Excess mucus irritates the airways, makes breathing more difficult, increases the need to cough, and causes shortness of breath. Excess mucus also increases the risk of infection in the airways.
You can improve your well-being and breathing with different breathing exercises. Breathing exercises make your breathing and mind calmer, strengthen the respiratory muscles, and improve pulmonary ventilation.
All breathing exercises are based on calm breathing. Before starting, check your posture in the mirror. The exercises are more effective when your chest has enough room to expand during inhalation.
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Diaphragmatic breathing
The easiest way to start is by lying on your back with your knees bent and your hand resting on your upper abdomen.
Feel with your hand how the upper abdomen rises during inhalation and relaxes during exhalation. Keep your neck and shoulder muscles relaxed.
Chest mobility
Lie down on your side, bend your knees, and make sure that you are properly supported. Place your bottom hand on your upwards-facing ribs and breathe towards that side. During inhalation, your chest should expand, making your hand rise, and during exhalation, your chest should contract, making your hand move downwards.
This exercise can be done either sitting down or standing up. Put a strap or scarf around your chest so that it runs from behind your shoulders and under your armpits to the front.
Cross the ends of the strap in front of you and grab them from underneath with an underhand grip. During deep inhalation, the chest expands. Give room with the strap.
During exhalation, the chest returns to rest in the starting position. You can enhance this by tightening the strap, that is, by pulling your hands gently to the sides.
Pursed lip breathing
Pursed lip breathing improves the functioning of the respiratory muscles and makes exhalation calmer. In this exercise, you breathe out with your lips pursed, which means there is a slight resistance during exhalation. This slight resistance keeps the smaller airways open, making it easier to breathe out. The pursed lip breathing technique helps with shortness of breath and during exercise.