The Exercise That’s Good for Your Gut and Helps Mental Health

May 16, 2023 | Categories: Fitness, Health, Home

When you think of exercises for your gut, you’re probably imagining abs exercises that can strengthen and tone your core. But what if we told you that you could remedy some gut health issues with a different kind of exercise—a deep breathing exercise?

Diaphragmatic breathing—also known as belly breathing or deep breathing—is a practice that can benefit your physical and mental health.

The diaphragm is the muscle for breathing at the bottom of your lungs. When practicing diaphragmatic breathing, you’re consciously using your diaphragm to take deep breaths. This can help slow your breathing rate, decrease oxygen demand, and help you eventually use less effort and energy to breathe.

This slow, deep intentional abdominal breathing is done through the nose and sends air deep into the diaphragm until the belly rises. It can have immediate benefits on your body’s relaxation response. Belly breathing has been shown to activate the brain, respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and gastrointestinal systems through the autonomic nervous system—which takes care of the body processes that don’t require conscious thought.

Here’s How Deep Breathing Can Benefit Your Health

• It can reduce stress.
• It can help improve exercise capacity.
• It can help the gastrointestinal system.
• It can alleviate pain.
• It can help with anxiety.
• It might help improve concentration.
• It can help lower blood pressure.

Try This Gut-Health Exercise: Diaphragmatic Breathing Tips at Viome.

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