Deep Breathing

Deep Breathing Exercises

Deep breathing is a relaxation technique that can be self-taught. Deep breathing releases tension from the body and clear the mind, improving both physical and mental wellness.

We tend to breathe shallowly or even hold our hold our breath when we are feeling anxious. Sometimes we are not even aware of it. Shallow breathing limits your oxygen intake and adds further stress to your body, creating a vicious cycle. Breathing exercises can break this cycle.

The importance of good posture cannot be overstated. While sitting, we tend to slouch, which compresses the diaphragm and other organs, resulting in shallow breathing. Slouching also strains muscles in the neck and back. It is helpful to sit in a chair with good back support to avoid fatigue that leads to slouching.

How to do Deep Breathing Exercises:

Sit up straight. (Do not arch your back) First exhale completely through your mouth. Place your hands on your stomach, just above your waist. Breathe in slowly through your nose, pushing your hands out with your stomach. This ensures that you are breathing deeply. Imagine that you are filling your body with air from the bottom up.

Hold your breath to a count of two to five, or whatever you can handle. It is easier to hold your breath if you continue to hold out your stomach. Slowly and steadily breathe out through your mouth, feeling your hands move back in as you slowly contract your stomach, until most of the air is out. Exhalation is a little longer than inhalation.

After you get some experience you don’t need to use your hands to check your breathing.

You can also do the above breathing exercise lying on your back. Deep breathing exercises can help you to relax before you go to sleep for the night, or fall back asleep if you awaken in the middle of the night.

You can also practice deep breathing exercises standing – e.g. while sitting in traffic, or standing in a lineup at the grocery store. If you are really tense and feel as if you are holding your breath, simply concentrate on slowly breathing in and out.

 

Source.

 

Body Awareness

As you progress along healthy lifestyle changes you can not help learning more about your body and build body awareness. Body awareness is not only proprioception (knowing where where your body is in relation to itself in space), emotional state, and frame of mind. This is a useful full tool for many reasons; firstly being body aware in an exercise context will award you greater in gains in stability and proper form.  From an emotional standpoint the ability to identify where feelings arise can assist in navigated them more proactively.

A great body awarenss building exercise is as follows:

Sitting on your chair eyes closed, bring attention to your breathing, do not controll it, just observe.

Switch your focus to your buttocks in the seat, feel the chair support you. Feel your cloths on your back, the fabric, the weight of your clothing.

Bring your attention to your heartbeat, feel it pulse through your body, nourishing it.

Choosing a relaxed and peaceful emotional state slowly bring your attention back to your breathing. Count back from 10 and slowly open your eyes.

 

Remember awareness is what is fostered in meditation, so take some time to tune and and find a moment of inner peace…. every day.

 

Understanding food labels…

Proper nutrition and heart health go hand in hand. It is important to have a diet low in saturated fat and sodium. Include high fiber foods, and healthy fats. Get enough protein and vitamins. Do you know how to read a food label?

To learn how, or refresh your skills check this website out.

 

Stretching: new research

A new study (Batista LH, Vilar AC, Ferreira JJA, Rebelatto JR & Salvini TF) has be published on the effect of stretching and it impact on fitness, specifically in application to older adults. Here is a brief overview of the important factors:

Deficits in muscle strength and range of motion are common in older adults but not to exclusive to, due to a decrease in overall flexibility. Reduced flexibility is generally caused by shortening and increased rigidity of muscles. These viscoelastic changes in muscle fibers have deleterious functional consequences, such as aberrant gait patterns, and hampered ability to rise from a seated position, leading to a greater incidence of falls and loss of independence.

Stretching is an exercise performed in clinical settings and physical fitness facilities used to increase range of motion. Research has shown that stretching can cause morphologic change in muscle fibers and connective tissue, ultimately leading to an increase in overall muscle strength.

Previous studies have shown that similar results can occur after a stretching intervention implemented every day for 6 weeks straight. This study showed that flexibility training twice a week for 4 weeks is as efficient as a 6 week training protocol

According to this group of researchers, it is conceivable that stretched muscles are stronger because both passive and active forces add to strength production. Previous research concluded that the increase in stored energy and ranges of motion after stretching is important because it can increase the elastic recoil capacity of a muscle. However, this notion is not completely agreed upon in the fitness industry.

Regardless, stretching is a vital component of fitness, equally so as cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength, which not only has benefits in its own right but improves all component of fitness.

 

Cardiovascular disease & Risk Factors

Are you at risk for heart disease or stroke?

