Breathing is not as simple as we might think.
Hans / Pixabay – Breathing is not as simple as we might think.

I have a friend who told me recently that he has idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. It is a disease of the lungs. The tissues deep in the lung become hard and scarred. No one knows what causes it. And, no one knows the cure.

Most of us take breathing for granted. Yet, almost everyone of us doesn’t know how to breathe. There is a very simple test to determine your ability and efficiency to breathe. Take a big breath and begin counting out loud in a whisper, starting at one, and go as high as you can go on that one breath.

Most people can count to 50 or 60 before they run out of breath. The first time I tried it (several years ago), I managed to make it to the mid-80’s. Good breathers count to 150 or higher. The world record is 304 on one breath.

What does this mean? It means that you can take in more oxygen with each breath. Oxygen kills bacteria, fungi, and viruses on contact in your bloodstream. People who are superior breathers are never sick a day in their lives, even if they work with sick people all day.

My friend used to run seven miles in an hour many days a week. I loved to run in my earlier life, but not at his pace. His life has changed significantly because he can’t get enough oxygen to do anything more than simple chores. We sit at our computers, hunched over a bit. This does not allow air to get to the lower lobes of our lungs. We are not getting enough oxygen.

We watch a lot of television and remain static in a chair or couch without much movement. Again, not a good scenario for getting that extra oxygen needed for great health.

I recommend that people who want to improve their breathing go to YouTube and find videos of breathing exercises that they can master wherever they might be. Do these exercises several times a day. There are exercises you can do on the couch watching television (especially during commercials), or in your car (at a red light), or at your computer. Put a timer on and do some breathing exercises once an hour for a minute or two. It might help you down the road.

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