Is Increase inhale and exhale in breathing exercise good or bad

Question

In breathing exercise, i increased inhale,Hold and exhale time from 5 sec to 12 sec. This is good or bad. Can i increase this timing 12 to 13,14,15 like this. Please clarify. I have breathing problem. After this exercise it is better now.

Answer 1

Dear Siva,

You have mentioned about your breathing problem. You have placed this question in the category of Asthma, so, I guess that your breathing problem is asthmatic. Well, in this condition, the bronchial tubes of the lungs are swollen, constricted and blocked because of mucous secretion during asthmatic attack. This leads to wheezing, chest tightness, cough and shortness of breath.   Most people with asthma have much more difficulty exhaling and inhaling and the wheezing happens primarily on the out breath.  As the lungs expand on inhalation, traction is exerted on the air-ways, which opens them, but they tend to collapse as the lungs recoil on exhalation. Since the lungs take in too much air relative to the amount of air that is exhaled, stale air stays in the lungs. This leaves less room for new oxygen – rich air to come inside the lungs. This in turn compromises the oxygen supply to the rest of the body.  So, to improve the breathing as well as exhalation mechanism, the following points can be helpful to you, in consultation with your physician and yoga therapist:

1. Practice Abdominal Breathing (diaphragmatic breathing). It should be Mouth Closed Breathing.
2. 1:2 Breathing Technique (Inhalation: Exhalation). For example, if you inhale for 5 seconds, exhale for 10 seconds. So, as your question is related to increasing the number of seconds on inhalation, you can do this in this ratio.  But be aware that the breathing should not be forceful. Rather there should be relaxed breath.  Your focus should be on lengthening your exhalation. If you feel struggle to lengthen your exhalation, simply shorten your inhalation.  If you feel short of breath, take a few normal breaths before resuming the practice. In yoga, the tradition is of 1:4:2 (Inhalation:Hold:Exhalation) which is technically called Purak, Kumbhak and Rechak. But it is not advisable in your case as per your breathing issue.
3. Vegetarian Diet only & Manage your weight. Obesity/Overweight contributes to asthma.

You may feel to write back clearly mentioning about the breathing problem along with your age, gender, and climatic conditions, etc. to enable me to guide you accordingly.