So many people train their body, but never give much thought to training their breath.
This is a mistake! Here are 11 reasons why…
- Breathing is fundamental.
By that I mean that you can only survive for a few minutes without air. You can survive a week without water. A month without food.
Yet all the health attention is paid to food. While food is important, breath is equally so. Yes, I said EQUAL.
If you’ve tried 30 different diets…have you tried 30 different breathing exercises with equal vigor?
2. Almost no one is taught HOW to breathe.
Since we all breathe automatically it is easy to assume there’s nothing more to learn, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Most people are breathing poorly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
It’s not just about learning how but practicing it so that good breathing fundamentals become unconscious.
3. Better energy throughout the day.
If you’re default breathing pattern is better than you will be healthier and more energized period. So improving your default breathing is a worthy goal anyone should shoot for.
In addition, there are specific breathing exercises that can help to stimulate you to greater energy in just a couple minutes time.
4. Deep, restorative sleep.
When you breathe well, especially when sleeping, you’ll sleep more soundly and wake up more refreshed.
Since you’re not conscious at this time it is especially important for good breathing habits to become hardwired in.
5. Key to unlocking greater fitness and strength.
Many strong persons have built their strength by using one form of breath training or another.
I certainly couldn’t have done the many things I’ve done from a 505 lb. deadlift to snatching a 53 lb. kettlebell 300 times in ten minutes if I didn’t focus on breath.
6. Breath training is anti-aging. Increased lung capacity is correlated with less death from all causes.
By working on your breath you become harder to kill. Again, you can and should focus on food, but this is so much simpler.
7. Respiratory function is correlated with immune function. Immune health is clearly important right now, and this is one way of supercharging it.
Recent scientific studies have even shown that you can activate the innate immune system through breath training which was believed to be beyond human control.
8. Instead of spending money on gym equipment, supplements, etc., breath work is completely free. You don’t need anything to get started besides a little guidance.
9. Breath training helps you to focus on the quality of air which is important. The average person breathes in 2000 gallons of air per day. This can be a source of toxins or healing nutrients depending on your environment.
Sure, this can be completely independent of breath work, but when you start to pay attention to how you’re breathing you’ll also likely want to pay attention to what you’re breathing in.
10. Alkaline water and alkaline food are often talked about. Breath training can allow you to alkalize your blood in just a few minutes practice. This has to do with the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide that happens in your blood.
11. Stress relief! Certain types of breath training are great for giving you instant stress relief, activating the parasympathetic nervous system and helping you to chill out.
There’s likely more than this but these 11 benefits make it more than worth it to spend some time and effort training your breath.
It’s something that I got started with many years ago. It’s something that I’m continuing with today.
Upgrade Your Breath is a great resource to check out and revisit for breathing exercises that help you across seven different applications.