Yoga Breathing Benefits

Yoga Breathing Benefits — No Comments
26
Sep 11

Yoga breathing exercises may reduce the severity of asthma

If the recent explosion of California ragweed pollen has your asthma flaring up, you may be interested to know that many researchers think that yoga breathing exercises might be able to help reduce the severity of this common respiratory condition.

Across the nation, about 24.5 million people have asthma, according to the latest data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In California alone, nearly 3 million people have the condition.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research came to the latter figure after surveying thousands of adults, teens and children. The organization found that severe asthma can be quite critical, resulting in more than 330,000 hospital visits in California each year.

So what can be done about this condition? Quite a few studies point to yoga breathing techniques as having the potential to improve respiratory well-being.

For instance, a report appearing in the journal The Lancet determined that regular yoga breathing activities appeared to improve the response of lung tissue to asthma attacks. Researchers estimated that, following the yoga-based intervention, it took significantly more histamine – the organic molecule that triggers inflammatory response – to result in an asthma attack.

Another study, this one published in the journal Thorax, determined that two weeks of yoga breathing therapy led to a modest reduction of symptoms.

The authors, a team of respirologists from the UK's Division of Respiratory Medicine in Nottingham, found that volunteers tended to experience less chest tightness and wheezing after doing the yoga breathing techniques. Likewise, participants reported using fewer puffs of bronchodilating spray each day.

A further study in the same journal came to similar conclusions, adding that patients who engaged in yoga breathing suffered from fewer asthma attacks and had a greater respiratory flow rate than those given traditional interventions.

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13
Sep 11

At 30,000 feet, you can do yoga breathing for relaxation

Are you afraid of flying? Tired of it? Do you get bored or restless on a long flight, or feel like your calves and feet are swelling like crazy? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then doing yoga breathing for relaxation may be just the way to decompress during your next trip aboard an airplane.

Too little space

It is notoriously difficult to relax – much less get some shut-eye – on a long flight. Many people cite uncomfortable chairs, low headroom, narrow aisle and cramped bathrooms as reasons why their joints ache when they finally step off of a plane.

This is where certain yoga breathing styles may be able to help you relax. Of course, some yoga breathing regimens are a no-go. For instance, any rapid, diaphragmatic deep breathing will simply circulate your exhaled air around the cabin.

However, many yoga systems incorporate slow, measured breathing, which is designed to calm your nerves and slow your heart rate. This type of relaxation is especially good if you are…

AFRAID OF FLYING!

If you have an all-out phobia of flying, you're by no means alone. Research suggests that cruising at 30,000 feet is one of the most common fears among U.S. adults.

A seminal study in the Journal of Travel research found that one in three Americans – at the time, a figure equivalent to 25,000,000 adults – is scared of flying. Besides resulting in billions of dollars in net losses for airlines, this fear can be crippling on a personal level.

Fortunately, many holistic health experts recommend yoga breathing as a way to ease one's anxiety before, during and after a flight.

What about in-flight yoga poses?

Is it possible to do actual stretches during a long red-eye trip? Singer and pop star Madonna recently got into trouble – and irritated not a few fellow passengers – by doing yoga in the aisle during a flight. Fortunately, CNN News reports that there are plenty of yoga stretches that can be done in your seat without invading your neighbor's space.

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29
Jul 11

Yoga breathing benefits extend to people with dyspnea, COPD

If you do yoga breathing exercises as part of your daily or weekly workout regimen, you may be doing your body a big favor. Breathing slowly and deeply may reduce blood pressure, bring down your heart rate and open up your body's energy channels. Also, research has shown that yoga breathing benefits some people with pulmonary conditions.

An investigation conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found that yoga may be safe and healthy for individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).

These results, which appeared in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (JACM), were based on data collected from 29 elderly patients with the lung condition, some of whom were given a 12-week course of yoga-based interventions.

COPD is a progressive disease that causes shortness of breath, a feeling known as dyspnea. Most cases of the condition are caused by prolonged exposure of the lung tissue to irritants, the most common of which is cigarette smoke, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

Over time, people with COPD find it harder to take deep breaths because their lung tissue is stiffened, damaged or coated with mucus, the agency adds.

While traditional medical treatments are typically used to treat the source of the problem, yoga breathing exercises may help patients with COPD overcome episodes of dyspnea and become more mobile.

In the JACM study, people with COPD were led through yoga postures and guided breathing sessions twice weekly for 12 weeks. Researchers found that those tutored in the art of yoga breathing experienced moderate reductions in the severity of dyspnea, as well as mild improvements in walking speed, muscular strength and health-related quality of life.

Though it approaches the problem in a very different way, yoga breathing is done for the same reason that patients take bronchodilators or use inhalers – namely, to open up the lung's passageways and facilitate calm, full, deep breaths.

