You’re over-breathing!

You’re over breathing.

Sorry.. it’s probably true.

Almost everyaone is unless they are carefully trained.

Look, I don’t want to put you on the defensive

Besides, I’ve only just started this article.

What I want is to show you

Why this statement is accurate.

Why it’s bad

and how to fix it.

Let’s look at why we breathe first of all.

The simplest explanation is to bring in O2 (oxygen) into the body

and get rid of CO2 (carbon dioxide) away from the body.

This happens both at a pulmonary level - the visible, somatic inhalation and exhalation.

And on a cellular level, the so-called cellular respiration,

where the exchange of gasses is not visible.

Unless you have a microscope or superhuman vision.

So why should you care?

If you accept the idea of the body as a system of systems,

then some systems have greater influence and control over others

simply due to their importance for our survival.

At the top of that control hierarchy is our psyche, which can influence every other system in the body.

Then directly under it will be our respiratory system.

You can survive weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without air.

The body is designed to compromise every other system so that the respiratory system gets what it needs.

Otherwise, it knows that its chances for survival are lowered.

Long story short, our breathing influences our nervous system, biochemistry, psychology and biomechanics.

So a breathing dysfunction automatically correlates to dysfunction in all of the above, most likely.

The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

The ANS has two branches: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

The SNS is responsible for the “fight or flight” response, which prepares our body for action in response to stress or danger.

Conversely, the PNS promotes rest and relaxation, allowing our body to recover and heal.

When we inhale, we activate the SNS, which triggers several physiological changes in our body.

For example, our heart rate increases, our blood vessels constrict, and our airways dilate.

This response prepares our body for physical activity and is useful in situations where we need to be alert and ready to react quickly.

When we exhale, we activate the PNS, which promotes relaxation and recovery.

When the PNS is activated, our heart rate slows down, our blood vessels dilate, and our airways constrict.

This response is important for restoring our body’s natural balance and helps to reduce stress and anxiety.

It’s worth noting that our breath is intimately connected with our autonomic nervous system.

By changing how we breathe, we can influence the balance between the SNS and PNS,

and promote relaxation or alertness as needed.

For example, slow, deep breathing can activate the PNS and promote relaxation,

while rapid, shallow breathing can activate the SNS and increase alertness.

Let’s say that you are in fact, over-breathing…

You are automatically skewed towards a chronic fight or flight,

the body doesn’t care if you’re breathing too much because of poor breathing mechanics,

bad posture,

because you argued at work or so on..

What it knows is that it’s mobilising resources and hormones to

FIGHT OR FLIGHT.

A simple biochemical translation?

CO2 deficiency!

Your body does not get the chance to build up adequate levels of CO2.

And CO2 levels are critical for oxygen delivery.

When CO2 increases in your system, it lowers your pH levels (acidic).

The lower pH triggers haemoglobin to let go of the oxygen.

This releases oxygen and delivers it more easily to your muscles and tissues.

However, the opposite causes, well, the opposite result.

CO2 decreases, will cause haemoglobin to hold onto more oxygen, not letting go.

So over-breathing = poor oxygen delivery into tissues.

Over time this creates an acidic environment, which affects pretty much everything,

including your blood sugar levels, and your ability to maintain a lean physique, stable blood sugar and energy throughout the day.

Now let’s get a little bit more granular.

On a cellular and subcellular level, your mitochondria make CO2 from oxygen.

See this post for more details.

If they can’t get enough O2 due to poor cellular oxygenation, they won’t make enough CO2.

And so the cycle perpetuates.

With another bad effect.

Mitochondria also make pregnenolone, research finds.

And this is the master sex hormone from which all other sex and stress hormones are produced.

The crescendo is coming; pay attention.

In the absence of adequate levels of CO2, a process called pregnenolone steal might occur.

Where pregnenolone is used to make cortisol and stress hormones instead of more anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone.

CO2 signals safety on a quantum level!

I think we now have enough evidence to say that over-breathing sucks.

But what is over-breathing… how much is too much?

The average person takes 12-18 breaths per minute, creating an average of 4 seconds per breath.

That’s far too many breaths.

And far too few seconds per breath.

This is only acceptable if you’re doing intense exercise.

Some literature suggests being around the 10 breaths per minute mark,

yet again, during rest, that’s still a lot.

3-6 is the sweet spot.

Purely nasal - meaning in and out the nose.

And it takes some time and training to get there.

Try it now.

Try only breathing 3 times in the next minute.

Your diaphragm will probably complain, and you’ll feel some tightness.

But you will get there, and once you do, you’ll not only be tapping into flow with more and more ease,

many feelings of rush and anxiety will dissipate, and you’ll be far more efficient on a mitochondrial level.

Also important is to remember that you have gears.

If your first fear is nasal breathing at 3-6 breaths per minute.

The next gear is the in the nose out the mouth, for the same breaths per minute, and slightly more.

And the gear after that is in the mouth out the mouth,

suited only to very high intensities and/or intense breathwork.

So how do you get yourself to this amount of breaths?

The answer is a holistic effort.

Having a breathing dysfunction often stems from various core problems.

So getting to the route of it will take a combination of

1. breathing training and retraining.

This includes the right cues for proper breathing mechanics during the day

and additional training that will start increasing the CO2 tolerance of the system and drive better O2 delivery and absorption.

A system that I love for this is apnea training - this is a great tool that will have you regularly pushing your limit and getting accustomed to more and more CO2 in the body.

2. The other is life examination.

If you’re breathing rate is too fast, it will bring some corresponding anxious thoughts.

As above, so below, remember.

Thus, look at your life and ask yourself where am I rushing to?

This is not the topic of this article, but you can check out more here.

3. Then we have to look at posture.

Almost everyone has some form of postural dysfunction, with the forward head posture archetype being the most frequent.

This collapses your sternum and keeps your upper abdominals tight, not allowing your diaphragm to expand fully,

The slouching posture limits you to 1/3 of your available lung capacity and 1/3 of oxygen.

In fact, try it now; take a breath.

Before you read further, actually take it.

Did your lower belly expand before your chest and shoulders did?

If so, was it for the first 2/3 of your breath?

If yes, congrats; if no, we got work to do.

I’ll leave it here, but this is a continuous, important, and fun conversation.

And what lies on the other side of doing the work is more peace, resilience and pride.

Adios for now.

Health, love and all good things,

Aris