chest breathing,” which robs you of precious oxygen resulting in decreased energy, increased toxicity, acidity and the promotion of disease in the body. This is a habit formed over time due to forward presentation of your head over the shoulders and using your neck and shoulder muscles to elevate the rib cage as you breathe in.

Chest Breathing vs Diaphragm Breathing
Your bodies breathing is controlled by both the autonomic nerve system (aka automatic) and somatic nerve system (aka voluntary). This means you have both conscious and unconscious control over your breathing and the benefit is that your voluntary control, over time, can regulate your automatic breathing cycles.

When your body is under stress, you tend to take short, shallow chest, neck and shoulder breaths. To see if this is happening simply look at yourself in the mirror while breathing and notice if your shoulders rise as your lungs expand or if your abdomen protrudes as you breathe. Chest breathing allows air to only penetrate the upper portion of your lung which reduces the ability for your lungs to oxygenate your blood. Several studies show that heart disease, depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue.

Diaphragm breathing, aka abdominal breathing, involves activating the diaphragm muscle, which draws air into the lungs as it tightens and lowers pressing down on the abdominal tissues while allowing the lungs to inflate. When you breathe this way using your diaphragm you oxygenate the lower portions of the lung which helps to increase oxygenation of the blood and body. Abdominal breathing is the typical pattern of breathing when you are asleep, and your body is at its most restful state and the normal state of breathing for infants. Abdominal breathing is the most efficient and relaxed what you can oxygenate your body.

Tips For Engaging The Healing Power Of Your Breath

• –  Be mindful of your breathing pattern often. Take a moment while reading this and notice what moves as you take a breath in or out. Is your rib cage, chest and/or shoulders moving up with a breath in (chest breathing) or is it your abdomen (diaphragm breathing)?
• –  When focusing on your diaphragm breath, breathe through you nose with each inhale and exhale. The nose filters and moisturizes the air that is entering your lungs and also traps unwanted particles, bacteria and viruses that are naturally present in the air. Mouth breathing has been associated with gum disease, bad breath and chronic upper respiratory breathing. Remember this: Your nose is for breathing, your mouth is for eating.
• –  Your nose inhale should be shorter than your exhale. Studies show that if your inhale is longer than your exhale your heart rate, blood pressure and anxiety tend to be elevated. Practice a 4 second nose inhale with an 8-10 second nose exhales regularly.
• –  Strive for 40-60 seconds of airless pacing. Airless pacing is the number of seconds you can walk around with no air in your lungs and is a test of your overall oxygenation. To perform this exercise simply take a deep breath in through the nose, then exhale all of the air out – holding your breath at the end of your exhale. Now begin counting as you walk and time how many seconds you can go before needing to take a new breath. Healthy highly oxygenated can 40-60 seconds or longer! If you are less than 30 seconds it’s a sign you are de-oxygenated.
• –  Measure your heart rate and pulse oxygen often. Pulse and oxygen meters are ~$20 online and are a great way to track the progress of your breathing exercises. Blood oxygen saturation is direct measurement of the oxygen concentration in your blood. Normal is 97-100%. If you are seeing values less than 96% it’s another sign of deoxygenation and a warning towards your overall health.