Why every breath you take counts [news]

We breathe, on average, between 22,000 and 28,000 times a day. It's a basic action that most of us take for granted. Provided all is well, our ever-faithful, ethereal friend, the breath, endures. And noticing its presence can have surprising effects on our health and happiness. Not only does every one of our body's trillions of cells need oxygen to survive and thrive, but the way we breathe can influence our immune function, stress levels, respiratory and emotional health. The breath can also help with grief relief, tone our abdominals and even help us to even burn fat more effectively. The key to obtaining such benefits lies not in breathing more, but in breathing better.