Breathe easy
Meditation and your breathe
Your brain is constantly monitoring your breath. Our brains habitually take in oxygen for us, so it’s one less thing on our plate to remember to do. Although breathing is taken care by our brain, we can still control our breath. Practising control of our respiratory circulation is beneficial for our health.
Deep breathing helps ease stress and tension in our bodies. When we take deep breaths, our lungs expand further than our automatic breath and it drives more
oxygen through our body. This help cleanse our blood and regulate blood pressure. Try to breathe deeply for a few minutes every day to improve your mental wellbeing and improve your physical health.
Breathe Interruptions
Your breath can be interrupted by a cough. Coughing is an essential reflex that protects your airway and lungs against irritants. People can experience a cough for different reasons. Typically, it’s a symptom of a cold or flu, but it can also occur with allergies, asthma, smoking, and/ or other conditions.
Nowadays it’s important to protect others from a cough by wearing masks. It’s also important to be sympathetic of those experiencing a cough, as it can be quite
uncomfortable and cause strain on the throat. Despite the discomfort of a cough, sometimes people can develop a habitual cough. Also called a ‘psychogenic cough’. This is when coughing becomes a repetitive behaviour or a tic. Someone might develop this condition after an infection or other health related issue. It’s often triggered by stress and is more common for children. It is sometimes misdiagnosed as asthma.
Coughing continuously days on end can lead to headaches, fatigue, and chest pain. It can also lead to throat infections, ruptures to the diaphragm and/cracked
ribs. To relieve unbearable coughs, try to stay hydrated, elevate your head while you rest, and try in-store product remedies.
Types of Coughs
There are so many different types of coughs.
Here are just a few:
1. Wet Cough: typically comes with a cold or flu. It is known as a productive because it tends to bring up mucus and clear the airway. It is common for the nose to also create excess mucus to keep the mouth and throat moist, our bodies attempt to filter out other tiny particles.
2. Dry Cough: doesn’t bring up mucus. It feels more like a tickle at the back of your throat and occurs when there is inflammation or irritation in the respiratory tract. Commonly associated with a cold or flu but also common for many other health-related reasons like smoking.
3. Paroxysmal Cough: occurs in intermittent violent attacks and is uncontrollable. It can be exhausting and painful. This cough can arise with bacterial infections like whopping cough. When experiences a said cough attack, the lungs release all the air they have, causing you to inhale quickly and releasing a “whoop” sound.
4. Smokers Cough: occurs when you smoke anything, including cigarettes and vaporizers. Since you are inhaling chemical ingredients your body natural response is to clear the airways. This response is a reflex of the tiny hair-like structures that catch and push out any toxins. Its important to drink lots of fluids to relieve a smoker’s cough. Quitting is the most effective treatment option.