Breathe In Hold: The magic of mastery over your breathing
Quick, hold your breath. No, really, hold it and count before you read more.
How long could you hold?
The duration tells you a lot about the health of your lung and respiratory function.
Most human beings can hold their breath for durations that range from ten seconds to ninety seconds. Only the exceptionally well trained exceed these limits.
But what is the duration telling you about the health of your lung?
When you hold your breath, your body is still experiencing gaseous exchange. Oxygen is being released into your blood and carbon dioxide back into your lungs.
The capacity of your lung to continue to do this when denied fresh air is a measure of how long you can breathe in and hold.
Longer is better.
There are several factors that affect your capacity. If you smoke, don’t exercise, are stressed or anxious, carry excess weight, or don’t sleep well.
The effects of these conditions would show up when you tried to hold your breath. Burning lungs, coughing, an uncontrollable urge to breathe.
Your nervous system also plays a role. Your nervous system has two systems. Sympathetic or activating and parasympathetic or calming.
Once you stop breathing, your sympathetic system will act to override you holding your breath. You will experience it as panic.
How well trained is your nervous system to be able to prolong the urge to give in to panic?
Remember from earlier articles, when carbon dioxide builds up, it changes your blood Ph, making it alkaline. The outcome is a real panic attack, so you cannot resist the urge to breathe for long.
But you can build capacity.
By training your mind and body to live without breathing.
Start slowly. Don't do anything crazy. You can damage the fragile tissue of your lungs by attempting heroism.
But as you build, you will find your capacity to breathe in and hold and build capacity to postpone panic increases.
Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain
