Breathe In, Gently Breathe In, Gently
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Photo by Basic Division/Unsplash
Breathe In

Breathe In, Gently

The Problem with Excessive Breathing
Jakub Bas
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When we breathe out too much carbon dioxide, we are unable to sufficiently oxygenate our bodies. Does it sound like a paradox? Yes, but it’s true.

When he was a student, Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko was delegated to monitor terminally ill patients. After hundreds of hours of observation, the young doctor trained himself so well that he could predict the moment of death with remarkable accuracy. In each case, one of the signs of the approaching end were heavy, deep breaths – similar to the ones that upset people are encouraged to take in order to calm down. Yet in this case, deeper breathing

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Slowly, Through the Nose Slowly, Through the Nose
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"Study of Clouds with a Sunset near Rome", Simon Alexandre Clément Denis,1786-1801, Getty Museum/Rawpixel (public domain)
Breathe In

Slowly, Through the Nose

The Science of Yogic Breathing
Łukasz Kaniewski

The way we breathe can influence those bodily systems that do not directly depend on our will.

A scientist from the University of Pisa, Andrea Zaccaro, studies the influence of yogic breathing on the state of the body and mind. In his latest experiment, he asked sixteen people familiar with yoga techniques to breathe through their nose at a very slow rate (just 2.5 breaths per minute) for a quarter of an hour. Over the next fifteen minutes, the participants were asked to breathe through their mouths (at the same speed). Later, the participants were asked about their feelings. They all agreed that breathing through their nose put them in a state of introspection and concentration, while breathing through their mouth did not.

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