059 Breathing Boot Camp: Something We Do 20,000 Times a Day

You probably took a breath while reading this sentence.

You probably didn't think about it.

And that's exactly how breathing is supposed to work.

Depending on our breathing rate and activity, we may take somewhere around 20,000 breaths in a day—sometimes fewer, sometimes considerably more.

We breathe while sleeping.

We breathe while walking.

We breathe while working.

We breathe while exercising.

We breathe while thinking about something completely unrelated to breathing.

Most of the time, the body handles the process automatically.

But breathing is unusual.

Unlike our heartbeat or digestion, breathing is both automatic and something we can deliberately influence.

That makes it worth exploring.

Take a Breath

Try something simple.

Without forcing anything, slowly breathe in.

Notice your chest and abdomen move.

Pause briefly if that feels comfortable.

Then allow the air to leave slowly.

That's it.

No special equipment.

No complicated technique.

But inside your body, an extraordinary exchange just occurred.

Why Do We Breathe?

Most people would answer:

To get oxygen.

Correct—but that's only half of the story.

Our cells use oxygen as part of the process of producing energy from nutrients.

That metabolism also produces carbon dioxide.

Breathing therefore performs two critical jobs:

• bringing oxygen into the body,
• and removing carbon dioxide.

The balance between these gases is tightly regulated.

Follow a Breath Into the Body

Air enters through the nose or mouth.

It travels through the throat and into the trachea.

The trachea divides into two main bronchi leading into the lungs.

Those airways divide again.

And again.

And again.

Eventually they reach tiny air sacs called alveoli.

The lungs contain hundreds of millions of these microscopic structures, creating an enormous surface for gas exchange.

Here, oxygen moves from the air into the blood while carbon dioxide moves from the blood into the alveoli so it can be exhaled.

Your Blood Takes Over From There

Once oxygen enters the bloodstream, much of it binds to hemoglobin inside red blood cells.

The heart pumps that oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.

To the brain.

To the muscles.

To the organs.

To tissues throughout the body.

Cells use oxygen as part of aerobic metabolism, and carbon dioxide produced by metabolism eventually makes the return trip to the lungs.

Then we breathe it out.

Again and again.

Your Lungs Don't Actually Pull Air In

The lungs themselves aren't muscular pumps.

Breathing depends heavily on muscles surrounding them.

The most important is the diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle located beneath the lungs.

When the diaphragm contracts, it moves downward and helps expand the chest cavity.

Pressure inside the lungs decreases, and air flows inward.

When the diaphragm relaxes during quiet breathing, the elastic properties of the lungs and chest help air move back out.

Other muscles can assist, particularly during exercise or more demanding breathing.

What Is Diaphragmatic Breathing?

You may hear people talk about "belly breathing."

Air isn't actually going into the stomach.

Instead, when the diaphragm descends, abdominal contents shift and the abdomen may expand outward.

That visible movement is one sign that the diaphragm is participating effectively.

Try placing one hand on your upper chest and the other around the abdomen.

Take a comfortable breath.

Notice what moves.

Don't immediately try to correct anything.

Just observe.

Sometimes awareness is the first useful exercise.

Why Does Breathing Speed Up When We Walk?

Our recent Walking Boot Camp gives us a perfect example.

Begin walking slowly and breathing may change very little.

Pick up the pace and your muscles need more energy.

Climb a hill and the demand increases further.

More oxygen is being used and more carbon dioxide is being produced.

The cardiovascular and respiratory systems respond.

Your heart beats faster.

Breathing becomes deeper and/or faster.

Blood flow to working muscles increases.

This isn't your body struggling against exercise.

It is your body adapting to exercise.

Breathing Can Tell Us How Hard We're Working

This is why breathing is useful during walking and other aerobic activities.

If you're walking comfortably and can easily carry on a conversation, the intensity is probably relatively low.

As intensity increases, talking becomes more difficult.

Eventually, during vigorous exercise, getting out more than a few words may become difficult.