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25
Jul 11

Yoga breathing exercises may increase GABA in brain, ease stress

Though you may not be too familiar with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) or its effects on mental and physical health, a number of researchers are, and several studies have demonstrated that yoga breathing benefits a person's GABA counts and can thus relieve stress.

GABA is an amino acid, one that acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. According to the scientific text Neuropsychopharmacology: The Fifth Generation of Progress, this substance works in concert with l-Glutamic acid, also known as glutamate.

In essence, glutamate speeds up the communication between neurons, resulting in "fast excitatory synaptic transmission," the source states. By contrast, GABA is the brain's chief inhibitory neurotransmitter, meaning that it dampens the excitation of neurons.

These two organic compounds must work in harmony in order for the brain to function properly. The source adds that GABAergic drugs – meaning those that boost the amount of GABA in the brain – are used to treat anxiety, to prevent convulsions and to sedate or anesthetize patients.

However, for mild conditions, like anxiety, drugs are not always the answer. Several studies have found that yoga may increase the brain's store of GABA, leading to lower stress levels and increased feelings of peace and calm.

For example, a study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that individuals who completed a one-hour yoga session experienced a 27 percent increase in their brains' GABA levels. By comparison, a control group that simply read for an hour displayed no change in their GABA levels.

Another report in the same journal suggested that doing yoga breathing for stress may have measurable benefits for individuals who suffer from anxiety or depression. Specifically, the report suggested that taking slow, deep, measured breaths can lower the body's levels of cortisol, a hormone that signals stress.

Likewise, the study indicated that doing yoga breathing may increase the amount of the brain's oxytocin, which is a hormone linked to feelings of contentment, lover and empathy.

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18
Jul 11

Yoga breathing exercises may offer some physical, mental relief

For more than 15 years, Dahn Yoga has incorporated yoga breathing techniques into many of its relaxing and self healing sessions. Felicitously, scientists around the globe are increasingly finding that such yoga breathing exercises may reduce aches and impart symptom relief for a number of conditions, whether they are mental or physical.

Take a study lately published in the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. Researchers from A.T. Still University's Department of Physical Therapy conducted an experiment to determine the effects of yoga on the health and wellness of women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Approximately one in five U.S. adults has been diagnosed with some form of arthritis, including an estimated 1.5 million with RA, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency states that RA is a disease of the lining of the body's joints, called the synovium. Its erosion causes pain, swelling and immobility of the joint.

In the study, scientists asked postmenopausal women with RA to engage in a 10-week yoga and meditation regimen. The team found that these participants experienced improvements in mobility and balance, as well as reductions in their perceived pain and depression levels.

Is that all yoga is good for? Not by a long shot, if other studies are any indication. A report appearing in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics found that guided yoga classes helped pregnant women moderate their heart rate variability and reduce stress.

Another study, this one published in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, determined that 12 weeks of yoga exercises may help individuals with hypertension reduce their 24-hour systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Finally, a recently published book, titled How to Use Herbs, Nutrients and Yoga in Mental Healthcare, described the inclusion of yoga and deep breathing in therapies for anxiety, depression or drug abuse.

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15
Jul 11

After giving birth, supermodel does yoga breathing for weight loss

Yoga breathing techniques and stretching exercises have a lot to offer in terms of their ability to help individuals relax, re-energize their bodies and revitalize their minds. As such, people all around the world have looked into yoga breathing, poses and meditation as ways to try to keep themselves healthy and fit.

Take Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr, who recently had a baby with her husband, actor Orlando Bloom. According to Gossip Center, the 28-year-old catwalk-walker has been using yoga to get into postpartum shape.

She is not one to wait around for life to come to her, either. In a recent interview with InStyle Magazine, Kerr – who is a Buddhist and near-daily yoga practitioner – told the source that she repeats a mantra as a way to affirm her calm commitment to living a happy life.

 "I am a healthy, vibrant being of love and light," she said, quoted by the magazine. Kerr noted that she feels "blessed" that she can bring her baby with her to work, essentially mixing family and career.

The model also engages in a rigorous workout schedule. Her trainer, Justin Gelband, told Cleo Australia that he and Kerr run up to five kilometers twice a week, plus much more.

"We go to the gym and will work with either boxing gloves, bands, resistor balls or medicine balls, plus we do some weight work for longer, leaner, sexier legs. Miranda does leg extensions, leg presses and calf raises," he told the news website.

With so much going on at once, Kerr admits to needing yoga to relax and reflect. She recently told Access Hollywood that the holistic mind-body regimen was her secret to maintaining a trim physique during and after pregnancy.

Kerr estimated that she had been doing weekly yoga exercises for more than 10 years, and she shows few signs of slowing down.

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