Today, humanity has invented many alternatives. modern medicine... Such methods of prevention and treatment of various pathological conditions compete with drug therapy. One of the most famous world practices of this kind is yoga. Those people who practice similar techniques who came to us from deep antiquity, are distinguished by excellent health, and also live in complete harmony with their body. One of the most famous yoga remedies for healing the body is holding the breath, which is also called Kumbhaka. Let's talk about how kumbhaka breath holding is carried out, the benefits and harms of the technique, which technique is performed, and how the breath holding treatment is carried out.
It is necessary to clarify right away that you should not start the practice of holding your breath without mastering the simpler elements of yoga, for example, asana and Shatkarma. In addition, such a means of treatment and prevention can be used only after cleaning the body. Experts advise to achieve these preconditions together, in which case you will get the truly desired result.
So it is worth starting to practice pranayama only one and a half years after the systematic practice of asanas. During this time, a person learns to achieve a certain level of mental relaxation.
Why is holding the breath kumbhaka valued? Benefit
The main effect on the body using kumbhak is achieved through the respiratory centers, which are designed to adapt the body's breathing to various changes external and internal type... If the environment of a person or his psychological condition changes, the rhythm of breathing changes immediately. This effect is achieved automatically. In this case, the respiratory center has a direct relationship with the nervous system, as well as with the vagus nerve and cerebral center. All these parts of our body are responsible for regulating the functional activity of our internal organs... Accordingly, learning to consciously change the rhythm of breathing enables a person to consciously control the functions of all parts of his body. Thus, such practices give us the ability to control the work of the body. From our desire, the liver can begin to heal, stabilization nervous system, and even smoothing out wrinkles on the face.
Kumbhaka treatment
With the help of holding the breath while performing pranayama exercises, a person activates the vagus nerve, and he already begins to influence the state of the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. The vagus nerve is the tenth pair of cranial nerves. It is he who innervates the pharynx and larynx, trachea and lungs. In addition, he is responsible for the activity of the heart, esophagus, stomach, small intestine... It is on the activity of the vagus nerve that the functioning of the spleen and kidneys depends, as well as blood vessels... Also, this part of our body protects the body from the aggressive effects of overexcitation.
Kumbhaka has a stimulating effect on the vagus nerve, promoting salivation and sweating, decreasing heart rate and slowing down the pulse. Holding your breath helps to optimize intestinal motility and glandular activity. In addition, this practice perfectly restores nervous balance, so it will be especially useful for neurasthenics.
With a conscious breath holding, an increase in the vitality of the body cells is observed, in addition, such an exercise has a stimulating effect on all metabolic processes in the body and helps to increase the amount of energy synthesized by our body.
How is breath holding kumbhaka performed? Execution technique
Holding the breath can be performed both on exhalation and on inhalation - with filled or empty lungs. Kumbhaka available to all lasts from three to twenty seconds. This exercise helps to increase the absorption of the inhaled air. This kind of breath holding can be practiced anywhere and is not harmful to your health at all. Longer kumbhakas should be performed at first only with a teacher, while the effect of such practices will be more noticeable, but they have certain contraindications for implementation.
The exercises are best performed on an empty stomach, while it is best for you to wear loose and comfortable clothing, before breathing exercises, you need to do a cycle of asanas. During pranayama you should not experience any unpleasant sensations.
Who is in danger of holding the breath kumbhaka? Harm to the body
Short breath holdings are completely incapable of harming a person. However, it should be borne in mind that this practice is completely incompatible with the consumption of alcohol and other substances that cause intoxication of the body. It is worth giving up alcohol, tobacco, and meat food at least a couple of days before starting the exercises. It should also be borne in mind that pranayama is categorically not recommended for people suffering from various mental disorders.
Doctors advise against practicing kumbhaka for problems with the heart and lungs, as well as in the presence of irregularities in the activity of the glands. internal secretion... In addition, you should not start performing breath holdings if you have recently suffered serious illness or are now unwell. Certain practices are also categorically contraindicated in women who are expecting a baby.
