Difficulty Taking Deep Breaths? Here’s What It Might Mean

You’ve been respiration your whole life, so it needs to be easy to simply “take a deep breath”… right? For those who’ve ever seriously struggled to match the pace of structured breathwork in a yoga class or guided meditation, you understand it’s not at all times that easy.

And if slow, deep breaths elude you on the regular, you’ll have wondered if it means something about your overall health and wellness. That’s really not necessarily the case, says Michael J. Stephen, MD, a pulmonologist and the creator of Breath Taking: The Power, Fragility, and Way forward for Our Extraordinary Lungs.

“Getting a deep breath will be difficult for a variety of people, but every story is different,” Dr. Stephen says. Ahead, find some possible explanation why it is perhaps hard so that you can breathe deeply and slowly—and what you’ll be able to do to make breathwork feel higher.

Inefficient respiration habits take over

In accordance with Nike’s official breathwork coach Stuart Sandeman, short, dysfunctional respiration patterns are way more common than you’d expect. “These habits develop once we’re stuck in prolonged periods of stress, using poor posture, and even wearing high-waisted jeans,” he says. This might result in a chest-dominant breath or short, shallow breaths.

To summarize some complicated biology, your brain, blood, and lungs are likely to get acclimated to the actual carbon dioxide and pH levels related to these respiration patterns. “Once you then go right into a yoga class and check out to slow your breath down, alarm bells go off that trigger your brain into pondering it’s good to take extra breaths,” Sandeman explains.

Our minds get in the way in which

Your mental and emotional state has a really real impact in your breathwork practice, says Jasmine Marie, founding father of Black Girls Respiration. “The primary thing that I see is that it’s really hard for people to tap into their bodies because they’re so heavily in critical pondering throughout their days,” she explains. “We’re all in an overstimulated, fight-or-flight mode from having a phone in our hand all day and living in a capitalistic society.”

And that stressful state results in smaller breaths. “After we are stressed or anxious, we upregulate the nervous system, which triggers us to breathe shallow and short into the chest,” yoga instructor Alex Artymiak previously explained to Well+Good about why deep respiration will be so hard.

Marie points out that mental barriers to breathwork can particularly come into play for people of marginalized identities and/or those that have experienced trauma. “Absolutely, this work is heavier and harder with underrepresented groups who aren’t capable of experience full freedom out on the earth,” she says.

There might be underlying conditions

Don’t panic: In accordance with Dr. Stephen, it’s in no way unusual for people with a clean bill of health to have difficulty taking long, deep breaths or to experience “air hunger” (that feeling like it’s good to reach for a bit more air). Still, if you happen to’re concerned, it’s best to rule out any medical issues that may require targeted treatment.

“Definitely, we saw a variety of issues with the wildfires triggering people’s lung disease, and we’re seeing a giant explosion in asthma,” he says. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), long COVID, a deviated septum, and cardiac abnormalities are other potential explanations for respiration complications. Dr. Stephen says that if you’ve latest and unexplained symptoms for greater than a month, it’s best to seek the advice of your primary-care physician, who can refer you to a specialist if needed.

The right way to make deep respiration feel more manageable

1. Start small

“You don’t must go straight right into a full 30-minute session,” Sandeman says. “I believe the place to begin is just to know the way you’re respiration naturally. Take a moment to pause, close your eyes (provided that that feels good), and place your hands in your chest and belly to see where the breath is flowing. Start your practice from that place of curiosity.”

As an alternative of forcing yourself to attempt to breathe deeply, take into consideration respiration “softly,” suggests Artymiak. So, as a substitute of actively trying to regulate your breath into the proper cadence, calm down into greater breaths and easily deal with how they feel within the body.

2. Be patient

Do not forget that retraining your brain and muscular system will take time. “For those who’ve ignored your diaphragm for a long time, it’s going to take greater than a few days to get it back into shape,” says Dr. Stephen. “Not unlike going to the gym, you’ve to approach breathwork in a gradual fashion. There can be setbacks, and also you’re going to be frustrated. But if you happen to put the hassle in over several months, I consider you’ll see results.”

3. Hearken to your body

Everyone’s lung capability is different, says Marie. Ditto for breathwork needs, she says: “Your lungs might be full on two counts, after which your brain is like, ‘Why can’t I do it on 4 counts?!’ Focus less on the consequence and more on the way it feels for you.”

Read: It’s perfectly okay to put aside the counts and just breathe until your lungs are full, before exhaling until they’re empty. It’s okay in case your personal pattern doesn’t match a teacher’s—there’s no have to feel guilty or such as you’re “cheating.” Let your personal breath be the guide.