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How To Breathe Properly: The Ultimate Guide

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Breathing is something we take for granted throughout life, but it is so important to do it correctly. 

We start breathing right after we are born, and we continue until the last breath at the end of our lives. The process of breathing ensures that every part of our body—cells, muscles, and tissues receive enough oxygen to function correctly. 

As a result, it has a direct impact on how well we function—both mentally and physically. 

A proper breathing pattern can significantly improve concentration, mood, and productivity. This is why the simple act of respiration is such a central concept in certain religions and traditions. 

But did you know that there is a right and a wrong way to breathe? 

The breathing technique we rely on will affect the amount of oxygen our body gets and the quality of the air we breathe. 

What Happens During Breathing?

In order to understand breathing, we need to understand a bit about the biology of breathing and how it affects the body. 

Breathing involves your respiratory system, which consists of the nose, the lungs, muscles involved in breathing (intercostal muscles), and the airways (the windpipe). 

So, what exactly happens during breathing?

There are two phases involved in breathing—inhalation and exhalation. 

Inhalation is when you take in air, and as this happens you transfer the oxygen in it to the blood. The body’s cells then take over and use this oxygen for metabolic processes, and these processes in turn produce carbon dioxide as a waste product, which you expel from the body. 

Exhalation pushes this waste carbon dioxide produced in the body’s cells out of the body. While these processes may sound complicated, our bodies are extremely efficient, so they occur in a short space of time.

In fact, we breathe almost ten times per minute.

Stages of Breathing

The most important thing to understand with breathing is that there must be a pressure difference for it to occur. Without it this pressure difference, air won’t flow into the nose, and waste air won’t go out. Our lungs are elastic and can expand and contract easily.

When we inhale, the chest and lungs expand, creating a larger volume inside the lungs and hence a lower pressure. This pressure is a lot lower than the air pressure outside. 

Air tends to flow from higher pressure regions to lower pressure regions. As a result, air flows in easily through the nose.

The expanding and shrinking of the thoracic cavity (where the lungs are located) happens because of the contraction of muscles—the intercostal muscles and diaphragm. 

During inhalation when the intercostal muscles contract, the ribs expand outwards. When the diaphragm contracts, it moves down towards the abdomen, expanding the thoracic cavity even more.

During exhalation, the intercostal muscles relax and the ribcage ‘shrinks’ inward and downward. The diaphragm relaxes and moves up towards the lungs, shrinking the thoracic volume more. 

These processes allow your lungs to push out as much of the ‘waste’ air as possible. 

Taking A Breath

As air flows in through the nose, the mucus lining in our noses ensures that this air is filtered, warm and moist before it reaches the lungs. This can trap any dirt or bacteria that are present in the air. 

After traveling through the nose and throat, the air travels down the trachea (windpipe) to reach the lungs.

The windpipe splits into two pathways, one for each lung. These two pathways then split into many different, smaller tracks inside each lung (called bronchioles), kind of like branches of a tree. 

Both the trachea and bronchioles have a mucus lining to filter the air further. 

Each bronchiole ends with a small elastic air sac called an alveolus. These are encapsulated in tiny blood vessels where gas exchange happens—oxygen enters the bloodstream and carbon dioxide leaves it. 

When you breathe in, the alveoli fill up with oxygenated air that you breathed in, and this oxygen gets dissolved into the blood in the vessels surrounding them. Likewise, carbon dioxide formed as a waste product in cells, enter the alveoli—where it is exhaled. 

Why You May Not Be Breathing Properly

Most humans are born with the innate ability to breathe properly. 

However, over time, it is easy to develop bad breathing rate habits. 

There are many different reasons why people don’t breathe correctly. Yet it mostly comes down to a general lack of awareness of how to breathe properly, as it isn’t something taught in schools. You can easily correct these mistakes with a small amount of conscious effort.

1. Bad Posture

Bad posture is one of the biggest culprits of incorrect breathing techniques, and it’s all too common due to the sedentary lifestyle many people lead. 

Typically, in any office or at any desk, you’re likely to find people hunching over with their shoulders slumped, leaning forward to stare at computer screens. 

This is terrible for breathing because the shoulders are rounded—making it harder for the ribs to move up and out. This posture means there is less space for the lungs to fill up and expand properly. 

It also weakens and stretches your back muscles, making your posture even worse in the future.

Because bad posture doesn’t allow the lungs to expand and contract properly, less oxygen can enter the blood. Also, less carbon dioxide-filled air can be expelled from the lungs. 

Some experts estimate that the decrease in lung capacity during inhalation can be as much as 30%. 

With less oxygen reaching your body, you’re prone to a whole host of mental and physical health issues. This can be linked to a slump in productivity,stress, fatigue and slower reaction times. 

Physically, you will feel tired and out of breath. So, the key to good breathing is to sit up straight with a neutral spine.

