First let's start with the benefits of Healthy Breathing Patterns

- Stress reduction

- Relaxation

- Slowing of breath rate

- Emotion processing (as opposed to mere intellectual understanding)

- Transition from head to body

- Support for burnout

- Relief from emotional or physical pain

- Enhanced sports performance

- Quicker recovery after exercise

- Improved business performance

- Increased overall relaxation

- Enhanced self-confidence

- Trauma processing

- Anxiety and panic attack regulation

- Greater vitality

- Increased life energy (chi)

- Improved balance in the autonomic nervous system

- Lower blood pressure

- Reduced heart rate

Before you can improve you will have to discover what the 'as-is' situation is. By reading this you might feel some insights. If you still feel there are some blindspots, then get in toucht with a BreathFluencer to help you guide you.

Observing Different Breathing Patterns

In practice, various breathing patterns can be observed and broadly categorized into six types. Keep in mind that a person may switch between these patterns due to changing circumstances.

Relaxed Breathing

In an optimal breathing pattern, at rest, we breathe slowly, low, and relaxed through our nose. This enhances overall health and fitness by supporting the proper functioning of our body systems.

During inhalation, the lower part of the ribcage moves forward, backward, and to the sides, with the abdomen gently moving forward. This ensures complete lung filling. Exhalation is passive, with our respiratory muscles not actively engaged. This promotes recovery, as each exhalation activates the "rest and digest" system, thus improving inhalation by directing more air into the lower parts of the lungs.

Upper Breathing

High breathing, also known as chest breathing, occurs when we sit in a slouched position, making it difficult to fully expand our breath into the deep parts of the lungs. The breath tends to stay high in the chest. This is common during sedentary activities, such as the typical "computer breathing."

This type of breathing can give the sensation of hardly breathing at all, although despite the quiet respiration, it is quite shallow, leading to excessive breathing, with roughly 16-22 short and shallow breaths per minute, primarily in the upper chest. This can lead to a significant increase in the volume of air inhaled per minute. As a result, more carbon dioxide is exhaled, which can lead to suboptimal oxygen uptake at the cellular level. The body compensates by occasionally sighing, yawning, or taking deep breaths, which is essentially considered overbreathing.

Overbreathing

Overbreathing, involving 16-22 breaths per minute instead of the optimal range of 6-12, results in each breath containing 50-100% more air than necessary: 0.7 to 1.0 liters instead of the ideal half-liter per breath. Overbreathing is, in essence, a subtle form of hyperventilation, and individuals are often unaware that they are breathing too much. Many people experience chronic hyperventilation due to excessive breathing as a result of the overwhelming stimuli they encounter daily. The described breathing patterns below also fall under forms of overbreathing.

Audible Breathing

When we breathe heavily and audibly, it resembles panting. In this case, we breathe even more frequently than when we "simply" overbreathe, sometimes up to 22-30 breaths per minute. This rapid, shallow breathing locates the breath high in the chest, leading to heavy breathing. During heavy breathing, we usually keep our mouth slightly open and unconsciously lean forward.

Mouth breathing often involves pushing and lifting the chin forward and upward to keep the airways open. This activates muscles in the upper chest, neck, and shoulders. If this becomes a regular pattern, neck and shoulder stiffness can occur, eventually leading to a persistent poor posture.

Paused Breathing

Although it sounds pretty nice this way of breathing can cause some unhealthy breathing habits.

Paused breathing often occurs when you are highly focused, and sometimes, exhalation appears to be neglected and is sometimes even active. These silent moments of breathing are interspersed with brief, rapid breaths as the body tries to compensate for the pauses. Although it may seem like your breathing is stuck or stops, you are still breathing more than you need.

From a medical perspective, this pattern (sleep) apnea occurs during concentration. It can also be referred to as "tech apnea" or "screen apnea."

Rumbling or Stormy Breathing

Rumbling or stormy breathing sounds like a whirlwind, loud and irregular. Often, we don't realize that sounds like sighing, yawning, groaning, and coughing, pauses are directly connected to our breathing.

With rumbling breathing, you typically begin with a deep breath before speaking, frequently gasping for air and speaking rapidly. This type of breathing combines all the irregular breathing patterns. It can also occur when someone experiences increasing tension or (public) speaking anxiety.

Observe your own breathing patterns, and you may find moments when you experience all of these patterns under changing circumstances.

Otherwise let people guide you, buy a training or join a group.
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