Your 4th "thing to do for your health" for 2008

Did you ever watch a baby sleep?

If you haven't recently, watch one soon, and notice how the baby breathes when asleep: big, deep breathing that moves the baby's abdominal muscles.

Our number 4 is something you can do with your walking: it's deep breathing.

Deep breathing has a number of benefits. First, your body needs the deep, cleansing breaths that are provided. Deep breathing cleans the lungs, cleans out nasty mucus from your sinus cavities, and helps to prevent bad breath. Primarily, your body needs oxygen, and most of us have become accustomed to shallow, "light" breathing that doesn't give us enough oxygen saturation.

Secondly, deep breathing tones the abdomen, given your tummy muscles a workout that they need to prevent that sagging gut that so many people get as they get older.

Third, deep breathing tightens and tones the face and neck muscles. Do deep breathing for a while, and you'll look like you've had a face lift. Not to mention, you'll feel brighter, more alive, and more alert.

This is the routine. Standing, take a very deep breath. Let the breath inflate your abdomen. As you breathe in, pull your neck muscles up into an exaggerated smile. Breathe in as deeply as you can, and finally -- when you think you can't breathe in more -- take a couple of more "sniffs" to make sure your lungs are completely filled with life-giving oxygen.

Then breathe out. Fix your lips into an "o" shape, and let every bit of air out that you can. Your abdomen should "shrink" as you do this. As on the intake, when you think you've let out every bit of air, puff another couple of times to make sure it's all out.

If you're in the bad habit of shallow breathing, you'll probably feel a bit light-headed. That's OK. Keep doing it. I aim for 15 minutes of deep breathing every day, and it has changed my life.

For a very good, low stress program, I highly recommend oxycise.com. It's a good DVD based program which is deceptively simple, easy to do, but most of all, it works.