The Importance of Proper Breathing for Health and Wellness

Have you ever felt your breath catch? An awe inspiring view, a new love across the room, a shock from unexpected news? Have you ever felt really short of breath, like there isn’t enough air in the room? Lots of things can make us feel short of breath, some exciting (the new love across the room, the view), some scary (the sound of unknown feet on a dark night, shocking news), exertion and even some diseases.

Therefore a caveat – if you think that your shortness of breath, particularly if linked with a new or persistant cough, could be of pathological origin, go and see your primary medical provider for assessment and treatment.

Breathing is the most fundamental process of life, something we have done since the moment we were born and the last thing we shall do. It is something we never notice until it becomes the only things we can do and is also, uniquely, one of the only autonomic actions that we can control.

Hold your breath. Just stop. No in, no out, just pause. If you are relaxing and have no known underlying issues, you should be able to last 20 – 30 seconds before the desire to breath kicks in. Physiologically, this desire is driven by the change in Carbon Dioxide, not the drop in Oxygen.

The ability to control your breathing, and your response to it, is a wonderful gift, that can help relieve headaches, reduce your perception of stress, control anxiety, increase athletic performance and even change your mood.

And, if your breathing is restricted mechanically, there is research based evidence that manual therapies can also help improve this, increasing your functional effective volume and respiratory mechanics, also helping with the above issues.

At the Clinic, we have spent years working with specialists and carrying out research ourselves on best ways to treat, unlock and improve breathing, from relaxation exercises to breath control systems, and manual therapies to address underlying function issues.

Book today online and talk to us to experience the benefits.

The empty tool box

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At some point, the tool box is empty. There is nothing else you can offer. This is hard to acknowledge, both as a professional and a patient.

For a complementary practitioner, practicing honestly, this is the point where you have a conversation with the patient, and offer to refer on, either to a fellow professional or back to their medical practitioner.

For the hospital medic, they often carry out one more test, make a referral to another team or wait and see. This is almost always with the best intentions, but also because admitting you’ve reached the bottom of the toolbox is hard.

For the GP, at the front of patient care, it can be especially hard, since the patient has spent their life believing that medicine can fix whatever the problem is and finding out that there isn’t an easy pill, operation or test that can solve it all is challenging.

But sometimes it has to be admitted that the issue doesn’t have an answer, especially with some chronic conditions and mental health. Its at this point the person is vulnerable to quacks, charlatans and an alternative health tribe who offer an apparent quick fix in return for lots of money.

A lot of alternative treatments are wonderful, offer real benefits to people and can improve lives if used sympathetically and appropriately, but there are always grifters and con artists in every field.

Reiki may offer space, acupuncture can take a completely different view of a problem, an antidepressant can numb the emotions and help the patient get on with life, perhaps while waiting for the world to change around them, a painkiller can allow a return to activity that may help resolve the pain if well managed.

But sometimes, the toolbox is empty.

And then we have to get on with life anyway, rebuilding what we have into a structure that supports us now.

Find the tools that work for you, learn how to use them effectively, add to the box as often as possible and acknowledge that sometimes, the box is empty.

Resilience and capacity

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In the end you have to have something that I give to give the disease as a price of recovery.

Not sure where I heard that but it makes sense.

The more fitness, the more muscle you have to give a serious illness, the more likely you are to come out the other side.

Professor Oliver (geriatrics) noted that he could guess someone’s probability of a safe discharge from the quality of their handshake. Firm, strong, reassuring. Weak, flaccid, concerning. A handshake conveys vitality, determination, strength, even psychological state.

Put the work in now so your future self can live to fight another day.

Distraction

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What’s stopping you from making progress?

How do you even know if you are?

Far too many of us turn up to a gym environment, do random things, post about it on a social media channel, and leave again, thinking we are training.

That’s not training bro, that’s messing around.

If you’re mid way through a long cardio session, where you simply have to keep moving for a prescribed time or distance then perhaps letting your mind wander is no bad thing. Especially if it’s getting tough and listening to something else allows you to continue.

But for the rest of us, get your mind out of your phone and into your muscles.

Focusing on your form, the load, the way your muscles are moving has been shown to improve performance significantly, so why throw a free benefit away?

No one on Facebook is going to change your body, only you can. No one on instagram really cares about your latest posed bicep shot.

Stop distracting, start performing.

On: Bowls

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Imagine, if you will, 3 bowls. These bowls are inside you, one stacked above the other.

The first is your pelvis. Already described as a bowl, it supports and holds all above it.

The second is your diaphragm. Separating the organs in your chest from the organs in your abdomen, it forms the top of the abdominal cylinder and should move gently as you breathe.

The third is in your upper chest, at the top of your lungs and about the same level as your collarbones.

This being a conceptual experiment, fill them with water. Then, think about the way you are standing or sitting. Are those bowls going to overflow? Is the water going to run out of the front, the back, even the sides?

Stand easily if you can, weight distributed in the centre of your feet. Soften your knees and ankles.

Then, come up to the pelvic bowl. Tilt it forwards and backwards, until you find the centre, neutral position.

For the diaphragm, you can feel if it is forward or backward and correct.

Ditto the shoulders. Allow them to open, don’t force, allow. A subtle external rotation and lengthening of the clavicle.

Once reflected and considered individually, check in again with all three.

This is probably one of the quickest ways of achieving optimal posture smoothly, balance the bowls, check how they move when you breathe and then, get on with the business in hand.

Of course, if you need help balancing the bowls, can’t find a neutral position or are struggling to fix it in any other way, please book in, we are happy to help.

