Can abdominal breathing help you lose weight? The difference between abdominal breathing and chest breathing

Everyone should know that there are many kinds of breathing methods. Since everyone has different habits from childhood to adulthood, the breathing methods they use are also different. So can abdominal breathing achieve the purpose of slimming the waist?

Can.

Abdominal breathing helps to tighten the transverse abdominal muscles. If you stick to it for a long time, you can lose excess fat on your waist and abdomen. Abdominal breathing is advocated in yoga weight loss because yoga breathing methods such as abdominal and chest breathing can affect the control of the human brain nerves on the desire to eat, prevent overeating, especially those greasy foods and meat foods with more fat, thereby achieving the effect of weight loss. Therefore, weight loss requires changing the way of breathing and slowly forming a habit, so that the excess fat on the belly and waist will slowly disappear.

1. Different breathing methods

Thoracic breathing mainly involves the movement of the ribs and sternum, and the front-to-back and left-to-right diameters of the thorax increase when inhaling. Since air directly enters the lungs during breathing, the chest cavity expands and the abdomen remains flat.

Abdominal breathing is mainly based on diaphragm movement. When inhaling, the upper and lower diameters of the thorax increase. Normal thoracic breathing takes about 10-15 seconds and can inhale about 500 ml of air. During abdominal breathing, the diaphragm will drop and abdominal pressure will increase. It feels like air is entering the abdomen directly. If you put your hand on your belly button at this time, you will feel your hand slightly lifted up and down.

2. Different training for the lungs

During chest breathing, only the alveoli in the upper part of the lungs are working, while the alveoli in the middle and lower lobes, which account for four-fifths of the whole lungs, are "resting". Over the years, the middle and lower lobes are not exercised and are not used for a long time, which can easily cause the lobes to age, lose elasticity, and have poor respiratory function. They cannot obtain sufficient oxygen and cannot meet the oxygen needs of various tissues and organs, which affects the body's metabolism, reduces the body's resistance, and is prone to respiratory diseases, especially in autumn and winter, when the elderly are prone to pneumonia when they occasionally catch a cold. Degenerative diseases of the lungs often invade the middle and lower lobes of the elderly, which is closely related to the long-term disuse of the middle and lower lobes caused by chest breathing. Therefore, chest breathing is not good for the health of the lungs.

Abdominal deep breathing is a good way to strengthen the lungs. It not only makes up for the defects of chest breathing, but also exercises the alveoli of the middle and lower lobes of the lungs during ventilation, thereby delaying aging, maintaining good elasticity, and preventing lung fibrosis. Doing abdominal deep breathing exercises can allow the body to obtain sufficient oxygen, meet the brain's demand for oxygen, and make people energetic. Abdominal breathing exercises are excellent regulators of the gastrointestinal tract, can promote gastrointestinal motility, facilitate digestion, speed up the discharge of feces, and prevent diseases such as habitual constipation in the elderly. Many middle-aged and elderly people have big bellies, which are very likely to cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, etc., which damage their health and shorten their lifespan. If you insist on doing abdominal deep breathing, you can exercise your abdominal muscles, eliminate fat accumulated in the abdomen, and prevent the occurrence of various metabolic diseases.

The method of abdominal breathing is actually very simple. When we inhale, the belly expands, and when we exhale, the belly contracts. When breathing, the chest should not be opened, and air should be inhaled through the abdomen. When inhaling, feel the abdomen pull inward and upward, inhale fully and then exhale deeply. Although you may not be used to it at first, once you get used to it, it will help stimulate gastrointestinal motility and promote the discharge of waste in the body. On the other hand, it can also make the airflow smooth and increase lung capacity.

1. It can increase the range of motion of the diaphragm, and the movement of the diaphragm directly affects the ventilation volume of the lungs.

Studies have shown that for every centimeter the diaphragm descends, the lung ventilation volume can increase by 250 to 300 ml. Persisting in abdominal breathing for half a year can increase the range of diaphragm activity by four centimeters. This is very beneficial to the improvement of lung function and is one of the important rehabilitation methods for senile emphysema and other lung ventilation disorders.

2. Expand lung capacity and improve cardiopulmonary function. It can expand the chest to the maximum extent, allowing the alveoli in the lower part of the lungs to expand and contract, allowing more oxygen to enter the lungs and improve cardiopulmonary function.

3. Reduce lung infections, especially reduce the possibility of pneumonia.

4. It can improve the function of abdominal organs. It can improve the function of the spleen and stomach, soothe the liver and promote bile secretion. Abdominal breathing can lower blood pressure by reducing abdominal pressure, which is very beneficial for patients with hypertension.

5. Soothes the mind and improves intelligence.

6. Abdominal breathing can effectively eliminate excess abdominal fat and is the preferred exercise method for beauty-loving women.