Need to breathe easy, faster? Try yoga
Despite the ongoing discipline it takes to master yoga physically and mentally, the practice does offer short-term respiratory benefits, shows a Thai study unveiled at a meeting of the American Physiological Society.
Powerful breathing allows the chest wall to expand and get more air to the base of the lungs. This lets more oxygen in, requiring less effort to breathe, according to lead researcher Raoyrin Chanavirut of Khon Kaen University in Thailand.
“These findings may benefit people suffering from illnesses that affect breathing, including asthma,” says Chanavirut, who notes that yoga also could help suffers of neuromuscular conditions and those who have had abdominal and thoracic surgery.
Fifty-eight study participants practiced five Hatha yoga positions over six weeks during 20-minute sessions, three times a week. (The positions includes cat, tree and camel poses.) A control group avoided exercise and continued with their typical lifestyle habits, according to researchers. Control group individuals didn’t smoke or drink, either.
Chanavirut’s research team used a measuring tape to determine the lung capacity before and after the sessions. They measured the sternum, middle and lower chest. Then they used a tool called a spirometer to measure the amount of air a person can blow out in a section, a key indicator of healthy lung functioning, according to research reports.
“Volunteers who did yoga over the six-week period significantly improved chest wall expansion at all three measurement points and also showed significantly better forced expiratory volume (blowing out) and forced vital capacity (blowing out after breathing in),” research reports say.
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