If there was one thing that I wish I was taught when I was growing up it would be how to breathe properly. I was born with asthma and for as long as I can remember I have been taking ventilators daily and struggling to breathe during the colder months. Most years I had to take prednisone (oral steroid to open up airways) if I had a cold or flu. All these trips to the GP and one trip to ICU and not once was I assessed on technique or taught how to breathe properly!

I never let my asthma become an excuse from holding me back from doing anything (except for P.E at school and cross country – I hated that shit!). In recent years, after expanding my knowledge on the human body and how things work, I quickly realised I have been breathing wrong my entire life…and most likely you are too.

Breathing into the chest, short shallow breathing, short sharp breaths during/after exercise and mouth breathing – this is what the majority of the population is doing. Unfortunately, it’s rarely being addressed – especially in cases of chronic pain, anxiety, depression and stress.

Sympathetic Nervous System

Our bodies run on two response systems, one being the Sympathetic Nervous System. This system is responsible for fight or flight. Basically back when we were hunters and gatherers this system would kick in if we came across lions, bears and wolfs etc., fueling us with enough adrenaline and cortisol that we would either run like hell or we would be pumped and focused on the hunt and kill.

In modern day time we no longer need to hunt for our food, but yet the Sympathetic Nervous System is still present and is unfortunately used far more often than needed, activated by the way we breathe. That’s not to say there is no use for this system, as it is absolutely vital. It’s more  that people are stuck in this system because of the way modern life is designed – daily traffic jams, work deadlines, stress, office work environments, food choices, respiratory conditions, and simply the lack of knowledge on how to breath and how the body works.

Too much time spent in the Sympathetic Nervous System activation state causes continuous chest and mouth breathing. When we breathe through our mouth and into our chest we have less activation of our diaphragm, and an underused diaphragm can cause chronic pain. This might be low back pain from the Psoas muscle that attaches to the diaphragm becoming less active, or Pec minor and scalene becoming overactive from the amount of chest breathing causing neck and shoulder/trap pain, or both.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

The second response system our bodies run on is the Parasympathetic Nervous System. This system is responsible for rest and digest. Unfortunately a massive part of the population does not tap into this system as often as they should (or are completely unaware of either system). When we are in a Parasympathetic state our bodies:

• Use less energy and we can maintain a lower resting heart rate

• Intestinal and gland activity is greater, meaning we can digest foods easier

• When our breathing is controlled muscles will be getting sufficient oxygen and can relax and release constant tension (all of our bodies systems run on oxygen)

Learning to manage both systems

There are many breathing techniques out there to bring you in and out of both states, most people will need to prioritise parasympathetic breathing. Someone who is an athlete may benefit from practicing both.

A basic breathing pattern that I get many of my clients to practice in their own time, as well as first thing in our sessions, is to inhale through the nose into the belly for 4 seconds, and let go out the nose for up to 8 seconds – 30 breaths. Including this in to your pre-training sets your body up to be far more stable and responsive. Not only that, depending on the time of the day it can be great way to set you up for the day with a clear mind, or unwind you after a stressful day of work.

A simple Google or YouTube search of breathing techniques is a great place to expand on different ways of breathing. I would recommend the Wim Hof Method as a great place to start (this is instructed to be done by mouth breathing but still breathing into the belly. After a few times performing this method I always encourage to revert to nose breathing at least for a few rounds).

Treatment for stress, anxiety and depression are readily available but most come in the form of a pill that may mask the problem at hand. Sometimes the best solutions for most of our problems can simply come down to becoming more aware of ourselves.