Breathing is a vital aspect of our daily lives that we often overlook. It’s so automatic and unconscious that we don’t give it much thought. However, how we breathe can significantly impact our physical, mental, and emotional health. Proper breathing techniques can improve physical performance. It also increases energy levels, reduces stress, and enhances mental clarity.

Two common techniques we can use to improve our breathing include chest breathing and diaphragm breathing. Chest breathing is characterized by shallow breaths taken into the upper chest. In contrast, diaphragm breathing involves deep breaths that fill the lungs to capacity. Both techniques have their pros and cons, and it’s essential to understand the benefits of each to determine the best method for you. 

By the end of this guide article, you’ll have a better insight into the importance of proper breathing. Also, how to incorporate it into your daily routine.

How Breathing Works

Breathing is at the core of life, as it provides the necessary fuel for the human body to function and perform various activities. It is made possible by the combined efforts of three essential components: the lungs, the diaphragm, and the intercostal muscles. These three work together seamlessly to allow for the intake of air, or inhalation, and the release of air, or exhalation.

Breathing is a complex process that involves multiple components of the body. When you inhale, the diaphragm contracts and then moves downwards towards the belly; it creates more additional space in the chest cavity for the lungs to expand and take in oxygen. The intercostal muscles, which run in between the ribs, also play a role in helping the chest cavity expand during inhalation. On the other hand, when you exhale, the lungs, diaphragm, and chest cavity tend to contract and release carbon dioxide.

In diaphragm breathing vs chest breathing, it’s important to note that shallow breathing limits the amount of oxygen that reaches the lower part of the lungs. Thus, many small blood vessels deliver oxygen to the cells. In contrast, deep breathing helps slow the heart rate and stabilize blood pressure, allowing the body to fully utilize the oxygen inhaled. Overall, proper breathing techniques are crucial for maintaining optimal health and well-being.

Reasons Why You’re Breathing Incorrectly

It’s natural to question how you could have been breathing incorrectly when it’s something your body does automatically. Breathing is a vital aspect of life that we often take for granted, but incorrect breathing habits can lead to various health problems. So, how did this happen? Well, there are several possible reasons.

Stress

Today’s society is fast-paced and ever-connected, leading to elevated stress levels. This stress can manifest in the form of shallow breathing. As individuals, they take shorter breaths in response to the demands of their environment.

Poor Posture

Sitting for extended periods at a desk throughout grade school, college, and work career can lead to poor posture. This also includes slouching while working at a computer. This posture, with a hunch and a collapsed rib cage, results in a limited capacity for full inhalation and proper breathing.

Obesity

A higher body fat percentage can result in additional tissue pressure on the chest and diaphragm. It hinders the lungs’ ability to expand fully during inhalation. That can result in taking shorter breaths than what is necessary, compromising proper breathing.

Air pollution

When living in a heavily polluted area with high smog levels, the body may respond by unconsciously taking shallow breaths to avoid inhaling harmful air.

Difference between Chest Breathing and Diaphragm Breathing

Breathing via the chest rather than the diaphragm results in less air being drawn into the lungs. Hypoventilation and fast breathing are both possible outcomes of breathing too shallow. Most individuals with a shallow breathing pattern do so continuously throughout the day. They are usually oblivious to the fact that they have a problem.

The diaphragm is a massive muscle with a dome shape that sits at the chest wall. The goal of diaphragm breathing vs chest breathing is to train you to breathe using your diaphragm. This kind of breathing has been shown to lower blood pressure and pulse rate, as well as increase relaxation.

Proofs that Diaphragm Breathing Increases Oxygen Intake

Among the numerous benefits of diaphragm breathing vs chest breathing, there is a significant increase in oxygen intake. The justifications are summed up as follows.

• When you breathe with your diaphragm, air flows past the bottom of your lungs and into their lower regions. More blood is stored because of gravity than when you breathe from your chest. That means that in diaphragm breathing vs chest breathing,  when the diaphragm is employed, more oxygen can be delivered to the blood.

• The diaphragm is a single, big muscle that, when coordinated with abdominal muscles. It allows for more sustained, stronger breathing than possible with the chest muscles alone. For air movement, the diaphragm’s piston-like action is superior to that of the intercostal muscles. It results in elevating the chest ribs.

• Diaphragm breathing vs chest breathing, which is often quicker but shallower, draws a bigger amount of air during maximal diaphragmatic displacement. When inhaling the same total volume of air in a minute via the nose, more air will reach the lungs with slower but deep diaphragmatic breathing. Contrary to quicker and shallow chest breathing due to the dead space in the airway between the nose and the lungs.

• Science has shown that when the CO2 level in the blood drops too low, it limits the oxygen produced from hemoglobin in the blood. It happens while traveling to the brain, organs, and tissues throughout the body. This is an essential fact that most of us are unaware of. Therefore, continuous chest breathing during physical activity will cause exhaustion. It is due to a shortage of oxygen sooner than diaphragmatic breathing would.

