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Breathing Problems Caused By Sports, Exercise, or Prolonged, Intense
Efforts
Why do some pass a cardiac stress test and
drop dead the following day or soon thereafter? Or even die during the test?
Competitive athletes and
non competitive exercisers
(this also applies to Fire and Police personnel as well as emergency paramedics,
nurses, many physical therapists,
and anyone that must intensely breath-heave, gasp, under-breathe or over exert repeatedly
on the job or otherwise)
routinely
breathe too hard, too fast, and too soon. This is unbalanced
hyper-inhalation. They often
mouth-breathe, breath-heave and/or gasp to get the air they need to support their
exertions. This kind of charged breathing can develop respiratory
problems and related oxygen deficiency diseases including heart
conditions, strokes, depressions, asthma, high blood pressure and many
others.
Restriction of the breathing muscles, reduced breathing volume and ease,
vaso constriction, such as presents in sports
induced asthma can appear along with almost any malady. I believe this is
often why many athletes develop sports induced breathing problems, and die
prematurely of heart and vascular problems.Retire and die? I believe
that many need the movement that causes extra oxygenation and as
soon as they stop moving as with a job or activity they MUST perform, the
UDB takes over and
slowly locks their breathing up and with less and less breath they succumb
to oxygen deprivation.
Most forms of competitive sports are in NO way a guarantee to a
long healthy life. Most often the reverse is true such as with sprinters
and or professional football players.
Let's
take a look at several athletes and see if we begin to see a pattern.
Recent News Clip. The week following a Los Angeles marathon,
"13% of runners reported upper respiratory tract infections compared
with only 2% of 'control' runners."
From Mike This should include hard style
martial arts as well. You simply must do something to rapidly offset the
accumulating breathing constriction of competitive sports.
What caused it?
Flo Jo's
autopsy reveals severe breathing problem.
Doctors advise Olajuwon to rest
I hear doctors have told Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon to stay
off the court for an unspecified time because of respiratory problems.
"He was re-examined today by a team of physicians and we've
recommended that he not play basketball for a while," James Muntz,
the Rockets' physician, said in a brief statement released by the team.
Olajuwon, 37, w/as diagnosed March 1 with a disease that restricts the
flow of air through his bronchial passages during heavy exercise, causing
spasms in his lungs. He has been taking medication for the condition.
Migliore has breathing difficulty
The Associated Press
03/29/00 4:59 PM Eastern
NEW YORK (AP) -- Jockey Richard Migliore complained of difficulty
breathing after leaping from his mount, Denver Mint, during Aqueduct's
seventh race Wednesday.
The oft-injured Migliore was making his return to New York after racing
in Florida during the winter. He said he would see his own physician for diagnosis.
From mgw. The body posture of a jockey is VERY negative to deep easy
breathing.
Amy Van Dyken
When Olympic swimming champion Amy Van Dyken races in
the 50-meter freestyle event, she doesn't breathe.
"I take one breath, and I'm gone."
Van Dyken holds the record for the most gold medals won by an American
woman at a single Olympics - four.
But even when she's not competing, her breathing is still a critical
concern.
Van Dyken has asthma, a chronic inflammatory disorder that constricts the
muscles of the bronchial airways, making every breath a struggle.
"I was diagnosed when I was 18 months," says Van Dyken.
"Asthma has pretty much defined my entire life.
*But I wouldn't be who
I am without it. *From Mike: Same attitude as most AA 12 step
members. Sad but true. WE can REDEFINE ourselves.
I want people to know that you can have asthma and still
live normally, even be a professional athlete."
More from Mike: Many trainers
train their swimmers to NOT BREATHE. I believe this sets up breathing
patterns in the future that are VERY unhealthy.
She's on the maximum regimen recommended for asthma
maintenance." That means three or four different medications a day -
every day. Can we be ourselves using drugs
every day and still be "healthy normal"? The drug industry would sure like
that. I seriously doubt that most drugs and healthy normal are compatible.
http://www.breathing.com/articles/asthma-hyperventilation.htm
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that asthma afflicts 150
million people worldwide and claims 180,000 lives annually. In the USA,
over 17 million Americans suffer from the disorder. Of these, at least 5
million are children, and half of those are undiagnosed.
I wish I could reach just ONE of the following people. We
could set the stage for backing thousands, perhaps millions of people away
and or off of inhalers and steroids.
From a leading martial artist... Dear Mike;
Once in my early training years I witnessed, and helped, one of
my teachers
in Judo. Do you remember when Ingemar Johansson, the boxer who won over Floyd
Paterson once, on his second match I think it was, was knocked out. People
where talking about his shivering foot. One of his feet was moving because of
the damage the knockout from Floyd gave him. I am not sure this is what
happened for my teacher, but this was the situation.