Thus, holding your breath can effectively heal the body in the very different ages and representatives of different sexes. This technique has been successfully used for more than five centuries in India, and now has many followers around the world.
A healthy lifestyle, an athletic body and the development of physical abilities have never lost their relevance, and now they are even more firmly in fashion. Someone buys exercise equipment, learns to dance or swim, while others develop more unusual skills, such as holding their breath. Benefit or harm - what will be more from this interesting technique?
Controlling inhalation and exhalation is required during many exercises. When lifting heavy weights, diving, or preparing for a long-distance run, you also need to be able to use techniques such as holding your breath.
The benefit or harm to the body is contained in this procedure - it is still a matter of controversy. Some experts argue that stopping exhalation or inhalation, even for a short period of time, leads to oxygen starvation and causes irreversible brain damage. Others remind that respiratory control is an indispensable skill in such cases as:
- yoga classes. Holding the breath in this practice is one of the most important techniques and is called "kumbaha";
- breathing practices. Holotropic and three-phase breathing, bodyflex, rebirthing, viving and many other systems include periodic cessation of inhalation and exhalation;
- diving. For professionals constantly diving in great depth One of the key skills is precisely holding the breath underwater. Exercise allows you not only to focus your thoughts and calm down, but also to significantly increase your lung capacity.
Whatever your hobby - spearfishing, pearl fishing, holotropic breathing or yoga, the ability to do without air is a pretty useful skill. However, only if the exercises for holding the breath are performed exclusively consciously and in accordance with all the rules.
Human capabilities
It is believed that a common person able to stop the respiratory process for a period of 30 seconds to 1 minute. This period of time for holding the breath is normal, and any attempt to increase it can cause dizziness or fainting.
However, there are situations when it is necessary to hold out without oxygen for much longer than a minute. So experienced swimmers, divers and pearl divers develop the skill of holding their breath under water for at least 3-5 minutes, and yoga practitioners may not breathe at all for at least half an hour. And this despite scientific evidence that in 5-7 minutes of oxygen deprivation human brain dies!
Such results can only be achieved through persistent training. Moreover, it is necessary to engage first on land and only then practice the exercise in the water. In order to perfectly master the technique of stopping breathing, it is necessary to take into account several important conditions:
- absence overweight... It is necessary to get rid of extra pounds so that the body needs less oxygen;
- mastering meditative techniques. Complete relaxation and the ability to control your thoughts slows down the heartbeat and eliminates anxiety. Only in this state does a person consume less oxygen;
- saturation of the lungs. There are many different techniques, allowing to saturate this organ with oxygen and even increase their volume. Such exercises will help to increase the time for holding your breath, because you will be able to inhale much more.
Regular exercise, giving up bad habits and mastering breathing technician allow completely ordinary people to achieve truly impressive results. The world record for stopping breathing underwater belongs to Tom Sitas. The 35-year-old German managed to hold out without oxygen for 22 minutes and 22 seconds. Tom managed to achieve an amazing result, which was included in the Guinness Book of Records, thanks to many years of training. The German was able to increase the volume own lungs by 20 percent.
The benefits of holding your breath
There are several ways to stop the respiratory process, and each of them brings its own benefits to the body:
- for 20 seconds, the breath is held while exhaling. The benefits and harms of such an exercise, according to experts, are far from equal. It is believed that such training has no contraindications and allows each cell of the body to optimally absorb oxygen;
- delay for up to 90 seconds on exhalation. Prolonged cessation of the respiratory process stimulates metabolic processes, improves digestion, regulates the work of sweat glands and fills the entire body vital energy... Exercise is especially useful for "rebooting" the nervous system and restoring mental balance;
- holding your breath for more than 90 seconds. Taking an inhalation method helps to cleanse, renew the body and activate it. hidden opportunities... It is believed that being without oxygen during this time allows you to learn how to control your mind.
