Diaphragmic Breathing Exercises for COPD

It's likely that as you go about your day, the last thing on your mind is how to breathe.  If you have COPD including bronchitis, emyphysema or asthma, your doctor may have told you to do breathing exercises. Inhale, exhale.  That's all there is to it, right?  Not quite.  As a therapy practitioner who teaches specific techniques, many people who have COPD are often surprized to learn that there is a medically preferred way to perform breathing exercises for increased oxygen saturation. If you have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, it's vital that you practice breathing exercises.

Improper breathing can come from something as common as having a stressful job. Being under stress causes a shallow, chest breathing style of inhaling. If you have ever had a customer service position where you have to tell the customer you can't deliver what your boss promised them, then you know what I mean. Serious stress.

Diaphragmic breathing, a breathing exercise, won't come up very often in dinner conversation, but it's one of the best ways for reducing anxiety and fatigue from a day's activities. And it doesn't cost a dime. It's a simple process. Just sit in a comfortable chair and utilize deep breathing. Concentrate on filling your belly with air first, followed by allowing your chest to expand. The diaphragm is a muscle under your lungs and above your stomach. Extending it down towards your tummy is how you stretch it out and as a result, fill your lungs to their capacity. It's a good idea to be in a quiet place when doing this. Images of nature, hobbies or relaxing music will chase the anxieties away and replace them with hope, joy and fulfillment.

If you're on your lunch break, be sure to keep an eye on the clock because the next thing you know is you've dozed off and the boss is looking for you. No stress there! At night it will be easier to sleep and the degree of your sleep will be deeper resulting in feeling rested and alert to tackle your day. If you are feeling tense at night before going to sleep, try tensing up the muscles in the feet and release, followed by tensing your calves and release, next thighs and release. Keep going up through the abs, chest, shoulders, back and even your face. Remember to keep using the diaphragmic breathing technique the whole time. A friend of mine who uses this tells me she doesn't just sleep anymore. She just about passes out & wakes up a new person.

The human body is full of muscles. The food they consume is oxygen molecules in the blood. The more air you consume, the more oxygen molecules there are for muscles to absorb, produce more energy, and become less sore after a workout. Before they attached computers to car engines they didn't automatically adjust to higher altitudes when driving in the mountains. Your 300 horse power hot rod had all the performance of an Italian motor scooter. So perform breathing exercises all you can as often as you can and you'll feel like you're driving at sea level every day.

The best part is you don't need to see a doctor, get a prescription, pay a co-pay, or take breathing exercise lessons in a class. Drug companies want us to rely on their products to make our lives better. With information and a little practice, nearly everything we need to accomplish is tucked away inside of us just waiting to be utilized.

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Suzanne Andrews, host of Functional Fitness on PBS TV and a clinical leader, shares specific fitness and breathing exercises that focus on improving functional lung capacity in her best- selling Functional Fitness COPD DVD. Selected as number one out of the top 10 DVD's for COPD, it is shipped throughout the Unites States, Canada and UK. FREE Preview now.
http://www.healthwiseexercise.com/shop.aspx?p=4904&k=Functional-Fitness-COPD

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