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Staying Healthy
Breathing your way to better health
- By Kelly Bilodeau, Former Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch
Deep breathing can help reduce stress and potentially your risk of some diseases.
Inhale. Exhale. It’s something you do tens of thousands of times each day, probably without thinking much about it. While it may seem strictly utilitarian, breathing isn’t only life-sustaining; it can be life-enhancing when used as a tool, says Dr. Shalu Ramchandani, a health coach and internist at the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Simple breathing exercises incorporated throughout your day can actually disengage a potentially health-harming chronic stress response and help insulate you from the damage that it can inflict on your body.
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About the Author
Kelly Bilodeau, Former Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch
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As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.
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