Humans live and thrive off of the air. It helps everyone survive and live their day-to-day life and is something that you live and breathe unconsciously without asking any questions because it is customary in life. So, people never wonder or know how beneficial air, breathing, and breathing techniques are.
Breathing within the human respiratory system provides a healthy quality of life when living in good air. However, it is essential to know what entails proper breathing techniques along with being aware of the steps to how breathing works and what air does for humans.
Continue reading to learn more about what air does for us, how breathing works, the step-by-step process, and breathwork training techniques you can implement into your day-to-day life.
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What Does Air Do For Us?
Air is something that everyone breathes in and out every day. Air, just like breathing, provides life for the Earth and us and improves nutrient absorption. Without the air, humans would not have the ability to survive, whereas something such as food and water could go several days without.
However, with air, it is essential to remember that there is good air and foul air, which is something that we do not want to breathe in because this can cause humans and animals to develop respiratory issues along with other health issues.
Air provides many benefits to everyone on earth. Air, first of all, provides you with many uses in living your life.
How Does Breathing Work?
Many people unconsciously breathe without stopping to think about how it, scientifically, works. Step by step, the way that breathing works include:
- Breathing in through your nose, and it reaches your lungs.
- Pulmonary gas exchange.
- Gas transport.
- Peripheral gas exchange.
- Returning to the starting point, the lungs, to bring everything full circle.
Let’s continue reading to learn more about how breathing works step by step.
How does breathing works step by step?
Without thinking about it, many people inhale and exhale their breaths without thinking about the step-by-step breathing process in terms of its biology.
Let’s continue reading to learn about the five steps on how breathing works.
Through Your Lungs
When you begin breathing air, it will travel through your nose into your respiratory system into your lungs. First, it will pass through your nose, then follow up with your pharynx, then to the larynx, then the trachea, which will lead to your chest. Once the air reaches your chest, it will divide your trachea while entering the lungs, on both sides of the bronchi, which has cartilage to prevent your lungs from collapsing.
Pulmonary Gas Exchange
Once inhaled, there will be a pulmonary gas exchange between oxygen and carbon dioxide. The oxygen will spread across the alveoli before reaching the blood of the pulmonary capillaries, while carbon dioxide will apply in the opposite direction.
Gas Transport
Once the pulmonary capillaries are filled with oxygen, they will then travel to your heart and let your heart pump blood into your arteries. Once pumped into your arteries, the blood will travel into capillaries that supply body tissues.
Peripheral Gas Exchange
Oxygen will spread from the capillaries that supply body tissue into body cells, called peripheral veins. At the same time, carbon dioxide is often produced from cellular respiration, which will cause it to, once again, diffuse in the opposite direction of oxygen.
Return to the Starting Point – the Lungs
Lastly, you are returning to the starting point, which is the lungs. The carbon dioxide will travel from the body cells back to the peripheral capillaries to the veins and the heart, which will cause your heart to pump blood to your lungs. Afterward, the carbon dioxide will go through your body to other respiratory system parts, back to the starting point.
It is essential to know, as well, about the main functions of the respiratory system alongside a step-by-step process of breathing.
Let’s continue reading to learn more about the five primary functions of the respiratory system.
The five main functions of the respiratory system?
Many people are aware that a beneficial function of the respiratory system is breathing. Still, you may not know all five of the respiratory system’s primary functions.
Let’s continue reading to learn about the five main functions of the respiratory system.
Gas Exchange
When you are breathing, within your lungs, there is an exchange of gases, specifically between oxygen and carbon dioxide, which is called external respiration and then there is internal respiration, where the bloodstream will deliver oxygen cells and remove the waste of carbon dioxide when you are inhaling through your lungs.
Breathing
Another primary function of the respiratory system is the ability to breathe. Breathing in and out through your nose and mouth will create a movement within your pharynx, larynx, and trachea into your lungs. Your diaphragm and external muscles will contract when you inhale, and your ribcage will elevate.
Creation of Sound Production
Air will go through your lungs and larynx and produce sound within your vocal cords when inhaling and exhaling. When your vocal cords are more excellent in pitch, the more your vocal cords become more rapid in vibration, and the lower will cause a slower beat and lower pitch.
Olfaction
When air is entering your nasal cavities, there is a signal to your nervous system receptors on your cilia and can help provide you with a sense of smell.
