Many of you often tell me "When I am stressed, it jumps into my neck and shoulders", to which I often reply that you are not the only person in this situation.
It is a natural physiological phenomenon, during a period of great stress our heartbeat increases, our blood pressure is up, feeling of suffocation or lack of air, with the frantic pace of our lives and the period of anxiety and uncertainty that we are living right now, causing us different feelings (anxiety, anger, pain, impatience, insecurity, etc.) our body is put to the test. By the same token, we have a natural protection reflex, which is to bury our head in our shoulders to protect ourselves from the dangers that await us (in the past we protected our head against our aggressors, even if today what stresses us has often become invisible, our body has kept the reflex to curl up on itself during these events).
In addition we also modify our breathing, it becomes much more superficial and fast. A good deep breath that oxygenates our cells, heart and brain are taken with the diaphragmatic muscle, so the belly will inflate. During the superficial breathing only, the upper part of the lungs inflates. To give the lungs more room, the accessory muscles of breathing (scalene and scom) have to work harder to lift the rib cage and create space.
Scientific study on the impact of breathing versus stress
The discovery of a biological link between breath control and stress could even lead to possible therapeutic targets for the treatment of people who suffer from anxiety and hyperventilation leading to panic attacks. The team of researchers published the finding in the journal Science (Yackle, K., Schwarz, L. A., Kam, K., Sorokin, J. M., Huguenard, J. R., Feldman, J. L., ... & Krasnow, M. A. [2017]. Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice. Science, 355 [6332], 1411-1415.)
The link between our breathing, our brain, and our behavior began to be explored in the early 1990s, when researchers discovered a group of neurons in mice (and later in humans) that they dubbed the "pacemaker" of breathing: the pre-Bötzinger complex.
Breathe calmly and everything will be fine...
To understand what was happening in the brain, the researchers followed the path of the neurons and saw that most of them send extensions to another area of the brain: the Locus cœruleus (blue line in the image).
This is an area that manages arousal and stress and produces one of the body's main neurotransmitters, noradrenaline.
This neural circuit allows our breathing to control our stress: if we breathe slowly, these neurons are inactive and keep the body in a calm state. When we breathe faster, they send a signal that increases our anxiety.
Abdominal breathing :
Abdominal breathing is mainly characterised by a contraction of the diaphragm, accompanied by an elevation of the ribs via the external intercostal muscles to a lesser extent. This explains the origin of its other name: diaphragmatic breathing. By lowering itself in this way, the diaphragm allows the lungs to occupy more space and draw in air from outside. This muscle is shaped like a parachute and pushes against the viscera when it contracts. So the belly doesn't swell because there's air in it, but because the internal organs have to find a way to live with the diaphragm pushing down against them. They seek their space where there is less resistance, i.e. towards the front. On exhalation, the diaphragm simply relaxes passively, returning the lungs to their original volume, as do the external intercostal muscles.
Thoracic breathing :
Thoracic breathing is a movement in which the chest (rib cage) expands and the shoulders rise as we inhale. It is generally a shallower breath than abdominal breathing, because the space freed up for the lungs is smaller, generally leading to faster breathing to compensate for the shortfall.
On exhalation, unlike diaphragmatic breathing, muscles (pectorals) have to be activated to return to the initial position.
Is it true that posture can affect breathing?
Posture affects our breathing, but breathing in turn affects our posture. Since the muscles of the trunk and neck that are responsible for breathing also perform functions such as stabilisation and movement, and there's no way of predicting how this will manifest itself from one person to another, it's safe to say that they will affect an individual's posture and way of moving. After all, these muscles will have a greater workload if they have to perform an extra 20,000 repetitions a day, especially as this effort will be made against gravity (elevation of the ribs)!
What kind of posture does chest breathing produce?
There is no definitive answer to this question, as too many factors interact simultaneously. What we do know is that the scalene, pectoralis minor and SCOM muscles have to work harder in a person who breathes a lot from the upper body, predisposing them to fatigue, 'knots' or tension. There is also often a tendency to be more rigid in the upper back and neck.
What can you do about it? Here are a few breathing exercises you can do to help you catch your breath.
ABDOMINAL BREATHING ELIMINATES ANXIETY
Very relaxing, abdominal breathing relieves fatigue and helps eliminate toxic waste. The amplitude of the breathing movements massage the abdominal organs, promoting neuromuscular relaxation and oxygenation of the brain.
Place your hands on your stomach to better feel your breath coming and going. Breathe in through your nose, inflating your stomach like a balloon.
Exhale slowly through your mouth, gradually drawing in your stomach.
Empty the air from your lungs.
Inhale again, inflating the belly like a balloon and blocking the air in the lungs for a few seconds.
Then exhale slowly through your mouth, drawing in your stomach.
The longer you breathe out, the more relaxed you will feel.
THORACIC BREATHING FREES THE CHEST
Provided it is wide and deep, chest breathing helps to release emotions by opening up the ribcage. This is an excellent exercise for people who feel tense, oppressed or heavy in the chest.
Standing with your head and back straight and your feet flat on the floor, pull your shoulders back.
Then raise your arms forward to chest level. Bend your elbows so that your forearms form a right angle with your arms.
Inhaling slowly through your nose, spread your arms outwards (as if you were opening a window).
Keep the air in your lungs for a few seconds, then bring your arms back in front of you, still bent, breathing out through your mouth (closing the window).
Repeat at least three times, before releasing your arms.
CARDIAC COHERENCE REGULATES EMOTIONS
It allows you to control your breathing and the variability of your heartbeat to regulate stress and balance your emotions.
Start by breathing slowly and deeply through your stomach.
Then inhale for 3 seconds, hold the air in your lungs for 12 seconds, then exhale through your mouth for 6 seconds.
Breathe out as deeply as you can, taking in as much air as you can. Breathing in will then take care of itself.
Several cardiac coherence videos are available on YouTube, so you can keep up the pace without counting the minutes.
EXPRESS RELAXATION (yoga breathing)
This quick and effective breathing technique reduces tension, emotion and stress and soothes the neuro-vegetative system.
To begin, breathe in by inflating the belly.
Then exhale slowly through the mouth as if through a straw.
The longer you breathe out, the more relaxed you feel.
Then focus your attention on the following three points:
The chin (to relax the whole face)
Shoulders (to relax the neck, arms, trunk and back)
The abdomen (to relax the stomach, pelvis and lower limbs).
lower limbs).
Thirdly, breathe in slowly and then, as you breathe out "straw-like", relax your chin, shoulders and abdomen.
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