Breathing Exercises Won’t Fix Poor Breathing
Most people think breathing exercises and breathing retraining are the same thing.
They’re not.
And understanding the difference may completely change how you think about your breathing, your sleep, your energy levels, your jaw tension, and even your posture.
Let’s start with a question.
How many breaths do you take every day?
The answer is somewhere around 20,000.
Now imagine doing a five-minute breathing exercise every morning.
Fantastic.
You’ve just influenced perhaps 50 breaths.
What about the other 19,950?
That’s where breathing retraining comes in.
The Breathing Industry Has Exploded
Over the last decade breathing has become fashionable.
Suddenly everyone is talking about:
Breathwork
Box breathing
Wim Hof
Nasal breathing
Carbon dioxide tolerance
Oxygen optimisation
Breath holds
Some of these techniques are excellent.
Some are useful in specific situations.
Some are probably being oversold.
But almost all of them share a common feature.
They’re exercises.
They’re things you do.
Breathing retraining is something different.
It’s about changing your default operating system.
The Difference Between Training and Retraining
Imagine your posture.
If you spend five minutes each day standing tall but slump over your desk for the other ten hours, what wins?
The slouch.
Every time.
Breathing works the same way.
A breathing exercise is like doing five minutes of good posture.
Breathing retraining is changing the posture itself.
The goal isn’t simply performing a breathing technique.
The goal is creating a breathing pattern that becomes automatic.
That means improving:
Breathing rate
Breathing volume
Breathing rhythm
Nasal breathing
Use of the diaphragm
Breathing during exercise
Breathing during sleep
Breathing during stressful situations
In other words, everything.
Your Brain Has a Breathing Thermostat
One of the more fascinating concepts in breathing science is that your brain has a breathing control centre.
Think of it as a thermostat.
For years of stress, mouth breathing, poor sleep, chronic tension, airway issues, and anxiety, that thermostat can become set too high.
The body starts treating excessive breathing as normal.
This is one of the central ideas behind breathing retraining.
The objective isn’t to consciously control every breath forever.
The objective is to reset the breathing centre so efficient breathing becomes automatic again.
Like riding a bike.
At first it takes attention.
Eventually it becomes effortless.
Why Your Jaw Might Be Part of the Problem
This is where my interest really begins.
Because breathing doesn’t occur in isolation.
The airway starts at the nose.
The tongue influences the airway.
The jaw influences the tongue.
The neck influences the jaw.
Sleep influences breathing.
Breathing influences sleep.
The entire system is connected.
You can’t separate:
Tongue posture
Jaw position
Nasal breathing
Neck mechanics
Rib cage movement
Nervous system regulation
They are all members of the same dysfunctional family.
If one person starts causing trouble, everyone else gets involved.
This is why many people with:
TMJ issues
Bruxism
Headaches
Neck pain
Snoring
Fatigue
often demonstrate breathing dysfunction as well.
Good Breathing Shouldn’t Make You Feel Worse
One statement in the handout deserves special attention.
Proper breathing retraining should not leave you feeling:
Dizzy
Panicky
Fatigued
Short of breath
Nor should it make symptoms worse.
This is important.
Many people assume that if a breathing exercise feels intense, it must be therapeutic.
Not necessarily.
Some breathwork methods intentionally create physiological stress.
That may have a place in certain contexts.
But it is very different from breathing normalisation.
One is a stressor.
The other is a restoration strategy.
What Does Better Breathing Actually Look Like?
Ironically, good breathing is often quite boring.
It’s:
Quiet
Nasal
Rhythmic
Relaxed
Barely noticeable
Nobody posts videos of themselves quietly breathing through their nose while watching television.
Yet that’s probably more important than the latest viral breathing hack.
The Bigger Picture
Breathing retraining isn’t really about breathing.
At least not entirely.
It’s about creating the conditions for better function.
Better sleep.
Better nervous system regulation.
Better recovery.
Better movement.
Better jaw mechanics.
Better oxygen delivery.
Better health.
The irony is that after all the books, podcasts, breathing gadgets, mouth tape, apps, courses and breathing techniques, the end goal is surprisingly simple.
To breathe normally.
Not dramatically.
Not heroically.
Not optimally.
Just normally.
Because sometimes the most advanced thing you can teach the body is how to stop trying so hard.
References
Graham T. BreatheAway Online Course: Principles of Breathing Retraining. Breathing Training Pty Ltd, Canberra.
Laffey JG, Kavanagh BP. Hypocapnia. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:43–53.
Magarian GJ, Middaugh DA, Linz DH. Hyperventilation syndrome: A diagnosis begging for recognition. West J Med. 1983;138:733–736.
Lum LC. Hyperventilation: The tip of the iceberg. J Psychosom Res. 1975;19:375–383.