CO2 important for human health: Who knew? Scientists—Part Two
By Dr. Jay Lehr |June 27th, 2022|Science
I believe this topic is so important that I will make it a bit personal at least anecdotally from my experience. I am sure exceptional health which has followed me for 85 years till the China virus interfered for a few weeks, has been the result of a great deal of exercise, a good diet, and good genes. However, my reading of two books (mentioned below) taught me how unwittingly lucky I have been to have adopted two extremely healthy habits: 1- breathing through my nose primarily rather than my mouth, 2- breathing at the unusually low rate of 6 breaths per minute. In part one of this series, I explained how rapid mouth breathing depletes the carbon dioxide in your body. The healthiest range of carbon dioxide in your body is 30 to 40 mmHg (millimeters of mercurial pressure) which relates to a variety of increased health problems if one is far off this range. I take no credit for having unknowingly found myself doing this as far back as I can remember.
Although breathing is an involuntary action and we don’t usually give it much thought, the way we breath has an enormous impact on our health. We normally pay it no attention unless something goes wrong. Todays experts tell us that during rest, light movement such as walking and yoga, should make breathing almost imperceptible, never noticeable. Healthy breathing should be through the nose driven by the diaphragm. It should be regular, quiet, slow, and almost undetectable. Unhealthy or dysfunctional breathing involves breathing through the mouth, using the upper chest, irregularly and audible. Many large studies show that nearly 60% of people do breathe through their mouths.
Slow breathing practices have been adopted in many areas of the world due to their claimed health benefits. This has piqued the interest of researchers and clinicians who have initiated investigations into the physiological (and psychological) effects of slow breathing techniques and attempted to uncover the underlying mechanisms.
https://www.cfact.org/2022/06/27/co2-important-for-human-heal-who-knew-scientists-part-two-slow-breathing/
