🌬️ Breathe Better, Live Better: Optimizing Oxygen Through Breathwork

If you want to increase oxygen absorption and improve respiratory health, the solution isn’t to breathe faster—it’s to breathe smarter. Let’s break down how oxygen and carbon dioxide work in harmony, and introduce some simple exercises to train your breath like a pro.

🔋 Your Oxygen Tank is Probably Full

• 🧪 Most people maintain blood oxygen levels between 95–99% throughout the day.

• ⛽ Think of oxygen like gasoline—once the tank is full, topping it off does nothing.

• 😮‍💨 Over-breathing (breathing too quickly) is common and often fueled by:

  • Stress

  • Anxiety

  • Poor health

• 🔄 Excess breathing can actually decrease the efficiency of your breath.

🌫️ The Real Problem? Low CO₂

• 🫁 Over-breathing flushes out too much carbon dioxide, which:

  • Disrupts gas exchange balance

  • Reduces oxygen release into your cells

• 📚 According to the Bohr Effect, carbon dioxide is key to helping oxygen detach from hemoglobin and become available to your tissues.

• 🚫 Too little CO₂ leads to symptoms like:

  • Dizziness

  • Headaches

  • Fatigue

  • Fainting

⚖️ The Goal: Balance

• 💨 Breathing is about rate and rhythm, not volume.

• 🧘‍♀️ Aim to slow your breath and train your diaphragm—your main breathing muscle.

• 🧠 This balance optimizes both oxygen and carbon dioxide levels for better performance and calm.

VIDEO CONTENTS

00:00 Are you a bad breather?

00:40 Intro

01:55 Hyperventilation

03:12 Importance of CO2

04:24 Optimal breathing rate

05:38 Breathing exercises

05:51 Exercise #1 - Resistance Breathing

07:26 Exercise #1 starts

10:47 Exercise #2 - Stretching Exercise

11:21 Exercise #2 starts

🏋️‍♂️ Try These Two Simple Breathing Exercises

1️⃣ Resistance Breath

• 🧃 Use a straw or a breathing trainer to create resistance while inhaling.

• ⏱️ How-to:

  • Inhale slowly through the resistance device: 1–2–3–4

  • Exhale gently through your nose: 4–3–2–1

• 💪 This strengthens your diaphragm and builds CO₂ tolerance.

2️⃣ Broom Pole Extension (2 Minutes)

• 🧹 Hold a broomstick behind your back with arms comfortably wide.

• 🧍‍♀️ Keep your chest lifted and gently expand the ribcage as you breathe.

• 🌳 This improves thoracic spine flexibility and opens up breathing space.

🧠 Final Thoughts

• ⚡ More oxygen doesn’t mean better breathing. It’s carbon dioxide that makes oxygen usable in your body.

• 🔄 While controlled hyperventilation has specific uses (like cortisol stimulation or pre-workout priming), it’s not meant for daily breathing.

• 🧘‍♂️ Consistent practice with these techniques can lead to:

  • Better oxygen uptake

  • Stronger breathing muscles

  • Improved energy and calm

Ready to breathe smarter? Let’s get started—one deep, slow breath at a time.

Breathwork shows promise in reducing symptoms of clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders, yet it's often overlooked in treatment. This scoping review analyzed 16 studies using breathwork alone and found significant benefits, highlighting it as an effective, accessible option needing further research. Follow the link below to read more: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/2/256

Effects of slow-diaphragmatic breathwork practices on the nervous system. Slow diaphragmatic breathing has an impact on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems and can stimulate the parasympathetic activity of the nervous system (NS). Stress causes hyperactivation of the sympathetic nervous system and results in cardio-acceleration and bronchial dilatation.