ARE YOU A STOP-PRESS BREATHER?

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 84, 9 April 1938, Page 27

ARE YOU A STOP-PRESS BREATHER?

Ever thought about your breathing? asks Anthony Weymouth in the "Daily Mail." Any idea (a) why you breathe? (b) how many times a minute you breathe? (c) if you're breathing correctly? (d) how you can get the best out of your breathing? I'm willing to take even money that you've never given a thought to it. You breathe, of course, to aerate your blood, to expel impure air and replace it with something containing more oxygen. Right. But that's only the beginning. Suppose the air you're breathing is Al pure air—say, on the top of a mountain— but you yourself are breathing wrongly. i

You probably don't know it, but there is a famous doctor in one of the European countries who makes all his patients walk up a hill before breakfast, stand still at the top, then breathe slowly and deeply for several minutes. After that they're allowed to have the breakfast which they've earned.

This doctor's idea is based on sound common sense. Normal breathing, you see, only replaces part of the used air for the incoming rush of pure • air meets the stale air in the windpipe, and mixes with it.

So make no mistake: you don't get a chestful of good air every time you breathe. What's more, as most people live, for part of the day at least, in a dusty and otherwise unhealthy atmosphere, what they do get is none too good, taken all round.

Now, are you a stop-press breather? Do you breathe so quickly that your breathing is shallow? Ever counted how many times a minute you inhale? Normal respiration takes place from 14 to 18 times a minute.

Here's a test for you. Count your respirations: (a) when resting, (b) when walking slowly, (c) when hurrying for a bus.

You should breathe about 16 times a minute when resting (speaking generally). This should increase to about 20,0n moderate exertion, and to as high as 30 when taking violent exercise.

Perhaps you'll-find that you're a lazy)

breather—say taking only 12 breaths a minute. If this is so, it is taking you half as long again as it should do to change thoroughly all the air you've got in your lungs. If you walk down to the train and find yourself breathing only 16 to the minute, that is also a bit on the slow side for the work your body is doing.

But supposing you're one of the stoppress breathers—the quick gaspers— what then? The answer is that you are fussing yourself and puffing instead of breathing.

Now, tall people have a larger lung capacity than short—therefore they need more good air to exchange for bad. If you're the average height, you'll want about 20 cubic inches of fresh air with each breath ("tidal" air, it is called).

For every inch above sft 7in (average height) you'U need eight more cubic inches of air. (Tall men please note.)

People who are over weight have a capacity that is reduced by one cubic inch for every additional pound up to 14st. All the more reason why they should (a) reduce their weight, and (b) try to make up that lost cubic inch by breathing carefully.

Have you given more than a passing thought to the fact that you feel jaded after you've been sitting for a' couple of hours in a hot theatre or cinema? Well, think of it now, and realise that your lungs won't empty themselves as efficiently if left entirely to their own devices as they will if you help them a little.

Here is what you should do. Don't bother to breathe slowly or fast. But breathe reasonably deeply and freely, using all the muscles Nature has provided for' this.

If you happen to have been in a badly-ventilated room, take a walk and just remember that your lungs are filled with the used air other people have finished with. Get rid of it by deep breathing. You'll soon notice how much fitter you feel. . ■