Breathing, Fitness and Peak Performance

Like many other bodily functions, breathing is usually a subconscious process, even when you exercise and the rate of motivation increases.  Breathing patterns can influence your energy levels, your inability to concentrate, the ability to achieve peak performance and, ultimately, your health.

In this post, I’m going cover some basics of breathing…maybe to exasperation.  I’ll also cover a number of breathing techniques that you can use to clam down, get excited and improve your mental strength.

Breathing 101

• Upon inhaling, the diaphragm contracts and moves downward. Simultaneously, the small intercostals’ muscles pull the ribs up and out, which together results in an increase in volume in the thoracic cavity.  This in turn causes a decrease in the pressure within the chest, and due to the pressure rise, air naturally flows from the area of high pressure to the area of low pressure in the chest.

• Air is drawn in through the nostrils and mouth, travels down the larynx (voice box) and the trachea (windpipe), which divides into 2 bronchial tubes that in turn subdivide to feed the lobes of the lungs – which is where the air eventually ends up.

• As we exhale, the whole process is reversed, beginning with the diaphragm and the intercostals’ muscles relaxing.  That leads to rib cage returning to its original size, which increases the pressure within and therefore, forces the air out.

• The sinuses, the cavities in the bones of the skull that are connected to the nose and cilia (nasal hairs), help to regulate temperature.  By warming the air and making it more have palatable, the sinuses ensure we are able to continue breathing even in the coldest climates.  The cilia, which are covered and sticky mucus, play a very important role in acting as a filter to attract germs and foreign particles as they enter within the inhaled air.  The saliva performs the same role as we breathe through the mouth.

• The lungs are slightly lopsided, with the right-side comprised of 3 balloon-like lobes and the left-side made up of only 2 lobes.  The bronchial tubes split further, into bronchioles, and at the end of these are tiny air sacks known as alveoli. Blood enters the lungs through the pulmonary arteries, which split into smaller arterioles and then into the capillaries that formed a network around the alveoli.

• In the alveoli, oxygen is taken up by the red blood cells and carbon dioxide is released into the air to be expelled.  Exercise depletes oxygen in the venous blood and enhances oxygen exchange at the alveoli. Therefore, blood flow through the lungs is fairly sluggish when we’re at rest but may triple during exercise.

• When we breathed out, water is removed along with carbon dioxide, which is a waste product that results from your body breaking down glucose to generate energy.  The oxygenated blood then flows out of the alveolar capillaries, through the venules, and back to the heart to the pulmonary veins.  Then, the heart pumps the oxygen-rich blood through the arteries to deliver this vital fuel throughout the body.

• When we exercise, carbon dioxide builds up, so the body’s response is to elevate the rate and increase the depth of breathing in order to remove it.  Otherwise, the blood could become more acidic, which creates an environment that will inhibit the chemical reaction that produces energy.  Upon stopping exercise, the cadence slows in line with the decreasing levels of carbon dioxide until breathing returns to normal.

• In fact, it’s the need to remove carbon dioxide that drives the breathing mechanism – rather than the need to take in oxygen.  This is a wholly automatic function, with the brain sending messages through the thoracic nerves to activate the respiratory muscles.  However, when it comes to voluntary efforts to change breathing – perhaps to sing, for example – the cerebral cortex of the brain takes over.

• When feeling stressed, the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated, which leads to tightness in the respiratory muscles.  As a result, chest expansion is restricted, and shallow breathing becomes more apparent and a little more rapid.  This is referred to as hyperventilation, or chest breathing, and it’s inefficient because it results in losing too much carbon dioxide.  That’s why you’re told to take deep breaths when you’re stressed to breathe deeper down into the lungs we get a better exchange gasses.

Breathing Exercises For Peak Performance

Even if you don’t have a lung disorder, breathing exercises can contribute to your health, well-being and help achieve peak performance.

From the world of martial arts to sport psychology and from remedial therapy to yoga, there is a collection of exercise you can try that can be applied to everyday situations.

You can practice the following breathing exercise at home, and you can do most of them anywhere and in any position.

Cleansing Breath

The purpose of a cleansing breath is to expel carbon dioxide, which is a toxin, and to release tension in the sinuses.  Start with your mouth gently closed.  Inhale deeply; being sure that your stomach is rising.  Then, exhale quickly, causing a quick contraction through the diaphragm – forcefully drive the air out through the nose.  Through this technique, your in-breath will much longer than your out-breath.  You should be sitting up straight and tall, dropping your shoulders down.

Energizing Breath

The second technique is a great exercise for energizing yourself; it’s a great exercise do first thing in the morning.  Start by sitting in a comfortable position with a long spine.  If you’re sitting in a chair, you want to sit down towards the end of the chair.  Keep your mouth closed, breathing in and out through your nose only.  Breathe quickly – at a rate of about 2 to 3 breaths per second.  You may feel a little bit of muscle stress at the base your neck, in the chest, or maybe even in the abdomen, that’s good because you’re taxing the respiratory muscles, and over time they will strengthen.  However, avoid the risk of hyperventilating by doing this for only about 5 seconds.

Ujjayi Breath

Next is an exercise that should give you mental strength and courage and can also improve the endurance and efficiency of your nervous and digestive systems.  If you have attended a yoga class, you may be familiar with the technique called Ujjayi breath.  Start with your mouth closed.  Inhale slowly through your nose, but then close the glottis by lifting the back of your tongue to the roof of your mouth.  When you exhale, again through your nose, you’ll find that there’s a little vibration, and the key is to focus on the vibration and the noise.

Working Out

The great thing about your breath is that you can use it when you’re working out by exhaling on the effort, which will give extra energy to your movement and allow you to perform better and potentially reach your personal peak performance.  With any type of exercise that involves resistance, the exertion, which is the hardest part of the exercise – when you’re lifting weights or lift your body against gravity – is when you should breath out intensely.

Summary

As with any exercise, breathing exercises improve with practice.  There exists an abundance of research on breathing exercises, and it’s clear that mastering them can enhance the parasympathetic nervous system, improve cardiac function, decrease the effects of stress, and improve your mental strength as well as your physical health.

So go head and give it a go…incorporate these techniques into your day to day routine.

There are other great techniques and process to help you reach peak performance in any sport in Mental Strength Training for Athletes.

Reference: Physiology and Fitness – The Great Courses.