Benefits

Check out the benefits of diaphragm breathing and chest breathing below. 

Diaphragm Breathing

Aside from being an effective technique to breathe, breathing with diaphragm vs chest offers other health advantages, including:

• It calms and relaxes you.
• Reduce your heart rate.
• Assist in lowering your blood pressure.
• Assist in maintaining healthy posture and core stability.
• Assist in achieving efficient lymphatic drainage for immune system improvement.

Chest Breathing

Despite all the praise for breathing from the diaphragm, chest breathing is still practiced for a good reason. Breathing via the chest is common during activities that demand a rapid increase in oxygen consumption. This includes sprinting, other sports, or during ‘Fight or Flight’ circumstances.

• Breathing from the chest helps one to be completely inflated and uses the lungs’ middle lobes.
• It aids in unloading the rib cage and spinal column.
• It is possible to increase the body’s oxygen intake by combining chest breathing with belly breathing.
• It stores all the energy your body can muster and releases when you need it most—in a fight or during any other strenuous physical activity.

Risks

Take a look at some possible risks for diaphragm breathing and chest breathing below. 

Diaphragm Breathing

Simply practicing diaphragmatic breathing may not be enough to help. Anxiety, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are just a few examples of illnesses that cannot be remedied by diaphragmatic breathing alone.

If a person is experiencing anxiety and diaphragmatic breathing is not helping, that anxiety may intensify. Those who suffer from anxiety may find that diaphragmatic breathing exercises help. But they should also see a medical professional for more permanent solutions.

Diaphragmatic breathing is an effective way to improve health. But it should be used with caution by those with respiratory disorders, like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. At first, you could have trouble breathing and feel more tired than usual. For the advantages to become apparent, people will need to progressively increase their level of practice.

Chest Breathing

Chest breathing requires the activation of muscles in the shoulders, neck, and chest to expand the lungs. These may lead to discomfort and even damage. As a result, our shoulders curve forward, and our posture weakens.

Panic attacks, dry mouth, exhaustion, exacerbated respiratory disorders, and cardiovascular problems are all linked to shallow breathing. Many common issues may be traced back to this way of breathing since it causes stress throughout the body.

Holding our breath and sucking in our stomachs causes muscular tension. It is reinforced by cultural expectations such as the desire to have a flat stomach. It’s a vicious cycle: stress causes shallow breathing, which causes more stress, and so on.

Tips for getting started

Take a deep breath and come to a complete stop. As you inhale, do your shoulders rise, and your body lengthen? When you exhale, do your shoulders drop, and your chest contract?

If you replied yes, you’re doing it incorrectly.

This is known as vertical breathing. While it may seem like you’re truly expanding your lungs, you’re simply receiving air into the top of them.

Belly breathing, also popularly known as diaphragmatic breathing or horizontal breathing, is the proper method of breathing.

Inhale via your abdominal button. As you breathe in, your tummy should expand, and your lungs should expand. This drags oxygen all the way down into your lungs’ bottom. As you exhale, your stomach will return to its normal position, and your rib cage will compress. The diaphragm muscle is used to ensure that you obtain the right quantity of air.

Diaphragm breathing vs chest breathing might seem unusual or even laborious at first. However, as you continue to practice, you should find the process to be less taxing and more soothing.

Diaphragmatic breathing exercise is most effectively trained in a calm setting, such as a silent room. In addition, folks should stay away from potential interruptions like their phones, the TV, and other people. Instead, individuals should pay attention to their breathing and the feelings it creates in their bodies.

The act of counting one’s breaths, both in and out, has been shown to have a calming effect. A person’s breathing may be monitored as well.

Deep Breathing Techniques

Whatever the root of your abnormal breathing, learn about breathwork. Here are some easy exercises that will help you get back on track.

Pursed-lip breathing is an alternative. This exercise calls for a seated position and the release of tension in the neck and upper back. Then, take a two-second deep breath through your nostrils. After counting to two, make a whistling motion with your lips and exhale for four seconds. When you’re done, keep doing what you just did. This practice of calm, controlled breathing can help you relax and experience the benefits of proper breathing.

The second strategy involves an activity known as “book breathing.” Put a couple of light books on your stomach and lie on the ground to attempt this one. If you’d rather not use books, you may just use both hands. And then, inhale deeply through your nose as you lift the books (or your hands) off the ground. Exhale via your mouth for almost twice as long as your inhalation.

That ought to be continued for a further five to ten minutes. You’ll know you’re doing belly breathing instead of vertical breathing if the books or your hands don’t rise when you inhale.

Takeaway

Diaphragmatic breathing has been shown to be the most effective and healthy technique to breathe for most people, with the exception of a few less frequent instances. You’ll have more vitality and potential health advantages from practicing diaphragmatic breathing. Most people nowadays, however, breathe mostly via their chests, and this is a habit that has persisted for quite some time.

Interested in experiencing breathwork with Regina? Regina holds two virtual breathwork sessions a month that you can easily access from anywhere in the world. Check out and join us for a session!