Subscribe!Can you imagine increasing your car's gas mileage by 20%?
You would like that, wouldn't you? Then how about increasing your breathing efficiency by 20%? That's easier than getting better gas mileage out of your car! Let me explain:
Your lung capacity is about 4-6 liters ⟹ each minute, 4-6 liters of air enter the lungs.
When you inhale, the air enters through your nose (remember no mouth breathing) and travels down the airways to reach the alveoli — to read more on this, click here.
However, some of this air stays in the airways and never reaches the alveoli, and never takes part in the gas exchange. This is called dead space and happens to about 150ml of each breath.
The average breathing rate for adults is 12-16 breaths per minute (bpm).
Let’s look at two calculations:
A: 12 bpm
Volume of air inhaled through the nose per minute = 6lt
Breaths per minute = 12
Volume per breath = 0.5lt or 500ml
Dead space per breath = 150ml
⟹ in other words, with each breath, 500ml of air enters the nose, but only 350ml of air reaches the alveoli.
Volume of air reaching the alveoli per minute = 12 x 350 = 4200 = 4.2lt
B: 6 bpm
Volume of air inhaled through the nose per minute = 6lt
Breaths per minute = 6
Volume per breath = 1tl or 1000ml
Dead space per breath = 150ml
⟹ in other words, with each breath, 1000ml of air enters the nose, and 850ml of air reaches the alveoli.
Volume of air reaching the alveoli per minute = 6 x 850 = 5100 = 5.1lt
As you can see, slowing down your breathing rate increases breathing efficiency by 20% because
Air lost to dead space is reduced,
There’s more time for oxygen to diffuse from the lungs into the blood.
Slow breathing also harnesses the benefits of CO2:
As you’re reading this, set the timer of your phone to 1 minute, sit comfortably, and count your breaths. Let me know your answer and I’ll show you how you can
All these and more can be achieved by breath re-training and I’m here to help!
Stay healthy, stay happy.