Conclusion
Five minutes of respiratory muscle training was found to have thefollowing effects.
- Reduces risk of heart attack
- Improves physical ability
- Improves cognitive ability
Respiratory muscle training was developed in the 1980s to strengthenrespiratory muscles in people with lung diseases such as bronchitis,asthma, and emphysema.Simply put, it is a training that makesbreathing easier by training the respiratory muscles.
In fact, the lungs can't expand or contract by themselves.The movementof the muscles around the lungs causes them to expand and contract,allowing us to breathe.
The muscles involved in breathing are collectively called respiratorymuscles.Respiratory muscles include intercostal muscles between theribs and the diaphragm in the abdomen.
As these breathing muscles weaken with age, you may find it difficultto breathe even with a little exercise.
However, by training the respiratory muscles, you can breathedeeply.This allows oxygen to flow through the body, reducing fatigueand increasing concentration.
Let's take a look at some specific training methods.
Tips for practicing this technique
In the research covered this time, a handheld device was used fortraining. But here are two ways you can train without using such adevice.
The first is an exercise that stretches the muscles of the chest.Theprocedure is as follows.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and put your hands on your chest.
- Breathe out slowly.
- After exhaling, slowly inhale from your nose and tilt your head back.
- When you finish breathing in, slowly exhale from your mouth and putyour head back to its original position.
- Let's do this for five minutes.
The next is an exercise to train the diaphragm.The procedure is as follows.
- Lie on your back and put your feet on the chair.
- Put a bath towel under your hips and lift your hips about 10 cm offthe floor.
- Adjust so that your thighs are perpendicular to the floor.
- Keep this position, and take a deep breath for five minutes whiletrying to inflate your chest and stomach at the same time.
These trainings are very easy to do.So if you don't like long, intensetraining, give it a try.
Introduction of the research
| Publication medium | FASB Journal |
|---|---|
| Year the study was published | 2019 |
| Quote source | Craighead et al., 2019 |
Research summary
This study conducted an experiment with a group of patients withobstructive sleep apnea.The researchers asked the subjects to dorespiratory muscle training and followed its effectiveness.As aresult, it was found that breathing strength training of about 5minutes per day for 6 weeks can improve the quality of sleep.And italso improved cognitive ability and reduced blood pressure.Regardingthe effect of lowering blood pressure, it was twice as effective asdoing aerobic exercise.
My view on this research
It's often said that doing 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day lowersblood pressure, but only 5% of people actually follow thisadvice.Meanwhile, 65% of middle-aged and older people suffer from highblood pressure.I think respiratory strength training is very effectiveas a means to bridge this gap.If you don't habitually do aerobicexercise, try this method.