On: Keep paddling

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Or walking, running, swimming, cycling, dancing, lifting, playing.

Anything that gets you hot and out of breath, 3 to 4 times a week.

As more research is carried out into the causes and underlying mechanisms of post disease processes such as long covid and ME/CFS, a number of the researchers are following paths that lead to dysfunctions in patients mitochondria.

For those who for whom school biology was a while ago, mitochondria are generally considered the power plants of the cells, turning energy you consume into energy your cells can use.

Of course, it’s more complex than that and they tend to have a number of other roles, but essentially the research is showing that problems with these tiny batteries can lead to bigger problems elsewhere.

Whilst treatment modalities are still being developed, and for lots of sufferers recovery is going to be challenging, requiring multidisciplinary support, for the rest of us, we can reduce the risk to ourselves but optimising the efficiency of our mitochondria.

How? Use them.

It has been shown that endurance exercise stresses them in just the right way to make them stronger.

Finding that sweet spot depends on a number of factors including your genetic predisposition, your training history and the epigenetic environment (a catch all phrase for the nutritional, psychological and environmental pressures), but for the 80% rule, anything at low to moderate intensity for long periods of time will have a positive effect.

Prepare for an unknown future.

Get stronger, move further, fuel better.

Of course, if you have any more questions, musculoskeletal restrictions or want more technical input, contact us.

On: The path to mastery

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First there is apprenticeship. A period of learning the basics, preferably from a master. Often boring, often hard work, apparently pointless if you don’t understand the process.

Eventually, you move on, the masters think that you have learned enough to be safe, to go and independently continue to develop your skills. This is the journeyman phase, and can last many more years.

Eventually, you may achieve mastery of your chosen craft and are a craftsman. This doesn’t mean you can stop learning, merely that you are at an expert level.

However, within this is the fact that there are levels even in the mastery and many do not make it beyond journeyman.

You can see this is almost any domain, from programming to medicine, artist to bricklayer. There are a multitude of journeymen who can do a good job, competent, safe, knowledgeable. These people will provide the backbone, the core of work. They should be working toward mastery, honing, polishing, reflecting.

But you will know when you meet a true craftsman. There is the extra moment, the way they handle themselves and their tools, the way they can see a problem and frame a solution.

Aim to be a craftsman in all you do, and aim to work with as many craftsmen as you can. Find the best and mirror, watch not just what they do but what they don’t do. How they hold their hands, and how they hold their body. Listen to your own body and see if it is allowing you to do the job as efficiently. If you’re studying a more cerebral skill, such as programming or an art, look at the surrounding inputs, their environment and their basic toolset.

And then realise that that final element is a gift, one that they have succeeded in realising. But realise also that few find that final boundary, any hard work is rewarded.

Work hard, explore the boundaries and maximise your skills.

Optimise the body, upgrade the mind.

On: Consistency

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You are what you do.

Not what you think, read, talk about or present online. They all play a role in your self talk, but they are not you.

You are what you do. Just as your body is made up of what you consume, your mind is as well.

Choose your inputs for your desired outputs.

Want to be functionally more effective? Model those who are, with applied thought. Want a different path? Observe, reflect, change and do.

Not everyone has the physiology to be an Olympic athlete, not everyone has the mental capacity to be a theoretical physicist, but you are far more capable than you think.

So find those current boundaries and explore them, supporting yourself with good inputs, solid relationships and measurable outputs.

We are here to help you start that journey, from physical therapies to starter PT concepts.

Upgrade the mind, optimise the body.

On: fitness to survive

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Being fit is a good idea.

The fitter you are, the more likely you are to…. quite frankly be better at everything.

Of course, fitness is defined as suitable to a role or task, but in this case, we are talking about optimal health and well-being, in all areas.

Research shows repeatedly that the fitter you are overall, the greater your capacity and capability, even down to surviving and recovering from major trauma. One study even showed that, of those who experienced whiplash, the fitter people recovered faster and with less negative outcomes 6 months on than those who rated lower on activity scales.

You also are more likely to respond effectively to stress and mental pressure, since the body cannot differentiate easily, and only has a few responses available.

Fitness doesn’t have to be all leggings, crop tops and pouting in the mirror, neither does it have to be muscles, grunting and maximal exertion. It’s about building a base capacity, optimising power to weight ratio and being more capable.

So, if you’re struggling, start by doing something.

We have a starter plan we regularly offer to clients that simply involves:

Walking for 10 minutes at a brisk pace
Then:
Stepping up and down for 20 steps on each leg
Touching the floor then reaching for the sky, 10 times on each side
10 Wall pushups
10 Standing rows (squeezing the muscles at the end), no load, just controlling the muscles.
Repeat the movements 3-5 times
10 minutes brisk walking

Simply by adding load in, and changing the movements for more dynamic ones, that can be almost infinite in scope. Steps become lunges, wall pushups become burpees, rows become pull-ups, floor to sky becomes a dumbbell snatch, walking becomes running and skipping.

Move. Improve your capacity, capability and resilience. Become more human, upgrade the software, optimise the hardware.

Of course, before beginning any health journey, if you haven’t moved for a while, seek professional medical support first to clear you for takeoff.

Onwards and towards a better healthspan.

We can get better

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Because we’re not dead yet (Turner et al 2015)

You cannot remain in stasis. Even that requires the expenditure of energy, so with no input you will slip into slow decay.

Therefore, choose wisely. Put your shoes on. Expend energy in a positive direction. Get better at something. Move more, eat fewer junk snacks, spend less time scrolling mindlessly, spend more time reading and learning.

Make that choice every day. It’ll be worth it.