The Benefits of Functional Breathing

Breathing is an intrinsic function we perform unconsciously most of the time. However, how we breathe can significantly impact our health, particularly in managing anxiety, menopause, sleep, and overall well-being.  Recognizing and correcting breathing patterns can be life-changing.

• 75% of people who suffer from anxiety have dysfunctional breathing patterns.

Signs of Dysfunctional Breathing:

• Taking big breaths
• Breathing too fast
• Upper chest breathing during rest
• Irregular breathing
• Mouth breathing
• Sighing and frequent yawning
• Tingling hands and feet
• Cold hands and feet
• Waking up during the night to pee

When we see someone who is very stressed, they are often fast breathing with an open mouth.

• Effects of Dysfunctional Breathing:

Dysfunctional breathing can affect every cell in our body, leading to symptoms such as:

• General fatigue
• Poor concentration and impaired memory
• Disturbed sleep
• Cardiovascular issues
• Muscle pain, soreness, cramping, stiffness
• Digestive problems like heartburn, hiatus hernia, flatulence, bloating, abdominal discomfort
• Dizziness, headaches, migraines, numbness in the hands and feet, hot flashes
• Anxiety, tension, panic attacks, phobias
• Slow metabolism and weight gain

Asthma, anxiety, panic attacks, and stress negatively influence our breathing patterns, creating a feedback loop of insufficient breathing.

The Benefits of Correcting Breathing Patterns

Functional breathing is about the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide (and the presence of nitrix oxide)

Every cell in our body needs 2 things – glucose and oxygen. 

Increased Energy

Optimal oxygenation helps the body access energy from food, motivating healthier habits and making change more achievable. When oxygenation is optimal, your body can access the energy from the food you eat. As you spend more time focusing on a breathing practice, you will notice you’re motivated to change other habits for healthier alternatives too. Change takes more energy than maintaining the status quo, so if we want to move more yet always feel too tired, unmotivated, and weighed down with the stresses of the day, it feels even harder than it could.

Better Focus and Concentration

Functional breathing breaks the feedback loop of anxiety and stress, enhancing focus and mindfulness. This is why mindfulness doesn’t work for people who need it the most, as they are caught in a feedback loop because anxiety, panic attacks, and stress all negatively influence our breathing patterns and feedback into a vicious feedback loop of insufficient dysfunctional breathing.

Improved Brain Health and Blood Flow

Better breathing leads to improved memory and brain health.

Enhanced Metabolism and Fat Burning

Functional breathing boosts metabolism and fat-burning capabilities, aiding in weight management and overall health. Fat-burning and carb-burning have been shown to produce different concentrations of CO2 in your breath. 

Better Posture and Movement

Nasal diaphragmatic breathing stabilizes posture and improves functional movement, enhancing physical performance. Nasal diaphragmatic breathing generates intra-abdominal pressure that controls your posture and spinal stability.

Improved Sleep and Relaxation

Nose breathing during sleep leads to deeper, more restful sleep, reducing insomnia and snoring. Good breathing practices help manage sleep quality and energy expenditure. When we breathe in and out through the nose in a light diaphragmatic way, we can calm the nervous system, soothe racing thoughts, and bring ourselves back into our body. This aids in our wind-down routine, transitioning from work mode to rest mode. Additionally, how we breathe while we sleep influences the quality of sleep we receive. We should all be nose breathing when we sleep, similarly to how we should be nose breathing throughout the day. Sleep helps manage our energy expenditure system; sleeping for less than 7 hours has a higher risk of having or being diagnosed with diabetes. Sleep quality is inherently linked to glucose metabolism. After a poor night’s sleep, we crave more carbohydrates for quick energy fixes, affecting our appetite and cravings. A big benefit of functional breathing is deep, restful sleep. When we nasal breathe during the night, we are at a far less chance of snoring and sleep apnea.

Additional Health Benefits:

• Better digestion and nutrient absorption
• Improved heart rate variability
• Increased aerobic and anaerobic fitness
• Enhanced immune system and faster healing
• Reduced cognitive decline and better endurance
• Better pelvic floor health, as your pelvic floor muscles and diaphragm contract and relax opposite each other to facilitate your breath.

Improved Heart Rate Variability –

Functional Breathing and CO2 Sensitivity

Normal breathing chemistry involves the exchange of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Being less sensitive to CO2 buildup can boost oxygenation and breathing efficiency, improving overall health and athletic performance. Breath-holding exercises can help achieve this by disrupting blood gases to create beneficial physical adaptations.

Benefits of Breath Holding

Breath-holding exercises can:

• Delay fatigue onset
• Improve respiratory muscle strength, which includes greater breathing efficiency, increased endurance, and even better sexual function and pelvic floor health
• Enhance aerobic capacity
• Increase EPO (erythropoietin) production
• Reduce oxidative stress, effectively slowing the aging process

Why nose breathing:

It helps:

• Promote memory and learning
• Increase arousal in both men and women
• Protect against sun damage and skin cancer
• Regulate digestive enzymes and hormones

If we take a big gasp of air in through the mouth, the air tends to get no further than the chest. Breathwork isn’t something just for yogis or elite performers or athletes. Every cell in our body needs oxygen, and the more we can oxygenate our cells, the healthier, more resilient, and happier we are. How we breathe during the night is a reflection and product of how we breathe during the day. While some people can learn to hold their breath after inhalation for a very long time, breath-holding after exhalation gives a more accurate measure of lung function, sensitivity to carbon dioxide, and psychological factors like fear of suffocation. This is why the BOLT score is measured after an exhalation.

If you want to benefit from Functional Breathing Patterns, check out my 3 week Breathwork course now and retrain your body's most important Movement Skill you have.