Breathing through the mouth for a long time will cause facial deformities such as short chin, uneven teeth and sunken cheekbones. People living in high altitude areas generally live longer; Trying to breathe in more oxygen through deep breathing is like stuffing food into your stomach, which is harmful to your health. Hyperrespiration and hyperventilation are actually a disease ... do you know these problems related to breathing?

We all know that overeating is harmful to our health, and we also know the truth that "eat less meals, eat less salt and oil". However, as for breathing, I only know that it is better to breathe fresh air, a little more. For example, how much oxygen do we need to inhale? How to inhale is better? How to train breathing? Little is known about these problems.

Learning to Breathe, based on the classic and authoritative Butek Breathing Method, tells the principles and methods related to breathing, cracks many misunderstandings about breathing, and puts forward effective deliberate exercise programs for people with different breathing levels, so that we can master the correct breathing methods and move towards physical and mental health.

Patrick, the author of this book, graduated from Trinity College in Dublin and suffered from asthma since childhood. Later, he studied systematically with Dr. Constantine Buteco, the founder of Buteco Respiratory Therapy. In the specific practice and application process, he obtained the unprecedented effect of drug therapy for 20 years, and further developed the "breathing optimization training". At present, he has compiled seven books on respiratory health, three of which are best sellers in their respective fields.

First of all, deep breathing can really relax people, is it good for your health?

In a speech in Berlin, the author asked marathon runners, "Raise your hand if you think that deep breathing can increase the oxygen content in your blood." At that time, 95% people raised their hands. Then the author announced an answer that surprised everyone. It is wrong that deep breathing can increase the oxygen content in the blood. Taking deep breathing can never improve endurance.

When we breathe at ordinary times, the oxygen saturation has reached the limit of human blood, that is, between 95% and 99%. In this case, no matter how much air is inhaled, the oxygen saturation of human body can only reach this height, so it is useless to take a deep breath.

Secondly, is there really no difference between breathing through the mouth and breathing through the nose?

From the perspective of respiratory physiology, chest breathing is activated by mouth breathing, and abdominal breathing is corresponding to nose breathing. The effects of chest breathing and clothing breathing are very different.

Chest breathing is generally considered as a kind of nerve conditioned reflex. Although there are sometimes short-term effects in order to relieve stress, chest breathing stimulates upper chest movement, which will quickly consume oxygen in arterial blood, leading to fatigue, inattention and depression. In addition, breathing through the mouth for a long time will have bad effects on the face, such as short chin, uneven teeth, depressed cheekbones and so on.

The correct way to breathe is abdominal breathing, which is smooth, gentle and quiet. Compared with oral breathing, abdominal breathing has at least the following advantages:

First, the air breathed by the nose enters the lungs, which can make the bubbles in the lungs absorb faster; Secondly, nasal breathing can increase the temperature and humidity of inhaled air and make it close to the lung environment before entering the lungs; Third, nasal breathing can kill germs in the air and greatly reduce the infection probability of respiratory tract and lungs caused by inhaling germs.

Third, is the more air inhaled, the better?

As we all know, people living at high altitudes live longer. Studies have proved that the main reason is the thin oxygen at high altitude. In our cognition, oxygen is a necessity of life, and the more the better. Why is it possible to prolong people's life if oxygen is thin?

In fact, although oxygen is an indispensable nutrient for the human body, it will produce free radicals when it is decomposed in the body. If there is too much oxygen in the blood, free radicals will increase. Excessive free radicals will destroy cell membranes and fats, and damage protein and DNA in the body. Therefore, excessive oxygen intake will adversely affect the tissues of the body. Too much calorie intake is harmful to human health.

Adhering to correct abdominal breathing and reducing breathing volume are important strategies to improve breathing quality and even eliminate diseases caused by breathing problems.

First, you can lose weight by reducing your breathing.

