The breathing is a function that is taken for granted by everyone, possibly because we all are gifted with an external organ called nose which automatically, with whatever processes involved, keeps inhaling and exhaling and seemingly without any effort. The internal organs of breathing have, except for the knowledge of the diseases of smoking, been largely ignored. Realizing that the control and functioning of all the internal organs, except the breathing, are inaccessible to an average person, it is really surprising that this organ has not attracted as much attention as it deserves, specially in the west. Moreover, the effects of breathing not only extend to organs like the heart but also subtly effect molecular processes through which our body’s energy system is kept in balance.
The physical body of humans, plants or animals comprise tissues and organs which, in turn, are composed of numerous individual living units called cells. These cells (and therefore, in effect, the entire physical body) need a continuous supply of energy. For this, there have to be energy source/s.
The normal thinking is that the food that we eat supplies the energy. However, this is not so. A careful analysis would reveal that food nutrients are useless unless they can be converted into a form of energy that can be used by the cells of the body. All living organisms meet their energy requirements by combining fuel with the oxygen in a slow-burning like furnace operation. The carbohydrates and fats contents in our food supply the fuel and the air that we inhale supplies the oxygen and the two react when they combine they combine. The reaction takes place in sub-units within the cell and the energy released is transferred, through an intricate process, to an energy storage module which has the ability to deliver energy when needed and help in maintaining the chemical reactions necessary for the cells to function normally.
The nose, the wind pipe (trachea), the bronchial system, the tiny little air sacs (alveoli) and the network of capillaries (tiny blood vessels) in the lungs, the circulatory system and their associated muscles play an important role in determining oxygen supply vis-à-vis energy availability to the trillions of cells in our body. To get a visual picture of the anatomy of our lungs, a link to site of Lung Association of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada is provided (please note that you would need to click on the "back" button on the main menu bar of the browser to return to this page and continue to read material on this site).
Furthermore, it is important to realize that i) there is a need for maintaining a balance between the amount of oxygen brought through inhalation to the alveoli and the amount of blood flowing through the network of capillaries, ii) this balance is not automatic due to an uneven distribution of blood in the lungs; for example, in an upright position, there is less blood in the upper part than in the lower part of the lungs. The degree of efficiency of this operation depends on the manner in which we breathe and the reflexes in the lungs.
Also, we need to pay closer attention to the breathing function. A proper understanding of the inhaling and exhaling process would, in turn, help us in understanding the processes necessary for maintaining the ‘balance’ (pointed to above) as well as provide the ingredients towards building an interface between the physical body and the mind, discussed earlier under the activity entitled "Connectivity Issues ....".
To make it simple, let us visualize our physical body and concentrate on the torso which houses the organs in which the air (and therefore the oxygen) that we inhale moves into, as well as the organs which are responsible for distribution of oxygen. The torso is akin to a cylinder in its shape. It can be divided into two main sub-cylindrical components i) the chest cavity (two lungs with heart nestled between them), and ii) the abdomen cavity which comprises the stomach (organs of digestion) and the pelvis area (organs of reproduction and elimination). The chest and abdomen are separated by a sheet of tough but flexible muscle called the diaphragm, which lies horizontally in inverted dome shape between the two cavities. The spinal column, on the back, provides the support to the entire torso. All along the spinal column are muscles which are relatively fixed and somewhat inflexible. Portions of it are linked to the diaphragm muscle. Also, there are sheets of muscles extending form ribs (chest area) to the pelvis area which form the side and front of the chest and the abdomen. These too are linked to the diaphragm muscle. It should be noted here that the diaphragm muscle does not directly touch the lungs in the chest cavity (above); it is, however, intricately connected to both the cavities above and below it through surrounding layers of tissues. Thus if a movement in the diaphragm were to take place, it will get transmitted to the lungs in the upper cavity as well as to the abdominal organs in the lower cavity.
When the structure surrounding the lungs expands it pulls the lungs along with them and an increase in volume occurs in chest cavity. Thereby, suction occurs resulting in pulling the air from the outside atmosphere into the air sacks (alveoli) in lungs through our nose, the wind pipe and the bronchial tree; the inhalation process commences. When the expanded structure normally attempts to revert back to its earlier state it results in contraction of the relevant muscles and the lungs, which are like sponges (they are not muscles as commonly understood), too get squeezed ; the exhalation process now takes effect. The natural elasticity of the lungs aids the effort of surrounding muscles in the subsequent inhalation / exhalation cycle. And, the nature, once again, ushers us into another but related bout of rhythmically occurring dichotomous state; this time it arising out of the perennial process of expansion & contraction / inhalation & exhalation which starts with our life and terminates with the end of our worldly existence.
Continuing to concentrate on the lungs expansion process in the top half of the cylindrical structure surrounding the lungs (chest cavity), let us examine briefly the various areas that come into play in that effort. The expansion process can be effected in one of the three ways i) by moving the top of this cylinder upward (muscles of the upper torso and the neck), ii) by moving the side and front of the cylinder outward (bands of muscles in the rib cage) and iii) by moving the bottom of the cylinder downward (the diaphragm muscle). These three expansion modes are called in medical terminology, the clavicular, the thoracic and the diaphragmatic forms of breathing respectively. The clavicular breathing is common with people who have either developed a bad habit to breathe in this manner or have a lung illness which restrict their ability to draw a deep breath. The thoracic breathing is most commonly used but it too is not helpful and could become a major cause for both the physical and emotional distress; it arouses the sympathetic nervous system, saps energy and dramatically increases susceptibility to emotional disturbances. The diaphragmatic breathing provides for maximum expansion of the chest cavity and increase in its volume. As a consequence during inhalation, not only the maximum amount of air (and hence the oxygen) is sucked into the air sacks in the lungs, but also the abdomen organs get compressed due to downward movement of diaphragm muscle. During the immediately following cycle of exhalation, the compressed organs get released providing thereby a continuous source of exercise to them all. It should be noted that although most of the muscles in the chest cavity participate (due to the interconnected nature of tissues involved), the movement of the diaphragm muscle is more pronounced in this type of breathing. An animated diagram of diaphragmatic breathing movement is provided by the Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Lung Association on their web site; see also http://www.biotopics.co.uk/humans/inhexh.html
Despite the fact that every child is endowed with the nature’s gift of inhaling diaphragmatically, majority of human beings breathe in modes other than diaphragmatic which is unhealthy and should be avoided. For those who do, however, breathe diaphragmatically it should be stressed that they should ensure that the abdominal muscles are not tense in any situation. They normally get tensed due to either the emotional stress or bad habit formation or both. The natural process of diaphragmatic breathing is then seriously effected. Unawareness of diaphragmatic breathing processes puts additional constraint in resurrecting the situation. Forced to live with this delicate situation, our innate intelligent system attempts to search for an alternative and ends up in breathing in one of the other two modes which is unhealthy as well as harmful.
But then how does one go about correcting the situation and / or engage in diaphragmatic breathing. This topic, with some illustrative exercises, is covered under the activity entitled "Breathing Part 2" which can be selected by moving into the Activity panel on the left of this page.
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