Contributing Writer
Annie Bush
You do it all day, and all night long. You don’t have to think about doing it – it’s the one thing your body, and brain do all on their own. Breathing.
But we have gotten kinda lazy: We aren’t breathing to increase our energy - we aren’t breathing to fill our bodies with the life force to keep us at our optimal health. We are just getting by with minimal to no awareness of how important it is to breathe deeply, and oxygenate our brains and our bodies, and that’s what we are going to be talking about today.
What Controls the Breath
To keep it simple, your breathing and heart rate are functions of your brainstem. Your brainstem is generally the last part of your brain to die. This explains why people with Dementia and Alzheimer’s can live for decades if they are otherwise healthy if the brainstem is unaffected.
We breathe in oxygen, it goes into our lungs and blood, and then we as we exhale the carbon dioxide (waste) moves from the blood, through the lungs and exhaled out. The cycle of life.
What Happens When You
Don’t Breathe Deeply
Shallow breathing, also referred to tachypnea or “chest breathing”, occurs when you don’t fully expand your lungs. It’s those short, quick shallow breaths.
Think about it: If you are not getting enough oxygen in your body, it makes sense you are not going to feel well. Your brain needs oxygen to function, so those headaches and that brain fog and that shortness of breath could all be due to your simply not breathing deep enough.
Shallow breathing can also lead to high blood pressure, a weak immune system, fatigue, and also your body going into a Fight or Flight response. If your body thinks it’s in danger because it’s not getting enough oxygen, it may trigger the panic associated with going into Fight or Flight mode.
Nose Breathing
Luckily, there are amazing people who have dedicated their lives to teaching us to breathe to optimize our health, and one of the leaders is James Nestor. I highly recommend his book, “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art”.
One important aspect of his work is the emphasis on breathing in through your nose – not your mouth. Your nose has tiny hairs which serve as a filtering system to trap dust, pollen and other allergens, so they don’t reach your lungs. Breathing in through your nose also helps produce nitric oxide, which helps relax blood vessels and improve blood flow.
When you breathe in through your mouth, there is no filter, and the toxins mentioned above go directly to your lungs. Also, breathing through your mouth dries out your gums and leads to all sorts of problems with toxins getting into your gums and traveling to your brain. That’s a whole other discussion for another day.
Folks who breathe through their mouths at night are more prone to snoring and sleep apnea, which means less oxygen getting to the brain. You wonder why you wake up feeling exhausted.
Types of Breathing for Health and Vitality
Alternate Nostril Breathing – Fun fact: Breathing in your left nostril oxygenates the right hemisphere of your brain, and breathing in your right nostril oxygenates the left hemisphere of your brain.
Stop what you are doing right now, and put your finger over your right nostril, close off the air supply, and breathe in and out through your left. Now switch. Most people can breathe in easier through one side or the other.
Why is this important? The right hemisphere of your brain is associated with your creativity, intuition and emotions. The left side is your analytical, logical, language side. If you tend to overthink, and struggle with using your imagination, your left nostril may be blocked, and you are not getting enough oxygen to the right side of your brain.
Wim Hof Breathing
Another great leader in the science of breathing is Wim Hof. His methods of deep breathing may help you feel more energy, less stress and improve your immune system. I’ve used his breathing App on my phone in the past. His sequence goes something like this: Breathe deeply in through your nose, filling your belly and lungs, and then exhale out through your mouth. Do this 20-40 times continuously like a wave. On the last exhale, hold your breath for as long as it is comfortable. Repeat two or three cycles.
Box Breathing – Feeling anxious or going into what you perceive to be a stressful situation? Walking into a big meeting or presentation? Box breathing has been taught and used by the military and law enforcement to manage stress in high-pressure situations. The great thing is you can do this breathing technique without anyone even noticing what you are doing.
The sequence here is as follows: Breathe in to the count of four, hold your breath for a count of four, exhale for a count of four, and hold for a count of four.
Heart-Centered Breathing
Thank you to the amazing work the folks at the HeartMath Institute are doing to help us focus on our hearts, and coming to a place of calm, peace, appreciation, and unconditional love through our breath.
Through learning how to breathe through your heart center, you can experience more balance, more energy, more uplifted emotions and mental clarity. It makes sense: The calmer you are, the clearer your thoughts.
The basic HeartMath technique is simple: Breathe in at a rate which is comfortable for you, nice and slow, and envision you are breathing in through your heart center. Then breathe out for an equal amount of time.
For me, a nice slow deep breath is to a count of 4. I breathe in for a count of 4, then exhale for a count of 4. For you it might be 3, or 5 or 6. The number doesn’t matter as long as the inhale and the exhale are equal. That is the key.
Heart Rate Variability
One last thing to mention when we are talking about our breath, is the importance of your Heart Rate Variability, or HRV for short. It is an indicator of your overall health and resilience, and it’s controlled by your autonomic nervous system. You can think of it as the space or time between heartbeats. When you are stressed, your heartbeat, and the space between the beats, speeds up and becomes like a metronome.
When you relax, the space increases and decreases more like a wave, or is more variable. When your HRV is higher, you have more space and variability and are more resilient.
The health and wellness industry is full of devices, YouTube videos, and Apps you can wear to help train you to use the above breathing techniques, and to measure your heart rate and HRV. I personally have used an Oura ring, HeartMath’s Inner Balance device, a Whoop, and the Wim Hof breathing App.
I am happy to share additional information on the above, or if you would like advice on where to start.
Improve your overall health starting today, by simply breathing deep.
Annie Bush
Your Total Body
