Are breathing techniques good for your health?

Breathwork practitioners report similar spikes in interest, breathing courses abound on YouTube and Instagram Stories, and publishers unambiguously concur that it's a wave worth riding. We have already seen the publication of the books Breathe Well, The Power of Breathwork, The Breathing Book, and Breathing for Warriors. Exhale by Richie Bostock, aka The Breath Guy, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor, and The Wim Hof Method (see box) by Wim Hof.

To some, this is a little perplexing. It does feel nice to breathe deeply at the end of a yoga session, and many people utilise easy breathing techniques to unwind. However, most people go through their about 23,000 breaths each day without giving it a second's thought, let alone any instruction. So, are those who favour it correct that it has a vast list of advantages for both physical and mental health? Or is it all just hot air?

The use of breathing exercises for asthma is supported by high-quality research. A 2018 randomised controlled experiment indicated that asthma patients in the UK who received instruction in deep, slow, nasal, and diaphragmatic breathing had superior quality of life ratings. According to UK medical guidelines, breathing exercises can help lessen asthma symptoms.

Mike Thomas, a professor of primary care at the University of Southampton and the study's principal investigator, claims that the evidence is strongest in favour of interventions using appropriately qualified physiotherapists. Thomas's emphasis on licenced therapists has to do with how some alternative therapies, like the Buteyko method, which involves taping people's mouths shut while they sleep in an effort to teach them to breathe via their noses, are used. Adherents claim it can treat respiratory diseases like asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, ADHD, and sleeping issues.

Speaking at conferences all around the world is Patrick McKeown, a Galway-based Buteyko practitioner who supports mouthtaping while sleeping. He was booked 18 months in advance before Covid-19. He says, "Five years ago, it was slumber." "My breathing is hot right now." McKeown thinks that modern human tendencies to mouth breathe and overbreathe are the root cause or aggravation of a number of illnesses, including asthma. The Buteyko Method has historically placed a strong focus on the premise that mouth breathing lowers blood carbon dioxide levels, which in turn results in asthma symptoms. McKeown distances himself from this, claiming that while low CO2 is a factor, so are the cooling and drying of the airways brought on by mouth breathing. He also claims that moving to nose and lighter breathing can help some patients with their wheezing, coughing, and dyspnea

Prof. Thomas believes that some asthma patients may benefit from using their noses more, but he considers the Buteyko method's emphasis on increased oxygen intake and low blood carbon dioxide levels to be oversimplified. People with asthma don't overbreathe, and there is no connection at all between asthma severity and CO2 levels, according to measurements of CO2 levels taken before and after retraining in asthmatics. The claim that asthma is brought on by excessive breathing and low carbon dioxide levels is unsupported by science.

Prof. Thomas recognises that some asthma patients may benefit from using their noses more but opposes as being overly simplistic the emphasis on either increased oxygen intake or low blood carbon dioxide levels. People who have asthma don't overbreathe, and there is no connection at all between asthma severity and CO2 levels, according to measurements of CO2 levels taken before and after retraining in asthmatics. The claim that asthma is brought on by excessive breathing and low carbon dioxide levels is unsupported by science.

Numerous people use breathing techniques to relieve tension or anxiety. According to the NHS website, symptoms can be relieved with a few minutes of deep belly breathing. There has been less research on breathing techniques, despite scientists' long-standing interest in researching how yoga and meditation affect stress and anxiety.

In one study, a group of Indian medical students who participated in a six-week course of pranayama breathing exercises saw a reduction in anxiety levels, but the control group showed no change. Heart rate variability increased in the pranayama group as well (HRV). Our hearts briefly beat more quickly when we inhale to hasten the circulation of oxygen throughout the body. We exhale, which causes our heart to slow. Higher HRV is seen as a sign of the body's resilience and flexibility in response to external stimuli. HRV is the difference between these two rates.

According to a 2017 study, after participating in eight weeks of deep, diaphragmatic breathing exercises, a group of 20 Beijing-based IT employees' salivary cortisol levels decreased, which was not the case in the control group. Slowing breathing generated temporary improvements in HRV, enhanced comfort and relaxation, and decreased anxiety, according to Italian researchers who examined 15 earlier trials.

Researchers are unsure of just how slow, deep breathing encourages calm. But many think the most important thing is that it can raise HRV. The autonomous nervous system, which also controls unconscious body functions like blood pressure and respiratory rate, is in charge of controlling HRV. The sympathetic nervous system, which sets off "fight or flight" reactions like elevated heart rate and blood pressure, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which sets off "rest and digest" reactions, are the two divisions of the sympathetic nervous system.

