Eating and sleeping are necessary for survival, and so is breathing. It is more important than any other activity. You may survive without food for a few days, but without breathing, you may perish within a few minutes.
However, the reality is most people do not attach much importance to this indispensable activity until they cope with breathing-related problems and ailments! When you become more aware of it, you will be able to control your breath, which will be good for your health.
Some interesting facts
Proper breathing is essential for the body parts and organs to function as desired. When you breathe appropriately and rhythmically, without being too slow or fast, as much as 70 percent of waste gets eliminated from the body.
The default rhythm of breathing — exhalation and inhalation — leads to rhythmic micro-movement in your body, even though you may not feel it at all times. These movements help blood circulation, releasing the tension, and eventually, you feel better.
When you cope with external stimuli, your breathing changes before anything else, for example, when you are shocked or angry, it does not remain regular.
Change of breathing is linked proportionately with a shift in mood, in other words. That explains why in traditional Chinese medicine, practitioners assess the breath rate and breathing pattern of the person before anything else.
The amount of air you inhale can change drastically based on your physical activity level. For example, when you are resting and not moving, you breathe approximately 12 liters of air a minute. However, this can shoot up to 150 liters of air a minute during heavy workouts and running.
You may have a problem breathing but are unaware of it
The weird thing is not all persons with breathing problems, or defects, are aware of it. Sometimes, people may spend several years without realizing their breathing pattern or rate is not normal!
Sometimes, even doctors fail to realize that the patients are coping with a breathing pattern disorder if it is minute in nature. Breathing Pattern Disorders (BPDs) can be congenital or caused by various ailments or infections.
Breathing is the sole autonomous system in the human body that humans can control actively. You can choose to take long and deep breaths if you want. While the body governs the overall process, you can decide to tweak it to an extent.
The area of the lungs occupies the space of a tennis court-or 70 sq meters!
You may not have thought about it, but if the lungs are spread out, they will occupy the space of a tennis court-or 70 sq meters! Also, the left lung is usually smaller than the right one. This is because the right lung has three lobes, and the left has two.
Taking 16 breaths per minute is deemed normal though this number can vary slightly from person to person. This number can be double for people coping with asthma and BPDs.
How long can you hold your breath?
For most healthy individuals, this timing will vary from 30 to 60 seconds. However, people well-versed in deep and long breathing techniques, such as diving experts, can hold their breath for much longer.
It sounds impressive, but Ama, or female Japanese divers, can hold their breath for as long as 7 minutes. Stig Severinsen of Denmark has the highest record of holding breath underwater for 22 minutes.
Most times, one of the nostrils is used primarily by the body. This role is switched during the dawn or at sunset. However, most people do not observe this shift.
