By Sarah Sewel
Breathing is something we take for granted. We each take between 18 and 20 thousand breaths per day but we don’t always make our breath good quality. Our lung capacity is approx. 6 litres but we rarely use even half of this on a consistent basis. Breathing fully is also vital in improving the relationship between diaphragm and pelvic floor. Faulty breathing can lead to long term physical issues including;
- continence issues
- prolapse
- gut health changes
- stiffening of fascia throughout the body as cellular pH levels change
- brain fog, amongst other issues!
Breathing problems
In the UK, approximately 10% of the population are classed as asthmatic. Many more live with chronic chest infections, or faulty breathing patterns linked to chronic pain and fatigue syndromes. Smokers are at greater risk of developing serious health problems such as cancer, COPD and pneumonia. Smoking will also worsen or prolong symptoms of the common cold or asthma.
The Diaphragm
People with a normal, healthy diaphragm (the domed muscular partition beneath our ribs) and pelvic floor will breathe differently to someone with diaphragm stress. When we inhale the diaphragm lowers, intra-abdominal pressure increases and the pelvic floor lowers as well. On exhale, the diaphragm and pelvic floor both rise as intra-abdominal pressure decreases.
With diaphragm tightness the muscles are contracted, congested, and in an inflamed state. There are many physical and emotional reasons this pattern can develop. This can lead to muscles being unable to contract/relax properly, they cannot stretch and lower. As pressure in the abdomen increases, their response is to tighten further. This in turn can lead to pelvic floor problems such as urge incontinence, being exacerbated.
The Diaphragm and your health
As well as being the primary muscle of respiration, the diaphragm provides a stabilising function to the centre of the body. This means we sometimes reply on the diaphragm when we should be using our deep core, lumbar and gluteal muscles. It’s often why people hold their breath to lift something heavy, meaning unnecessary stress through the pelvic floor muscles.
The diaphragm also aids circulation, supports lymphatic flow, assists gastrointestinal motility, supports continence, aids fluid movement control and helps autonomic nervous system management. It really is integral to your health in so many ways!
What can I do to help myself?
Key aspects to start with are to encourage thoracic movement and start a breathing pattern retraining practice. Try these three steps to get you started and discover the difference of breathing with your full capacity:
- MOBILISE: Any stretch which starts to mobilise through the thoracic area such as child’s pose with arms outstretched, lying with a rolled-up towel or blanket along your spine to open the chest, or warrior pose.
- CONNECT: tie a scarf or TheraBand loosely round your lower ribs and try to take some deep breaths so that there is a gentle tightening of the material around your ribs. This is a really good way of waking up your nervous system by focusing the breath into the ribs, back and the belly.
- BREATHE:
- Lie on your back on the floor with the knees softly bent.
- Place one hand on your belly and one on your chest.
- Inhale THROUGH THE NOSE, (to a count of 5) breathe slowly and fully into the belly and ribs allowing the air to gently spread/push into the small of your back, diaphragm and ribs. Try not to engage your shoulders and neck, hold the breath for a couple of seconds
- Exhale THROUGH PURSED LIPS (like blowing out a candle) for a count of 10.
Breathing out should be approximately double the time to breath in. If you are able to do this, when you take your next breath, you’ll be very surprised how much greater your capacity is to increase the amount of oxygen you’ll be able to take in.
Try this morning and evening starting with 2-3 minutes and building to 5 minutes.
Here is a short video demonstrating these techniques
- For more information on how to use the breath and diaphragm to strengthen your core and overall health, contact Sarah or the team at Oak park Clinic, or book on-line below.