Improving well-being through Functional Breathing

Written by Laura Williams. Laura is a Registered dental therapist, Qualified yoga teacher and breathwork coach. She is also Co-founder of Take a Pause, a well-being start up for professional individuals and businesses offering free weekly breathwork sessions.

Most of us won’t consciously think about our breathing regularly. Luckily it happens without us having to do anything. We all breathe, but is our breathing supporting our well-being as well as it could be?

The autonomic nervous system allows our bodies and lungs to breathe without much effort or thought from us, which is lucky! If we had to think about each breath we took we wouldn’t get much else done. This bodily system supports us and in our hunter gatherer era did so very well, but it wasn’t designed to react to the modern lifestyle we see today. Our breathing has been impacted by our lifestyles of chronic stress and lack of movement.

According to Patrick McKeown, author of the oxygen advantage and leading expert in breathing, up to 75% of people who suffer with anxiety also have disordered breathing patterns. Natural, functional breathing should be light, slow and through the nose. But when you’re stressed or in a state of panic, your breathing will become fast, shallow and often through the mouth. Our breathing therefore becomes less optimal when we are in a state of stress.

Many of us live with chronic stress meaning these unhealthy breathing patterns have altered our natural rhythms and our regular breathing has become less than effective.

Functional breathing is important to get the most efficient release of oxygen into our lungs but for this to happen we need a certain level of carbon dioxide in the blood. In simple terms carbon dioxide acts as a release button for the oxygen to enter our blood and without it we don’t get the maximum level for our muscles and organs to work. If we are breathing through our mouths or too fast we are removing more carbon dioxide than we should be.

As dental professionals this can impact us directly. Symptoms of disordered breathing include poor sleep and chronic tiredness. It can also create lower back pain and poor posture, as the movement of the diaphragm is impacted by how we breathe and influences the posture of the spine. You may also notice signs of it in your patients, chronic mouth breathing can increase the risk and severity of periodontal disease and Xerostomia as well as the other symptoms already discussed.

So how do we know if our breathing is functional? Next time you are treating a patient look at their breathing, notice if when they inhale there is a big rise in the upper chest or a gentle movement of the ribs or belly. Try this on yourself too and notice if you are breathing fast or slow, big breaths or light, through the mouth or nose. You will also be able to tell if you are mouth breathing at night. If you wake up with a dry mouth or if you snore it might be a sign that you are not breathing through your nose.

Improving your breathing like anything takes practice - but it’s simple to start. As a yoga teacher I was taught pranayama breathing practices in my training. Since then, I have trained with the Oxygen advantage to become a functional breathwork instructor and there are lots of simple and quick breathing techniques we can use daily to improve our habits.

Through training in different modalities I have noticed my desire to change some of the terminology used in my yoga classes to help calm the mind and body. For example the instruction “take a deep breath”. Most people will receive this as taking a BIG breath, when in reality it doesn’t mean that. Breathing deeply means breathing into the full capacity of the lungs and you do this by breathing light and slow rather than drawing in lots of air at once. If you want to improve your breathing the best way to start is practicing breathing through the nose at all times even when doing light exercise and sleeping. Gaining support from an instructor to help you identify your less optimal breathing patterns can also help.

Here is a simple breathing technique you can do daily. Start by breathing normally and just notice the breath coming in and out through the nose. Imagine your breath coming in then travelling to the back of the nose and down into the lungs. You can place your hands either side of your ribs and when you breathe in notice the ribs gently move away from each other. Once you have this rhythm breathe in but only take around 70/80% of a full breath and then relax and breathe out slowly all the way. Continue this for a few cycles. At first it may feel like you need to take more air in but know that you can at any time and try to relax. After a few cycles or 1-2 minutes you can return to normal breathing. Notice how you feel. For most people this will feel relaxing, and you will notice more watery saliva in the mouth. This is your body going into ‘rest and digest’ or the parasympathetic nervous system. If you notice your mouth going dry and the exercise feels stressful just stop and return to normal breathing. This may indicate you have a low tolerance for carbon dioxide and need to start with just slowing down the breath more gently. Always seek medical advice if you have any medical conditions before starting any new practices to ensure they are safe and right for you.

For more information on functional breathing or to join our weekly breathwork classes for FREE you can find us at www.takeapause.com. We offer training and support for individuals and businesses on all aspects of well-being.

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