The Power and Importance of Breath

Breathing — It’s the first and last thing you will ever do.

The breath is an underrated, undervalued tool. It provides several benefits and can change one’s health. This emphasizes the seriousness of practicing and mastering your breath. 

Pay attention to your natural breathing pattern at this moment. Is it fast and shallow? Or is it long and slow? Are you breathing in through your nose or your mouth? It may not seem like it matters, but you’d be surprised. 

There are many reasons as to why the way you breathe matters. Outlined below are some of the big ones (stay tuned for more breathing topics in future posts). This article is heavily influenced by the book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor — a worthy read.

How to Breathe

The need to breathe is activated by a cluster of neurons located at the base of our brain stem. After gauging the amount of carbon dioxide in your body, the neurons send signals to your lungs telling them to either breathe faster or slower. That said, there’s a correct way to actively breathe.

Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose or mouth. According to Nestor, the perfect breath looks something like this: Breathe in for 5.5 seconds and then breathe out for 5.5 seconds. This equals about 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 liters of air. 

When you breathe in, breathe down into your stomach to where you feel it expand. Then breathe out through your nose or mouth (lips pursed like a straw). Feel the air leave your stomach going up and out until you can no longer push any air out. Your next breath should be big and buoyant. 

The exhale is just as important as the inhale. Most individuals don't exhale nearly as long as they should. A long exhale ensures you are getting all of the stale air out. 

Breathing through your nose guarantees air is entering your lungs. This is important for two reasons. The first being that the nose clears, heats and moistens air for easier absorption. When you breathe through your mouth, this does not happen. The second being our lungs act as filters. 

“Conscious heavy breathing teaches us to be the pilots of our autonomic nervous system and our bodies, not the passengers.” 

Breathing deeply and correctly engages the parasympathetic nervous system which promotes rest and relaxation. It has the power to change and uplift your mood, mental state, digestion and more. Your breath has the potential to change a bad day into a good one. 

The Diaphragm

Blood is drawn into the heart as we inhale. Exhaling shoots the blood back into the body and lungs where it recirculates. This is important to know because your diaphragm, located beneath your lungs, is what feeds the movement.

The diaphragm contracts during exhalation and expands during inhalation. The typical adult fails to use the full extent of their diaphragm engaging as little as 10 percent of its range. This overloads the heart, raises blood pressure and fosters circulatory problems. Using more lung capacity will ease cardiovascular stress. 

The benefits of nasal breathing are outstanding. Extending your breath allows the diaphragm to adequately move, pushing air all the way down before taking more in. This is one of the first steps to healthy breathing. Engaging only a small fraction of our lung capacity means we breathe more but get less.

Mouth Breathing

Let’s address the elephant in the room (or should I say blog post??).

Mouth Breathing. Should you do it? Why can we do it? What’s the deal?

According to Nestor, “Forty percent of today’s population suffers from chronic nasal obstruction, and around half of us are habitual mouth breathers, with females and children suffering the most. Much of the blame can be placed on the ever-shrinking real estate in the front of the human skull.”

If one’s mouth doesn’t grow wide enough it causes the roof of the mouth to rise up rather than out. This forms a v-shape or high-arched palate. As a result, the nasal cavity cannot develop properly.

Mouth breathing doesn’t aid the body or your health in any way. It physically alters it and transforms airways. This decreases pressure loosening the soft tissues in the back of the mouth provoking them to flex inward. This reduces overall space and makes breathing more difficult. 

Breathing through the nose promotes the opposite. It forces air against those tissues and in turn, widens airways and makes breathing easier. The tissues and muscles get strong enough to maintain an open and wide position. 

Why can we breathe through our mouths anyway? We’ve evolved to breathe through two channels because it increases our chances of survival. The mouth becomes the backup when or if the nose becomes restricted. 

The good news is that temporary mouth breathing doesn’t have long-term effects. Chronic mouth breathing, however, is different. Our bodies are not designed to process raw air for extended periods of time.

Takeaways

Although you can withstand breathing incorrectly, it doesn’t mean that it’s good. Improving your breathing can have an immense impact on your daily life and overall health. As always, a change like this takes time and practice.

We plan to cover additional breathing topics including breathing exercises. Until then try consciously breathing in and out for 5.5 seconds each a few times a day, and limit how often you’re mouth breathing. Comment below something you learned in this post!