The vagus nerve, a nervous system superhighway that transmits data back and forth between the brain and various regions of the body, regulates parasympathetic reactions. A person's vagal response to stimuli is stronger and their body can activate parasympathetic responses to stress more quickly the higher their HRV.

When psychologist Roderik Gerritsen of Leiden University in the Netherlands examined the advantages of contemplative practises for both physical and mental health, he came to the conclusion that their shared attention on breathing lowered stress through raising parasympathetic nervous system activity. Your heart rate decreases, your vagus nerve is stimulated, and your body is informed that there are no imminent concerns by slowing your breathing, according to Gerritsen.

Numerous different illnesses' symptoms have been suggested to be treated using breathing exercises. Researchers from Augusta University in Georgia, US, hypothesised that modern life's "toxic, long-term activation of the sympathetic nervous system" and our Neanderthal ancestors' lives had led to an evolutionary mismatch that contributes to insomnia. They contend that slow, deep breathing can elicit parasympathetic reactions that help people fall asleep and get back to sleep after awakening during the night.

The management of pain also involves breathing exercises. A January study involving 48 healthy volunteers discovered that deep breathing significantly decreased pain brought on by heat, especially when done at a rate of roughly six breaths per minute. Another study found that people with cardiovascular disease who used breathing techniques had lower heart rates and blood pressure.

Simple breathing exercises have also been advocated as a potential treatment for Covid-19. For instance, a London physician advised patients to take two sets of five deep breaths, hold them for five seconds, then cough loudly before lying on their fronts and taking deep breaths for ten minutes in April. The video was circulated online a lot. However, the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care stated that such activities were unlikely to help people with the dry coughs prevalent in the majority of Covid-19 sufferers. Some patients claimed that this helped.

Numerous animal and short-term laboratory human investigations have demonstrated that deep, slow breathing causes physiological changes that are related to positive results for health. That, however, falls far short of claiming that there is concrete proof that breathing exercises can assist people in permanently altering their breathing patterns or enhancing their health.

According to research by the Italian physician Luciano Bernardi, breath-control training allowed patients with chronic heart failure to considerably lower their breathing rate and extend the length of time they could exercise. According to Bernardi, "a month after the research, the benefits were still there, and we discovered that majority had kept up the practise." "Like any other training, if you keep doing it, the benefits are maintained, and if you quit, eventually you lose them."

US researchers discovered that participants in daily deep breathing exercises for four weeks saw short-term but not long-term drops in their blood pressure. According to Don Noble, a physiologist at Emory University in Atlanta, "the issue is that in most human research any effects of slow, deep breathing tend to be limited to the lab circumstances in which they are studied." The judgement is still out because there haven't been many rigorous studies on long-term effects in humans, despite some encouraging findings.

Breathing: What’s in and what’s out?

Breathwork is far from new. Yogis, mystics and others have linked disturbed breathing to illnesses and advocated breath control both for health and as part of the path to enlightenment for thousands of years. Breathing-based therapies proliferated in the 60s and 70s. Here are just a few of dozens of different ways to get your oxygen.

Pranayama Breathwork

Breathing techniques are key to yoga. Breath retentions, alternate nostril breathing, explosive exhales, stretching out the tongue and other techniques are used to calm or invigorate the body, support yoga poses and are considered integral to reaching enlightenment.

4-7-8 Breathing

Designed to reduce stress, calm anxiety and help people sleep, it involves inhaling through the nose for four seconds, holding your breath for seven seconds, breathing out through the nose for eight seconds. Yes, there are apps for that.

Holotropic Breathwork

A psychotherapy method developed in the 1960s that uses rapid deep breathing, music and physical support to supposedly induce altered states of consciousness as a way to release emotional blockages and heal buried traumas. Considered unsafe for those with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and mental health issues.

Butekyo Breathing Method

A controversial alternative therapy that uses exercises and mouth taping to train people to breathe lightly and nasally. There are GPs who say it can help people, but claims by advocates that many health conditions are the result of chronic over-breathing are not supported by sound scientific evidence.

Wim Hof Method

Cycles of controlled hyper-ventilation, extended exhalations and breath-holding, combined with exposure to cold and meditation, designed to trigger positive immune system changes. As seen on the Gwyneth Paltrow Goop Lab series on Netflix.

Practicing breathwork in online courses or in person and actively practicing breathing exercises can help with many things such as stress, anxiety, asthma, athletic performance, long-covid & so much more. The Breath Sensei can offer free breathwork courses in the UK where you can see how much you can benefit from actively practicing breathwork & breathing techniques if you suffer with poor sleep, bad asthma or stress & anxiety. Try a free breathwork course today!