How to Do Diaphragmatic Breathing

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How to Do Diaphragmatic Breathing

diaphragmatic breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing is the foundation of many deep breathing exercises and relaxation techniques.

I remember as a kid the doctor telling me to take a deep breath as he placed a stethoscope to my chest. If you are like me, you probably expanded your chest and raised your shoulders as you inhaled. Right?

Well it so happens that this type of breathing does not use our lungs efficiently and there are better ways to breathe for optimal health and relaxation.

By learning to deeply breathe from the diaphragm, or lower abdomen; you increase your lung capacity, the lungs capacity to oxygenate your blood, and the restorative ability of your body.

This controlled breathing technique is a simple and effective stress management technique that can be used just about anywhere.

Diaphragmatic breathing

Breathing properly will relax you and increase the oxygen to the muscles and facilitate the removal of waste products.

Relearning an Old Skill

As children we tend to breathe from the abdomen. We move from abdomen breathing to chest breathing as we reach adulthood. So diaphragmatic breathing to gain the stress-reducing benefits of breathing is all about re-learning an old skill.

The major muscle of breathing is the diaphragm. This thin dome-shaped muscle separates the chest from the abdominal cavity.

Each time that you inhale, your diaphragm moves downward and your abdomen expands, creating a vacuum in the lungs. This fills the lungs from the bottom.

Diaphragmatic breathing reduces stress and improves health

Before starting your diaphragmatic breathing exercise, it's useful to see what your breathing rate is.

So grab a watch and count the number inhalations you take over the next minute.

If you are a chest breather, like most of the population, you probably breath 10-12 breaths per minute.

This can lead to lower oxygen levels and higher carbon dioxide concentrations in your blood. Such a combination can lead to increased blood pressure, a faster heart rate, muscle tension and dizziness - any of these can increase stress and anxiety.

This could lead to a condition called chronic hyperventilation syndrome which is due to shallow chest breathing.

Just 5 minutes of diaphragmatic breathing can be helpful start to promote health and combat any effects of shallow breathing.

How to do Diaphragmatic breathing

Sit or stand in a comfortable position with your back straight and the feet flat on the floor.

Slowly inhale through your nose and count slowly to 4.

Slowly exhale through the mouth, counting slowly to 6.

That’s it. Repeat several times. That’s it.

Stress Buster Tip

Once you have learnt the diaphragmatic breath the next step is to practice it. I found a useful way was to set my alarm every hour. When it went off I would see if I was doing a diaphragmatic breath. If I wasn't I did one then. This eventually helped me to change my habit and breathe in a way that promoted my health and well-being.

Tips on Diaphragmatic breathing

Place one hand on the abdomen and the other on your upper chest. If you do a diaphragmatic breath, you should feel the lower hand on your abdomen move out with the inhalation and in with the exhalation. The top hand on the chest should remain relatively still. If you find it hard to do sitting down, then try lying on the floor.

When exhaling try to slightly sigh with exhalation as this can provide extra tension relief.

The inhale stimulates the sympathetic nervous system a little – which is that fight or flight influence, and when we exhale it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system a little – which is the rest and relaxation response. So put more emphasis on exhaling a little longer than inhaling.
You can hook yourself up to biofeedback and see how the nervous system is responding to this type of breathing. With practice you can see how your nervous system slows down.

Put more emphasis on breathing rhythmically rather than deeply.

If you want to continue this breathing for several minutes then see our article on mindful meditation

Diaphragm breathing allows you to relax and reap the stress-related benefits of breathing better.

Other relaxation exercises for stress relief

There are a number of other breathing exercises that incorporate the diaphragmatic breath. Here we include a few of them among some other relaxation techniques.

Deep breathing exercises for relaxation

Incorporating diaphragmatic breathing, here are two deep breathing exercises. The first promotes a calming and relaxing space, while the second one counters the stress response in 6 seconds. Both these deep breathing exercises require about 10 minutes practice a day.

A breathing technique to stop the stress cycle

When stressed, rapid shallow breaths can lead to a vicious cycle of increasing stress and anxiety. Here we provide you with a breathing technique that stops the cycle of stress. Clients have found this breathing technique useful before public speaking, big notch performances and exams.

Positive thinking can reduce the effects of chronic stress

Research shows that positive thinking builds your resilience to stress. By adopting a positive mindset you cope with stress better by re-framing situations that can cause stress and also developing a problem-solving approach to stressors.

Reduce muscle tension with progressive muscle relaxation

One of the symptoms of stress is muscle tension. Whether you are suffering from stress or have been hunched over your desk all day, progressive muscle relaxation can help you to release some of this accumulated tension. Progressive muscle relaxation does this through tensing and relaxing the different muscle groups.

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