He was wrestling on the mat with his
opponent. He ended up under his opponent, who got a judo-strangulation around
his throat - and I saw one of his feet started to move as it did with the
Swedish ex-champ. I yelled STOP and let go, since he had fainted because of
the lack of oxygen. This was 1968, and I was at that time not so well aware of
how the hazardous way the Martial Art strangulation hold could be handled.
Well, he came back with some dizziness, stood up and thanked me. I don't
think I saved his life, but I did a good thing for him, since his opponent
didn't see what was happening.
Later during the years I have been studying more of the strangulation
techniques. It is a ART in itself. Sorry to say, it is a killing art. One
Japanese friend of mine, he is dead now, rest his soul, not by strangulation
though, he died from diabetes. He told me about one of his teachers in Japan.
For the Japanese (some) it seems as "close death experiences" is
close to orgasm. This teacher had a way of doing it by throwing a wet towel
around his neck and from that reach the goal of "almost"
strangulation. It worked always for him, except one time, when he could not
remove the towel from his neck - he died from the strangulation (maybe a
fantastic death considering his view of sexual pleasure).
In Judo, i.e. there is at least ten to fifteen
different strangulations. Some going to the windpipes, others attacking (don't
know the word for it) other places in the throat.
Once when I was in Japan, my teacher, Ishizuka-sensei, showed me the following
thing; "Bo-san look," he said. Called for another student and hit
him with his thumb (a special technique we use) in his throat and the guy
lifted from the mat and landed two or three meters from were he had been
standing.
All those strangulations are very dangerous handled improperly. Sometime
Martial Artists say, "You can take a strangulation for ten seconds".
This is a lie. I ended up in a choke-hold and I had to give up straight away,
the other person was so powerful so I felt the blackness coming over me.
I think Mike, that it could be a good thing if you from your side, as a
breathing-specialist, wrote about the hazardous ways of handling opponents
while training. In this so called Ultimate Fighting, where it obviously is
correct to hit and choke ones opponent until he is unconscious. Some of the
contestants get hurt real bad. In the East, Russia i.e. there have been at
least a couple of deaths from those so called gladiator-games.
I get very angry when it comes to those spectacular games. In the end, a
person can die. We all die, it's the only real truth in life. But as I have
learned from much of your writing, through the proper breathing we can live
longer, instead of shorter. B.M.
From Mike:
This is an important insight, though very extreme examples, that will add
to other's understanding of the importance of healthy breathing and longevity.
Many thanks.
Chief Seattle said many years ago that if the white man continued his life
in the direction it was going that he would spend most of life surviving
instead of living. Breath is life. I think the ones to really watch are the
ones that do NOT abuse their bodies and die anyway. They are far in the
majority then the fighters whom we know often push the limits beyond reason
and sanity.
My friend Margo Anand who wrote The Art of Sexual Magic and teaches
Tantra in the form of spiritual sexuality would absolutely have a fit at
someone trying to choke themselves to achieve ecstasy. Ecstasy stems
from the breath being greater, deeper and easier. From being directed to
specific areas of the body in great amounts. I feel sad for these
"choking "people.
Many thanks Bo. You are a friend and colleague, I honor and value our
relationship.
Namaste.
From Steve:
Unfortunately I think some of them don't care if they shorten their lifetime or even die.
They are doing what they love and are willing to die for it. It is almost like a Samurai
Warrior. He knew he could die tomorrow, but he kept on training as hard as he can
and continued to be a Samurai. I also saw this analogy with rock climbers
who climb without ropes. They love living on the edge of life. If they die, even
their survivors say they died doing what they loved. There was also a story about these guys who
jump from cliffs with bungee cords but stopped above the tree line. This one guy
tried to aim below the tree line so he would go between 2 trees. He missed. To each his own I guess.
Q. Does the ventilation system limit exercise capacity??*
From Mike:* The bigger question is
"does certain kinds of exercise/physical exertion limit the ventilation system
and how does one offset this
limitation?"
Bronchitis in a world class bicyclist?
Swiss rider wins men's road race
ATLANTA (AP) -- The conditioning provided by the Tour de France was
evident in today's Olympic cycling road race.
All three medalists raced in the Tour, while American favorite Lance
Armstrong, who withdrew because of illness, faded in today's race.
"I said before the race that the winner would come from the Tour de
France," said American Frankie Andreu, who finished fourth. "Because
when you come out of the Tour de France either you're flying or you're dead.
