Moving Into Harmony

MOVEMENT & BREATHING: HEALTH / PERFORMANCE PROGRAMS

Medicine of Movement - Harness Your Health through Movement

The truth about your breathing – the diaphragm Part 2

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Breathing is based on the ability to exchange gases. This exchange is accomplished by pressure and fluid dynamics.

The vital exchange of what is in the outside air, and the process of those essential ingredients for you to survive, AND to live efficiently in all activities you do. Health doesn’t happen. Health is a uncovering to continuously reveal the powers and capacities behind how you roll in life with your body and mind. And this requires Oxygen.

Oxygen is a gas.
And so is Nitric Oxide.
These are two very important essentials for life to be energized and supported. One is from outside and one is produced inside the lining of your nose.

The other gas of importance in the exchange for life is Carbon Dioxide – a byproduct of your energy production.

So why you ask is the diaphragm important in this process called Respiratory Physiology?

Because gas moves to and from by pressure, availability and permeability.

And when the diaphragm contracts before you engage with your inhalation. I hope you picked this up! Your diaphragm begins to contract BEFORE you ride the incoming breath, or consciously engage with the incoming air. This contraction sets up a cascade of actions by other muscles, tissues, joints and vessels based on a pressure gradient.

The diaphragm creates a larger space in the rib cage where your lungs are. As the diaphragm contracts:

  • it moves down,
  • muscles in between the ribs assist in up-lifting (a bucket handle analogy is often used for the ribs).
  • neck muscles assist in anchoring/stabilizing the head on the neck, and mobilizing the neck and upper ribs.
  • the spine “elongates” or flattens its curves - the upper spine, or thoracic spine, lessens it’s backward curvature = kyphosis, and the low back, or lumbar spine lessens it’s forward curvature = lordosis.
  • the glottis contracts to generate a pressure gradient so air doesn’t escape (or go into the lungs). My friend Mary Massery’s studies into the “pop can dynamic of postural control” is brilliant in another awe of the diaphragm’s potential in human development, mobility and movement.
  • the dilator muscle of the throat, in the pharynx and laryngeal region, contract to open up the airway.
  • membranes of the small air sacs, alveoli – “grapes”, and lower smaller airways dilate (with the help of Nitric Oxide) for greater profusion across a barrier – the endothelial layer – for gas exchange.
  • the pelvic floor moves downward to accommodate for the building internal pressure of the abdomen and pelvic cavities.
  • certain parts of the blood circulation gain pressure, while other parts decrease pressure to accommodate for the powerful force of the blood; and this is influenced by the diaphragm, the connective tissues around all organs and other tissues for proper fluid dynamics.

And all of these coordinated activities like a symphony, create a maximal function for the outside air to move into all the spaces of the lungs with the greatest ease and least amount of energy required. Yes breathing is one of the energy consumers of your body.

The most important factor is the diaphragm’s contraction creates greater space. With greater space the pressure inside your lungs – which is already sub-atmospheric pressure, meaning it is less than the pressure outside. With an increase in pressure gradient, air moves easier along the gradient from higher to lower. This allows for the greatest efficiency of breathing to occur. And this is true in the opposite way to easily and efficiently release what is not needed in the system as eliminating from the lungs.

I hope you can begin to appreciate what all happens in the act of each breath you are given. All the above mentioned drive all activities in coordinated functions. And the health of each cell, and each tissue function, is dependent on this very important cascade of actions.

Did you know that they way you breathe can be affecting the health of your spine – neck, upper back and low back – too?

Contact me for a full-system approach to how your breathing impacts your health and well-being.

Want full Confidence With your Capacities?

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It’s a given, backpacking and thru-hiking in the wilderness requires a level of being physically fit to feel capable of accomplishing your dream adventures on the trails.

Your adventures also require some mental fortitude. Not the attitude to just keep pushing beyond yourself; that’s violence to one self, and you and your hiking partners will pay for that level of drive and incompetence.

Train smart, hike smart and be the best you can out there!

So let’s get to the missing link in being well equipped for your adventure.

The less understood, and often missing part of a training program, is breathing and how it’s physiological dynamics sustain your physical fitness day in, day out on a multi-day trail adventure.

