Abdominal Breathing
Your lungs rise and fall naturally, but when you have COPD, air often becomes trapped in your lungs. This pushes down on your diaphragm. Your neck and chest muscles must then assume an increased share of the work of breathing. Conditions like COPD can leave your diaphragm weakened and flattened, causing it to work less efficiently.
abdominal breathing
Yes, practicing diaphragmatic breathing makes it easier. You may notice it takes an increased effort to use your diaphragm correctly. At first, you'll probably get tired while doing this exercise. But keep at it, because with continued practice diaphragmatic breathing will become automatic.
During diaphragmatic breathing, a person consciously engages their diaphragm in order to take deeper breaths. A person will notice their stomach rising and falling. They will also feel an expanding or stretching sensation in the stomach, rather than solely in their chest and shoulders.
Once a person becomes comfortable with diaphragmatic breathing, they may start to practice the exercise while seated or standing. When practicing diaphragmatic breathing in these positions, it is important to keep the shoulders, head, and neck relaxed.
In COPD, the airways within the lungs become damaged and inflamed, obstructing airflow in and out of the lungs. The diaphragm also tends to be weaker. The body tries to compensate for this weakness by engaging the muscles in the back, neck, and shoulders while breathing.
People with COPD should first perform diaphragmatic breathing under the guidance of a healthcare professional. With time, a person may find that the technique improves their breathing during activities they find strenuous, such as climbing stairs or hiking.
According to one 2014 review, people who take medications to control their asthma often continue to experience ongoing symptoms and a poor quality of life (QOL). The review concluded that breathing exercises may be a beneficial add-on treatment for people with persistent asthma.
A 2013 review of three randomized controlled trials investigated the effects of diaphragmatic breathing on QOL among people with asthma. It found moderate evidence of short- and long-term improvements in QOL following diaphragmatic breathing exercises.
In fact, diaphragmatic breathing could actually worsen anxiety symptoms if a person feels that the treatment is not working. A person who has anxiety can practice diaphragmatic breathing, but they should also ask their doctor about effective anxiety treatments.
People who have respiratory conditions such as asthma or COPD should be careful when first practicing diaphragmatic breathing. It may initially cause labored breathing and increased fatigue. People will need to build up the practice gradually in order to see the benefits.
It may be best to practice diaphragmatic breathing in a relaxing area, such as a quiet room. People should also try to avoid distractions, such as cell phones, televisions, and other people. Instead, people should focus on the breathing technique and the bodily sensations they feel while practicing it.
Diaphragmatic breathing involves breathing deep into the stomach and fully engaging the diaphragm. This strengthens the diaphragm and helps the lungs work more efficiently. It may also promote a feeling of calm or relaxation.
Diaphragmatic breathing may be a beneficial add-on treatment for people with anxiety or respiratory conditions such as COPD or asthma. However, it is not an effective standalone treatment for these conditions.
Psychological studies have revealed breathing practice to be an effective non-pharmacological intervention for emotion enhancement (Stromberg et al., 2015), including a reduction in anxiety, depression, and stress (Brown and Gerbarg, 2005a,b; Anju et al., 2015). A 1-day breathing exercise was found to relieve the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization induced by job burnout (Salyers et al., 2011). A 30-session intervention with a daily duration of 5 min can significantly decrease the anxiety of pregnant women experiencing preterm labor (Chang et al., 2009). In addition, similar effects on anxiety was observed in a 3-days intervention study, where breathing practices were performed 3 times per day (Yu and Song, 2010). Further evidence from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) suggested that a 7-days intensive residential yoga program that included pranayama (breathing exercises) reduced anxiety and depression in patients with chronic low back pain (Tekur et al., 2012). Supportive evidence has also come from a line of RCTs of TCC and yoga (Benson, 1996; Telles et al., 2000; Oakley and Evans, 2014). Currently, breathing practice is widely applied in clinical treatments for mental conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Sahar et al., 2001; Descilo et al., 2010; Goldin and Gross, 2010), motion disorders (Russell et al., 2014), phobias (Friedman and Thayer, 1998), and other stress-related emotional disorders.
