Why Chiropractors Care about your BREATHING
The diaphragm is a large dome-shaped muscle that is located below the lungs. Driven by the autonomic nervous system (without us thinking about it) it contracts rhythmically and continually to entice air into our lungs and relaxes each time we exhale 22,000 times a day.
Taking conscious breaths - for example when doing breathing exercises – can have a profound affect on the entire body. The next time you watch any sporting event, notice how the athlete with take a long, slow out-breath before kicking that penalty, or serving an ace. Our bodies are designed with this clever in-built calming mechanism that is directly linked to your brain via the Vagus Nerve.
The Vagus Nerve is the only Cranial Nerve that exits the brain and stretches from the brainstem down to the colon, connecting to the middle ear, the vocal chords, heart, lungs and intestines along the way. It carries signals – neurotransmitters – between the emotional memory bank in your limbic brain and can instruct organs specific on how to respond and function during different moments of feeling either safe and secure, reactive and defensive, or fearful and immobilised.
The shorter and shallower your breath, the more you are telling your body to be in protection, self-defence and fearfulness. Unfortunately, today’s fast-paced world the large number of us are living our lives in this shallow-breathing, heightened state of alertness due to constant, low-grade, unrelenting stress. This can have a negative impact on our digestion, our sleep patterns, our healing times for injuries and our overall well-being.
TOP TIP: We cannot be in protection/defense AND growth/healing at the same time.
The fastest and easiest way to “Hack” this clever and intelligent self-defense mechanism is through conscious breath. And the good new is – it’s SO SIMPLE!
Here is the trick:
If at ANY moment of the day you are feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, highly anxious, or uptight: Take ONE slow deep inhale through the nose if possible for four or more seconds: try not to move the chest but just really concentrate on filling that belly, FEEL it expanding and sticking out. Now, exhale for DOUBLE the length of your in breath as your belly empties and contracts (ie/ Eight seconds). Breathe out through the nose if possible.
Repeat 3x.
Chiropractors recognise the special relationship between posture, organ function, spinal motion and the depth and quality of your breath. We are trained to recognise poor diaphragmatic function, and help facilitate the correction and communication between the brain, the spine and the diaphragm so that you may live your life more calmly and more oxygenated.
Xxx Dr Imogen