First & Most Vital Nutrient for Lives

I mean Oxygen.

It's no doubt that humans and many other animals on the planet earth rely on the air (especially the oxygen within) to live.

It is so vital that normally no-one would able to live without oxygen for more than 5 minutes.

However, oxygen is NOT defined as a nutrient alone traditionally. Yet, despite of the oxygen gas, oxygen occurs in a wide variety of compounds, such as protein, lipids, carbohydrates, water, oxides, etc.

Learning to breathe more efficiently is the upper most important task leading all of us to the state of both physical and mental well-being. And that’s no wonder why exercises like Yoga and Qi-Gong emphasize on breathing techniques.

The basis of those techniques is “Diaphragmatic Breathing” (also known as Abdominal Breathing, Belly Breathing, etc.)! It’s a manner of deep natural breathing in humans, in which the lungs expand due to the lowering of the diaphragm rather than the expansion of the chest. (Reference: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diaphragmatic_breathing)

A common diaphragmatic breathing exercise is as follows:

1. Sit or lie comfortably, with loose garments.
2. Put one hand on your chest and one on your stomach.
3. Slowly inhale through your nose or through pursed lips (to slow down the intake of breath).
4. As you inhale, feel your stomach expand with your hand.
5. Slowly exhale through pursed lips to regulate the release of air.
6. Rest and repeat.

(Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphragmatic_breathing)

Let’s integrate this breathing exercise into your daily life, and hope this would help to improve your health in any manner. See you next week! ^^


P/S: For those who have breathing problems (e.g. COPD), please inquire your doctor and get regular medical treatment.