Stop whatever it is you are doing at the moment and take a deep breath. When was the last time you took note of your breath? Believe it or not, how we breathe incredibly impacts one’s health. When you breathe in, your body takes that air into your lungs and moves the oxygen from their air into your bloodstream. While this is happening, carbon dioxide moves from the bloodstream into your lungs to be expelled out of your body on your exhale. Breathing is an essential part to our life, and yet, we allow it to be greatly overlooked. Today, we are going to discuss how your breathing can be improved, how it impacts your gut health and other aspects of your health — as well as ways to incorporate mindful breathing into your routine.
The Importance of Breathing and Certain Areas It Can Impact
Our bodies are built to last long periods of time without many things, but when it comes to air, there is a small window of time that we can go without. Have you ever taken note of how you are breathing? Our noses were built to support our respiratory system. When a person breathes through their nose, it is filtering out any pathogens or foreign substances from the air before the air enters the body.
However, some people struggle to breathe through their nose and instead turn to mouth breathing. Mouth breathing can be caused by a deviated septum, nose blockage, and/or simply a habit that someone develops. Although, mouth breathing can cause a host of issues including poor sleep quality, tooth decay, and fatigue. It is crucial that we take note of the way we breathe to better understand how best to improve our breathing techniques for a healthier version of ourselves.
Our anxiety and mood levels also impact the way we breathe. When someone is anxious, they are more likely to participate in quicker and shallower breathing. Shutting down your breathing in this way will cause you to use your chest rather than your diaphragm to breathe and can lead to headaches and chest pain. However, the connection between our mood and our breathing can be used for good. Instead of allowing your emotions to take over how you are breathing, use your breathing to improve your mood.
Through deliberate breathing techniques you can activate your parasympathetic nervous system and bring your body back down from a state of fight or flight. Triggering this part of your nervous system also allows your body to properly act out its responsibilities from repair to digestion.
How Breathing Impacts The Digestive Process and Ways to Support Your Gut
Your digestive system and your respiratory system are both responsible for defending your body against germs and unknown pathogens. These processes help protect your immune response. However, as mentioned above, when we become stressed or overly anxious our breath and digestive process are negatively impacted. Stress causes your digestive system to shut down and your body puts more emphasis on bringing you down from those emotions. The change in breathing that occurs due to stress will also impact your digestion. Shallower breaths caused by stress or anxiety will cause less oxygen to enter your bloodstream and disrupt the digestive process.
Mouth breathing also negatively impacts your digestive process. Excessive mouth breathing can cause air to pass from the stomach into the small intestine causing complications such as bloating, heartburn, and indigestion.
Luckily, there are ways to protect your digestive health. A supplement for bloating that contains natural ingredients meant to target your digestive health is a crucial part to any gut health routine. Digestive enzyme supplements and probiotics are incredibly helpful in protecting your gut from common ailments. The digestive enzymes work to give your body the tools it needs to digest all of the different foods you consume on a daily basis, whereas a probiotic for bloating works to protect your gut health by boosting the amount of beneficial bacteria.
Now let’s dive into how you can improve your breathing on a day-to-day basis for a healthier gut.
Day-To-Day Activities That Will Improve The Ways You Breathe
- Exercise - Exercising helps to strengthen your heart, lungs, and breathing muscles. Participating in aerobic exercises is more than just a workout for your muscles — they also help to workout your heart and lungs. On the other hand, other low-impact exercises such as pilates and yoga can strengthen your core muscles which in turn strengthens your internal breathing muscles. Having strong breathing muscles can help train your body to breathe more deeply especially when exercising.
- Breathwork Meditation - In general, meditation aims to promote relaxation and a great awareness of your body. Breathwork meditation has the same end goal but focuses on your breath in specific. It requires you to take time out of your day to truly focus on just your breathing and allow everything else to fall to the wayside. If you find that you struggle with your breathing, consider adding breathwork meditation into your daily routine. Over time, this practice will ingrain intentional breathing into your mind that it becomes second nature.
- Spend Time Outdoors - The pollution indoors can sometimes cause more complications to our respiratory system. It is important to spend time outdoors and breathe in the fresh air. This will allow you to breathe better and reduce the chances of experiencing respiratory complications. An air purifier or keeping your windows open around your house can be a great way to improve the quality of air in your home.
At the end of the day, breathing is what allows us to survive day in and day out. While it can be easy to overlook the power that your breath has due to the natural instinct to breathe, it is important to take some time to appreciate our breath and to master the way we breathe. Our overall health will greatly improve by prioritizing our breath, the quality of air we are breathing in, and more mindfulness.