CHILDREN AND BREATHING
from The Blue Mountains Gazette
“There is nothing more distressing than watching your child struggle to breathe” says Jennifer Harris of Buteyko Breathe Easy. “If your child is a mouth breather – day or night – then one or more of the symptoms of the Hyperventilation Syndrome will raise its ugly head. These symptoms include asthma, paradoxical or reverse breathing, bronchitis, panic and anxiety attacks, some behavioural disorders, allergies, eczema, blood sugar disorders, chronic fatigue, dental abnormalities, snoring and sleep apnoea , rhinitis, sinusitis, chronic infections and digestive disturbances – just to name a few.
Healthy breathing is always nasal and diaphragmatic. At rest good breathing is silent, peaceful, refreshing and nourishing. There should be ten to twelve quiet nasal breaths per minute at rest. This translates to about five litres of air at rest per minute. All suffers of asthma and other breathing related disorders breathe enough for at least two or three of them. Good breathing maintains the balance between the carbon dioxide and the oxygen which enables optimal delivery of oxygen to every cell in the body. The sooner unhealthy breathing habits are corrected the sooner the child or adult will be able to enjoy optimal health.
My lessons are fun and designed to educate the parents and child together. I have worked with children for over thirty years as an entertainer, dance and music teacher as well as a mum and now a breathing practitioner. No one is too young or too old to learn to breathe healthily. I even have a special programme for parents and infants. This programme educates the parents to breathe well and to teach and reinforce healthy breathing to their children. I am available for group sessions and lectures also.”
For information on breathing and Pilates contact Jennifer on 0414 833 857 or visit her website www.pnc.com.au/~breatheasy or email breatheasy@pnc.com.au.