When breathing exercises are handy?

There are different breathing exercises that can be very handy to keep your chest muscles active. With the help of these exercises you can inhale more oxygen with each breath and put less effort to breathe. They may also prove helpful for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD. Anxiety and stress generated symptoms can also be decreased with these exercises. The heart and breathing rates greatly increase and the body demands for more oxygen. It can be very helpful for you if you learn to control your breathing rate. Your performance during physical activity may also enhance because of these breathing exercises.

Ways to perform different breathing exercises:

Mostly breathing exercises center three areas: The diaphragm, lower side ribs and the upper chest area. A large flat muscle found between the lungs and the abdomen is known as diaphragm. It moves with inhaling and exhaling. It is very important for the people with breathing problems to use diaphragm properly while exhaling.

You can seek help of a therapist to learn the right way to perform breathing exercises. You have to focus on a specific area without using neck or shoulder muscles. You can also perform these exercises at home and if you learn in front of a mirror, it may prove very effective. You must perform these exercises according to the recommendation of your doctor.

Different types of breathing exercise:

Pursed-lip breathing, deep breathing and diaphragmatic breathing are three major types of breathing exercises. These exercises release trapped air in the lungs and make it quite easier to inhale more fresh air. Here are some ways to perform these three exercises.

Pursed lip breathing

• Your first step is to relax your shoulder muscles and neck.
• Now slowly inhale through nose while counting 1, 2, and 3.
• Now squeeze your lips similarly the way you make to whistle.
• Now exhale slowly with these squeezed lips twice and allow the air to release naturally without any force to your lungs.
• Repeat that squeezed lip breathing until you are not out of breath.

Deep breathing

• Stand or sit and stretch your elbows back strongly and now breathe in deeply
• Keep your breath and count up to 5.
• Now breathe out gently but completely

Diaphragm breathing

• With the support of pillows lie on your back and bend knees.
• Your one hand must be on your chest and the other on the belly just under the ribcage.
• While inhaling deeply, your abdomen and lower ribs must rise and chest must remain rather still. Count 1, 2, 3 to inhale and 4, 5, 6 to exhale. If you gently crease your lips, it can help you exhale slowly.

It doesn’t take much time to be able to use diaphragm breathing without tiring but it requires frequent practice.

What is Huff-cough technique?

In such sort of technique breathing techniques are combined with coughing. With the help of these techniques you cough effectively without exhausting yourself a lot. The following steps are involved in this technique.

• Relax your body while sitting comfortably in a chair.
• Using diaphragm and pursed lips breathing take 3 to 5 gentle deep breath.
• Your upper hand must be gently overlapped across your upper belly.
• Now you must inhale normally.
• Slowly open your mouth while tightening belly and chest muscles.
• Exhale forcefully while saying the word ‘Huff’
• Spit it out as mucus comes up.
• Then slowly move again towards pursed-lip and diaphragm breathing.
• You must try to repeat all these steps 2 to 4 times.

You must ask your doctor which exercises can be the best for you if you have COPD.

Related links

Breathing exercises

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