This simple talk test can provide useful information about exercise intensity without requiring any technology.

Breathing During Balance Work

Breathing matters during our Balance Boot Camp too.

When concentrating on a difficult movement, people sometimes unconsciously hold their breath.

Try standing on one leg while performing a controlled movement with the other.

You may discover that you're concentrating so hard on the foot, ankle, hip, and balance that breathing temporarily becomes an afterthought.

A simple reminder can help:

Keep breathing.

Comfortable, continuous breathing can help us avoid unnecessary tension while performing controlled movement.

Why Do We Sometimes Hold Our Breath?

Breath-holding isn't always accidental.

During heavy lifting or strenuous effort, people may instinctively hold their breath and brace the trunk.

This can increase pressure inside the torso and help stabilize the body.

In strength training, this may sometimes be used deliberately.

But it can also cause substantial temporary increases in blood pressure and isn't appropriate for everyone.

For ordinary exercise and balance work, most people don't need to deliberately hold their breath through the movement.

What Controls Our Breathing?

We might assume that the body primarily monitors oxygen and tells us to breathe when oxygen becomes low.

But under normal conditions, carbon dioxide is an especially important driver of breathing.

As carbon dioxide levels rise, chemical sensors detect changes associated with it and respiratory centers in the brainstem adjust breathing.

This is one reason deliberately breathing very rapidly or deeply for an extended period can make someone lightheaded.

Too much ventilation can lower carbon dioxide more than necessary.

More breathing isn't automatically better breathing.

Do We Need to Take Huge Breaths?

No.

Our lungs don't need to be repeatedly filled to their absolute maximum in order for us to be healthy.

Normal breathing is usually relatively quiet and comfortable.

Occasionally taking a comfortable deeper breath can feel good, expand the chest, and help us become aware of our breathing pattern.

But there is no prize for forcing the biggest breath possible.

Deep doesn't have to mean maximum.

A Simple Breathing Moment

One habit I try to remember during the day is to occasionally take a deeper, full but comfortable breath, pause briefly, and then release it slowly.

I'm not always very good at remembering to do it.

Maybe that's another reason for this Boot Camp.

The goal isn't to spend the entire day controlling something the body already knows how to do.

It's simply to occasionally notice it.

Breathe in comfortably.

Feel the chest and abdomen expand.

If comfortable, pause briefly.

Then let the breath leave slowly rather than rushing it out.

A few attentive breaths can become a small moment of awareness during an otherwise busy day.

Why the Slow Exhale Feels Different

Breathing interacts with the autonomic nervous system—the systems that automatically regulate functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and many other processes.

Slow, controlled breathing, particularly at comfortable rates, can influence autonomic activity and may help promote a calmer physiological state.

This doesn't mean breathing is a magical switch that eliminates stress.

But breathing is one of the few automatic body processes we can voluntarily modify, making it an interesting bridge between conscious behavior and automatic physiology.

Breathing and Stress

Notice what happens to breathing when you're startled.

Or angry.

Or nervous.

Or rushing.

Breathing may become faster and shallower.

Now compare that with sitting quietly after a relaxing day, taking a comfortable slow breath.

Our emotional state affects breathing.

And deliberately changing breathing can, in turn, influence how we feel.

The relationship goes both directions.

Nose or Mouth?

When possible and comfortable, the nose provides several advantages for breathing at rest and during lower-intensity activity.

The nasal passages help:

• warm incoming air,
• humidify it,
• filter particles,
• and regulate airflow.

The nose and sinuses also contribute nitric oxide to inhaled air, a molecule involved in several physiological processes.

But this doesn't mean mouth breathing during exercise is somehow a failure.

As exercise intensity rises, we need to move more air, and breathing through the mouth can become completely normal.

The body is remarkably good at figuring out how to get the ventilation it needs.

Should We Try to Breathe Only Through the Nose During Exercise?

Some training methods strongly promote nasal breathing.

