Wait, I’m Breathing Wrong?
Wait, I’m breathing wrong? This is a common question we hear every day and the short answer is yes, how you breathe is also important for your health, not just that you do it.
Breathing is typically what is known as a subcortical (below consciousness) pattern, meaning our brain does it without thinking about it. There are however, two different patterns of breathing, both have their places in proper function. The first pattern is called primary breathing, this is where we use our diaphragm (the muscle at the bottom of our rib cage) to pull air into our lungs by it dropping down and our stomach bulging out. This is how we are supposed to breathe almost all the time. It not only contributes to a calming effect on the brain (think meditation) but also is more mechanically advantageous. The activation of the diaphragm and subsequent abdomen bulging out helps create stability for our center of mass which is behind our belly buttons. This in turn allows us to be more stable with less effort so we can be more explosive, athletic and stronger. This diaphragm pattern also creates a small repetitive rocking forward and backward motion of the spine which is advantageous.
So what is the other pattern of breathing. This is where we use all the muscles around our rib cage and into the base of our necks and pull our shoulders up and ribs apart to get the air in. This is called accessory or secondary breathing. This was designed for periods of peak stress, whether that be physical stress or mental/emotional stress. This is basically our brain going “there is too much stress on the system to function properly, we need to get enough air in to survive through this.” Which is a perfectly fine response if we do in fact return to normal primary breathing. What becomes concerning is when we get stuck in this accessory breathing all the time.
When we are stuck in the accessory pattern, there are a few different issues that can arise. One is we see more stress and anxiety in the individual as a whole, this is representative of the brain never being able to relax and calm down. Another is chronic back pain. This is from the accessory pattern keeping us in a position of being rounded forward or extended backward instead of that oscillation between the two. Chronic rounding or extending can lead to things like compressed joints or disc bulges. This is why rehabilitation should almost always include an evaluation and possible treatment for breathing patterns. Secondly, when we are working out, especially if we are doing something that really makes us breath hard, it can be very beneficial to take some time post exercise to work at breathing into our stomachs. This can be as short as a couple minutes of intentional breathing while we do some stretching. Taking this time to down regulate will not only improve our breathing pattern following exercise but help us recover faster since proper breathing will deliver more oxygen into the body and subsequently the muscles. Does this mean we should never train to a point where we lose primary breathing? Absolutely not! Our bodies were made to do very hard things, we just want to be sure we can recover from them and recovering our breathing pattern is part of that recovery.
Breathing is the most basic function of human life, without it there is no life. Take a little time, watch how you are breathing and work to correct it if you find you are in an accessory pattern.
