Podcast Summary
Hormones and efficient breathing during menopause: Hormones like progesterone maintain throat and tongue muscle tone for efficient breathing. Loss of muscle tone during menopause can impact breathing and overall health. Modern HRT using body-identical micronized progesterone is safe and effective, leading to improved respiratory health and overall well-being.
Hormones, particularly progesterone, play a crucial role in maintaining throat and tongue muscle tone, which keeps the airway open for efficient breathing. During menopause, the loss of this muscle tone can impact breathing and overall health. It's essential to focus on efficient breathing and consider training these muscles to maintain respiratory health. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has evolved significantly over the years, and modern transdermal HRT using body-identical micronized progesterone has been shown to be safe and effective. As a result, there has been a resurgence of interest in HRT among women, leading to improved health and well-being. Remember, our breathing affects every cell, tissue, organ, and system in the body, so it's essential to prioritize efficient breathing and explore its connection to hormonal health.
The Power of Breathing: Impact on Health and Well-being: Breathing exercises can help reduce fear, induce relaxation, and improve overall health by influencing the autonomic nervous system.
Breathing is more important than we may realize, and it has a significant impact on our overall health and well-being. The speaker shared her personal journey of discovering the connection between breathing and the autonomic nervous system, which led her to help others through various breathing techniques. One remarkable experience was with a patient who was in a state of fear and unable to receive a contraceptive coil due to muscle contractions. By guiding her through a breathing exercise, the patient entered a state of deep relaxation, allowing the doctor to successfully fit the coil. This encounter highlighted the powerful effect of breathing on the body and inspired the speaker to continue exploring and sharing this knowledge with others. It's essential to remember that even though breathing is an automatic process, we can still improve our breathing efficiency and harness its benefits.
Retrain your body to breathe efficiently during sleep: Practice good breathing habits during the day to improve sleep quality and reduce risk of sleep disordered breathing, especially for women during menopause. Takes around three months to see benefits but offers improvements before then.
The way we breathe during the day can significantly impact how efficiently we breathe while we sleep. Inefficient breathing, such as snoring, can lead to negative health outcomes and even go unnoticed. Women, particularly during menopause, are more likely to experience sleep disordered breathing. By consciously practicing good breathing habits during the day, we can retrain our bodies to breathe more efficiently at night, reducing the risk of symptoms. This process takes around three months but offers benefits before then. To promote better daytime breathing, focus on keeping the airway open and strong through nasal breathing.
Proper Nasal Breathing for Better Health: Practice nasal breathing and use mouth tape to improve breathing, reduce overbreathing, and lower risk of snoring and sleep apnea.
Proper breathing through the nose, not the mouth, is essential for maintaining a healthy airway and avoiding issues like snoring and sleep apnea. The volume of air we breathe is also crucial; most people only need about 6 liters a minute, but modern society encourages overbreathing, which can lead to various health problems. Overbreathing often results from mouth breathing, which can disrupt the body's natural breathing pattern and make it harder to use the diaphragm effectively. To improve your breathing, try practicing nasal breathing, especially before going to bed, and consider using mouth tape to keep your mouth closed while you sleep. This simple change can help ensure that your body gets the right amount of air, leading to better overall health and reduced risk of breathing-related issues.
Improve breathing and airway function with tongue routine: Regularly practicing tongue routine can help improve jawline, reduce throat obstruction, and promote better breathing, leading to a freer airway and reduced likelihood of snoring or collapsing. For those with high breathing volumes, additional support like Myotape may be necessary.
The position of the tongue in the mouth plays a significant role in breathing and airway function. Keeping the tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth with a little suction can help improve jawline, reduce obstruction at the back of the throat, and promote better breathing. This simple exercise, called the "tongue routine," involves putting the tip of the tongue on the ridge of tissue above the back of the front teeth and sealing the lips gently. Regular practice of this routine during daily activities can help develop muscle memory and make it an unconscious habit, leading to a freer airway and reduced likelihood of snoring or collapsing. However, it's essential to note that individuals with high breathing volumes may require additional support, such as using a product like Myotape that goes around the mouth to help close it while still allowing for natural breathing.
Mouth taping for nasal breathing during sleep: Proper breathing, especially during sleep, is essential for health and wellbeing. Focus on nasal breathing with mouth taping for improved sleep quality and overall health.
