Day 8: Breathe Your Way to Better Digestion
You might not realise this, but breathing – and especially deep breathing – can help your digestive health. How do you breathe usually? Is it shallow, or do you breathe down into your belly?
Observe your normal breath – where does it naturally go? Does your chest inflate? Do your shoulders lift? Is it hard for you to breathe down to your belly?
If your chest is what moves with each breath, then you are one of many who has “unlearned” how to breathe.
Proper breathing uses the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a large muscle that forms a sort-of upside-down sling tht separates your lungs and your abdomen. When you breathe in this big muscle contracts and flattens, sucking air right down into the bottom of the lungs and making the belly move outwards a little. As well as inflating the deep lung tissue, this action effectively pumps your internal organs – particularly the liver, stomach and large intestine, which sit just under the diaphragm. When you “release” this, the out breath is a bit like a stretched rubber band snapping back into it’s relaxed form – it’s effortless.
This whole process is important – not just for your respiratory health and digestive function, but for your stress levels as well. Want to know more? Contact us.
