If you have asthma, you may not only have trouble breathing, but may also experience wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath. Hypoxia results in insufficient oxygenation of the body's tissues and organs. If you are diagnosed with severe asthma, you may also experience periods of hypoxia. A number of exercises may help improve your condition.
Low Breathing Exercises
A variety of breathing styles and practices found in yoga may help strengthen the lungs and offer better flow of oxygen from the lungs to the blood vessels and tissues. For example, a style of breathing called pranayama offers several different exercises that may benefit asthma sufferers, according to Holistic Online. Practice low breathing techniques, which work the lower portions of the lungs and offer more efficient expansion of lung tissues. This type of breathing is also known as abdominal or diaphragm breathing. When taking deep, steady breaths, try to expand your stomach outward, which works the diaphragm. On the exhale, pull your stomach into your spine. This exercise will help oxygenate the blood.
Complete Breath Exercise
This also is a yoga technique that works all areas of the lung and offers the respiratory system an effective workout. When practicing a complete breath, breathe slowly and steadily. The shoulders, ribs and abdomen lift and expand, offering the lungs room to expand to their fullest capacity. Complete breath exercises can help increase lung volume and function.
Learned Breathing
A number of breathing techniques offered online by the Cooperative Research Centre for Asthma and Airways, based in Australia, may help those diagnosed with asthma or those experiencing hypoxia to reduce their need for inhalers, according to Science Daily website. The CRC involves the combined efforts of two pharmaceutical companies, two medical research institutes and four universities. The breathing techniques are based on research published in 2006. The research determined that those diagnosed with asthma who regularly performed such exercises reduced their reliance on inhalers and medications by more than 85 percent. These techniques include learned reduced breathing, learned physical movement and other forms of exercises that improve lung function and encourage adequate oxygenation of the blood, reducing hypoxia. These techniques include gentle breathing, your awareness of your reduced breathing, a self-check, meaning to inhale and exhale through your nose, relaxed breathing and then an extended delay breath. These methods help you gain more control over your breathing, and increase awareness of how you breathe. Keeping your chest and body muscles relaxed are the focus of such exercises.
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