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We take a breath every few seconds.
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Our life depends upon inhaling oxygen,
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but we never think about how we breathe.
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It just seems to happen automatically.
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How can something that seems so simple
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be the key to keeping us alive?
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Breathing starts with the environment around us.
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The air we breathe in, or inspire,
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has a mixture of gases including nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen,
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which is the most important for our survival.
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It enters our body through the nose and mouth,
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moves down into the pharynx, trachea and bronchial tubes,
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and ultimately reaches the alveoli air sacs in the lungs.
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The alveoli use pressure to move oxygen and nutrients into the blood.
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The diaphragm and intercostal muscles are a pumping system that facilitates this air exchange.
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How you breathe affects your energy level, especially when you are under physical or emotional stress.
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Think back to the last difficult test you had to take.
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It's likely that as you became more nervous, the tension in your body increased,
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and your breathing quickly sped up.
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The shallower our breath, the less oxygen that reaches our brain, and the harder it is to focus.
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What's our response to physical stress, like a fast-paced game of field hockey after school?
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As we exert pressure on our bodies, the muscles require a great deal of energy and demand additional oxygen.
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Our panting breath starts to kick in,
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which creates pressure to draw in more air and oxygen to the body,
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and regulates body temperature by allowing it to cool down naturally.
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These aren't the only times our breathing is affected or altered.
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Think about the last time you got angry or emotional.
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Anger creates a metabolic reaction in the body,
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which stresses it out and heats up our internal temperature.
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Have you ever seen anyone lose their cool?
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Ultimately, if we're breathing under stress over long periods of time, there are consequences.
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When the cells of a body aren't getting the oxygen they need,
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the nutrients available to the body decrease and toxins build up in the blood.
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It is thought that a hypoxic, or oxygen-poor environment, can increase cancerous cells.
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The good news is that we can control our breath much more than we realize.
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This means we can increase both the quality and quantity of the breath.
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The science of breathing has been around for thousands of years,
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from ancient yogis in India to respiratory therapists working with patients today.
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Both would tell you that there are specific techniques that will help you improve your breathing.
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Breathing is all about moving air from a higher-pressure to a lower-pressure environment.
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More breath means more oxygen,
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and ultimately a greater amount of nutrients that's available for our cells and blood.
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We naturally do this when we let out a big sigh.
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Changing the air pressure going into the lungs is one of the main ways to alter breathing.
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Our body automatically does this when we cough, sneeze, or have the hiccups.
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Here's a simple experiment.
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Close off your right nostril with your right thumb.
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Breathe in and out just through the left nostril.
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Notice how much harder it is to get the breath in.
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You have to focus your attention, and use your diaphragm and muscles much more than normal.
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