At lower intensities, nasal breathing can be comfortable and may naturally help keep effort controlled.

But insisting on nasal-only breathing during strenuous exercise isn't necessary for everyone.

If the body needs more airflow, opening the mouth is a perfectly reasonable solution.

Exercise should train the body—not become a competition over which opening the air uses.

Breathing and Posture

Body position can influence how breathing feels.

If we're collapsed forward with the chest compressed, breathing mechanics may feel different from standing or sitting in a more comfortable upright position.

This doesn't mean everyone needs military-perfect posture.

Human beings are designed to move through many positions.

But occasionally standing tall, opening the chest comfortably, and taking a relaxed breath can remind us how much room the respiratory system has to work.

The Outdoors Adds Something Special

Walking outdoors combines several of the themes from our recent Boot Camps.

We walk.

We balance.

We navigate uneven ground.

We climb hills.

Our heart rate rises.

Our breathing responds.

And because the environment is changing, we may become more aware of all of it.

A hill has a particularly good way of reminding us that we have lungs.

What About Breath-Holding Exercises?

Breath-holding is sometimes used in relaxation practices, swimming, meditation, yoga, and specialized training.

Short comfortable pauses may be perfectly reasonable for many healthy people.

But long or competitive breath-holding is something entirely different.

It can cause loss of consciousness and can be especially dangerous in water.

Never practice prolonged breath-holding alone in water or use hyperventilation to extend underwater breath-holding.

For our purposes, breathing practice doesn't need to become an endurance event.

Breathing Doesn't Need a Score

Modern health technology allows us to measure almost everything.

Heart rate.

Steps.

Sleep.

Blood oxygen.

Respiratory rate.

Calories.

Sometimes those measurements are useful.

But you don't necessarily need a device to practice awareness of breathing.

Sometimes you can simply ask:

Am I breathing comfortably?

Am I holding my breath while concentrating?

Can I slow down and take a relaxed breath?

Try Connecting Breathing to Something You Already Do

One reason healthy habits disappear is that we forget about them.

Instead of creating another task to remember, attach a breathing moment to something already in your day.

Perhaps:

• before starting a walk,
• while doing a few balance exercises,
• after climbing a hill, once breathing naturally settles,
• while sitting outside,
• before going into the hot tub,
• when taking a break from work,
• or before going to bed.

You don't need twenty minutes.

You don't need a complicated counting system.

You don't need an app.

Sometimes three or four comfortable, attentive breaths are enough to make us notice something we normally do twenty thousand times without thinking about it.

Your Body Already Knows How to Breathe

This may be the most important point in the entire Boot Camp.

Breathing exercises can be useful.

Breathing awareness can be useful.

Learning how breathing responds to exercise can be useful.

But we shouldn't create anxiety around breathing.

You don't need to consciously manage every breath.

The respiratory control systems of the body have been handling the job since the moment you were born.

Our goal isn't to take over.

Our goal is occasionally to pay attention.

Zehr.ws Takeaway

Breathing is automatic—but it isn't beyond our influence.

Every day, thousands of breaths bring oxygen into the lungs, remove carbon dioxide, support cellular metabolism, and adjust automatically to what we're doing.

When we walk faster, breathing responds.

When we climb a hill, breathing responds.

When we relax, breathing changes.

When we're nervous, breathing changes.

When we're concentrating on balance, sometimes we simply need to remember:

Keep breathing.

And every once in a while during an ordinary day, it may be worthwhile to stop for a moment.

Take a comfortable, full breath.

Pause briefly if it feels natural.

Let it out slowly.

Then go on with your day.

You don't need to control the next 20,000 breaths.

Just notice a few of them.

This article is for general educational purposes and is not medical advice. New or unexplained shortness of breath, chest pain, fainting, bluish discoloration, severe wheezing, or other significant breathing difficulties can require medical evaluation. People with heart, lung, neurological, or other medical conditions should follow individualized guidance regarding breathing exercises and physical activity.