Proper breathing during sleep is crucial for overall health and wellbeing. Mouth taping can be a helpful solution for those who breathe through their mouths during sleep, as it ensures nasal breathing. However, it may not be necessary for those who breathe through their nose naturally. The importance of carbon dioxide in breathing is often overlooked; it plays a role in releasing oxygen to the body's cells. When we feel air hunger during physical activity, it's often due to reaching our carbon dioxide tolerance level, not a drop in oxygen levels. Training the body to be more tolerant to higher carbon dioxide levels can lead to more efficient oxygen delivery and calmer breathing. The most efficient breathing is in and out of the nose, while the least efficient is in and out of the mouth. During exercise, it may feel easier to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth due to air hunger, but the excess carbon dioxide is being expelled. Proper breathing techniques, including nose breathing during sleep, can lead to better health and improved sleep quality.
Managing air hunger during physical activity: Understanding air hunger and its impact on breath control can benefit some individuals, but may not be suitable for those with specific health conditions or hormonal changes like menopause. The effectiveness of hormone replacement therapy in addressing sleep-disordered breathing related to menopause is unclear.
Understanding and managing air hunger during physical activity can help improve breath control and even retrain your chemoreceptors. However, this approach may not be suitable for everyone, especially those with certain health conditions like long COVID, POPs, or asthma. The sensitivity to carbon dioxide buildup varies from person to person. Additionally, hormonal changes during menopause can impact breathing, particularly through the loss of muscle tone in the throat. The relationship between hormones and sleep-disordered breathing is not yet fully understood, and the evidence regarding the effectiveness of HRT in addressing these issues is mixed.
The importance of breathing muscle health and its impact on sleep and overall health for women: Women's rib structure and sleep disordered breathing during menopause can weaken breathing muscles, leading to various health issues like dementia, heart attack, stroke, and accidents. Prioritize sleep and consider hormones like progesterone's role in breathing and sleep disorders for overall health.
The health of our breathing muscles, just like our other muscles, can weaken if not actively trained. This can impact how we breathe, particularly in women due to differences in rib structure. Additionally, sleep disordered breathing, which can be exacerbated during menopause, is linked to various health issues including dementia, heart attack, stroke, and accidents. Prioritizing sleep and considering the role of hormones like progesterone in breathing and sleep disorders is important for overall health. Progesterone, while a respiratory stimulant that can make us breathe faster, may have different effects depending on an individual's breathing efficiency and phenotype of sleep apnea. Further research is needed to fully understand the relationship between hormones, breathing, and sleep disorders.
Breathing and Autonomic Nervous System: Breathe in and out through your nose for relaxation, making exhale longer than inhale to activate parasympathetic nervous system. Conscious breathing helps manage stress.
Our breathing patterns are linked to our autonomic nervous system and can indicate whether our body is in a state of fight or flight or relaxation. When we're in a stressful situation, our breathing becomes shallow and rapid, triggering the sympathetic nervous system. However, if we want to relax and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, we should breathe in and out through our nose, making the exhale longer than the inhale. This sends a signal to the brain that everything is safe and promotes relaxation. However, it's important to note that some individuals may be sensitive to the buildup of carbon dioxide and may experience panic if asked to hold their breath for extended periods. In such cases, it's crucial to retrain the body to be less sensitive to carbon dioxide buildup. Overall, conscious breathing is a simple yet effective way to manage stress and promote relaxation.
Effective breathing techniques for stress and anxiety relief: Focusing on nasal breathing with gentle breath holds after exhales can help calm down individuals during stressful situations, while box breathing can be used to shift between sympathetic and parasympathetic responses
Effective breathing techniques can significantly impact our physiological response to stress or anxiety. During situations where someone is breathing rapidly and feeling anxious, focusing on nasal breathing and incorporating gentle breath holds after exhales can help calm them down by slowing their breathing and triggering a relaxation response. This method, called small breath hold after the exhale, can be particularly helpful for individuals who are sensitive to the buildup of carbon dioxide. However, it's important to note that different breathing exercises serve various purposes. Box breathing, which involves equal inhales, holds, exhales, and holds, can be used to shift between the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses when someone is already breathing efficiently. The choice of breathing technique depends on the specific outcome you aim to achieve.
Breathing Habits and Health: Modern lifestyles can lead to poor breathing habits, triggering stress response. Practice nasal breathing, keep tongue in correct position, and focus on breath to develop mind-body connection and improve tolerance to CO2 buildup, leading to better breathing pattern and overall health.
Our modern lifestyles, particularly prolonged screen time and texting, can lead to shallow breathing or even holding our breath, triggering the fight or flight response. This condition, known as email apnea, can have negative effects on our health. To combat this, practicing nasal breathing, keeping the tongue in the correct position, and focusing on the breath can help develop a mind-body connection and improve tolerance to carbon dioxide buildup. This, in turn, can lead to a more balanced breathing pattern with longer exhales than inhales. It's essential to be aware of our breathing habits and make conscious efforts to improve them for better overall health and well-being.
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