Pascal Richard of Switzerland overtook Denmark's Rolf Sorensen in the
final 20 meters to win by a bicycle length in the first Olympic road race open
to professionals.
Richard covered the 138-mile course in 4 hours, 53 minutes, 56 seconds.
He swung left of Sorensen at the last moment and crossed the finish line with
arms upraised, while Sorensen slapped his handle bar in disgust.
Maximilian Sciandri of Britain the bronze medal, finishing two seconds
behind the two leaders.
With professional cyclists invited to the Olympics for the first time in
Atlanta, today's field of 194 of the world's greatest cyclists was the
strongest ever for an American road race.
Andreu of Dearborn, Mich., was the top American finisher, 1 minute, 14
seconds behind Richard. Armstrong led for about a lap but faded in the final
25 miles and finished 12th, 1 minute, 29 seconds back.
Armstrong dropped out of this month's Tour de France because of bronchitis
and strep throat, and his lack of top conditioning caught up to him.
"The ideal preparation for this race is the Tour de France,"
said Andreu, the only American to finish the Tour de France this year.
"Then you rest up and for a one-day ride, you're in perfect shape."
Steven Bauer of Canada said it was evident Armstrong was gassed.
"I guess he didn't have it in the end," Bauer said. "As
we can see, one, two, three were guys who did the Tour de France, and everyone
was saying they may be tired. But I knew anyone who rode the Tour de France
was going to have the top conditioning."
All the world's best were here, with the exception of Switzerland's Tony
Rominger, whose skills are more suited for mountain courses than the 8.1-mile
course that wound its way through the plush neighborhoods of Atlanta.
The race -- 17 laps on a course winding through the heart of Atlanta --
began at 8:30 a.m. on rain-cooled streets and the temperatures were relatively
tepid -- the opposite of what Armstrong had hoped for.
Armstrong, a two-time Tour DuPont winner and a two-time Tour de France
stage winner, figured a hot, humid day would have hurt the Europeans. But the
weather wasn't that hot or sticky.
The field included Miguel Indurain of Spain, whose five-year reign as
champion of the Tour de France ended this month when he finished 11th to
Danish rider Bjare Riis.
National coaching director Chris Carmichael did everything he could to
give Armstrong the upper hand.
The four other Americans in the race -- Andreu; Steve Hegg, of Dana
Point, Calif.; George Hincapie, of Charlotte, N.C.; and Greg Randolph, of
McCall, Idaho; -- raced for one purpose: to help Armstrong win a medal.
All but Hegg came from the Motorola-sponsored professional riding team
led by Armstrong.
Nurses and physical therapists
are harder to see the breathing relationship due to lack of need to be
compared to a competitor but when many take our breathing tests they begin to
wonder if their stress (our definition of harmful stress is not giving
yourself enough time to breathe) is more harmful than they realized.
Recommended Program for offsetting harm
done by stress, gasping and breath heaving.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
BRANDON -- After two days of fitness drills, two days of aching legs and
shortness of breath, coach John Tortorella knows what will make his players feel
a whole lot better.
"I think," he said, "they want to see some pucks."
Players will get that chance at 10 a.m. today as the Lighting holds its first
practice of training camp at the Ice Sports Forum.
But Tortorella warned the emphasis on fitness will not be overlooked. The
coach said that after the 40-minute scrimmage that will start practice, most of
the work on and off the ice will continue to focus on conditioning.
"We're not doing this in a punishment type of way," Tortorella said
Wednesday. "Conditioning is an important part of of getting out of the
gates and it is something we can control."
Wednesday's workouts looked particularly tough. Each player skated 15 laps
three times, with only a short rest in between.
But Nikita Alexeev said that was nothing compared to Tuesday's breathtaking
(literally) drill that had each player skate three laps six times.
Alexeev said when it was over he had "a headache, pressure in my head.
The blood goes everywhere. It's pretty much the toughest drill I ever did."
"I think it's fun for them," Tortorella said. "It's like a
battle. "You're not going to break me.' I think they enjoy the challenge of
it."
Whether he enjoys it or not, defenseman Jassen Cullimore called the drills a
necessary evil.
"It's going to get you better," he said. "It will get you to
the peak of the season. There's a time during the year you can say you're
feeling really good. Hopefully, this will get us there quicker."
1.
Breathing
Development for Amateur Athletes
2.
Breathing
Development for Professional Athletes
Page 2 of
this article includes
an Article about over-training featuring a heart specialist.
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Coming to The Optimal Breathing School has
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