You take around 25,000 breaths per day. But many of us are doing it wrong. In fact, journalist James Nestor found it to be enough of an issue that he wrote an entire New York Times best-selling book about it called Breath. In his research, Nestor found that making a few simple adjustments to the way we breathe can have a massive impact on everything from our health to athletic performance and mood.
Emma Ferris, a physiotherapist and breathing coach with the Breath Effect, says 80 percent of the population have a breathing dysfunction and have developed poor techniques throughout the years. “And that can range from breathing through the mouth, breathing through the upper chest and neck muscles, having altered breathing rhythm and rate, or keeping the body in a stress state for long periods of time,” she explains. So, now that we know that we’re probably not breathing right, how do we fix it?
Here are a few expert-backed tips on how to take your very best breaths:
Breathe like a baby
As humans, we’re born knowing how to breathe. If you look at babies, you’ll notice their abdomens rising and falling. The same thing probably happens when you catch your dog or cat resting. “From birth, we breathe through our bellies, like babies do,” says Ferris. This, she explains, is our way of regulating our nervous system and activating our parasympathetic nervous system, which keeps us calm, rested, and relaxed.
But over time, many people deviate to other breathing patterns, whether from being self-conscious over the look of their stomachs going in and out or forming bad habits when stressed. For instance, we often hold our breaths or take very short breaths through our chests while in fight-or-flight mode. “And while the stress goes away, the body still keeps breathing in that pattern,” says Ferris. This can affect the nervous system and bring on symptoms like fatigue, anxiety, panic disorders, upset gut, depression, poor sleep, stress, headaches, neck pain, back pain, nausea, palpitations, and more.
In through your nose, not your mouth
How often do you find your partner lying in bed in the morning snoozing with their mouth open? Or maybe you walk up a flight of stairs, get winded, and start breathing through your mouth. This is a common phenomenon. But as humans, we’re supposed to be breathing from our noses. In his book, Nestor conducted an experiment where he plugged his nostrils to breathe only through his mouth. As a result, he began incessantly snoring, developed sleep apnea, and had a massive increase in stress. Once he took the plugs out of his nose, his symptoms alleviated.
Studies show that your nose helps to filter the air you breathe, thus potentially helping you to take in less environmental contaminants. It also increases the humidity of the air, making it more optimal for the lungs. But Nestor also found that breathing through your nose triggers different hormones involved in everything from a woman’s menstrual cycle to your heart rate, anxiety level, and more. It can even help with your fitness routine. Nestor reported increasing his performance on his exercise bike by 10 percent after switching from being a mouth breather to a nasal breather. He takes his nose breathing so seriously that he now places tape over his mouth at night to ensure that he sleeps while breathing only through his nose.
The right way to breathe
According to Ferris, the proper way to breathe is through your nose, utilizing your diaphragm, at 360 degrees. “So, breathe in through your belly and your back, not into your chest,” she explains. “It’s not just about getting the air in; it’s about using the right muscles and the rhythm, which tells the body that it’s safe.”
One of her favorite tips to start a breathing practice session is to begin by exhaling to deflate the chest. This helps you turn “off” your chest muscles, which garner you a shallower breath. “So, even though I said nose breathing is best, even taking a breath out of the mouth just once when we can deflate the chest can allow you to start that breathing technique again,” says Ferris. Then, begin breathing without your chest involved.
Ferris offers this breathing quiz and questionnaire on her website to help you determine if your breathing needs help and if so, where to go from there.
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Tips for practicing
Tamara Kalugina, a health and wellness coach and certified breathwork practitioner, says to try the following exercise to take inventory of your breathing:
Observe yourself in the mirror as you breathe. Pay attention to your shoulders to see if your shoulders move up on the inhale. If your shoulders move up, you’re most likely breathing into your chest and are taking in shallow breaths. Place a hand on your stomach and watch how and if it moves. If you’re breathing properly, your hand will move out and away as you inhale. If it’s not doing that, chances are that you’re breathing incorrectly. Similarly, you can place your hands on your ribs and see if your rib cage expands outward as you inhale.
And finally, lie on your back, place a hand underneath your lower back, and see if your body expands toward the floor as you inhale. Many people believe that deep, diaphragmatic breaths require your belly to move outward, but the reality is that a quality deep breath will expand your body, your belly, your diaphragm, and your rib cage in all 360 degrees.
Professional breathing coach Tyler Huston says to add this technique to really make sure your breaths are going where they need to:
Hold your hands at your sides right over your lower floating ribs to allow you to feel for the lateral expansion and lateral contraction of the rib cage. Monitoring for this 360° or horizontal breath is a great way to confirm that you are performing deep (not big) diaphragmatic breaths.
Be mindful when wearing a mask
The average adult breathes into their chest with shorter, shallower breaths, and this has become more prevalent throughout the pandemic. “When wearing masks, individuals tend to start breathing through their mouths, even if they normally wouldn’t,” explains Kalugina. This mouth breathing, she says, can exacerbate feelings of panic, anxiety, and shortness of breath. So, when you first put on your face mask, practice taking breaths with the proper form and inhaling through your nose. If your breathing deviates, remind yourself to go back to this style of breathing throughout the day.
Address your trauma
One of the biggest reasons people stop breathing properly, per Ferris, is trauma and not feeling safe. “This can be from past traumas, past experiences, emotions not expressed,” she explains. This can come from our experiences around us or even from our family and friends. Thus, she says, there is great benefit in seeking out a professional therapist who can help you release some of these internal stressors so that you can focus on breathing from a calmer place.
Your breathing can also be used to help you through stressful and traumatic situations. “There’s a hidden system in our body that gets hijacked when we are stressed,” says Ferris. “Breathing is the only thing in that stress loop and that nervous system loop that is both under conscious and unconscious control.” If you find yourself stressed and in need of calming down, Ferris recommends box breathing, which is popular with Navy SEALs and those overcoming PTSD. Breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, and then hold four seconds at the end.
Nicole Pajer is a freelance writer whose work has been published in The New York Times, AARP, Woman’s Day, Parade, Men’s Journal, Wired, Emmy Magazine, and others. Keep up with her adventures on Twitter at @nicolepajer.
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