What is the most effective way to detoxify? It is a question that often concerns us all. The answer is surprisingly simple! It is our breathing, this natural and uninterrupted process that keeps us alive and is provided to us for free.
By Gina Poulou, Certified Breathing Coach and Instructor (Buteyko Clinic International) Functional Breathing instructor (Oxygen Advantage). www.yogayourvoice.com
We breathe not only to stay alive, but to enjoy a quality life. In this context, nature has predicted our continuous detoxification through the breath and the lungs. Respiratory function cleanses our body, our blood, our lymphatic system. We secrete waste from our lungs on average 850 times every hour, 20,400 times every day and 7,446,000 times every year.
This translates to approximately 600,000,000 toxic waste over a lifespan of 80 years. Breathing is a continuous and automatic process of detoxification, a precious ally for our health.
What toxins are eliminated from our body by respiration? Many and from all kinds! The lungs and heart, arteries and veins, airways and alveoli, our circulatory and lymphatic systems work together to eliminate any toxins from our body. The role of the lungs and respiration is crucial, as many toxic compounds are found in the exhaled air.
Indicative are the researches of the team of Dr. Michael Phillips, founder of Menssana Research Inc., which specializes in the detection of diseases through breathing after consuming specific foods and substances. One hour after consuming cola soft drinks, limonene is detected in breath samples. Thymol and eucalyptol are detected on our exhalation one hour after using oral solution. The sulfides remain in the breath for 90 minutes after eating onions.
Exhalations from healthy people had more than 200 volatile compounds, while 3500 different compounds were detected in the exhalations of all study participants. It is clear that exhaling releases huge numbers of substances, which means that the lungs can actually eliminate many toxins.
A typical example of the elimination of toxins through respiration is the case of alcohol (ethanol) and other toxic compounds that, like alcohol, have the ability to change from liquid to gaseous form (the so-called volatile compounds). When we consume alcohol, it circulates in the blood and in our body as ethanol.
It dissolves in the alveolar mucosa, evaporates and expands to fill the space inside the alveolar sac. On exhalation, the evaporated ethanol leaves the body as vapor. This is the ethanol vapor measured by the breathalyzer to determine if one is able to drive safely. Breathing accelerates the body's ability to get rid of alcohol, which helps reduce the life-threatening effects of alcohol poisoning. While medicine provides supportive detoxification methods for various diseases, such as oxygen or intravenous fluids, there is currently no way to remove alcohol from patients's bodies (with the exception of dialysis, which is not always possible or easy). . The elimination of alcohol, however, can be easily achieved with the help of respiration and more specifically with the
activation of the lungs through hyperventilation, ie the inhalation of more air than is needed under normal conditions.
Hyperventilation in our case contributes catalytically to the avoidance of toxic poisoning by alcohol. Cases of hospitalization after consuming a large amount of alcohol, as soon as they began to hyperventilate (ie inhale large amounts of air), the concentration of alcohol in their blood dropped dramatically in a minute or two. Hyperventilation, however, is a solution that we look for in emergencies and is not recommended as a daily practice in the context of proper and detoxifying breathing for reasons that are explained below.
How does this detoxification process work through breathing? The respiration and function of the lungs are related to the inhalation of air, the oxygenation of the lungs, the very important and often underestimated role of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the process, the balancing of the pH in our body, and of course the exhalation. By inhalation, air from the atmosphere enters the lungs and passes into the moist environment of the blood through the alveoli of the lungs. The lungs are the center of gas exchange that keep us activated, functional and alive. Oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO2) enter and leave the lungs. When there is lack of oxygen in the body even for a few minutes, the consequences are catastrophic to irreversible. Carbon dioxide (CO2) also helps to balance the body's pH and maintain the right pressures in our body. The role of CO2 in our body is very important, as the inability to release it changes various balances in the body, thus disrupting healthy function. The right process of inhalation - exhalation keeps the required balances and, as we’ve already mentioned, contributes to the elimination of toxins and problematic substances.
How can we breathe better and more efficiently? The good news is that we do not have to learn everything from scratch, since from the first moment we lay our eyes on this world, through our birth, we breathe! However, it is required to remember and retrain on how to breathe properly and effectively, in order to taste and experience the benefits of this painless and extremely profitable for our body method of detoxification. Let us not forget that today there are many obstacles that hinder the ability and efficiency of the lungs and the respiratory process. Excessive inhalation of toxins due to smoking (active and passive), but due to the polluted atmosphere with high concentrations of PM microparticles, are such factors. The solution is light, deep and slow breathing. This kind or breathing pattern regulates the natural movement of the diaphragm up and down, and thus leads to better blood flow and to the removal of toxins from the body. Slow, light and deep breathing introduces very good amounts of oxygen by inhalation and eliminates large amounts of toxins by exhalation.
Respiration is responsible for 70% of the cleansing and elimination of toxins from our body (the remaining 30% is done through the bladder, intestines and to a lesser extent sweat). Incomplete and incorrect breathing means that our body must work overtime to release all these toxins by other means.
It should also be emphasized that our lungs are the pumps of our lymphatic system. Lymph in our body is three times more than blood, but it does not have its own circulatory pumps, such as the heart for blood and circulatory system.
The proper functioning of our lymphatic system depends to a great extent on deep and proper breathing, as it causes the pumping and movement of lymph fluids, which then end up in the liver, to be processed, cleansed and therefore detoxified.
In conclusion, proper and effective breathing exercises help the body cleanse itself of many toxins, while at the same time it oxygenates the tissues, organs and glands throughout the body, and offers us well-being, quality of life and good mood.
This is the most effective therapeutic detoxification practice, available to all people for free and effortlessly, an offer of nature that we can only use it with guaranteed results.