Yes, breathing.

Breathing over lightweight packs, minimizing base weight, food, footwear, poles and planned itineraries.

If your breathing is not there to support your demands effectively, your body will have to adapt to the lack of support and eventually breakdown – injury or illness could end your trip prematurely.

And as I’ve seen, many people are overlooking the main aspect of breathing. It’s called over-breathing, or hyperventilation. And what you don’t know about hyperventilation will likely create a terrible experience, or at the minimum you’ll be suffering more than you need to.

So let’s talk about why your breathing pattern affects your experience on the trails and what will follow is a series of articles to help guide you in the direction of right breathing and right effort for building capacities and building confidence to go higher, and go further on your adventures.

It is vital to get the most effective access to what the breath can do for you by training smart with the breath.

Hiking smart with the breath entails training intelligently and competently with the breath:

  • Noticing the inefficient breathing habits that affect your everyday living by learning foundational breathing patterns, often new to most in daily living and during exercise.
  • Developing a felt sense of how breathing helps you be better in your day – greater flexibility, general ease of posture, increased ability to handle the demands of you day and less stressed, greater focus and concentration, enhanced clarity through the day, more productive, and greater endurance.
  • Unifying your foundational breathing patterns to yoru training or exercise programs. When you know how to breathe well depending on the demand – for example when you need to keep the mouth closed and when you need to open the mouth dependent on your perceived exertion from the intensity of the activity. Understanding and developing this capacity now will provide you the skillful means on the trails. And this gives you resilience and confidence on your adventure.
  • Promoting the physiological prowess it takes to travel to altitude, especially if you can’t train at altitude months in advance. You can train at sea level without big expensive technology. Training efficiently for altitude so the altitude doesn’t take you down….down the mountain. Understanding what the body does in it’s adaptations to the lower pressures at higher and higher altitudes (which makes it feel like you don’t have enough oxygen…and then what you do to compensate), and how to simulate this at low altitudes will help you gain the much required physiological capacities to help the most on your adventure.
  • Getting the most out of your legs by understanding the importance of the diaphragm. It’s a two way, intimately related phenomena between the legs and the breath, more than just what a good cardio routine will do. Also your spine and joint health are integrally linked to the function of the breath.
  • Gaining control on your breath’s rhythm, volume, force and mechanics as variables change on your adventure. Your mental and physical fortitude is intimately connected to your breath and it’s important you don’t go through your resources you need on your adventure.
  • Having a good bag of recovery breathing methods that help the body recover some of it’s vital resources for the next day, and the next, and the next.

The extreme value you place on incredible light-weight gear, the right supportive footwear, poles and clothing will only help you as far as your body will support you. By day 3, 4 or 5 is your body capable of continuing the demands to continue, so your mind is happy and satisfied with the experience you are having?

Or are you suffering and wondering about the days ahead? Are you feeling the beginnings of apprehension and concern/worry that your adventure of a life time is turning into a suffer-fest as your joints and spine feel beat up? These feelings are not normal for a multi-day adventure if your mind is questioning your experience.

Your physiology – primarily how you breathe (goes beyond the deep breath idea) determines your condition and your adaptability/resilience on your adventure.

50% of people suffering low back pain were found to have dysfunctional breathing patterns

(Chaitow 2004; Kiesel 2017)

And most people miss this opportunity because they don’t know how to effectively prime their physiology (besides eating good nutrient-dense food that is not heavy!) to be well suited for a long-distance trip.

Want to enjoy your adventure & life-time opportunity?

…….or just suffer through it and minimize the memories and opportunities available to you?

Want to be able to go off trail, off plan with confidence and explore that high peak that has your pulled to explore?

Feel assured you will make it over the high passes and descend with ease and confidence to enjoy that night’s camp?

Waking up the next day inspired for what your journey holds for you?

Being physically fit requires working with your physiological capacities to support the physicality and how you will perform on the trails. To travel in the mountains at altitudes unfamiliar to your mind and body requires adaptability that does not limit you in any way. ; and how your body responds to varied terrain and environments carrying a backpack is essential to a well-accomplished adventure. Do you agree?

