It’s Surprisingly Easy To Breathe Properly And This Is How It’s Done

As long as you've been alive, you've been breathing. We all do it on average 20,000 times a day - but are we doing it properly? While most of us never give breathing a second thought, the way you draw breath can affect your physical and mental wellbeing.
For the Ancient Greeks and Hindus breathing was not only important for the body, but for the soul - like a spa weekend without your kids. Back then, the human race breathed in a healthy fashion.Show more

According to Men's Journal everything changed with industrialization. Not only did kids get dangerous factory jobs, but everybody forgot how to breathe. And modern times are even worse for breathing. Once we left the farm for the cubicle, things became different. No longer we were doing hard work drinking in the air, breathing through our diaphragm, Now, we see people sitting in cubicles, eating burritos, drinking Pepsi and breathing through their rib cage which is why we are now a country that had forgotten how to breathe correctly.

And it’s not just the amount of breath we are taking in, according to Men’s Journal. Poor posture, restrictive clothing, bad habits such as smoking, high blood pressure diets, lack of exercise, multi tasking, polluted environment, slouching on computers are just some of the things that are creating a lifestyle that is in-congruent with proper breathing. Either way our current lifestyle is taking our breath away.

The key for proper breathing lies in taking slow deep breathes from the diaphragm. How is that done? Count to four while you inhale through your nose, hold your breath for a count of seven then exhale for a count of eight. Suck it in, hold it, exhale it slowly. Because breathing properly can reduce your stress levels, improve your workouts and boost your immunity to infections and illnesses. Poor breathing can lead to panic attacks and even conditions like insomnia and depression.