Learning to breathe properly can literally change a person’s life. This is what many doctors and experts say about health and habits. Yes, breathing is an automatic process. But no, that doesn’t mean we always get it right. “Breath work” can help improve our sleep, digestive, immune and respiratory functions while lowering blood pressure and anxiety.

In recent years, there has been a huge surge in interest in breathing, at least in the Western health world (spiritual practices such as Buddhism and Hinduism have long recognized the benefits of good breathing). It’s never too late to learn how to do well in something we’ve done all our lives.

What are the most common mistakes? The first is mouth breathing. Simply put, the nose is designed for ventilation and the mouth for digestion. Breathing through your mouth is an inefficient way of breathing because there is less resistance to airflow, making your breathing rate much faster than it should. Mouth breathing does not allow too much air to enter the lower lobes of the lungs. This is why we feel dizzy and tired.

The second problem is that most people push their breath primarily from the upper chest. When we use our chest muscles to breathe, the diaphragm, the main muscle responsible for breathing, stops. Then breathing becomes shallow and we often experience tension in the neck and shoulders. It creates a choking feeling and tells your brain and body that you are in danger.

we breathe so fast. It can be said that the third problem is speed. When you’re an average of 16 to 20 breaths per minute (10 to 14 is a good goal, but six to eight is ideal) a “rapid breath,” your brain adapts, thinking you need to breathe all the time. “This sets a false alarm in our bodies. It causes shortness of breath, brain fog, and premature fatigue,” said Denzel Dion So, a breathing trainer, in this Vice report. And he points out that “there’s a big difference between surviving and thriving.”

bad habits forever. Another expert in yoga and breathing techniques, Aimee Hartley, explained that about 80% of the people she works with have bad breath: “If you watch a young child breathe, they do it instinctively: their stomachs inflate with every breath they take.” Hartley believes that when kids start school, bad habits start to set in and last a lifetime: they sit for long periods of time, move less, and begin to experience emotional stress (we were designed to breathe shallowly when threatened; I always feel that way now).

“We enter this fight-or-flight mode and the muscles contract. We start to hold our breath much longer than we should,” he explains. These micro breath-holds become a dysfunctional breathing pattern in adults.

What is the best way to breathe? LSD breathing: light, slow and deep. When we say light breathing, we mean taking a smaller amount of air through your nose and a nice, smooth breath through your nose. The feeling of shortness of breath is normal and that’s exactly what we want to be tolerant of carbon dioxide (CO2). Almost no sound should be heard during breathing and a small feather floating in the air should be visualized. It should be that thin and light.

It means slowly, extending the breath as much as possible and briefly pausing at the end of the exhalation. Rapid, shallow breathing is associated with an excited mind. Most of the time, we are used to thinking that we need to take the next breath without really internalizing that it’s fine to stay at the bottom of the breath.

reduce stress. There’s very little high-quality research to support many of these claims, but it’s widely accepted that diaphragmatic breathing (the large muscle between the chest and abdomen takes bigger, deeper breaths) can reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. – and the NHS recommends it for stress relief. If we are breathing into the diaphragm, we can send messages to the body that we are safe. Consciously slow, deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the “rest and digest” response, which is the opposite of the “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system.

Studies have shown that controlled breathing can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva, and another study has shown that controlled breathing can alter brain chemistry, affect levels of norepinephrine, another stress hormone that can improve concentration and keep the brain healthy for longer. There has also been an increase in the use of breathing exercises to help asthma sufferers.

Does it change according to the situation? Yes There are various breathing patterns that can be used during exercise depending on the intensity. There is a place and a time to breathe quickly and through your mouth (during intense physical activity or when your nose is stuffy), but most of the time it’s best to use your nose. Professional combat athletes and other endurance athletes benefit from nasal breathing when it comes to conditioning as it helps stabilize heart rate and achieve faster recovery rates.

It is highly recommended to breathe through the nose during sleep. A sign that you’re doing it wrong is waking up with a dry mouth or lips. Undiagnosed sleep apnea, in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, is a serious sleep disorder and is deeply associated with mouth breathing. If you usually wake up feeling tired, this is also a sign that you should start breathing through your nose while you sleep.