Preventative medicine is the key to a long and healthy life. Find out what your risk factors are to see what you can do today to stay healthy and active throughout your life.

Take the heart and stroke risk assessment quiz here.

A few general tips, what can you do to stay healthy?

  • Get your minimum physical activity requirements; 60 min of moderate exercise every day, or 10,000 steps.
  • Eat a diet low in saturated fat and sodium to maintain healthy blood vessels.
  • Get enough sleep; to regenerate your body.
  • Reduce your stress levels; increased cortisol levels as a harmful effect on your cardiovascular system.

 

Catch the olympic spirit!

To day is day 98 of the olympic torch rely and it’s coming to Squamish! Come participate in the festivities at Brennan Park.

To see the route click here.

 

Update on Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 9:11PM by Registered Commentervioletquartzwellness

WOW! Was that ever cool. I attended the Lions Bay torch celebration, and it was amazing. Catch a glimpse….

 

Heart Quiz

I took this heart quiz here are my results:

 

Will beat 108,056 times, pump 1,585 gallons of blood, and push that blood nearly 8,178 miles throughout my body!

Created by MyFitnessPal.com

 

Stairway to health

The stairway to health is a program designed by the Canadian public health agency to provide support and resources to encourage Canadians to get active and increase their daily physical activity. Something as simple as taking the stairs throughout your workday can do a lot in helping you reach minimum physical activity requirements (30-60 min a day, everyday). Here is on of the “stairway to health” fact sheets:

There are a variety of benefits to programs that encourage the use of stairways, as part of physical activity in workplaces, or other settings. These benefits may include improved morale, a sense of well-being, higher energy levels and improved team building. Below are the measurable benefits that are indicated in research on stair use.

  • Canada’s Physical Activity Guide recommends that Canadians accumulate 30-60 minutes of moderate physical activity each day.
  • Stair climbing is possible in many workplaces and requires no special equipment in order to participate.
  • There is evidence to suggest that moderate intensity lifestyle activities like taking the stairs may be more successfully promoted than structured vigorous intensity exercise programs (Kerr, 2001).
  • Stair climbing can be accumulated across the course of the day, making a significant contribution to 30 minutes of daily physical activity (Kerr, 2001).
  • Stair climbing interventions typically result in a 6-15% increase in use of stairs.
  • A significantly lower risk of mortality is indicated in studies where participants climbed more than 55 flights per week. (Paffenbarger et al. 1993).
  • Stair climbing requires about 8-11kcal of energy per minute, which is high compared to other physical activities (Edwards, 1983).
  • Active Stair climbers are more fit and have a higher aerobic capacity (Ilmarinen et al, 1978).
  • Even two flights of stairs climbed per day can lead to 2.7 kg weight loss over one year (Brownell, Stunkard, and ALbaum, 1980).
  • There is a strong association between stair climbing and bone density, in post-menopausal women (Coupland et al. 1999).
  • Stair climbing programs can improve the amount of ‘good cholesterol’ in the blood – HDL concentrations (Wallace and Neill, 2000).
  • Stair climbing increases leg power and may be an important priority in reducing the risk of injury from falls in the elderly (Allied Dunbar Survey, 1992).
  • Because stair climbing rates are currently very low, increasing population levels of stair climbing could lead to substantial public health dividends (Kerr, 2001
  • Because stair climbing is an activity with which we are all familiar, participants have a high level of confidence in their ability to participate in the activity (Kerr, 2001).
For more information and resources click here.

 

This gives me hope for the future… just amazing

I was in the grocery store yesterday and I picked up a copy of the new National Geographic because the feature interested me. The article looks at bionics; have a look yourself, truly amazing. Some people really are changing the world.

National geographic: Bionics

Do not forget to post a comment, and send me your testimonials. 🙂

 

Stretching and meditation

Yesterday I wrote about all the components of fitness, but today I wanted to further emphasize the importance of stretching. When we stretch our bodies we invite relaxation, not only in the body but also the mind. Those who come to my stretch class know that by the end of the class the mind is quieter, thoughts are more calm, and your body feels great! In a gym setting you will see people stretch 10-15 seconds, muscle their way into it, but he reality is that a stressed out muscle can not relax therefore can not stretch. Comparatively a stressed out mind can not relax and therefore can not expand and grow.

Stretching the body allows you to be present within it, check in with yourself if you will. Expanding the mind offers the opportunity to explore yourself. The next time you are in a yoga or stretch class, relax. Do not force it, just be, and see where your flexibility of body, and openness of mind takes you.

Happy stretching.