a friend recently told me she often finds herself holding her breath. it’s not uncommon, really. we hold our breath most of the time, taking in only enough to keep all of our systems functioning.
the lung institute of tampa, florida tells us why breath and lung capacity are vital to our health, particularly as we age. here are some startling findings.Total lung capacity, or TLC, refers to the maximum amount of air that your lungs can hold. Typically, men have a greater lung capacity than women. At rest a man’s lungs can hold about 1.5 pints of air, while women’s lungs can hold around 0.6 to 0.8 pints. However, most of us do not use our full lung capacity.According to Jonathan P. Parsons, M.D., professor of internal medicine, associate director of Clinical Services and director of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Ohio State University Asthma Center, “The lungs are over-engineered to accomplish the job that we ask them to do. In healthy people without chronic lung disease, even at maximum exercise intensity, we only use 70 percent of the possible lung capacity.”Lung capacity predicts health and longevity. A 29-year study published in Chest concluded that lung capacity is a long-term predictor of respiratory mortality, and should be used as a tool for general health assessment. Our lung capacity naturally declines with age, starting at age 30. By the age of 50, our lung capacity may be reduced by as much as 50 percent. This means that the older you get, the harder it is for your lungs to breathe in and hold air. When we breathe in less oxygen, our body and cells also receive less oxygen, forcing our heart to work harder to pump oxygen throughout the body. The heart working overtime long-term can lead to heart failure. Earlier symptoms of reduced lung capacity include shortness of breath, decreased stamina and reduced endurance and frequent respiratory infectionswhat can we do to maintain or increase our lung capacity? my favourite answer to this question is…yoga. in yoga practice we are encouraged to lengthen the exhale. this allows for more space in the lungs so that they can then inhale more oxygen. thus our lung capacity increases.
of course, many forms of physical exercise will do this too, from walking to tennis to swimming to zumba. my preference for yoga practice is its effect on our inner life at the same time as our physical self is being stimulated. yoga’s effects on the nervous system are well documented, making our response to the stresses of life less disturbing. and stress itself often causes us to hold our breath. taking a moment to breathe with awareness can change a situation from a stressful one to one where we can be more relaxed and present.yogis of old measured our lives by the number of breaths we are allotted to breathe. by lengthening the exhale, increasing our lung capacity, we will have more time to breath those breaths!inhaleexhaleinhale againexhale again