Shallow Breathing | Fatal Conveniences™

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Pay attention to the way you breathe. Take a deep breath in right now. Are your shoulders raising? If so, you’re probably shallow breathing. 

Welcome to Fatal Conveniences™

Shallow breathing keeps us in a perpetual state of stress.

When you’re stressed, your breathing quickens and you inhale shallowly. However, if you breathe this way normally, your body is constantly in a state of stress. Shallow breathing, or thoracic breathing, comes with a laundry list of negative side effects. And you may not even realize you’re doing it.

Instead of thoracic breathing, we all should be diaphragmatically breathing. This long fancy word just means you should be using your diaphragm to draw air into your body. Watching a newborn is a perfect example of diaphragmatic breathing. They draw air through their nose into their lungs, and their belly expands. As they exhale, their belly contracts. Try doing that now. See the difference?

So besides stressing us out, what other harm is shallow breathing causing? Well, it limits our functional movement and muscular balance for starters. It also messes with our immune system and metabolism and can even cause muscle and joint pain and stiffness. But don’t worry. In this segment, I break down how to tell the difference between shallow and diaphragmatic breathing. And I give you ways to practice how to quit shallow breathing for good.