20/10/2021
𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙂𝙊𝙊𝘿 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝘽𝘼𝘿 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧?
Breathing is often something we take for granted, we are never taught 𝙃𝙊𝙒 to breathe, nor are we taught the importance of optimal breathing, and the impact BAD breathing can have on our health, this is especially important if you are someone who feel like they are “always in pain”.
Let me explain a bit more……When we feel stress our sympathetic nervous system is stimulated, which then triggers a number of physical responses;
1️⃣Heart rate increases
2️⃣Breathing becomes short and shallow
3️⃣Muscles/Tissue become tense
If this process happens over a prolonged period of time, the sympathetic nervous system becomes over-stimulated, which can affect our physical health in a number of ways; the most significant is that when we breathe short and shallow We breath through our chest and thus the secondary breathing muscles take over, This often leads to tension, stiffness, restriction and therefore compensation with movement through head, neck and shoulders!
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹?
Let’s test this out….
- Put one hand on your chest
- Put one hand on your abdomen (just under your rib cage)
- Take a deep breath
𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁?
If the hand on your abdomen moved first, GREAT this is a good sign you have a good breathing pattern.
If the hand on your chest moved first, this is a sign that you may be an “apical” breather, meaning most of the movement is in the chest!
If this is you, there are ways you can begin to train your body to breathe optimally, here is one of the tools I use with some of my clients to encourage healthy breathing patterns, give it a go and see what you think….