Studies orientated toward the physiological mechanism of breathing intervention effects have indicated a shared physiological basis underlying breathing, emotion, and cognition, involving the autonomic nervous system. Physiological evidence has indicated that even a single breathing practice significantly reduces blood pressure, increases heart rate variability (HRV) (Wang et al., 2010; Lehrer and Gevirtz, 2014; Wei et al., 2016) and oxygenation (Bernardi et al., 1998), enhances pulmonary function (Shaw et al., 2010), and improves cardiorespiratory fitness and respiratory muscle strength (Shaw et al., 2010). A daily 15-min breathing training for 2 weeks significantly promoted mean forced expiratory volume in 1 s and peak expiratory flow rate (Bernardi et al., 1998). Breathing with a certain frequency and amplitude was found to relieve clinical symptoms in patients of all ages with sleep-disordered breathing (Chervin et al., 2006). Evidence from yoga practice also confirms a reduction of sympathetic and an increase of parasympathetic nervous system activity (Vempati and Telles, 2002; Raghuraj and Telles, 2003). Cardiac vagal tone is assumed to form part of the shared physiological basis of breathing and emotion. It is influenced by breathing and is also integral to vagal nerve stimulation that is closely associated with the physiological basis of emotion, including emotional regulation, psychological adaptation (Sargunaraj et al., 1996; Beauchaine, 2001), emotional reactivity and expression, empathic responses, and attachment (Porges, 2001). Moreover, dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system is observed in adults with anxiety (Kawachi et al., 1995; Thayer et al., 1996; Friedman and Thayer, 1998), depression (Carney et al., 1995; Lehofer et al., 1997), PTSD (Sahar et al., 2001), panic disorder (Friedman and Thayer, 1998), and other stress-related mental and physical disorders (Benson, 1996; Becker, 2000; Bazhenova et al., 2001; Jacobs, 2001).
The shared physiological basis of attention and breathing can be detected in part in the autonomic nervous system of patients with ADHD (Beauchaine, 2001), but more evidence is provided by electroencephalographic (EEG) studies and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies (Lutz et al., 2004). For instance, EEG studies have suggested that regular breathing practice during yoga and meditation can increase β-activity in the left frontal, midline, and occipital brain regions (Bhatia et al., 2003; Snayder et al., 2006), which has been associated with enhanced cognitive performance, such as during attention, memory, and executive functions (Freeman et al., 1999). In addition, fMRI studies have also detected a significant increase in activation in the bilateral inferior frontal and temporal regions under meditation, as compared to a relaxation condition. Such studies implicated the right inferior frontal cortex/right insula and right middle/superior temporal cortex as the regions involved in meditation (Hernández et al., 2015).
Although breathing practice offers an integrated benefit for mental and physical health, the results of studies on this topic are inconsistent, because of methodological limitations in the experimental design, a lack of measurable breathing feedback, and limited sample sizes. Most cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have focused on how breathing treatment benefits individuals with particular conditions, such as women during pregnancy (Schmidt et al., 2000; Booth et al., 2014) and clerks experiencing job burnout (Salyers et al., 2011), rather than on its health promotion function in a healthy population. Most importantly, most studies have investigated physiological effects, emotional benefits, and cognitive benefits separately, which prevents an understanding of the possible mental and physiological mechanisms of breathing in terms of its potential benefit for both mental and physical health.
A final total of 40 participants were included in this study. They were assigned to a breathing intervention group (BIG, 10 females and 10 males) or a control group (CG, 10 females and 10 males) by alternating the order of their registration. Gender balance was also taken into consideration during this sampling procedure.
The BIG learnt basic knowledge and essential skills about diaphragmatic breathing, and became familiar with experiencing breathing in as deeply as possible and then exhaling almost all the air from the lungs, slowly, in a self-controlled, slow rhythm, under the guide of a coach. All participants were instructed to focus on their breathing and the sensations produced in the body, while sitting comfortably in chairs with their eyes closed. Participants were considered as performing diaphragmatic breathing if their respiratory rate decreased while their respiratory amplitude increased in waveform.
After this learning phase, both groups completed the baseline tests. These included the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Number Cancellation Test (NCT), and a cortisol test. Thereafter, the BIG received 20-sessions of breath-controlling intervention. Each intervention involved a 15-min resting breathing session and a 15-min diaphragmatic breathing session consequently. The diaphragmatic breathing session began with general verbal guidance from the breathing coach, who spoke at a slow speed to help participants to become more easily involved. A final test, similar to the baseline test, was implemented at the end of the 20th intervention. In contrast, the CG received only an introduction of breathing and rest, a baseline test, and a final test, without any other intervention. 041b061a72