Recently, Google, Apple, Xiaomi and others like them have added breathing exercises to many of their devices that are ready-to-use and embedded in the firmware. This alone perfectly shows the international recognition of this type of physical therapy, both in general and in mobile development. I will continue to try my best to avoid the relevant theory and tell the practice based on my many years of experience, personal and professional (as a former doctor of physical therapy and sports medicine).

You should always start with the diagnosis of the current level. How long can you not breathe underwater? Or hold your breath where the air is bad? Or how much not to suffocate when climbing the stairs?

More precisely, this parameter of the body will show the so-called Barbell test, it is simple. You need to turn on the stopwatch in your smartphone or watch in a calm state (not immediately after a fight or sex, for example), inhale as much as possible, hold your breath as much as you can and measure this time, right up to the end of the accumulated exhalation, carefully, without fanaticism, as it turns out, and well. In fact, at the same time, the period of imitation of ordinary diving is calculated. You can do another Genche test for the sake of interest – this is the delay time on exhalation. They almost equally show the resistance of a given person to mixed hypercapnia and hypoxia. For individual calculation of exercises, the numbers of the barbell are enough.

This table shows the sample rates for healthy and young people.

For about 15 years, I've been doing breathing exercises every day, even if I don't want to, the habit has formed. I would even admit that I don't know how I would have survived without them several times. I have a short delay, only 180 seconds, and many freedivers and yogis I know have it for more than 5 minutes.

There will be a minimum of the necessary theory now. It has been a very hyperbolic thing for me in recent years that not all patients and even professors know that for the normal functioning of the human body, not only oxygen is needed, but also carbon dioxide. In the lungs, oxygen molecules attach to hemoglobin molecules from our blood to deliver it to the cells, but in order for the oxygen molecule to somehow break away from this hemoglobin, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood, determined by internal sensors, is needed. If there is little CO2, then oxygen will not be able to break away from hemoglobin in any way and the body will experience "oxygen starvation" even if there is at least a ton of pure oxygen in the arteries and veins. Therefore, increasing carbon dioxide helps the overall absorption of oxygen, as a result.

Let's start learning. I'm used to teaching exercises face-to-face or via two-way video, but let's try it this way.

The most important skill in breathing exercises is controlling the rhythm of breathing. Everyone knows that the breathing cycle includes phases: inhalation, pause, exhalation and another pause.

To begin with, let's try to do the so-called triangular breathing. You need to inhale through your nose for 4 counts or seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds and then gently exhale for 4 counts too, either through your nose or mouth, as you like. You can use a stopwatch at first, but then it's better to just intuitively keep track of something so as not to depend on external devices. It is necessary to make 3-5 such triangles for the first time. Then you will need to use our calculated sample of the Barbell, dividing exactly your seconds (40, 60, 100 or whatever it was) into three parts. And inhale, respectively, for 20, pause for 20 seconds or more, and finally exhale for another twenty seconds. But immediately, from the first time, you can not go to the maximum, categorically. First on 4 or 5 accounts, quietly, gradually, take your time, pliz.

If it's not clear, then here's another tutorial video.

Then we will also do the "square breathing" exercise, while dividing the same Barbell into four parts proportionally. The duration of inhalation and exhalation in seconds is also increased gradually: from 4 seconds to 6-8-10, etc.

To increase the degree of understanding, there are many, many videos again and also different, so as not to advertise anyone.

We subjectively hold our breath until we need to inhale. As we train the triangular or square, we increase the duration of the phases approximately every 1-2 days by 0.5 - 1 second. It can be faster, the main thing is to be sure that it will not be excessive.

During inhalation, the mental state is activated, and when exhaling, calming occurs, and pauses harmonize "arousal-relaxation". By arbitrarily setting a breathing rhythm in which a relatively short inhalation phase alternates with a longer exhalation and the pause that follows, it is possible to achieve pronounced general calm.

Conversely, the type of breathing that includes a longer inhalation phase with some delay in inhaling and a relatively short exhalation phase leads to increased activity of the nervous system and all body functions. Fatigue decreases and performance increases. I also highly recommend checking the different types of breath delays to your taste. Unfortunately, I have not found strict scientific data about these digital ratios, only there are all sorts of yogic ones.

The use of breathing exercises (DH) techniques helps to carry out a more purposeful and conscious "programming" of one's condition, which at the moment or for a certain period of life occurs in each of us constantly. And this minute, too. Hence the huge amount of scientific data and medical evidence for different diseases and for different tasks.

However, the fastest-acting methods of psychosomatic respiratory self-regulation, which can be used both to reduce existing emotional distress and to improve daily health and so-called "energy" (states without asthenia and depression) is, oddly enough, not conscious hypoxic training with muscle tension, but simply observing (aware) and "counting" breath.

I.P. Sit comfortably, comfortably, with your hands on your knees. Try to feel your breath: in the nasopharynx, in the chest, in the abdomen. You can put your hand on your chest and watch how it moves. Breathing is most commonly felt in the nasal cavity. You need to be able to distinguish between inhalation and exhalation and then proceed to the implementation of the method. When you inhale, then mentally, to yourself, you should say "inhale" or "once", when you exhale — "exhale" or "two". Instead of these words, you can say "one hundred" and "one", "one hundred" and "two", and so on to 100, and then again from 1 to "one hundred". Such cycles should be done at least 3-4 within 5-10 minutes. It has a sedative and even hypnotic effect, tested on hundreds of patients trained by me.

Again, it takes a bit of theory to understand what's going on in general. The effect of respiratory relaxation is as follows: during any distress, a person's feelings and thoughts are completely occupied with a momentary, conflict situation and corresponding negative emotions. The concentration of consciousness's attention, for example, on the rhythmic sensation of air movement or chest increases health and calmness purely arithmetically — by subtracting the unpleasant through the addition of vital and perceived well-being. When there is also verbalization (speaking) of what is happening at a conscious level, the subcortical centers of respiratory regulation form interneuronal connections with the speech centers of the cortex located close to the limbic (emotional) part of the brain, giving the emotion of calm and relaxation. EEG has shown this many times, and in BOS trainings you can observe it interactively.

A person feels better during and after gymnastics while concentrating on breathing, also because only the part of the brain associated with this sensation is actively working, and the other, much larger, is partially asleep, resting, there is a "sleep without sleep", as Pavlov I.P. said.

Thus, from the point of view of the theory of neurophysiology and psychotherapy It results in improved interaction and mutual understanding between the will, consciousness and subconsciously habitual negative emotional reactions. And then you will only have to mentally wish to master yourself and, as if by magic, a pleasant calm will come! Of course, this is possible only on condition that the concentration of attention on breathing will be at least 2-3 times more than usual and, as a rule, at least 2-3 minutes. In fact, the more you do these exercises (especially if they become part of your lifestyle), the stronger your self-confidence will be and the better your body and soul health will be. Although it is certainly not worth breathing consciously 24 hours a day.

There is a lot of scientific data on the effectiveness of different types of breathing exercises, there are already more than 340.000 English-speaking and Russian-speaking people, 33.900 so far approximately. There are also many different very good patents.

There are a lot of mobile applications about breathing exercises on the market now and their number is growing every year, I won't stop either, then I need to write a separate article. I'll note two – a fun new one and an old one, with a million downloads.

And you can also write patents and new mobile applications about breathing and about all sorts of medical and biological technologies. Although it is easy to make .apk by studying the most profitable applications and, after thinking about it, make it even better, more profitable and more useful through TRIZ.