In a previous blog you looked at the speed of breathing. How many breaths per minute did you have? Not only the speed of breathing is important, but also how deeply you breathe and in what way. Today we are talking about the depth of breathing. We call this the breath. This is the amount of air you take in on one breath. If you breathe in a lot of air, you have a deep breath (think of a sigh), if you breathe in little air, you have a shallow breath.
Shallow breath
When you're breathing really fast, you're probably taking a shallow breath. This changes the acidity of your blood and can therefore cause cramps and pain. If you intentionally slow down and take a deeper breath, you'll probably feel lightheaded. You immediately think: “lack of oxygen!” And you will soon inhale another breath.
But there is no shortage of oxygen. What you notice is the change in the level of carbon dioxide in your blood. That's exactly what we want. However, your body is so used to the current level that any change triggers an alarm signal. Persevering with the correct breathing (despite feeling dizzy) will be the solution.
You can exercise every day for 10 minutes with a heart rate monitor.
Breathing exercise
Put on the heart rate monitor and measure your own heart rate. Sit quietly. Set a stop watch for 10 minutes. Breathe in and out slowly with a breathing rate of 7-12 breaths per minute. If you do it right, your heart rate drops.
If you become very light-headed, restless and your heart rate rises, then you are not doing it right. Try again. If that doesn't work, stop the exercise and do something else. Please try again at a later time.
Keep track of your progress in the file "logbook and breathing coach 6 weeks".
Logbook and breath coach 6 weeks
Too deep breath
It is also possible that you are breathing too deeply. That bothered me. I was a so-called sigher. I had a low respiratory rate and with breath was also normal. But I could sigh 15 times in 10 minutes. With that I exhaled too much air and lost too much carbon dioxide. I have been doing the above breathing exercise for three months. It really works. I also kept track of how often I sigh and really tried to actively avoid this.
At the beginning I had to yawn terribly after breaking off a few sighs, which has the same effect as sighing. I did nothing with that. Yet I persevered, by doing the breathing exercise every day. At the beginning, when I wasn't doing it right, it seemed pointless, but my breathing has changed over time and I've started to sigh less.
What is your experience with the breathing exercise above? Share your results below and help others with your experience.