Furthermore, your confidence to travel many days in the wilderness & back-country is dependent on how you feel physically and physiologically. Yes, good gear and itinerary are important planning. But without the internal well functioning body, your trip is not going to be worth the time and resources you put into it.

Prepare by training intelligently and you will find great success and accomplish your goals and maybe have the juice to do more while you are out there on your life-time adventure.

Enjoy your Adventure! Enjoy your Life!

Why not invest in how to gain access to your physiology, your capacity for your trip?

Training can not completely prevent illness or injury. Nothing can prevent un-expected challenges. Only the mind can adjust to the challenge that seems daunting.

Your mind affects your physiology. Your mind affects your breath. And the good news is your breathing patterns and function affect your mind.

Wouldn’t you like to know from a trained eye and source of knowledge with 30 years of exercise and physical-physiological capacity and performance?

Most training will focus on you doing miles and strengthening your body to handle the rigors of multi-day adventures; and a handful of them will highly suggest you spend time in the altitudes you plan to travel in.

Did you know that your breathing physiology will determine your capacities for all of these? Your endurance, your muscle power and core strength for spinal support – carrying a backpack on uneven terrain, up & down hills – and be the primary factor for how well you accommodate, recover daily and function at altitude?

I am not talking about preventing acute mountain sickness or other medical conditions.

I am talking about your capacity to be in the mountains with your greatest capacity through training.
I am talking about having the confidence you can access higher terrain with less strain on your body and mind.
I am talking about enjoying your time on your adventure.

And 75% of the people I talk to do not what happens or why they have difficulty with their fitness or body’s capacities when they are at altitude.
And 90% of them do not know there are ways to train the body’s capacities with breathing to be better prepared and confident to go on their adventure.

And you can let go of the false myth that “going to altitude to train will enhance your chances of surviving at altitude”
And you can let go of the false myth that “taking deep breaths will improve your breathing capacity”
And you can let go of the false myth that “having the lightest pack improves your chances at altitude”
And you can let go of the false myth that “taking a drug before you go is your only assurance”
And you can let go of the false myth that “feeling out-of-breath is because you need more oxygen”

These are just not true!

So, why not invest in something so simple as learning to breathe well in daily life and during exercise, and start now with effective means you can do during your regular daily routine to enhance your physiological capacities, develop skillful action and live and adventure well!

And the time you might spend driving to the mountains because you think you can only get altitude training in is by going to altitude…..well let’s give you a more effective way.

Yes, you can read and watch videos about altitude simulation exercises. But do you know if your patterns of breathing now are conducive to engaging in stressor exercises to create the adaptation for altitude performance? Most people I work with are not aware of their daily breathing patterns and how they affect their ability to exercise and their ability to recover optimally during sleep. And most people do not know the trigger that cause them to over breathe that limits their physiological functional capacity and ability to adapt to stressor exercises like hyperventilation and breath-hold exercises.

Wouldn’t you like to know from a trained eye and source of knowledge with 30 years of exercise and physical-physiological capacity and performance?

The Amazing Health Benefits of the Breath – Nitric Oxide

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Nitric Oxide was originally discovered in 1986 by Dr. Louis Ignarro in his lab. And he and two of his colleges were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1998. This naturally produced gas is as important for the health of the human body as Vitamin D. YEP!!!!

From Dr. Ignarro are the key benefits he found with Nitric Oxide. Through nasal breathing this substance is stimulated and circulated from the paranasal sinuses into the respiratory tract. The lining of the respiratory tract has a strong affinity for nitric oxide for support with immune function, tissue health and healing, and circulation/exchange of respiratory gases. WOW! NOW you know how smart the body is, and how the nose is intimately tied to your health.

Here is a lecture by Dr. Ignarro

As for the importance of healthy nasal passages – the ole osteopaths, Dr. Andrew Still & Dr. William Sutherland, referred to the ethmoid bone (the passages from which the air through the nasal passages pass into the skull to vibrate the pituitary gland) are the “lungs of the cranium.” BOOM!

Here is another video/podcast with Dr. Ignarro with some great insights:

This video goes over the sequence, modified for biomechanical advantages, injury prevention while doing them, and aspects of the breathing……and hummmmm-ing.