Sleep series: Deep breathing part 1

Note: In 2020 I worked alongside three academics who helped build a CBTI sleep therapy app for me. I decided against starting the project as I felt the medium at the time (mobile phone apps) was not immersive enough to do the excellent work justice (but watch this space).

The three were Achilleas Pavlou who is currently a Lecturer in Psychology and Clinical Communication Skills at the University of Nicosia Medical School. Tania Karina Garcia Vite BSc Psychology, MsC Sleep Disorders. Dr Nicholas Cooper Senior Lecturer Department of Psychology University of Essex.

The sleep series is thus based on that collaboration...

In this session we will learn about the different types of breathing and how we can learn to take control of our breathing to achieve a more relaxed state that we can access whenever we feel anxiety.

Before we get into the technique and exercise of deep breathing, let’s take a moment to learn more about different types of breathing. As it is such an automatic process, learning more about the different types will help us to distinguish when we go from one type to another as a response to our environment.

Breathing is the vital process by which we provide oxygen to our body. It is made up of 2 alternating phases: inhalation and exhalation.

When we inhale there is a contraction of the diaphragm and the external intercostal muscles, and the lungs expand from the amount of air coming into the body.

When we exhale, these muscles relax and the lungs contract.

Depending on the depth of inhalation there are 3 types of breathing:

• Clavicular
• Thoracic
• Diaphragmatic (deep breathing)

In the first two types of breathing, only the upper part of the lungs is used, making the breathing shallower. As a result of, the body will require more effort and a higher expiratory rhythm in order to provide itself with the necessary oxygen to complete vital processes. These types of breathing are usually associated to a response from the sympathetic nervous system (which responds to danger or stress in the environment) and therefore generate a heightened sense of arousal in the individual.

In today’s modern lifestyle, it is rare to lead a completely stress-free life. Most people have many responsibilities in their job and at home that can lead to chronic stress. Our body is made to adapt and will try to adapt to busy day to day activities.

However, when the body perceives stress, it will trigger a response from the sympathetic nervous system in order to recruit the extra energy that is needed to complete the tasks at hand. In order to do so it will switch to thoracic breathing as a normal response of the body.

When we lead busy and/or stressful lives however, our body is constantly activating the sympathetic nervous system and therefore in a constant state of alert and shallow breathing in order to adapt. Someone who is in a state of perpetual stress will most likely have a consistent shallow breathing pattern.

But because we’re generally not aware of our breathing, this will have detrimental effects on the individual’s overall health, as a result of a higher cardiac effort whilst receiving less oxygenation, it is not uncommon for an individual that suffers from chronic stress to experience vertigo, palpitations, muscle spasms, and overall tension and anxiety.

In diaphragmatic or deep breathing, all the pulmonary capacity is used, and by engaging the diaphragm, less muscle effort is needed. This type of breathing is associated to a response in the parasympathetic nervous system (which is responsible for activities of rest and digesting) and therefore generates a decrease in fatigue, anxiety and irritability.

This means that through deep breathing, the body can receive the necessary oxygen for vital functions with less effort. The slow and regular breathing pattern that characterizes deep breathing produces a slight increase in CO2 levels in the blood. CO2 levels trigger signals to the brain stem (where breathing is controlled) which in turn sends signals to the muscles involved in breathing, to modify the breathing pattern as needed.

This is why it is so important to learn to gain awareness of the way we breathe, so that we can attain the skills to control our breathing patterns, especially in moments of stress. By learning and establishing proper breathing patterns, and deploying them when needed, one can improve oxygenation of the blood and decrease anxiety on a long-term basis.

In part two of our breathing series, we'll share an audio trainer so you can follow along rather like guided mediatation .