Protection
There is protection within the respiratory system that prevents any damage, or further damage, to your respiratory system. Protection involves a lack of entering dust or anything else to prevent the particles from building up within your respiratory system, such as excessive coughing.
What does Breathwork Training do?
So, what does breathwork training do? Breathwork training is a well-known series of practices that helps with adequately regulating and controlling your breathing. Regulating and controlling your breathing is also connected to how well your mind, body, and spirit perform daily. There are many benefits to practicing breathwork.
Benefits of Breathwork Training
Improving and enhancing your physical, mental, and emotional well-being is integral to having better mental and physical health. Breathwork training can benefit people dealing with their stressors, relieve pain, etc.
Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Many people struggle with being overly stressed, suffering from depression, anxiety, anger, etc. can affect your mood. It can also be determined by how you are breathing for the day(s), but using breathwork training can help you become more centered and calmer and feel more level.
Better Sleep
Before a lot of you go to bed, likely, you are still carrying an amount of energy that may not subside in enough time before you go to bed. The point that you may still have can be due to various reasons: stress, anxiety, too many energy drinks or coffee, etc. Breathwork training before bed will help your body calm down its nervous system and reduce stress, allowing for better sleep once your mind is quieter and calm.
Releases Negative Energy
Keeping your negative emotions or trauma inside you for a long time can take a toll on you mentally, physically, and emotionally. Consistent breathwork training can help relieve the negative energy and emotions you are currently feeling and may have been bottling up inside for a long time by dumbing down your negative thoughts and feelings to become happier self-aware about yourself and you’re thought process.
Becoming More Present
Breathwork training helps you become more present and self-aware of yourself and your surroundings. In becoming more present with yourself and your surroundings, you are not bound to think about the past or future, but within the now and focus on becoming happier and as stress-free as possible.
Reduces Pain
Breathwork training consistently helps alleviate the stress and pain in your body. By conducting breathwork training, you are releasing the tension within your muscles. Tense muscles can be an instigator in continuing your body to be in pain, so with breathwork exercises, your body will release endorphins designed t help relieve pain and give pleasure.
Breathwork Techniques to Try
Coherent and proper breathing is essential. Practicing breathwork techniques that you can try whenever you feel stressed and overwhelmed is beneficial in helping you stay calm and will help calm your mind.
Let’s continue reading to learn about five breathwork techniques you can use.
Breath Focus Technique
The breath focus technique is a form of a deep breathing exercise where you are to focus on specific words, phrases, and imagery that makes you happy and relaxed. Breath focus exercises can last between, in the beginning, ten minutes to get you acquainted and then gradually increase to a maximum of twenty minutes.
Equal Breathing Technique
Equal breathing focuses on your inhaling and exhaling in your breath is the same length. Inhaling and exhaling at the same time will teach you to bring balance to yourself more. It is not difficult to do so by breathing in and out and can usually count between three and five counts between each inhale and exhale.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is a form of deep breathing exercise that benefits from helping to relieve shortness of breath. Having shortness of breath can cause your chest to tighten and cause difficulty breathing, and you will feel almost suffocated. So, deep breathing exercises can help to alleviate that shortness of breath and help you feel more relaxed.
Lion’s Breath Breathing
The lion’s breath breathing exercise is a unique breathing exercise where it can benefit from improving your emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Conducting these exercises, which consists of doing this exercise at least two to three times, will help relieve tension within your chest and face.
Another benefit of the lion’s breath breathing exercise is while doing the activity; you can stick out your tongue and roar like a lion, which gives you the ability to express yourself freely.
Lion’s Breath Breathing
The lion’s breath breathing exercise is a unique breathing exercise where it can benefit from improving your emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Conducting these exercises, which consists of doing this exercise at least two to three times, will help relieve tension within your chest and face.
Another benefit of the lion’s breath breathing exercise is while doing the activity; you can stick out your tongue and roar like a lion, which gives you the ability to express yourself freely.
Pursed Lip Breathing
Pursed lip breathing is a breathing exercise that benefits from helping you slow down your breathing, especially while conducting activities such as bending, climbing, lifting, etc. Doing this exercise, after practicing four to five times a day, will help you not have to work as complicated when you are breathing and also, for those who have lung conditions, taking slow, deliberate breaths is helpful for them as well.
Closing
You have now learned about what air does for humans, how breathing works, its step-by-step process of breathing, and the five main functions of the respiratory system. You have also learned about breathwork training, what it does, and some techniques to try out.
