You do it 20,000 times a day without a single thought and it powers the body’s 15 trillion cells.
The impulse to breathe is both automatic – like digestion, our bodies perform the process without us taking an active role – and controlled – such as when you hold your breath.
Around 20 percent of the body’s oxygen intake goes to the brain, and the supply must be continuously replenished to keep cells healthy.
After one minute without oxygen, the early stage of brain damage begins. After five minutes, that brain damage becomes permanent. After 10 minutes, the brain dies.
But since we don’t have to think about breathing, it’s easy to take it for granted, Dr Michael Breus, author of Sleep Drink Breathe, says.
He writes: ‘Just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean you’re doing it to the best of your ability.’
But, poor breathing can lead to major health problems, including weakened lungs and jaw, gum disease, anxiety, brain damage and cognitive decline linked to dementia.
Luckily, Dr Breus says our breathing can be improved. In his book, he details how we’re breathing wrong and offers advice on how to do it correctly.
Breathing calms anxiety, boosts immunity, fuels energy production, nourishes cells, and eliminates toxins. Dr. Breus points out, given all these benefits, why not focus on improving your breathing? Even minor adjustments can lead to significant benefits, especially as you age
Below, DailyMail.com details the six bad breathing habits Dr Breus says people are guilty of.
Bad breathing habit #1 – Breathing through the mouth
As a general rule, the mouth is for eating and the nose is for breathing.
While exceptions can be made, such as when you’re congested and can’t breathe through your nose, Dr Breus urges people not to make it a habit.
Breathing through the mouth welcomes every floating germ, dust mite, and environmental toxin into the body, which nostril hairs are adept at filtering out.
Mouth breathing dries out and irritates the throat, causing micro-tears that become ideal homes for bacteria and viruses.
Nasal passages, meanwhile, naturally humidify the air we breathe, making it less likely that nose-breathers will experience a dry, sore throat in the morning.
Over a long time, such as years from birth through early childhood, habitual mouth breathing can cause a weakened jaw, a long, narrow face, recessed chin, and misaligned teeth.
Mouth breathing can cause dental issues like cavities and gum disease.
It’s also usually a sign of sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing stops and starts while a person sleeps, leading to dreadful sleep quality. Overweight, tonsils, and structural abnormalities in the airway are the most common causes of sleep apnea, which affects 26 million to 39 million Americans.
Over time, sleep apnea raises the risk of myriad debilitating illnesses including heart attack, stroke, insulin resistance and diabetes, memory issues, higher risk of accidents, mental health issues, and reduced quality of life.
In 2020, researchers in Spain set out to better understand how breathing and sleep patterns impact thinking and memory during the day in people with high blood pressure.
They wanted to know if these patterns made a difference in people with mild memory problems (MCI) compared to those with normal aging and whether tiny brain injuries (like small strokes or damaged white matter) played a role.
They found that having lower oxygen levels during sleep was linked with poorer thinking skills, especially in memory and decision-making.
On the other hand, higher average oxygen levels were tied to better brain performance.
Even when the researchers looked at people without brain injuries, these patterns stayed the same, showing that oxygen during sleep directly affects how well the brain works.
Disrupted sleep throws the brain into chaos, as it disrupts the natural nightly ‘clean up process’ by which the glymphatic system in the brain clears out amyloid protein and tau, both implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.
‘Basically,’ Dr Breus said, ‘breathing through your mouth is like putting leaded gas in your car.’
Mouth breathing dries out and irritates the throat, causing micro-tears that become ideal homes for bacteria and viruses
Bad breathing habit #2 – Taking it for granted
‘The first minor adjustment to make is to flip the mental switch and stop thinking of breathing as the body’s job,’ Dr Breus said.
He added: ‘Instead, think of it as a superpower you can master and skill you can use to improve your health and wellness and to change your mind and body for the better every single day.’
The medulla oblongata, part of the brainstem that links the brain to the spinal cord, controls involuntary behaviors like breathing, heartbeat, and digestion.
When it senses the body’s balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide is off, it sends a message to the diaphragm – the dome-shaped muscle below the lungs – to flatten.
This makes the lungs expand, creating a vacuum that sucks air into the nose and mouth, a process called inspiration.
When you don’t inhale, such as when you willingly hold your breath, you start to feel ‘air hunger.’
The lack of oxygen to the brain is called hypoxia, and it has severe consequences. Prolonged deprivation, such as when trying to or having to hold your breath, can lead to irreversible brain damage that accelerates cognitive decline.
Researchers in Beijing reported in 2022 that hypoxia long-term can harm mental skills like attention, learning, memory, processing speed, and decision-making. The longer and more severe the oxygen deprivation, the worse the impact on thinking abilities.
Boosting your breathing skills earlier in life will pay off as you age, as the diaphragm weakens, tissue in the respiratory system diminishes and the ribs that allow the chest to expand become brittle.
Dr Breus said: ‘It’s hard to imagine that one day, something you have always done with ease will be compromised through no fault of your own.
‘But you can strengthen your respiratory system at any time to slow the aging process and keep your lungs in good shape throughout your life.’
A respiratory rate of 20 or more breaths per minute indicates that you might be hyperventilating. Breathing in too little oxygen can kickstart the body’s stress response
Bad breathing habit #3 – Breathing too shallow
The primary objective of breathing – to draw in oxygen – can’t be achieved with shallow breaths.