It is important to remember that doing breathing exercises must necessarily take place under the guidance of an experienced specialist. Only in this case, training will be absolutely safe for health and will bring maximum benefit to the body.
The harm of holding your breath
Is the lack of oxygen always good for the body? This should definitely be found out, having set the goal of perfectly mastering such a technique as holding the breath. The benefit or harm will be the result of training - it directly depends on the state of human health.
Mastering a new skill can be harmful in the following cases:
- the presence of bad habits;
- severe diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
- serious mental disorders;
- diseases of the organs of the endocrine system;
- rehabilitation period after a serious illness;
- pregnancy.
Despite the presence of some contraindications, the health benefits of breathing exercises are undeniable. According to scientists, it is during such exercises that the body actively produces stem cells - the most important material for the "construction" of all our organs. Spiritual teachers assert that, having mastered your own breath, you can find peace of mind and prolong life by at least 10-20 years.
Influence of hypoxic loads on the body of a diver.
Introduction
Everyone knows that sports, unlike physical education, are unhealthy. As a person who has decided to take up his favorite hobby more seriously - diving while holding his breath, I wondered if I could keep the line that goes between health-improving effect physical education and the destructive effects of sports. The first thing that came to mind to attend to - is not holding the breath harmful in itself. Especially when you start to practice it so often. The study of this issue is devoted to the abstract.
Hypoxia
Let's start with the definition. Hypoxia - oxygen deficiency - a condition that occurs when there is an insufficient supply of oxygen to the tissues of the body or a violation of its use in the process of biological oxidation. The compensatory reaction of the body is an increase in the level of hemoglobin in the blood. The trigger for the development of hypoxia is associated with hypoxemia - a decrease in the oxygen content in arterial blood.
A healthy body may be in a state of hypoxia if the demand for oxygen (oxygen demand) is higher than the ability to satisfy it. The most common causes of this condition are:
2. temporary cessation or weakening of pulmonary ventilation when diving to different depths;
3. an increase in oxygen demand when performing muscular work.
In the first two situations, with a preserved or even reduced demand for oxygen, the possibility of obtaining it decreases, while when performing muscle work, the possibilities for providing oxygen lag behind the growing demand associated with increased consumption energy.
Oxygen is necessary for the processes of oxidative phosphorylation, that is, for the synthesis of ATP, and its deficiency disrupts the course of all processes in the body that depend on energy ATP: operation of membrane pumps transporting ions against a gradient, synthesis of mediators and high-molecular compounds - enzymes, hormone receptors and mediators. If this happens in the cells of the central nervous system, the normal course of the processes of excitation and transmission of the nerve impulse becomes impossible and disruptions in the nervous regulation of body functions begin.
Lack of oxygen stimulates the body to use additional, anaerobic energy sources - the breakdown of glycogen to lactic acid. The energy yield of ATP is small in this case. In addition, there are troubles in the form of acidification. internal environment the body with lactic acid and other under-oxidized metabolites. The shift in pH further worsens the conditions for the activity of high-molecular structures that are capable of functioning in a narrow pH range and quickly lose activity with an increase in the concentration of H + ions.
Staying high, doing physical work, diving to different depths is a normal element of the existence of many higher organisms, which indicates the possibility of adaptation to the hypoxic conditions arising in these cases.
Aerobic and anaerobic energy production pathways
Even 600 million years ago, oxygen practically did not exist on Earth. Organisms received energy through the breakdown of glucose through the so-called glycolysis. But this anoxic (anaerobic) way of producing energy is too inefficient. About 400 years ago, thanks to the advent of photosynthesis, there was already about 2% oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. Organisms gradually switch to the production of energy through the breakdown of glucose with oxygen - this is the so-called oxidative phosphorylation (aerobic pathway). This mechanism becomes basic in most animals and humans. It accounts for about 90% of all energy received by the body, glycolysis for about 10%. At the same time, the ancient way of obtaining energy - anaerobic glycolysis - is preserved as a reserve and during certain conditions(during training) is activated.
