Many people strive to improve their performance every day. There are many books on the subject published. So, what do you do every day to improve your performance?
Running for more than 30 minutes on weekends
Sleep at least 7 hours a night
Chewing your food at least 30 times
I'm sure there are many more.
In my case, I ride a bike well. I've recently been doing a lot of Zwift. I am also very conscious of my sleep, especially to sleep more than 7 hours.
It can broadly divide the performance-enhancing behaviors into those that work positively, such as exercise to improve physical fitness. Another that reduces the negative to zero, such as sleep, reset fatigue.
So what do you think about training your breathing muscles? Is it something that works positively, like an exercise?
I acknowledge that respiratory muscle training itself turns a negative into a zero. Let me unravel why this is so.
Breathing mechanism
It defines breathing is as taking oxygen into the body. Breathing consists of two parts. One is pulmonary respiration, taking in oxygen from the air into the lungs. The other is cellular respiration, taking in oxygen from the lungs into the cells.
The oxygen taken into the lungs branches out 23 times and reaches the alveoli, which are about 150 μm in diameter. The oxygen combines with the iron in the hemoglobin in the blood sent into the body. That is pulmonary respiration.
Cellular respiration is the exchange of oxygen between the cells and the blood that has spread throughout the body. When you breathe internally, carbon dioxide is collected from the cells and returned to the lungs.
The lungs, responsible for the air exchange, do not have muscles, and the muscles around the ribs and the diaphragm, called the rib cage, act to move air in and out.
Humans age from blood vessels
They said that people grow old from the blood vessels in the first place. I don't know because I can't see my blood vessels every day directly like I see my face in the mirror. As we get older, our physical strength declines in no small measure, and when I run, I feel shorter of breath than before. This shortness of breath and breathlessness seems to be caused by the contraction of blood vessels and orbits.
It is necessary to loosen up the capillaries to avoid the bloodstream’s ends. Losing up the veins will allow all cells and tissues to supply oxygen and nutrients, collect carbon dioxide and waste products. On the other hand, if this process is stagnant, reactive oxygen species will increase and oxidize the cells, which is the so-called aging process.
So how do we loosen the capillaries?
Brain and physical fatigue caused by the dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system center (hypothalamus), and the cause is the oxidation of cells by reactive oxygen species. It is essential to move the diaphragm and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system by activating the autonomic sensors. Stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system leads to the loosening of capillaries.
Strengthen breathing muscles to avoid fatigue
The logic behind training your respiratory muscles to reduce the negative to zero is that by training your respiratory muscles, especially your diaphragm, you can achieve high performance by preventing fatigue from accumulating in your brain and body.
It is vital to move the diaphragm firmly and be aware of deep and steady breathing.
Also, avoid mouth breathing, take a nasal breath, stimulate the nerves, and expand the trachea and other air passages.
To achieve high performance at all times, strengthen your breathing muscles and take a nasal breath. Try to practice this!
(References)
・「ハーバード＆ソルボンヌ大学 根来教授の 超呼吸法」 著：根来 秀行
・「図解入門よくわかる生理学の基本としくみ (図解入門 メディカルサイエンスシリーズ)」 著：當瀬 規嗣
・「「呼吸力」こそが人生最強の武器である」 著：大貫崇
・「正しく「鼻呼吸」すれば病気にならない」 著：今井一彰
・「Exercise Physiology: Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance」 by Scott Powers, Edward Howley