Diaphragmatic Breathing
Diaphragmatic breathing is the foundation for everything. As we age it becomes more common to breathe through the chest using accessory muscles like the neck, shoulders, and upper chest - due to stress, poor posture, pain, etc. You may have noticed that people with chronic pain, an acute flare of pain, when we work out, when we are frequently in a stooped forward and rounded posture, or when we become anxious and stressed (to name a few scenarios), that you are more likely to hold your breath. You are likely breathing fast, shallow, and through the upper chest. Maybe your shoulders are shrugging and you are feeling increased tension in the neck and upper back? While this is common, it is not the best, most efficient, healthiest way to be breathing (I’m sure you all realize this). “Belly breathing” also known as diaphragmatic breathing, engages the diaphragm and abdominals and allows your lungs to fill more efficiently and effectively. (Next time look at a baby or young child and notice they breathe through their bellies! - it’s fundamental).
Let’s cover a little anatomy first. The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle that sits on top of the stomach. This muscle is your primary breathing muscle. It has the help of the accessory muscles such as the intercostal muscles that are between each of your rib as well as muscles in the neck and shoulders, but the diaphragm is what needs to be working properly for the most efficient use of oxygen.
Did you know that 20% of all of your oxygen intake is used by your brain?? That’s pretty significant. When you have habitually trained your body to breathe consistently in a shallow pattern with use of the secondary muscles over the primary diaphragm, your body AND brain simply won’t function as well. If you need further clarification as to why using your primary breathing muscles over the secondary ones is best, here is a quick run down on 3 basic scientific reasons why:
Muscle activity: When the diaphragm is functioning fully as it’s suppose to, it gives those secondary muscles to rest. Our neck, shoulders, and chest muscles have a ton of other jobs to perform throughout the day! Lifting, carrying, maintaining posture, holding up your head (which is 10-12 pounds on its own, ya know!), just to name a few. If our secondary muscles have to do all of that AND be responsible for breathing… that is just a recipe for chronic pain and persistent tension. So focus on retraining your diaphragm to be primary again. Your body will be less fatigued, pained, and you will function better overall.
Blood: The pH of our blood is affected by how we breathe. If you remember from your science classes, pH runs on a scale of 0-14 with <7 being acidic and >7 being alkaline. Blood should be at a 7.4pH (water is 7 for reference). When we hold our breath, breathe fast, and/or breathe shallow the pH of the blood increases. This alone can cause a slew of issues depending on how significant it becomes. We are talking symptoms like lightheadedness, nausea, confusion, muscle spasms, but can get much worse if left unmanaged. So learning how to manage belly breathing can save your blood!
Nervous System: Not to get too technical here because nerves can be tricky, but you have the autonomic nervous system that has 2 main branches. One is the sympathetic system (your fight or flight responses) and the other is the parasympathetic system (rest, digest, restore). Simply put, when one system is turned on, the other is turned off. So when you have chronic pains for example, you are in the “fight or flight” state and cannot be in the “rest, digest, restore” state. So where does breathing come in? To stay simple here in the same example, diaphragmatic breathing has been proven to show that it can reduce pain and associated symptoms when done consistently because you are resting and restoring not “fight or flight”-ing.
Do we see now how when use use our diaphragm properly for breathing how it can truly affect so many different systems in the body?? And I barely scratched the surface here! But because I am a pelvic floor specialist as well, I NEED to address the connection between the diaphragm and the pelvic floor briefly here too (I will likely do a whole post just on this topic later! I don’t want to get too lengthy here)
The diaphragm and the pelvic floor have a “pressure relationship”. This means that when the diaphragm descends then the pelvic floor descends and vice versa with elevation. When you have excessive tension and tightness in the pelvic floor, it affects this pressure relationship with the diaphragm (aka they will not move well together) . And if you are not using the diaphragm properly (as mentioned above) it will affect the management of the pelvic floor. Take a look at this little anatomy graphic below:
As the lungs and the rib cage expands on inhalation, they cause the diaphragm and pelvic floor to drop.
If you can extrapolate here a little, when you have pelvic pain, weakness, incontinence, etc diaphragmatic breathing helps restore that pressure relationship and helps these symptoms.
There is so much more I can add there, such as with integrating kegels with breathing - but that we will save for another time.
Let’s jump into the HOW TO section. There are a lot of different methods out there. I like to alternate with 4-4-4-4 cycled breathing patterns and 4-7-8 cycle for 3-8 reps, depending on what my body needs that day.
Box Breathing is the 4-4-4-4 cycle
Imagine a box
breathe IN for a count of 4
HOLD for a count of 4
breathe OUT for a count of 4
HOLD for a count of 4
This technique is taught to Navy Seals to help manage stressful situations. This pattern is great because it relaxes you, the breathe is all equal parts, it balances your nervous system, and is great for focusing the body and mind. You can do this anywhere!
Deep Breathing is the 4-7-8 cycle
breathe IN for a count of 4
HOLD for a count of 7
breathe OUT for a count of 8
This is certainly more of an advanced pattern but works great for deep relaxation. The inhalation increases your heartbeat and the exhalation slows your heartbeat; when you breath out longer it automatically starts to relax you. If you struggle to meet these counts, don’t worry! Do as much as you can and find YOUR rhythm. Maybe you try 2-3-4 patterning for a bit and work up. You do not want to feel dizzy or stressed, it defeats the purpose.
For both of these I like to work in 3-8 reps pending what my body and mind need that day! If I can lay on my back, I feel most connected to my breathing in that position, but sitting, being in a butterfly position, standing…. all are great options!
Recap of Diaphragmatic breathing benefits:
improved respiration
increases energy & concentration
lowers blood pressure
lowers heart rate
decreases anxiety & reduces stress hormones
improves gut health (diarrhea & constipation)
decreases severity of menstrual cramping
helps control bladder/bowel leakage
decreases pelvic pain
improves muscle function during exercise (aka improved athletic performance)
decreased back pain
relaxes & lengthens the pelvic floor
See, diaphragmatic breathing is HUGE and there is so much more I could go into with each of these benefits. But for now, try these techniques to help yourself recover, rebalance, and revive ;)
~ Katherine
