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Deep Breathing can Help with Weight Loss
Deep breathing delivers many of the benefits of exercise, including facilitating weight loss. But, we are not saying it is not a substitute for exercise! However, it is a great first step and an amazing way to enhance the benefits of any exercise routine. How does deep breathing actually help with weight loss? In short, deep breathing encourages the burning of fat when the body is stressed.
One of the most basic ways to measure fitness is our cardiovascular capacity, or how fast and how much oxygen our heart and lungs can deliver to our cells. Aerobic exercise (walking, running, etc...) has many health benefits, but anaerobic exercise (weight lifting) is especially good at raising the capacity of the cardiovascular system. Deep breathing is seldom thought to be of any help to the cardiovascular system, but it actually is an effective way to aid in raising its capacity to deliver oxygen.
Most people do not realize that stress actually slows down the metabolism in the body. This in turn causes improper digestion, poor nutrient assimilation, and does not allow the body to function at peak levels. When the body is stressed, it begins to release cortisol, a stress hormone. Cortisol triggers the body's response to store fat. However, if cortisol is accompanied by high intensity exercise, it is burned by the body as a fuel, thus actually helping to keep fat off. If you are stressed and are not able to do high intensity exercise, deep breathing will trigger the relaxation response in the body, thus helping to stop the release of cortisol and encourage your body to burn fat.
One of the reasons exercise is good for you is that it ups your heart rate and forces your lungs to take in more oxygen while expelling more carbon dioxide. This gives your heart a good workout and pumps oxygen through the cells of the body. Shallow breathing, which is very difficult to do if you are exercising enough to get your heart rate up, causes a constriction of the chest and lung tissue over time, decreasing oxygen flow and delivery to your tissues.
So deep breathing is not only a fantastic way to manage stress, but also an effective tool for increasing your metabolism. So, practice some deep breaths throughout the day, especially when you are stressed!
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