11 Smiles Chi Kung, left side view, sunset silhouette - 12/03/08 (Autumn)
NITRIC OXIDE
Chinese and Indian systems of deep breathing involve different methods of inhalation and exhalation. A very important method used in Asian martial arts is "inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth."
I've been doing this type of deep breathing throughout many of my daily exercises for several decades.
Recently, I came across the following very interesting passages about nasal breathing in the book YOU: STAYING YOUNG by Doctors Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen:
"... deep nasal breathing isn't just for yoga rooms and massage tables. Dee-ee-ee-ee-p rea-ea-ea-ea-eathing helps transport nitric oxide a very potent lung and blood vessel dilator that resides in your nasal passages to your lungs. Since it's located in the highest concentration in the back of your nose, deep breathing is also the best way to increase nitric oxide to help your lungs and blood vessels open up better and function more efficiently. Essentially, taking deep breaths helps your lungs go from 97 percent saturation of oxygen to 100 percent saturation of oxygen, and that little 3 percent can sometimes make a difference in how you feel."
[p 132]
"The Great Gas: Nasal breathing allows you to get nitric oxide into your system to help dilate your lung passages and arteries to keep your blood moving freely." [p 232]
"Inside your body, you have a short-lived gas that tremendously affects your body's function. This gas called nitric oxide has a half-life of less than several seconds. Like a wind that comes in and blows away pollution, nitric oxide is fleeting and exhilarating. You have nitric oxide, then you don't...
"Despite its short-lived existence, nitric oxide affects many organs. In the brain, nitric oxide acts as a neurotransmitter to rapidly transmit messages. Much like the way that the brain chemicals serotonin and dopamine promote don't-worry-be-happy emotions, nitric oxide has a calming effect. Nitric oxide turns on a chain reaction in our cells that allows our blood vessels to relax and dilate.
"[We're talking about the kind of gas] that's important enough to have generated a Nobel Prize in Medicine, important enough to influence whether you have a heart attack, and important enough that it powers a man's anatomical cranes. In fact, this gas -- nitric oxide -- was discovered to be the neurotransmitter in the nerve cells that control erections (this finding led to the development of Viagra and its friends).
"And that makes the declining functioning of nitric oxide over time a key cause of erectile dysfunction and other age-related and artery-related problems. The bottom line when it comes to nitric oxide and aging is this: nitric oxide plays a fundamental role in keeping a body healthy, and the reverse is also true. In many diseases, the production of nitric oxide is impaired, and that leads to (or contributes to) cell injury or the dysfunction of organs.
" If you want to open the valve on your own biological nitric oxide tank, you do it through your nose (without using your fingers). Nitric oxide is found in the highest levels in the nasal pharynx, and that's why nasal breathing and meditation are so important. The flow of air that happens when you breathe through your nose allows very rich sources of nitric oxide to be fuel injected into your system. The nitric oxide then helps dilate your arteries, so that your blood keeps moving as if it's on an empty country road rather than on an L.A. freeway." [pp. 228, 230, 231]
"Stimulating nitric oxide is one of the ways to promote wakefulness. If you're feeling sluggish, it tends to mean that you don't have good levels of nitric oxide in those areas of your brain and brain stem that keep you awake. (Narcolepsy is the ultimate example of not having enough nitric oxide, because you lose all alertness and fall asleep)."
[pp. 231, 233]
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It turns out it's a great idea to breathe deeply through the nose, specifically, to INHALE through the nose. Not only does fresh air enter the lungs then, but nitric oxide enters the bloodstream also.
Nowadays, having become consciously aware of the latest medical research on the benefits of nitric oxide, whenever I walk quickly, or do any deep-breathing routines, I make sure that I'm inhaling through my nose.
ChiGuy396
ChiGuy396@yahoo.com
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How to breathe, full lung exercises, oxygenate your cells by deep breathing. Pastorstrawby pastorstraw33,585 views
Silence. Thank you.
danielhall67 1 year ago
nice article, thanx
drtgn461 3 years ago
Very beautiful 5 stars. thanks for sharing.
telosnut 3 years ago