HALVE YOUR STRESS DOUBLE YOUR ENERGY

HALVE YOUR STRESS
DOUBLE YOUR ENERGY

(Can you forget to breathe?
Yes, says Dr Nancy Snyder man, Vice President (Medical Affairs), Johnson & Johnson, and practicing surgeon based in the US. Most of us don’t give second thought to the way that we breathe. But every day we take over 20,000 breaths daily. We inhale oxygen, which nourishes all of our organs, and exhale carbon dioxide. We are actually born knowing how to breathe. Just watch a baby. Like clockwork, his tummy goes up and down as his diaphragm expands; drawing air into his lungs then deflates to press the air out. As we grow up, we sometimes override this natural rhythm as we race around with a million things on our mind. Inevitably, we hold our breath, or breathe too shallowly or quickly. The result: Our chest and diaphragm muscles tighten, blood vessels constrict and heart rates rise, sending a cascade of stress hormones throughout our bodies.
How can you tell if you’re doing it properly? Rest the palm of one hand on your upper abdomen, under your rib cage. Inhale deeply and slowly through your nose and imagine the air going in, then down your neck and spine, and into your diaphragm as it expands. Hold it there for a few seconds. Then exhale quietly through your mouth, feeling your tummy go down. If your chest moves instead, try again. Just think belly breathing, and you’ll get it. â€?