How to lower your blood pressure breathing

How to lower your blood pressure?

Breathing deeply and slowly can improve your blood flow and regulate your heart rate which leads to blood pressure reduction. Deep breathing encourages the body to intake a greater volume of oxygen, exchanging it for outgoing carbon dioxide.

This exchange slows the heart rate and stabilizes your blood pressure. If you suffer from high blood pressure practicing some simple breathing exercises may help you control your blood pressure to a certain degree in order to avoid invasive treatments or prescription medication.

Deep breathing has been proven so effective that the FDA has approved it as a treatment for both lowering stress levels, and blood pressure. There are many ways to practice deep breathing so we’ll focus on the basics: diaphragmatic breathing (also known as abdominal or belly breathing), alternate nose breathing, and device guided breathing.

To practice, diaphragmatic breathing begins by sitting up straight. Engage your abdominal muscles and breathe in quickly through your nose. Your belly should rise as air flow comes in followed by expansion of the chest. This type of breathing alleviates tension on the chest cavity which decreases the pressure in the part of the chest where the heart and lungs are located.

Exhale slowly, and repeat. This type of breathing is often used in yoga and meditation as in addition to helping regulate blood pressure it is also a great way to relax.

Alternate nose breathing known in Sanskrit as Nadi Shodhana is a yogic pranayama (regulation of breath via certain techniques) which helps the mind become peaceful and calm. You only need a few minutes to practice this technique and receive its benefits which in addition to lowering blood pressure include relief of tension, fatigue, and stress.

To begin alternate nose breathing sit in a comfortable position with the spine straight, and the hips relaxed. Release any tension from your jaw and close your eyes. Place the tip of the index finger and middle finger of the right hand in between the eyebrows with the ring finger and little finger on the left nostril, and the thumb on the right nostril.

Use the ring finger and little finger to open and close the left nostril and use the thumb for the right nostril. As you exhale close the right nostril with your thumb and breathe out through the left nostril.

Then breathe in through the left nostril and close the left nostril with your ring finger upon completion of your exhalation. Continue this practice alternating nostrils and using your fingers to control the alternate nostril breathing for a few minutes. Do not force the breathing or breathe through your mouth. This practice should be relaxing and not strained.

Finally, you can also choose to use a device to help with your breathing techniques; or in addition to your other breathing practices. We, of course, recommend the Expand-A-Lung as it’s easy to use, has both inspiratory and expiratory resistance, and is so compact that it can be used almost anywhere.

As a result of this resistance, the Expand-A-Lung slows your breathing on both the inhale, and the exhale in addition to engaging the diaphragm as you would with the diaphragmatic breathing. As we noted earlier this can improve your blood flow and regulate your heart rate which will help lower your blood pressure.

Any steps you take to lower your blood pressure naturally will have a lasting impact on your health. Find the method that works best for you and make it part of your daily routine. Only a few minutes of deep intentional breathing a day can have a great impact on lowering your blood pressure, reducing stress, and improving your overall health.