Did you know there’s a science to breathing correctly. It can improve your sleep, lower blood pressure, reduce stress, and even improve your Nordic walking.
I’m Ros, owner of Bristol & Bath Nordic Walking, and I’m working with an excellent Physiotherapy Clinic in Bristol. Recently I’ve been learning all about breathing retraining from Respiratory Clinical Physiologist and Chartered Physiotherapist Carla Thompson.
I thought this could be useful for our community, so I asked Carla how we can learn to breathe better and boost our exercise sessions.
“I love talking about breathing. What else would you do 22,000 times a day, but never think about! Here are my 5 top tips on optimal breathing to improve your performance at rest, and while exercising:
Nose Breathe Whenever Possible
You may feel through your mouth is the easiest way to breathe, but we’re designed to be nose breathers. Our noses warm, moisten and humidify the air, and nose breathing helps your diaphragm do the job it was designed for – slow, efficient inhalation that keeps you feeling calm, but energetic.
Plus your sinuses produce Nitric Oxide to open up the airways, blood vessels, and is antimicrobial to support the immune system.
NB. Although nasal exhalations are preferable, it’s fine to breathe out through the mouth when exercising.
Tongue At The Top
Heeping your tongue on the roof of your mouth helps you breathe better, sleep better, and supports healthy jaw and airway function. Tongue posture can even affect head and neck alignment.
Your tongue should be at the top of your mouth, with the tip placed where you would say the phonetic sound ‘N’ and the sides gently lifted up. Your teeth should be slightly apart, and your jaw relaxed. This helps create a seal in your mouth for nose breathing.
Breath Lightly
Light, gentle breathing helps your body use oxygen better, keeps you calm, and makes breathing feel easier. Imagine you have a feather under your nose, and it shouldn’t move much as you breathe in and out.
Breath slowly
At rest you should take about 12 – 20 breaths in a minute. More than that and you’ll stimulate your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight). This can make you feel anxious and tense your muscles. Optimum breathing, especially with a longer exhale, can stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system to help you feel more relaxed, focused and in control.
Breathe Through Your Ribs
When you use your diaphragm to breathe, everything feels easier, calmer and less tiring. Your neck and shoulder muscles are only meant to help during harder effort — if they’re doing the job all day, they get tight and sore, and they’re not there for you when you actually need them on exercise
You want your lower ribs to move as you breathe so the bigger, lower parts of your lungs can expand properly.
Fun fact! Did you know that thanks to the nasal cycle your nostrils take it in turn to work, and they switch every few hours. It’s totally normal and helps keep your nose healthy and happy.
Would You Benefit From Breathing Retraining?
Breathing training is helpful for anyone who feels their breathing isn’t working as well as it could, including people who:
- Get out of breath quickly
- Feel tightness in the chest, neck or shoulders when breathing
- Experience frequent sighing, yawning or air ‘hunger’
- Have stress‑related breathing patterns or feel on edge
- Have poor sleep, snoring or waking unrefreshed
- Are recovering from illness, infection or long periods of stress
- Want to improve endurance and ease during activities like Nordic walking
To find out more information or to book an assessment go to Carla’s website www.breathingbydesign.co.uk or contact her on 07825 449742.
The Bristol and Bath Nordic Walking Team
