Stress is the number one enemy in the modern world. Stress has become all pervading, be it in the workplace, relationships, or at home in general. The changes that occur in the body and mind during a stress situation are very clear. The chest muscles contract as physical tension builds up in the chest. As a consequence, you begin to take shorter, shallower and sharper breaths.
As stress has become an inseparable part of our lives, we have begun to forget how to breathe normally and take shallow breaths on a regular basis. There are several short term and long-term repercussions of shallow breathing. This leads to fatigue, forgetfulness, indigestion and emotional stress. Neck and shoulder tension rises and a person may hyperventilate. In the long-term analysis it leads to health problems like, asthma, colds and panic or anxiety attacks. Research has also shown that when the body cells are deprived of oxygen to the extent of 60% they may become cancerous. It has also been proved that the key to good health and long life is proper breathing. Rapid breathing leads to further stress, so, it is a vicious cycle that begins with stress and leads to stress.
It goes without saying that the key lies in proper breathing for stress relief. While stress situations in life may largely not be under your control, you can beat stress by developing good breathing habits to create serenity inside yourself.
Yoga, which is an ancient practice emphasizes on breathing techniques for stress relief, pain alleviation and many more issues. Yoga gurus utilize breathing for stress relief, bringing down the heart rate, lower blood pressure, change body temperature and controlling pain. The fundamental aspects that are important are the rate, depth and quality of breathing. Breathing for stress relief works by calming the nerves, oxygenating the body to bring about higher energy levels and greater mental clarity.
If you wish to utilize breathing for stress relief paying attention to the depth of your breath is important. Ensure that your abdomen moves in and out with each breath. Another important thing is the position or posture of the body. Do not hunch or stoop down, try to remain upright so that your breathing pattern is unhindered and you can derive stress relief benefits. It is advised that while employing breathing for stress relief you should draw in long and rhythmic breaths that are effective in calming the mind and body.
While you may search high and low for stress relief methods, breathing for stress relief is a method that is right there before you. It does not require you to take time out from your hectic schedule nor does it demand any kind of equipments. All that you have to do is remind yourself to breathe the right way while carrying out your day-to-day activities. So, delve deep inside you and use breathing for stress relief to get better control over your life.
Experience over more than fifteen decades has proved that there is more to safe and healthy scuba diving than just providing the diver with enough room to breathe. To prove why this is considered true, some concepts of elementary physics needs to be applied.
Imagine that someone is standing right in front of you and is pushing you. In such a scenario you surely will fall backwards, right? But picture a situation when there are two persons pushing you, one from the front and the other from the back, then what will happen? If the intensity of the push by both the persons is the same, then you will get sandwiched between them, but you will neither fall backwards nor forwards.
Under water, this is exactly what happens, but unlike the example when there are two persons pushing you, the ?push? under water will come from all sides. In such a case, your rib cage, along with the adjacent tendons and muscles provide enough rigidity to withstand the great force applied by water, lest your body would collapse!
But how much pressure can water apply on the human body? You will be amazed to know that for every 33 feet [10m] deep dive, the pressure around your body will increase by 6.70kg/sq.inch. This makes it nearly one atmosphere of 14.70pounds/sq.inch. for an increase in the depth by every 10m!
In order to withstand such a great force exerted by the water, your body will normally be pushed back. But the muscles? and the ribs? flexibility allows them a slight collapse prior to becoming rigid, so that the outside pressure can be balanced. This results in compression of the lungs while under the water. With deeper depths, the external pressure only increases, and this makes expansion of the lungs very difficult indeed.
Another factor influences this. Compression of air is simpler than water, which needs more force for compression. Thus the water's pressure results in a slight compression of the lungs. This necessitates you to expand your lungs even though there is a slight collapse in it. This is done for your body to get enough supply of oxygen.
Advanced diving equipments like tanks and diving regulators are made in such a manner which facilitates the delivery of air at the level of pressure exerted by the water to aid the scuba diver manage these issues that confront him underwater. Besides, this also lets the scuba divers proper breathing at moderate depths.
Given that the density of water is very high, there is a greater requirement of oxygen under water. Expert scuba divers know how to manage the equipment and how to swim in a slow manner to save oxygen. The scuba divers must remain very calm while under water to ensure that their heart rate is kept at a low level, and moderate amount of oxygen is used. The demand for oxygen can be disturbed if the scuba diver experiences stress of excitement due to what happens underwater.
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