2. Body Image Consciousness

For those who are body image conscious, they may feel reluctant to breathe properly because of how their body may look. Breathing correctly requires your ribs and your belly to expand, which causes you to lose muscle tone temporarily.

Many people make the mistake of ‘sucking in’ their stomach because it makes them feel slimmer. However, the downside of this is that you won’t be breathing properly.

3. Breathing Through The Mouth

Breathing through the mouth is a very common breathing mistake a lot of people make. Unlike your nose, the mouth doesn’t filter the air properly before it enters the windpipe. 

 The mucus lining and nose hairs in the nose trap dirt and other microscopic particles that may be harmful. This does not happen with mouth breathing.

4. Bad Lifestyles

  • Diets:

Our diets and lifestyles have huge impacts on the way we breathe. 

For example, certain mineral deficiencies can make it harder to breathe. Iron is responsible for the production of hemoglobin, the compound in red blood cells that enable them to carry oxygen to other cells in the body. When we don’t eat enough iron, this drastically affects the red blood cells’ ability to carry oxygen.

When there’s not enough oxygen, the body reacts by increasing the number of breaths. Obviously, there is a limit to how fast we can breathe. 

When we breathe too fast, we compromise the ability to breathe properly. This is why iron deficiency, anemia, is associated with shortness of breath.

Also ensure that you keep yourself hydrated throughout the day. This ensures the air you breathe in is warm and moist and not dry. Hydration also helps to thin the mucus so that coughing or sneezing won’t be difficult.

  • Lack Of Aerobic Exercise:

Doing plenty of aerobic exercise also improves the quality of breathing. Aerobic exercise relies on oxygen from the air to release energy. 

The more aerobic exercise we do, the more efficient the lungs become. Lung capacity (volume of air in one breath) increases as a result, which encourages deep breath. 

Sedentary lifestyles do the opposite. The lungs become less efficient, and the breaths are shorter and more frequent.

  • Smoking:

Unsurprisingly, smoking can worsen your breathing. The toxic chemicals in tobacco can damage your airways and lung tissue, making them less supple and elastic. They won’t be able to expand and shrink as they used to. 

This means less air can be taken in by the lungs, and less waste air can be expelled out during each breath. Breathing becomes shorter and more laborious.

5. Health Problems

Health conditions and diseases can affect breathing. Whether it is less serious ones like asthma or more serious ones like pneumonia and emphysema, the lungs can be affected. 

These conditions are usually the result of inflammation and infections of the respiratory system.

As with smoking, these health problems can either damage lung tissue or fill up the lungs with fluid. Both of these mean that the lungs can’t fill up with air properly, with less oxygen delivered to the blood.

Here are some conditions that can affect breathing:

  • Asthma
  • Bronchitis
  • Pneumonia
  • COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
  • Sarcoidosis

Viral and bacterial infectious diseases also undoubtedly affect the lungs. Coronavirus, for example, can cause excessive inflammation of the alveoli. This makes it harder for oxygen to enter the blood, and makes it harder to breathe. 

Bacterial infections like tuberculosis also destroy lung tissue. Shortness of breath and coughing are major symptoms of the disease. 

Effects Of Not Breathing Correctly

It is hard to imagine how something so simple and innate, like breathing, can profoundly impact us both physically and mentally—but it does. 

The biggest problem is that shallow and labored breathing induces a stress response in the body—leading to a host of other health issues.

Here is how proper breathing affects the whole body:

  • Immune Function:

Incorrect, shallow breathing can generate a stress response in the body and can affect the immune system

Chronic stress, and the subsequent increases in cortisol (stress hormone) can lower the count of lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are important white blood cells that fight invading pathogens. As a result, the body is more prone to infections. 

  • Blood Pressure And Heart Rate:

Another effect of the stress response from shallow breathing is the elevation of blood pressure. Over time, this can lead to chronic stress and issues with high blood pressure. 

With high blood pressure comes the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases as there is more stress on the heart and blood vessels. 

Mounting research shows that deeper breathing can regulate blood pressure better. For example, in one study, performing yoga breathing exercises lowered blood pressure by up to five points in 54% of the participants.

  • Energy Metabolism

Considering how deep breathing can deliver more oxygen to the body’s cells, it comes as no surprise that it can improve energy metabolism. 

  • Blood Sugar Management:

Generally, a stress response elevates blood glucose levels because the body senses ‘danger’ and triggers the ‘fight or flight’ response. As constant shallow breathing can cause increased stress, this means blood sugar is elevated for prolonged periods. 

Eventually, this leads to insulin resistance and diabetes. Stress is a well-known catalyst for diabetes. Hence, it is thought that stress reduction via deep breathing can help manage diabetes.

  • Improves Digestion:

As deep breathing helps relieve tension and deliver more oxygenated blood to cells, it is no surprise that it also helps digestion. Deep breathing especially helps with issues like constipation and bloating.

