The Importance of Breathing

As part of my research thesis, I studied the diaphragm muscle (primary muscle of respiration). This included different breathing patterns and their profound sequalae on health outcomes. Most people have heard of the the term 'diaphragmatic breathing', but a lot less know the positive flow-on effects breathing in such a way has on other body systems and overall health.

Breathing well helps us relax, normalise body biochemistry, reduces muscle pain and allows re-establishment of normal posture and movement.

When any person is misusing their respiratory muscles and develops breathing pattern disorders, many negative symptoms may arise. Symptoms associated with breathing pattern disorders include but are not limited to:

Tingling in the fingers
Cold hands and feet
Postnasal drip
Shortness of breath
Poor Concentration
Anxiety
Irritable bowel
Abdominal cramps/bloating
Headaches
Chest pain/tightness

If you are someone that suffers from any of these symptoms or simply to breathe in a more efficient and healthy way, this should be of great help to you.
The simple breathing exercise that I use and teach others goes as follows:

1. Lie flat on your back with your knees bent (this takes your abdominal muscles off tension and allows easier contraction of the diaphragm)
2. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen just under your umbilicus (belly button)
3. Start to breath IN slowly (inspiration) using only your nose. When breathing ion through your nose there is 50% more airway resistance compared with breathing through your mouth. This will automatically slow your breathing rate down, tipping your autonomic seesaw towards a more parasympathetically driven state. This is the rest and digest portion of your autonomic nervous system that promotes healing and decreases cortisol (primary stress hormone). Additionally, the hairs in your nose have an important filtration purpose, filtering out a lot of the nasties in the air. Yes, breathing through your nose will actually make you get sick less often!
4. During inspiration try and breathe as slow as you can comfortably manage, try to get the feeling of inhaled air pushing deep into your pelvis.
5. When you breathe out, simply relax your abdomen. The inbuilt elasticity within your lungs contracts them inwards naturally and effortlessly, pushing air back out of your lungs.
6. To check if your are now breathing correctly using your diaphragm as the main driver, simply look at your two hands. The hand on your chest should remain relatively still throughout and the hand on your abdomen will rise and fall with each respiratory cycle.

Here are a couple images of me illustrating this technique:

Hope that helps some of you kick start good breathing habits! The more you do this type of breathing in a conscious effort the more likely it will weave into your subconscious.
I have so much more to talk about in terms of breathing that I'd be keen to share with you all, let me know if you like this type of content and I will try to publish more of this kind of stuff on a regular basis.