Guess what has one of the biggest impacts on our stress level, posture, and energy? Our breath! Rather, how we breathe.
It’s something that happens automatically and we don’t have to think about consciously.
Even though breathing is part of our subconscious, autonomic nervous system, we do have the ability to control how well (or poorly) we breathe!
Let’s break it down.
Our primary “breathing” muscle is our diaphragm. When we inhale, our diaphragm contracts and pulls down on the lungs allowing oxygen to fill our lungs.
Our secondary or “accessory” breathing muscles including our scalenes and upper traps. They tend to get more involved when we are “stress” breathing – or in “fight or flight”.
They are necessary for the moments when we need to react quickly to get out of harms way. However, in today’s day and age, our stress response is more chronically stuck in fight or flight. This can lead to dysfunctional breathing patterns.
The snowball of dysfunction continues.
When we are breathing dysfunctionally for the majority of our day, several systems are going to suffer.
Postural Imbalances
We take around 20,000-25,000 breaths per day. If we are breathing poorly, or “dysfunctionally”, that can cause major consequences throughout the body.
Our posture is going to be pulled forward and rounded. When our posture is out of balance, other muscles become imbalanced – such as our core, pelvic floor, hips, and pelvis. This can lead to serious aches, pains, and injuries.
Systemic Imbalances
If we are breathing with our “stress” muscles for the majority of the day, that is going to trigger our sympathetic nervous system to kick on.
Remember, that’s our “fight, flight, or freeze” response. When we are in the sympathetic nervous state, many other systems slow down or pause. This includes our digestion and immune system. Meaning, we will have a harder time processing our foods, healing, and recovering.
This will also kick our coritsol into overdrive.