Today, there is already 21% (!) Oxygen in the atmosphere. As you can see, this is much more than it was at the dawn of the formation of Life. Some experts believe that even a third of this amount would be enough for the body to function normally.
It is noteworthy that the development of the organism repeats the main stages of the development of Life. A fertilized egg in the first days is in an almost oxygen-free environment - oxygen is simply destructive for it. And only with the implantation and formation of placental blood circulation, the aerobic method of energy production gradually begins to be implemented.
Minimum glucose requirements ( Main way utilization of glucose) have all tissues, but in some of them (for example, brain tissue, erythrocytes) these needs are very significant. Glycolysis occurs in all cells. This is a unique pathway because it can use oxygen if it is available (aerobic conditions), but it can also take place in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic conditions).
Already on early stages studying the metabolism of carbohydrates, it was found that the fermentation process in yeast is in many ways similar to the breakdown of glycogen a in muscle. Studies of the glycolytic pathway were carried out on these two systems.
When studying biochemical changes in the course of muscle contraction, it was found that when muscles function in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment, glycogen disappears and pyruvate and lactate appear as the main end products. If oxygen is then supplied, "aerobic recovery" is observed: glycogen is formed and pyruvate and lactate disappear. When muscles work under aerobic conditions, the accumulation of lactate does not occur, and pyruvate is further oxidized, turning into CO2 and H2O. Under anaerobic conditions, reoxidation of NADH by transferring reductive equivalents to the respiratory chain and then to oxygen cannot occur. Therefore, NADH reduces pyruvate to lactate. Reoxidation of NADH by the formation of lactate allows glycolysis to proceed in the absence of oxygen, since NAD + is supplied, which is necessary for the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase reaction. Thus, in tissues functioning under hypoxic conditions, the formation of lactate is observed (Pentose phosphate pathway, glycolysis, gluconeogenesis: metabolic map). This is especially true for skeletal muscle, the intensity of which, within certain limits, does not depend on the supply of oxygen. The resulting lactate can be found in tissues, blood and urine. Glycolysis in erythrocytes, even under aerobic conditions, always ends with the formation of lactate, since these cells lack mitochondria containing the enzymatic systems of aerobic oxidation of pyruvate. Mammalian erythrocytes are unique in that about 90% of their energy needs are provided by glycolysis. In addition to skeletal muscle and red blood cells, a number of other tissues (brain, gastrointestinal tract, renal medulla, retina and skin) normally partially use the energy of glycolysis and form lactic acid. The liver, kidneys, and heart usually utilize lactate, but form it under hypoxic conditions.
Free radicals
According to modern concepts, about 2% of all oxygen supplied to the body is converted into free radicals - aggressive scraps of molecules that destroy the body. Installed in huge amount experiments that free radicals take away more than a dozen years of our life and provoke the most dangerous diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, brain disease, etc. Of all the factors that destroy the body, damage to it by free radicals is usually put in first place. Free radicals oxidize the body, in other words, contribute to its souring. (Even Lomonosov and Lavoisier compared breathing with combustion.) Some scientists formulate this way: aging is souring. As if everything is logical: the less oxygen enters the body, the less free radicals, the slower the souring, the longer life... With the help of the most powerful substances that neutralize free radicals, it was possible to prolong the life of animals by 60%.
Adaptation
the main task Life - to adapt, in other words, to adapt to environment... Obviously, nature should have taken care of this and endowed organisms with the appropriate mechanisms. And there is such a universal mechanism. It consists in the following.
Suppose some harmful destructive effect has been committed on the body and destructive changes have taken place in the body. In response to this, recovery processes are launched in it. But the wisdom of nature lies in the fact that after full recovery of the destroyed function, the so-called overrecovery takes place. That is, the body becomes even more resistant for some time than it was before.
