Breathing as a Quick Fix
It’s not difficult to learn or practice, but it does take time, persistence, and practice to change a pattern that you have repeated around 20,000 times a day for your entire life. It’s not an easy quick fix, but it is highly effective and rewarding, providing a foundation for health that will save you time and money in the long term. Think of having to lose 10 kg – if you go to a personal trainer, they will educate, guide, and motivate you, but at the end of the day, you need to put the time and effort in to get the results. Retraining your breathing can be likened to this and responds well to a team approach between a skilled, experienced practitioner and a willing student.
Unlike other functions governed by the autonomic nervous system, we have a degree of control over our breathing, which means we can cause it to malfunction. The problem is that there is a tsunami of misinformation surrounding breathing, leading people to inadvertently apply techniques that negatively influence their breathing patterns. When practiced incorrectly, many techniques can cause issues such as hyperventilation or shallow breathing, both of which contribute to stress and other health problems. However, with the correct information and guidance, we can restore normal breathing patterns, improving overall health and well-being.
Breathing isn't just about taking in oxygen. It's also about maintaining balance within the body. Through functional breathing techniques, we can optimize how oxygen is delivered throughout our systems, helping the body maintain a natural rhythm and reduce the likelihood of conditions like fatigue, anxiety, and poor posture. Furthermore, our lifestyle factors, such as posture, diet, and stress management, all play a significant role in our breathing habits. By learning about these influences and making simple adjustments, we can significantly improve our breathing function. Practices like mindfulness, proper hydration, and regular exercise also complement breathing retraining, supporting a holistic approach to health.
The benefits of functional breathing extend far beyond simply addressing breathing disorders. It’s a tool that enhances focus, supports mental clarity, reduces tension, and even improves sleep. Integrating proper breathing into your daily routine fosters a sense of calm and helps build resilience against the stresses of modern life.
If Breathing Retraining is So Good, Why Did My Doctor Only Recommend Medication/Counselling/CPAP/Surgery to Me?
There is a general lack of knowledge about breathing pattern dysfunction. Most doctors are not well informed about the principles of breathing retraining or the significant impact that breathing patterns have on other physiological processes. For example, the way we breathe affects not just our lung capacity but also our nervous system, posture, gut health, and even craniofacial development. This type of comprehensive assessment is rarely part of a standard medical diagnosis, and many healthcare professionals simply aren't trained to observe habitual breathing patterns or their broader impact on health.
As a result, many individuals suffering from conditions like sleep apnea, anxiety, chronic fatigue, and even digestive issues may not be offered breathing retraining as a potential solution. This is in part due to the low number of specialized practitioners in New Zealand and elsewhere, which makes it harder for doctors to refer patients to professionals who can guide them through the retraining process. However, just like starting a regular exercise program to improve your fitness, improving your breathing habits is a natural and holistic approach that can yield lasting benefits.
Breathing retraining is a logical, scientifically-backed, and conservative approach to managing a wide variety of breathing-related disorders. Your doctor should be just as open to suggesting that you improve your breathing as they would be to recommending other lifestyle changes, such as incorporating physical activity into your routine. In fact, having a healthy baseline breathing pattern can actually make other health improvements, like exercise, much easier to implement.
If the breathing exercises you’ve tried involved deep inhalations and large exhales, particularly through the mouth or with sighing, it’s possible that you’ve inadvertently caused a shortfall in carbon dioxide levels in your blood. This can have a counterproductive effect by narrowing blood vessels, which limits the amount of oxygen delivered to critical areas of your body, including the brain and muscle cells. The result can be dizziness, anxiety, panic, breathlessness, and fatigue. Research shows that you only need to over-breathe for a minute to drop the oxygen supply to your brain by up to 40%.
In contrast, breathing retraining teaches you how to breathe at a normal, sustainable rate and volume, ensuring that your blood chemistry stays balanced. This balance is key to making sure the oxygen in your blood actually reaches the cells where it’s needed. Rather than focusing on filling your lungs to capacity, breathing retraining encourages the body to work in harmony with your natural rhythm, allowing the oxygen you inhale to be used efficiently. This more mindful approach can lead to long-term benefits that improve both physical and mental health.