Most of us do not give our breathing much thought. We just know that it is an involuntary action and until we experience difficulty breathing, we really do not pay much attention to how we breathe.

There are some people who do pay attention to their regular breathing or do breathing exercises for stress relief. For instance, in February 2000, Van Burchfield set a Guinness world record of circular breathing. He held one continuous note for 47 minutes and 8 seconds. This broke the prior record held by Kenny G of 45 minutes and 47 seconds.

You may be considering breathing exercises, such as breathing exercises for stress for any number of reasons. Unfortunately, many people are affected by secondhand smoke exposure. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 different chemical compounds, with about 50 of those being known to cause cancer. There are about 3,000 deaths from lung disease in nonsmokers each year from exposure to secondhand smoke.

There is a breathing condition called Kussmaul breathing that is a deep, labored breathing pattern that is associated with severe metabolic acidosis, particularly diabetic ketoacidosis, as well as renal failure.

Hopefully, you or a family member are not affected by either of these breathing issues, and really just want to learn about breathing exercises for stress or breathing to relax.

It is interesting to note that breathing exercises for stress and other deep breathing methods will allow you to use the full capacity of your lungs. The lungs have a capacity of two gallons, and the average person only uses two to three pints of air. Breathing exercises for stress will help you start using that full two gallon capacity through better breathing. This will also allow you to also increase your levels of blood circulation by increasing your oxygen levels.

Breathing exercises for stress will not only help you lower your stress levels, it can help detox your body, as well as help heal your body through the natural healing powers of breathing. By using breathing exercises for stress, you can start to generally feel better and healthier. There really are not any downsides to learning breathing exercises for stress and other breathing exercises for relaxation.