When anxiety comes in, in addition to becoming more breathless, the muscles in your chest tighten. Using proper diaphragmatic breathing can go a long way in helping you avoid a situation such as this. If you have COPD you must breathe as efficiently as possible, using the muscle that was designed to do most of the work, instead of huffing and puffing with just the tops of your lungs, moving very little air and getting so tired out just breathing.
Diaphragmatic (Belly or Abdominal) Breathing
Your diaphragm is a large, flat sheet of muscle just below your rib cage and above your abdomen (your belly). Your diaphragm was meant to do most of the work of breathing, but people with lung disease struggle and tend to use the weaker muscles around the collarbone and between the ribs. By using your diaphragm when you breathe, you help your lungs expand more fully so they take in more air with less effort.
Here's a very simple animation that helps show how the diaphragm works. http://www.nlhep.org/lung_intro.html Watch it while you think of this: When the diaphragm comes down and flattens, your belly, or abdomen, should extend out. Yes, just like your tummy is looking bigger. When you breathe out properly, your belly should go in, and the diaphragm should go up, pushing on the bottoms of your lungs, helping you get rid of the stale, trapped air.
Diaphragmatic Breathing can be a hard concept to understand and a difficult technique to master. It takes practice, but it's worth it! Here are the basic steps. It works best in a reclining position.
1. Relax your shoulders. Drop them down as low as they'll go.
2. Put your hands on your abdomen with your fingers overlapped, just below your ribs.
3. Breathe in slowly through your nose, making your abdomen push out while you breathe in. (Remember to keep those shoulders down.)
4. Breathe out slowly, about twice as long than you breathed in, using pursed-lips. Gently, with your hands, push your belly in and think about expelling all that bad, stale air.
5. Practice this from time to time throughout the day.
If you experience muscle soreness or fatigue with this technique it is probably because you are either working too hard at it or not doing it correctly. That's why you should learn this with the supervision of a person who specializes in proper breathing techniques. Once you catch on, you will breathe easier and be less tired. And using this, along with the pursed lips breathing, will go a long way in helping you get through anxious episodes.
One more word of caution - Be careful of breathing methods or devices you may hear about in magazines or see on the internet. Remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Congratulations on getting all the way through to the end of this blog! Hang in there, my friend. Using proper breathing techniques with COPD can mean the difference between struggling to get through your day - or being in control, breathing better and getting on with your life!
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