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Because how we breathe can change our experience of how we live.
Take a moment, check in and notice…how am I breathing right now?
….Is it through my nose or mouth naturally?
….Is it in my chest, belly, or ribs….where is my breath going in my body?
….does it feel light, or is it a little harsh or tight?
….and is it naturally slow, or a little faster?
One of the biggest problems many of us face with how we breathe day to day is simple….we breathe a bit too fast, a bit too shallow, through the mouth too much and and we over breathe.
Why is this bad for us?
How we breathe sends signals to our brain/body about what level of threat/stress is around:
Think about it…when we panic, or we’re frightened, or angry, what happens? Our breath get’s raggedy, fast, shallow.
So even if we’re not in a stressful situation but we’re breathing in a stressful way (aka too fast, too shallow and a bit too harsh), our body/brain starts to listen to the signals our breath is giving us, and thinks there’s increased levels of threat around.
So we start to feel more stressed & anxious, despite the fact there’s not necessarily anything new to feel stressed and anxious about; It’s just our brain, body & nervous system responding to what our breath is telling us…that it’s stressed!
It’s Exhausting/Wastes Energy
If we’re breathing too shallow and too much, that’s a heck of alot of extra work, constantly for the body, as it’s pumping air in and out. It’s knackering! By over breathing you’re putting a load of extra stress on the body that pal, maybe it just doesn’t need.
It can make you feel more tired, sluggish & uses alot of excess energy. What could I be using that energy for?
More Susceptible to Illness:
Our Milia, little hairs on the inside of our nose act as our first line of defence against bacteria and infection. It’s genuinely a lovely little filter to help protect us! If we’re overbreathing, which is often done through the mouth - we miss out on that totally free layer of protection.
Just simply by breathing through the nose a bit more, we’re giving ourselves an extra layer of protection.
Crazy! But Totally true.
Less Oxygen to the Heart, Muscles & Organs (aka a reduced mental, physical performance):
(Ok, this one’s might be a little tougher to understand, so don’t stress if you don’t get the full principle to begin with!)
Explained by a principle named the ‘Bohr Effect’….what our cells actually need to release the oxygen we’re breathing in to the parts that need it (brain/muscles/organs etc) is…a certain level of carbon dioxide in the blood.
I’ll say that again as it can take a moment to land if it’s a new principle to you!
When we breathe in, we’re breathing in Oxygen, and we WANT that oxygen to go into our body and be released into our tissues, muscles, organs.
As that oxygen comes in to the body and attaches to our cells in order to be carried to the organs/muscles, what we NEED in order for that oxygen to be released to those places is a certain level of Carbon Dioxide.
If we don’t get enough Carbon Dioxide in our blood, that oxygen we’ve breathed in and that our tissues/muscles/organs want just stays attached to the cells in our body, and never gets fully released or used fully.
Our cells just need the friend of Carbon Dioxide to give the oxygen that’s bound to them a nudge to say, off ya go pal, go do your thing!
So if we’re breathing too fast, and too much, we never get a chance for our CO2 levels to rise enough in our blood, and the oxygen we’re breathing in doesn’t end up getting transferred as much as we want to the muscles/tissues/organs.
So whilst it might FEEL like we get more oxygen in by breathing faster, we’re actually getting less in, because it never gets a chance to release to the places we want it to go!
Less Oxygen to the brain: Reduced Focus, Perhaps Poorer Mental Health, Reduced Mental Performance.
Less Oxygen to the muscles: Reduced Athletic Performance/Physical Performance
Less Oxygen to the heart: Weaker Heart Function
Less Oxygen to the Sex Organs: Well….
Gives us crooked teeth & A More Puffy Face
This one sounds mental. But I promise, there’s so much science to back it up. When we over breathe through the mouth, the soft tissue on the roof of our mouth gets pretty relaxed, and less active (try it, breathe through your nose, then mouth and see if you notice a subtle difference between how the roof of your mouth feels.
If we’re mouth breathing and that tissue is a little less active, it can lead to more of a saggy face. That along with increased inflammation that can come with mouth breathing can lead to more of a puffy, saggy appearance (see the below images to see the difference of a young lad who went from mouth to nose!)
And as the tissue in your mouth gets a little ‘saggier’ (for want of a better word!). that also changes the shape of your mouth…there’s less room for your teeth to grow, so they’re more likely to grow a little wonkier, and over each other!
Again - CRAZY! But so much scientific evidence to back this up.
A Patient Before and after Mouth Breathing Treatment.
Dehydrates Ya:
Breathing Through the mouth, you lose water droplets as you breathe in and out. It dehydrates you!
Sleep:
Mouth breathing can cause sleep apnea - which can really disrupt your quality of sleep. You might be going to bed for a full 8 hours, but because of poor breathing, might just not be getting the sleep you deserve!
If you often wake up with a dry mouth - you’re probably suffering from some sort of poor breathing during sleep.
Less Back Pain:
Breathing through the nose also activates our diaphragm, not only allowing us to breathe deeper, but which acts as a support for our spine.
If our diaphragm is a bit ‘lazy’, or we’re breathing shallow, we’re more prone to back pain as that key spinal support isn’t working the way we hope!
Nose Breathing - Prepares Air for Lungs
Our nose also has cool little things at the top called turbinates, which regulate the temperature of the air we’re breathing in.
Better regulated Air = Easier Air for the body to receive and Use!
WILD
I know.
But the exciting thing….
If there’s that many things that can be affected by poor breathing
How much can we improve just by training our breath?
We can improve:
Our Physical Performance
Our Mental Health
Our Stress Response
Our Sleep
Our Focus,
Our Connection
Our Sex Life!
Our Quality of Life
And it’s a FREE tool for us!
It’s dead exciting man.
I’ll be talking more over the upcoming weeks/months about how to start to implement some simple breath practices into your day to day to help.
But If you want to start today..
Can You just pay more attention to your breath? Slow it when you can? Breathe through your nose just a little more?
You could try some of my free Breathwork’s on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0NBeC3SulbS4K7Ov21mc0p?si=73c16bf8c1cd4620
Come Breathe with me online: https://www.breathbodysoul.co.uk/book-online
Come Join and Event: https://www.breathbodysoul.co.uk/upcoming-events
Or work with me 1-2-1 on a bespoke 12 week breathwork programme, tailored to you: https://www.breathbodysoul.co.uk/general-7
Any questions, fire away in the comments or email me,
Big Love,
Lets breathe better together
Xxx
Jenny
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