In our day and age, we notice our breath when we run out of it or when we use it as a tool. When you are stressed, you breathe, when you meditate, you breathe, when you need to make a specific effort, you breathe, when you need to go deeper into a yoga pose, you breathe, etc. But even though we spend every second of every day breathing, most of the time, we don’t notice how we do it. We often hear “you are how you move” or “you are what you eat”, but what about “you are how you breathe”?
This week, I once again had the pleasure of interviewing Keith Littlewood, who is not only a great source of knowledge and insight when it comes to all things hormonal and digestive, but also a true specialist when it comes to movement and neuro-kinetic therapy. Next month, he is conducting a seminar on Integrated Breathing Pattern and Digestion where he will explore the physical impact our breath has on our posture, movement, hormones and digestion. Here is a teaser interview on the topic, hope you like it!
WM: What is the right way to breathe?
KL: There is no true right/wrong way but there are set points to consider. We should breathe through our nose to filter the air and breathe out through the mouth. Unfortunately we have lost some of that – due to structural issues, poor habits and nutrition throughout generations – and have started to breathe a bit too much through our mouth. Not breathing in through our bellies can be an issue because it means we aren’t using the big diaphragm muscle and diaphragm is an important part of why we get back or neck pain.
WM: What are common breathing dysfunctions you see amongst your patients?
KL: There is what we call the “open scissors” position – the ribs flare up and the anterior aspects of the diaphragm tends to lose its tone and patients start breathing into their lower back using the posterior aspects of the diaphragm and accessory breathing muscles such as pectorals, neck muscles and scalene muscles and people start adopting an upper respiratory accessory muscle pattern of breathing. This can lead to a number dysfunctions such as lower back pain. Our core is not firing properly because our diaphragm, which is instrumental in stabilizing our spine. When that happens, the abdominals and pelvic floor tend to be disrupted. This is very common with people who sit down a lot. who exercise too much or when there has been a disturbance to the abdominal cavity such as a C-section, laparoscopy or appendectomy. All these surgeries in areas where it is painful to breathe into and take a normal breath after the surgery forces patients to more easily access the accessory breathing muscles as opposed to the diaphragm.
WM: What can be some of the consequences of poor breathing?
KL: When we don’t breathe properly we don’t get the natural engagement of the diaphragm muscle – it doesn’t push down and we don’t get that natural massage of the internal organs which help with peristalsis (the movement of food through the digestive tract) and so can this be an issue. Digestive issues like acid reflux when we don’t have enough tone at the gastro-oesophogal junction where the diaphragm is supposed to work. Neck pain, back pain and anxiety are also a problem.
WM: Why do so many of us have poor breathing patterns?
KL: It is often due to nutrition – pre-natal and pre-generational nutrition influence the size of our face and the size of the mandible, that has gotten a lot bigger. The lower third of the face is getting longer and this contributes to mouth breathing, leading to stressed overworked muscles around the neck and jaw.
In some cases this could start early with poor crawling patterns when we were younger. For example, putting kids in baby walkers or rushing them into walking patterns distorts mechanics of the hip and shoulder which can lead to issue like hernias and other structural issues.
And of course, stress, over-exercise and pain can also be factors that contribute to poor breathing.
WM: Why/how does breathing help when we are in a stressful situation?
KL: It is well known that lowering breathing rate down spares carbon dioxide. We can get very anxious when we hyperventilate – because the action of hyperventilation causes to pass out more carbon dioxide outside the system. Paradoxically, this means we have less oxygen available to utilize, that’s why we can get anxious. The less carbon dioxide we have, the less able we are to enhance our oxidative system and to help thyroid hormones as well. When we slow breathing rate down, people feel calmer. There are many types of breathing techniques like bucco-method, meditative breathing, etc. that can be used today to help this.
WM: How are breathing and hormones connected?
KL: When we are constantly over breathing, it influence stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to over-produce and like mentioned earlier, we don’t make enough carbon dioxide. In both these situations, the thyroid tends to get down-regulated somewhat. Constant, perpetual accessory breathing patterns cause ongoing stress states – and we know that chronically stressed states aren’t good for many people and especially when it comes to hormones like the thyroid.
WM: How can bad breathing hinder digestion?
KL: Each nice deep breath you take should contract your diaphragm, which should push down into the internal organs. That kind of pressure stretches the abdominals (the transversus abdominus) into the pelvic floor – and when we breathe out, we get another contraction of the abdominal muscles that also massages the internal organs. So when we constantly breathe up through our neck and chest we don’t get this natural massage of the abdominal contents and viscera, which is really key in digestion.
Keith Littlewood – Balanced Body Mind
Visit his website: http://balancedbodymind.com/
Email: keith@balancedbodymind.com
Instagram: @tommolittlewood
