Every time you do the Joy of Breathing you are tapping into the deepest layers of your body’s physiology, including your brain and hormonal system. In fact, the power of intentional breathing can give you the ability to influence your health and well-being on a the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual level. Today I’m going to highlight just one of the amazing benefits of the Joy of Breathing Method – increased growth hormone (GH) production in your body.
What is Growth Hormone?
GH is a small protein produced in the pituitary gland. It stimulates cellular growth, repair and rejuvenation in essentially all the tissues of the body, including bone tissue. It also can increase lean muscle mass, increase bone density and reduce fat tissue.
The benefit of naturally increasing GH during The Joy of Breathing? Increasing GH levels through your breathing means you potentially have the capacity to accelerate healing of the bodily tissues, increase youthful vitality, strength, endurance, and more.
You might recall athlete extraordinaire Lance Armstrong injected himself with GH to give himself a competitive edge as a cyclist. Later he was stripped of his metals and titles when it was discovered. It was believed that HGs gave him an unfair advantage over the competition.
Nice to know that you can make it yourself!
So, when you are doing The Joy of Breathing, exactly how you are learning to at the Free 30 minute Online Wednesday Session and at my Awakening Yoga classes, you are learning to use a powerful breathing technique that empowers you to influence your health and well-being, including increasing your body’s production of GH.
How Does the Joy of Breathing Increase GH?
Here is a simplified explanation of what is happening in the body’s physiology during the Joy of Breathing.
Each time you do a cycle of the breathing (30 – 40 full in and out breaths), you are reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the blood and increasing oxygen (O2) levels. CO2 is acidic and is what gives us the natural urge to breath. O2 is alkaline.
While you are doing the 30 – 35 breaths in a cycle of the Joy of Breathing, you start to get tingling, light-headed sensations. This is a sign that the blood ph is becoming more alkaline (alkalosis), which reduces the need to breath, allowing you to hold the breath out longer. When the blood ph is alkaline, the ability to hold the breath out is extended well beyond what might normally be possible for you. In this state, holding the breath out until you feel a hunger for the breath (intermittent hypoxia) causes a positive stress response in the body. This response initiates many physiological effects, one of which is to increase the production of GH.
Remember, it only takes about 3-4 rounds of the Joy of Breathing daily to start getting the benefits, like increasing GH to stimulate cellular growth and repair of all bodily tissues, including bone. And once it becomes a habit, you will have more sustained levels of energy, feel stronger, healthier and more joyful! Then you won’t want to be without it!
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this interesting tidbit about increasing GH in your body with your Joy of Breathing practice. You now have a little more knowledge about 1 of the key benefits of the breathing. And hopefully you feel more inspiration to practice! Once you make the breathing a habit, you won’t want to miss it!
Here are some interesting articles about GH and other natural ways to increase it:
- Growth Hormone Responses to Stress
- Human growth hormone, cortisol, and acid-base balance changes after hyperventilation and breath-holding
- 11 Ways to Boost Human Growth Hormone (HGH) Naturally
- The influence of human growth hormone (HGH) on physiologic processes and exercise
