5 Signs You Are Breathing Wrong and How to Fix It

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Are you able to exhale for 5 seconds? Most adults can't. And it is one of the clearest signs that your breathing patterns maybe working against you. Today I want to walk you through the five most common breathing dysfunctions that I see in clients each and every day. The first and most common is that you breathe most often through your mouth. Keep in mind nasal breathing is optimal and foundational in any and all breath work practice. In our last episode, episode seven, I talked a lot about why it's important to nasal breathe, so if you want to check that out. But the important thing to remember

is that our nose was perfectly designed for breathing and our mouth is simply an open pipe to our lungs. Second and and associated dysfunction is that we keep our breath simply in our chest. Chest breathing is often associated with anxiety or stress or high levels of focus. And we just fail to realize that we are breathing shallow and chest only. Because the breathing pattern is faster and there is less volume to the air, we fail to get that belly breath, which is the parasympathetic dominant signal to our body. So when we are shallow or chest breathing, we tend to stay in that stressed or highly

elevated level much longer without knowing. The third most common dysfunction is that you are breathing too much. Over breathing is a much more common dysfunction than under breathing. Over breathing disrupts the optimal levels of CO2 in our body. It causes our O2, our oxygen, to bind much more tightly to our hemoglobin, making it much less available to us. Less O2 is actually delivered to our tissues. Over breathing doesn't give you more oxygen. It often makes that O2 much less available. The fourth breathing dysfunction that I see regularly is that we hold our breath without knowing it. This looks like unconscious pauses in your breath during

times of stress or intense focus. And when you hold your breath, this irregular breathing rhythm sends an irregular, unbalanced, and often disregulating signal to our body. It shows up with increased headaches, with tension, and usually increased fatigue. Holding your breath under tension is like tapping the accelerator and the brake at the same time, sending mixed and disregulated signals to our body. The final breathing dysfunction that I see regularly is a short or inability to extend an exhale. If you can't easily exhale for 4 to 5 seconds, your body may be stuck in the go mode. What happens when we have short exhales is we get

no meaningful stimulation of the vagus nerve, which limits our parasympathetic activation, and our breathing cycle remains elevated. Remember, it is your exhale that gives you that parasympathetic or relaxing signal to our body. When you are unable to extend an exhale, it creates challenges for relaxation. It creates issues when you're trying to get to sleep. It tends to cause persistent low-level stress, and it reduces our ability to regulate our emotions. Really, if you're unable to extend your exhale, your body's unable to downshift into a more relaxed state. The good news is breathing dysfunction isn't really about doing something dramatically wrong. It is doing small, incremental things

inefficiently thousands of times a day. Keep in mind, you breathing about 20,000 times each and every day. Most of this is very fixable. These are all learned behaviors that with a little bit of awareness and some consistent practice, we can shift these disregulations into much more normal, functional, and optimal breathing. First and foremost, using your nose. As I talked about in episode 7, the importance of nasal breathing, which you can and out if you would like. Our nose was perfectly designed for breathing. Start with using your nose as often as possible. And then secondly, bringing balance to your breath. So, that means breathing in roughly

for the same amount as we're exhaling. That tends to send a balanced signal to your body. So, if we're breathing low, slow, balanced breathing. Now, that might look like a 3-3 breath. So, that's in for three, out for three. A 4-4 breath. In for four, out for four. Or, you can even try to get to a 4-6, where we're actually doing a longer exhale than we are an inhale. So, that would be inhaling for four and exhaling for six. Probably the most important tactic, or tool if you will, is simply to be aware of your breath. Notice whether you're breathing through your nose, whether you're

breathing through your mouth. Become aware of the pace of your breath, the size and volume of breath, and where you're breathing into. When you're holding your breath, it speeds up and it gets shallower. It is really pretty simple. You want to keep it low, slow, balanced nasal breathing, and that will help regulate a lot of these dysfunctions. Remember, it's not about forcing anything. It is about consistency. And it is about practice. Probably the most important tool that you have to improve any and all of these breathing dysfunctions is your awareness. Simply being aware, am I breathing through my nose, am I breathing through my mouth,

am I breathing fast, am I breathing slow, is it shallow, or is it deep? Using your awareness to be able to tell you how to change those breathing patterns is most important. Being able to use regular cues to have you focus on your breath, like getting into your car, or if you pick up your phone to scroll, check in with your breath and see what your breathing pattern is doing. Remember, it is simple. Low, slow, balanced nasal breathing will eliminate and help with all of the breathing dysfunctions mentioned. You are not trying to breathe perfectly all the time. You are trying to create some moments

for your body where it is able to breathe optimally. In our next episode, I look forward to talking to you about our breath and how it's able to help us regulate our nervous system. I've had some questions about that recently and look forward to addressing that for you.