Deep Breathing Basics

– How Your Breath Affects Your Health

Introduction to Deep Breathing

Breathing is a vital part of life and has a huge effect on your body and mind. It’s not just about getting oxygen, it affects everything from your energy levels to how you feel emotionally and mentally. Your breath is connected to your nervous system through the vagus nerve, which controls how your body responds to stress (fight or flight) and relaxation. How you breathe affects every system in your body and can give you a clear picture of any underlying issues affecting your health.

Studies have shown that practicing controlled breathing can reduce stress and improve your physical and mental health. It helps with digestion, strengthens your immune system, improves sleep, and reduces anxiety. Since all your body systems need oxygen to work properly, better breathing means your whole body benefits.

If you’re breathing shallowly, irregularly, or if it feels congested, it is a sign that something is off in your body. These issues can be caused by stress, trauma, or bad habits over the years, leading to changes in your breathing patterns. These new patterns can affect your physical, mental, and emotional health. By paying attention to how you breathe, you can improve your overall health.

"Deep breathing is a simple yet powerful tool that can calm the mind, boost energy, and improve overall well-being—proving that the best medicine often lies within."

How Your Breath Affects Your Health

Shallow Breathing

What Happens: When you don’t take in enough oxygen, your diaphragm (the muscle between your chest and abdomen) doesn’t move down fully. This keeps your lungs from expanding completely.
Effects: The lower parts of your lungs don’t get enough oxygen, and the air sacs located there can’t fill up to carry oxygen to your cells. To make up for this, your heart rate and blood pressure increase, putting extra stress on your body.
Stress Response: This stress can trigger a constant fight-or-flight response, making your body think it’s in danger of suffocating. This leads to the release of stress hormones, creating a vicious cycle that can mess with other systems in your body, like your hormones and immune cells, adding to the stress.

Full Breathing

What Happens: When you take a full breath, you get plenty of oxygen in and expel enough carbon dioxide out. The diaphragm moves down freely, allowing your lungs to fully expand and fill with oxygen, even in the lower parts.
Effects: Oxygen gets passed into your bloodstream and circulated throughout your body. On the exhale, carbon dioxide travels from your bloodstream back to your lungs to be expelled.
Benefits: Practicing full breathing can help you become aware of your breath and improve your ability to breathe deeply. The benefits of deep breathing are far-reaching and include:
- Reduced stress
- Improved digestion
- Stronger immune response
- Improved sleep
- Better focus and concentration
- Enhanced mood
- Better physical health

By focusing on your breath and practicing deep breathing exercises, you can break the cycle of stress and help your body function better.