Taking in little puffs of air, mainly through the mouth, does not entirely fill the lungs, potentially causing hypoxia, or an insufficient amount of oxygen in the body.
Shallow breathing is also a key manifestation of the body’s stress response.
When the body feels anxious or threatened, it prompts the fight-or-flight response. This involves the release of adrenaline into the bloodstream, which prepares the body for action by increasing heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure.
It also quickens breathing in an effort to deliver more oxygen to muscles and organs.
At this point, the body may begin to rely more on the chest to pull in oxygen than the diaphragm, a pattern known as thoracic breathing.
When this type of breathing becomes a habit, the body can be thrown into a chronic hormone imbalance, suffer heart disease, a weakened immune system, and ulcers.
The lungs can also become weaker over time, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of harmful shallow breathing.
To ensure he gets a sufficient amount of oxygen into his body, Dr Breus starts his day by taking 15 deep breaths: ‘I visualize each lobe filling up with each breath.
‘First, I inhale deep into the bottom lobes, flexing the diaphragm. Then I take another quick inhale that expands the ribs and fills the middle and top lobes.
‘Another technique is to alternate between chest and abdominal breathing to fill every nook and cranny of both lungs with air.
‘It feels amazing. Instantly invigorating.’
Breathing from the diaphragm can measurably improve stress. In a 2017 study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers divided 40 people into two groups.
One group, the breathing intervention group (BIG), trained in deep breathing for 20 sessions over 8 weeks using a device to help them practice breathing at 4 breaths per minute.
The other group, the control group (CG), didn’t get this training. Both groups were tested before and after the study on their ability to stay focused, their mood, and their cortisol levels (a stress marker).
Meanwhile, researchers tested their cortisol levels through saliva, and found, ‘Its concentration decreased significantly after the 20 sessions’ intervention, which was consistent with previous results from parents of children and adolescents with diabetes type 1.’
The correct way to breathe is horizontally from the diaphragm, which involves expanding the ribs away from your midline as you inhale. The belly should come outward as you inhale and the lungs open up, filling up every part of them with air
Bad Breathing Habit #4 – Breathing ‘vertically’
Take a deep breath and pay attention to your shoulders and stomach. Do your shoulders rise toward your ears? Does your stomach stay roughly where it is?
You might be vertical breathing, a pattern where your shoulders and chest rise as you inhale and fall when you exhale, only filling the tops of the lungs with air.
While the chest expands and the shoulders rise, the diaphragm remains stagnant, contributing to back pain, digestive problems, and general stress on the body.
The correct way to breathe is horizontally from the diaphragm, which involves expanding the ribs away from your midline as you inhale. The belly should come outward as you inhale and the lungs open up, filling up every part of them with air.
Dr Breus said: ‘Whenever I see someone rubbing their neck or shoulders, my first thought is, “They need to breathe horizontally.”
‘No matter how many massages you get or Epsom salt baths you take, if you breathe vertically, your upper body muscles are going to be overworked.’
Vertical breathing can also worsen anxiety. Shallow breathing signals to the brain that something is wrong, triggering the body’s fight or flight response and the release of the stress hormone cortisol.
Bad breathing habit #5 – Breathing too fast
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‘In a healthy body, a person’s at-rest breathing rate is 12 to 20 breaths per minute at medium depth, bringing in several liters at a time, Dr Breus said.
‘Healthy people ordinarily inhale for one or two seconds, and exhale for two or three, so a typical cycle lasts for three to five seconds.’
A respiratory rate of 20 or more breaths per minute indicates that you might be hyperventilating, he added.
A rate exceeding 28 breaths per minute merits an urgent trip to the hospital and could indicate a severe respiratory issue, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or pneumonia.
Quick inhales and exhales only allow the body to take in a small amount of oxygen while expelling too much carbon dioxide, which can cause dizziness, confusion, muscle cramps, chest pains, and fainting.
Dr Breus added: ‘Fast breathing isn’t really a choice; it’s either a sign of respiratory limitation or a habit. But breathing problems can be treated and habits can be broken.’
Bad breathing habit #6 – Holding your breath
We often hold our breath without intending to when we’re nervous, awaiting big news, or concentrating closely on something at work, a phenomenon known as ’email apnea.’
Dr Breus said: ‘Whether anxious or focused, people tend to clench their muscles, including the respiratory ones.
‘It’s a natural reflex, like a cat freezing in place right before it pounces on prey or a toy.’
When anxious or focused, people tend to clench their muscles, including those in their respiratory system.
Dr Breus said: ‘We are on screens for hours and hours per day. We receive untold emails and texts, and each one – in particular, unexpected and anxiety-producing ones – can trigger a breath-holding pattern.
‘If that pattern turns into an unintentional habit that you might not even be aware of, you can wind up living, continually, in stress mode, inflamed, at risk for burnout, and exhausted.’
Just a couple of minutes without oxygen can kickstart brain damage, and death can follow.
After five minutes, oxygen to the hippocampus and the cortex are damaged, areas that govern memory and higher cognitive function.
By about 10 minutes, the oxygen deprivation will have permanently damaged and killed brain cells. Lack of oxygen also disrupts the brain’s ability to regulate the balance of fluids in it, leading to pressure against the skull and brain damage.
