When holding your breath when you take a breath, can help to augment the effects of hypoxia (low oxygen levels) by making breathing more difficult and preventing CO2 from accumulating in the lungs. In recent years, this practice has become popular among cyclists who are racing or training near their max heart rate and for individuals who want to extend their high-intensity sports performance or struggling with asthma. This article will discuss the benefits that holding your breath during breathing can offer in both the physical and mental realms.
1. Improve Physical Performance
There are many reasons why holding your breath when breathing can improve performance. As mentioned, this technique prevents CO2 from accumulating in the lungs. What many people do not know about is an interesting finding about breathing and exercise. When you are exercising, the body’s pH level drops (for those of you who care about such things). This drop in pH triggers a response that causes the blood vessels to constrict, which slows blood flow to the muscles and limits their ability to contract.
2. Improve Physical Condition
If you are aiming to improve your physical fitness, holding your breath will help you develop anaerobically (lack oxygen) type contractions. While the primary energy source in your muscles comes from aerobic types of energy (ATP), during exercise there is a period of time during which anaerobic energy is needed. During this period, ATP can only be produced when the pH level in the muscle cells decreases. This is caused by the inorganic compounds that accumulate in the muscle cells when there is a drop in pH.
The point of holding your breath during exercise can be seen in some research on swimmers who performed dives for maximum performance. The latter practiced breathing from 1 to 2 minutes before their dives as well as during their dives. They also held their breath on average for 2 to 3 minutes before and during their dives but were able to perform a dive that lasted 12 seconds longer than the other swimmers who did not practice this technique.
