The Hygiene of Deep Breathing by W. J. Cromie

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 11, 1913

The Hygiene of Deep Breathing

By W. J. Cromie

W. J. CROMIE

Deep breathing highly oxygenates the blood and eliminates waste products from the body. There is an exchange of gases which takes place between the capillaries and the tissues, in which the blood from the lungs parts with its oxygen, and absorbs carbon dioxide, which is thrown out in the breath.

The brain is affected by deep breathing, as is shown by its tendency to cause giddiness, but this feeling soon wears off in those who cultivate the habit.

W. Marcet, M. D., F. R. S., says that deep breathing increases the power of sustained nervous effort. He claims that a man who in ordinary breathing lifted a weight of four pounds two hundred and three times in succession, after a rest and deep breathing for two minutes lifted the same weight seven hundred times.

Deep breathing quiets the nerves, and is useful in neurasthenia, as it increases the will-power. When troubled with insomnia, I have secured sleep by going to an open window and taking deep breaths for five minutes. I know of many others whom the same treatment helped.

Deep breathing will very often relieve constipation and indigestion, due to the vigorous rise and fall of the diaphragm. Add to this the influence of powerfully oxygenated blood, and the intestines perform their peristaltic movements, which are necessary for digestion, with more energy.

Exercise is especially effective in relieving

constipation. In medical gymnastics deep-breathing exercises are used in anemia, nervous and digestive disorders, and disorders of the circulation.

In deep-breathing exercises we should aim for the following results: to strengthen the muscles of ordinary breathing, as the diaphragm; to strengthen the extra muscles of breathing, such as those of the shoulders, arms, and back; to preserve and increase the elasticity of the lungs, to develop evenly all their parts, to heighten permanently their capacity. Still other objects should be to expand the chest, to deepen the ordinary breathing and reduce its rate, and to stimulate the circulation of the blood.

There are thousands of air-cells in the lungs that ordinarily are inactive, and are used only in the act of deep breathing. If one persists in deep breathing for some time, these dormant cells eventually associate in the ordinary act of breathing. As without breathing one ceases to exist, so in proportion as one fails to breathe deeply one fails to live properly.