It is on this principle that, for example, the physical training of athletes is based. Physical activity leads to a certain destruction of the structures of muscle or other cells, after which, during rest, the destroyed structures are restored first to the norm, and then above the norm. If each subsequent workout is performed at the moment of overrecovery, then the athlete will constantly progress. It is very important to note that each function of the body responds to stress in a different way. So, athletes usually need to train several times a week; highly trained daily and more than once. The intensity of the exercise is also extremely important. If it is small, sufficient destruction in the body will not occur, then overrecovery and an increase in the body's resistance will not occur either. If the load is too high, then there will be a so-called failure of adaptation with grave consequences for the organism.
It is noteworthy that all body functions are subject to the principle of super-recovery. Longevity advocates, for example, may be interested in this fact. Physicists from the Pushchino Center performed a one-time irradiation of young mice with a certain dose of radiation. In response to radiation, the mice showed some surge of mutations in DNA molecules. However, over time, the condition of the animals returned to normal. Then they became healthier than usual: they were sick less, in particular with cancer, and their life expectancy increased markedly.
So, our body, in response to a harmful destructive effect, responds with an adaptive reaction, which makes it more resistant to this effect, and sometimes not only to it, but also to some others. In the first case, we are dealing with a specific adaptation, in the second with non-specific or general adaptation.
Using the body's ability to adapt wisely, we can make our body stronger, more resilient, healthy, and significantly increase life expectancy! The ability to adapt to hypoxia (lack of oxygen) occupies one of the first places here.
Adaptive strategies
If you are aware of the effects that it gives, I'm happy for you. If not, then I'm doubly glad, it's worth a try.
I will not give links, you can find articles on breath holding, oxygen gologing, etc. in the search engine yourself.
Actually, a little about my yesterday's experience. For a long time I have been thinking about purchasing the Samozdrav device.
It allows you to qualitatively improve breathing. Who cares, again, you can easily find it in Yandex.
I know that the device is configured to minimize the number of breaths, which ultimately increases
oxygen assimilation level.
Actually, few people breathe correctly. For singers, due to a long exhalation when singing, by the way,
higher life expectancy. So sing to your health! Which is what I do myself.
So, I'm in the carriage and I think I can do something like this without a device. There was a thought
and how much I can withstand without air.
Zasyok, it turned out to be 1 minute. Frankly, I was disappointed.
While driving home, I held my breath several times.
As a result, after half an hour, it withstood 2 minutes and 10 seconds.
Today it is already 2 minutes 30 seconds.
It turned out that this is not so difficult.
But the most interesting thing was that the feeling of hunger that I had at that time was gone.
And the thought came to me that correct breathing(those. high level assimilation of air)
allows you to eat less corny. This is the secret of the pranoids, "there is how to breathe."
There is no way to solve the matter with just quantity, but everyone can qualitatively improve the process.
The same yoga masters take 2-4 breaths per minute. And we are usually 15-18.
In general, I began to dig on the Internet and found confirmation of my thoughts.
Did you know that the record for holding your breath is 19 minutes 21 seconds (Peter Cola).
I would never have thought that this is possible.
And for trained divers, inhalation is enough for 5-7 minutes.
Again, professional athletes live less than the average person.
they pump their lungs with a huge volume of air.
There is less oxygen in the mountains and people live much longer.
And it's not a secret that conditionally for an average person you can always live without shelter and clothes,
without food - 2-3 months, without water - well, let it endure a week. But without breathing ...
How much can you do?
Subtracted that if 1 minute, then this is normal. If 2 or more, then overall health is excellent.
Well, whoever has less than a minute, and even more so 30 seconds, then take care of yourself urgently!
So you come to the conclusion what is really more important for the body. So study the topics
spend 20 minutes of your life, maybe extend it for decades.
Respectfully, Love and Joy!
