Can Deep Diaphragmatic breathing
help Anxiety related IBS?

In this article I'll show you how Diaphragmatic breathing may be useful for anyone that suffers from IBS related symptoms congruent with anxiety and worry.

Just the simple act of learning to breath correctly and focusing your breath whenever you feel low in energy can do wonders for you.

Article by Kev

Your breathing not only controls the oxygenation of the cells it also controls the flow of the lymph fluid, which contains white blood cells to protect the body. Every cell in your body is surrounded by lymph (You have four times as much lymph fluid in your body as you do blood). Your Blood is pumped from your heart through your arteries to the thin, porous capillaries around your body. The blood carries oxygen and nutrients to these capillaries, where they are then diffused into the fluid around the cells called lymph.

The cells then take oxygen and nutrients necessary for their health and then excrete toxins, some of which go back into the capillaries.

These nasty toxins (including dead cells, blood proteins and other toxic materials) need to be removed and this is where the Lymph system kicks in.

The lymph system is effectively the body's sewage system and it removes all the nasty stuff.

The body's cells depend on the lymph system as the only way to drain and neutralize the large toxic materials and excess fluid, which restrict the amount of oxygen.

How important is the lymph system?
If it were totally shut down for twenty-four hours, you would be dead as a result of trapped blood proteins and excess fluid around the cells. So, It is safe to say that it's 'very important'.

The bloodstream has a pump, your heart. But the lymph system doesn't have one. The only way lymph moves is through deep breathing and muscular movement. So if you want a healthy bloodstream with effective lymph and immune systems, It's advisable to breathe deeply and produce the movements that will stimulate them.

When most adults breathe deeply they tend to breath high and expand their chests.

However, when breathing properly, deep from the diaphragm, your abdomen should extend (This isn't popular with a population that spends most of their time "sucking it in").

If you want to see a great example of how to breathe, all you need to do is watch a small baby. When a baby breathes, its stomach extends.

The diaphragm is the most efficient muscle of breathing. It is a large, dome-shaped muscle located at the base of the lungs.

Your abdominal muscles help move the diaphragm and give you more power to empty your lungs.

Diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing or deep breathing is the act of breathing deep into your lungs by flexing your diaphragm rather than breathing shallowly by flexing your rib cage.

It is a much healthier and fuller way to ingest oxygen, and is often used as a therapy for hyperventilation and anxiety disorders which makes it a great tool for helping anyone with IBS that is triggered by feeling anxious or worrying.

In this position, you cannot help but breathe from the diaphragm.

There are several different ways to breathe, but in your normal daily activities healthy neutral breathing consisting of a 1:1 ratio of breathing in and out is good.

So, for instance, if you breathe in for four counts you would then need to breathe out for four.

Make it part of your day to practise conscious, deep, diaphragmatic breathing and very shortly it will become a habit that you'll no longer have to think about.

Energy
You'll be surprised at how much more energy you'll have. In fact, next time you're really tired, instead of reaching for some coffee, try some really deep breaths instead and you may find a total shift in your energy - very effective and much healthier for you.

Remember that the quality of your health is really the quality of the life of your cells. Thus, fully oxygenating your system would seem to be a number one priority, and diaphragmatic breathing is certainly the place to start.

Alternative method

You should breathe in this ratio: inhale one count, hold for four counts, exhale two counts.

For example, If you inhaled for four seconds, you would hold for sixteen and exhale for eight.

You exhale for twice as long as you inhale because that's when you eliminate toxins via your lymphatic system and you hold for four times as long because that's how you can fully oxygenate the blood and activate your lymphatic system.

When you breathe, you should start deep in your abdomen, like a vacuum cleaner that's getting rid of all the toxins in the blood system.

Try and take ten deep breaths, in the above ratio, at least three times a day. That's one count inhale, four counts hold, two counts exhale.

As you become more comfortable doing this try and see what numbers you can build up to by slowly developing greater Lung capacity (Keeping the same ratio), for example, starting in the abdomen, take a deep breath through your nose while counting to seven (or pick a larger or smaller number based upon your ability).

Hold your breath for a count four times that of your inhalation, or twenty-eight in this example. Then exhale slowly through your mouth for a count two times that length of your inhalation, or fourteen.

You should never strain yourself though.

Conclusion
Take ten of these deep breaths three times a day, and you'll experience a dramatic improvement in the level of your health.

There is no food, supplement or vitamin pill on the planet that can do for you what diaphragmatic breathing can do.

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