  • Cognitive Function:

An improvement in cognitive function is perhaps the best-documented benefit of correct breathing. 

One of many studies proving the link was conducted by the Trinity College of Neuroscience. The study showed that intentional breathing can influence one’s attention span. 

They theorize that proper breathing can control a brain chemical called noradrenaline, which is known to create new connections between brain cells.

In another 2016 study, a 30-minute session of deep breathing was shown to improve the retention of a newly acquired motor skill. Other studies have shown that deep breathing is also useful for learning verbal and spatial tasks. 

There is also evidence that deep breathing can increase the threshold for pain, and thus helps in pain management for those suffering from debilitating diseases like cancer. 

Related: Best Air Quality Monitor

How To Breathe Properly

All this information leads us to the big question—How do you breathe correctly?. 

Deep breathing is known by many names—diaphragmatic breathing, belly breathing, abdominal breathing, etc.

Diaphragmatic breathing aims to fully engage the diaphragm during breathing to create long, deep breaths. Here is how to do it:

  • Find a comfortable position—be it lying down on your back or sitting up straight. Either way, ensure you have good posture where your ribs can move in and out freely. Your shoulders should not be constrained or rounded, and your neck, leg, and back muscles need to be relaxed.
  • To fully feel your diaphragm while breathing, place one hand on your upper chest and the other below your ribs. 
  • Inhale and exhale deeply through the nose. You should feel your lower hand move up and down with your abdomen while the upper one stays still. 
  • Ensure your breaths are completely natural and are not forced. Let your body inhale and exhale naturally.
  • To improve focus even more, count your breaths as you breathe. 

Top Tips for an Instant Fix

If you feel like you don’t have time or patience to go through the whole process or you just want a few pointers that you can lean on in the moment, here are some top tips for an instant fix to incorrect breathing:

Focus on your Belly

Perhaps the number one thing you can do to fix improper breathing in an instant is to focus on your belly as you breathe.

Specifically, you want to place your hand over your belly button and make sure that you feel it expand with air on every inhalation.

Belly breathing is what you want to aim for, so by paying special attention to it you can bring your breathing to a healthy place.

Use the Nose

The nose is another great focal point for fixing bad breathing habits.

While it’s fine to breathe with your mouth during exercise and in certain other situations, the majority of the time you want to inhale and exhale with your nose.

So check in regularly with your nose breathing and make sure you aren’t inhaling and exhaling with your mouth if you can help it.

Yet pursed lip breathing is a technique that works for some, so if you feel like you need to slow down your breath it’s a good option.

Meditation or Yoga

Two of the best activities for working towards better breathing are meditation and yoga.

Both activities require an active focus on what you’re doing with your breath, so stopping what you’re doing for a quick meditation or a 5-min yoga session could be the best type of break you take.

Related: Best Anti-Snoring Devices

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it bad to breathe through the mouth?

Breathing through the mouth is not ideal at all, especially if you live in highly polluted areas. Your nose has hairs and a mucus lining, which acts as a first barrier against dirt and particles. These then get expelled in the mucus via sneezing.

If you breathe through the mouth, the dirt and foreign particles can enter the trachea straight away. This can increase the amount of coughing, as the body tries to get rid of it. Too much coughing is bad because it can damage lung tissue.

How long should I do diaphragmatic breathing?

You don’t need to spend hours doing deep breathing. Start off with 5-10 minutes, and then keep increasing the duration as you improve technique and focus. Do it about 2-3 times a day if you can. 

Studies have shown that even 10 minutes of daily breathing or meditation is enough to significantly improve cognitive function.

Why should I relearn how to breathe properly?

Over time, as our busy lifestyles take over, we learn bad breathing habits out of convenience. For example, it is easy to slouch on a chair and lean forward so that you can see things better on a computer screen. 

Over time, this becomes a habit that is hard to get rid of, and it does even more damage to our breathing.

This is bad because the older we get, the harder it is to let go of bad habits. Also, the older we get, bad breathing has even worse effects on our physical health. 

When I breathe in, should my belly move in or out?

When you inhale, you should feel your belly moving out as the organs move out to make space for expanded lungs. 

Related: Best Neti Pot

The Bottom Line

Knowing how to breathe properly has immense consequences on both physical and mental health. A few tweaks in breathing can vastly improve pain relief, memory, focus, blood pressure and even digestion. 

This is because breathing controls the most important gas in the body—oxygen—which every single cell in the body needs. 

Diaphragmatic breathing only takes a few minutes a day, and the results will be well worth it.

Article by:

Wellness Nova Team

Our detailed review has been contributed to by multiple members of the Wellness Nova Review Team to ensure the best research and highest standard of quality. Have a good or a bad experience with one of the products? Please let us know, we love the feedback!
  • Eugene Caruso says:

    Ever since I’ve stopped smoking, never was able to breathe comfortably! Not to mention, I can taste my food better and smell better because of quitting.

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