When you exercise, several parts of your body are at work. Your muscles are contracting and expanding, your heart is pounding in your chest, your brain is processing information about how hard you are pushing yourself. The final thing that needs to be working at full capacity during exercise is the lung system.
When done right, proper breathing can make all of this work more efficiently. Here are the reasons why you need to breathe the right way when you’re moving and pushing yourself to your limits.
Your Body Needs More Oxygen When You Move
The more you move, the harder your respiratory system has to work. Your lungs need to provide oxygen for your muscles and tissues. When they don’t get what they need, you’ll feel out of breath or dizzy. Proper breathing during exercise can help keep this from happening, making your whole workout run smoother.
Your Lungs Expand More Easily
When you inhale through your nose instead of your mouth, it allows more room for air to enter your body. The nose has a very important job when it comes to taking in oxygen; it warms up cold air and filters out dangerous particles that could harm you if they got into your lungs. It’s another way that exercising with proper breathing techniques helps make sure your muscles and tissues get what they need.
Your Muscles Work More Efficiently
When you breathe through your nose, your body benefits in another way: there’s a better exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the lungs. This has a direct effect on your muscles. It makes them work more efficiently and helps to lessen fatigue. Your breathing also helps regulate your body temperature, which is important when you’re working out because it can affect how hard you’re pushing yourself.
What Techniques Should You Use?
There are several ways to make sure that you’re breathing properly while exercising: First, you inhale deeply and exhale slowly. It might be tempting to try to match your breathing rate to the speed of your body, but that can be difficult. Instead, focus on your breath for each inhale and exhale. Continue with this pattern until you feel like you’re relaxed again.
If you find it hard to keep up this pace while exercising, there are several things that can help. You can set an easy pace during the first few minutes of your workout so you can catch your breath before speeding up. Then slow down or stop if you feel like your heart is racing too fast or it’s becoming harder to breathe properly. If you need to, give yourself a break until everything slows down; then start up again at a slower pace than before.
It’s also important that, throughout your entire workout, you wear the right clothing. A properly fitting sports crop top will enable you to breathe properly while you move. A tight-fitting shirt, on the other hand, can feel restrictive and prevent you from expanding your lungs as you inhale more air.
Try Yoga
Yoga is a great way to learn how to breathe properly while moving. The ancient practice has developed over thousands of years, and it teaches you how to breathe slowly through your nose while using your muscles. This will help them work more efficiently, making exercising feel easier. The poses that are used in yoga also focus on proper breathing techniques that can be applied during other kinds of exercise as well.
What Else Can Help?
There are some simple things you can do outside of exercising to improve your breathing skills even more. For example, make sure you keep all the windows and doors in your home open and let fresh air inside as often as possible. It’s not always practical or safe to leave windows open when it’s cold out, but keeping vents open is a great way to refresh the air in a room and make sure everything is circulating properly.
Taking a walk or sitting outside and taking deep breaths can also help you catch up on the air you might be missing by staying indoors all the time. This is especially effective as you’re getting ready for bed so your lungs can get as much oxygen as possible before you turn in for the night. With all of these things in mind, you can make sure that your workout is as beneficial to your body as possible. By breathing correctly and wearing the right clothing, you’ll feel more energized and able to concentrate on how far you’ve come instead of on how hard this sprint was for you. You’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to push yourself after a little preparation beforehand.