Through ten years of research, the author found that obese people generally have bad breathing habits, such as excessive breathing for a long time, frequent sighing, chest breathing and so on. The main reasons are obesity leading to nasal congestion, excessive breathing through the mouth, excessive elimination of carbon dioxide and alkaline blood.

People with alkaline constitution often crave acidic foods that can easily lead to obesity, such as sugar, bacon, beer, egg yolk and even processed junk food, which will make people obese and form a vicious circle.

By training obese patients to reduce their breathing capacity, the author successfully lost weight without deliberately limiting their diet.

Second, reducing the amount of breathing will reduce fatigue.

We have all experienced fatigue after strenuous exercise, which is caused by the changes of free radicals in the human body. Our daily stable breathing will also produce free radicals, but it will not affect the human body. However, during strenuous exercise, shortness of breath and rapid generation of free radicals aggravate the fatigue of the body.

Therefore, reducing the amount of breathing will reduce the production of free radicals, which will also help people to slow down fatigue.

Third, reducing the amount of breathing can strengthen the heart.

When the content of nitric oxide in human body is too small, blood vessels will become thinner, and the heart has to increase pressure in order to send blood to the whole body. Long-term hypertension not only damages arterial blood vessels, leading to a sharp rise in cholesterol, but also may cause blood coagulation, cardiac cerebral ischemia and hypoxia, and lead to heart disease or cerebral infarction.

Even nasal breathing can deliver more nitric oxide to the human body. Besides breathing, moderate exercise will increase blood flow and stimulate the blood vessel wall to produce more nitric oxide.

Fourth, reducing the amount of breathing is conducive to reducing the probability of inducing asthma.

When it comes to asthma, people often say that the cause is air pollution or environmental sanitation. However, the author of this book believes that although external reasons may be the fuse, they must not be the root cause. Because he lives in the west of Ireland, the air is very fresh, but there are still many asthma patients.

The author points out that the increase of asthma patients is related to people's breathing habits. The normal breathing volume of healthy people is 4-6 liters per minute, while that of asthma patients is 10- 15 liters per minute. Most asthma patients breathe through their mouths.

During the onset of asthma, as the breathing rhythm becomes faster, asthma and dyspnea will occur. In other words, the more severe asthma is, the more the respiratory volume increases, thus forming a vicious circle.

Patrick, the author, gives three specific methods of training breathing: holding your breath, controlling the number of breaths and simulating altitude training.

The first step is to prevent excessive loss of carbon dioxide. Whether you are asleep or awake, breathe through your nose. When you want to sigh, you can swallow it back or hold your breath. If you can't hold your breath, you can hold your breath 10- 15 seconds, which can help us compensate for the lost carbon dioxide. In addition, when yawning or talking, it is best not to gasp.

The second step is to improve your tolerance to carbon dioxide. Do some training to reduce breathing at ordinary times, try to make breathing slow and calm, and insist on 10- 12 minutes every day. In this process, the respiratory nerve will adjust to the higher carbon dioxide concentration.

The third step is simulated altitude training. Because in the process of exercise, the respiratory ability increases with the increase of metabolic activity, which will produce more carbon dioxide. Therefore, it is a good idea to consciously reduce the need for conscious breathing during exercise, which can improve the body's tolerance to carbon dioxide and hypoxia.

Before reading the book "Learn to Breathe", I always thought that breathing is human instinct, and the individual's breathing style is innate and has little impact on health. After reading this book, I examined the breathing state of myself and the people around me, only to feel that breathing has a lot of knowledge, and natural instinct also needs to be studied and deliberately practiced.

Patrick encouraged and guided us to bid farewell to bad breathing habits, restore our natural breathing instinct, stay away from the pain caused by breathing problems, and master a healthy life with science.

Whether you have breathing problems or not, this book is worth reading. Because learning to breathe well may change your body, behavior and even your mind, which is even more important than water and food. May each of us have a healthier body by adjusting our breathing.