Breathing Exercises and Lung Diseases

Your lungs do not power themselves. They rely on how well you breathe.
To keep the lungs healthy, the diaphragm (your main breathing muscle) must remain strong. It is the diaphragm that fills and empties the lungs, generating approximately 14 pounds of inhale and exhale pressure with each breath.

Breathing exercises are essential to maintain this strength.

The Role of the Diaphragm 

When breathing is done correctly, the diaphragm leads the movement. However, when breathing becomes dominated by the intercostal muscles or core/AB muscles, it can create tension and restrict the deepest, easiest breathing.

Another important factor is releasing the tension caused by poor rib and abdominal breathing patterns. When this tension is released, the entire rib cage can open wider, allowing for a deeper and easier inbreath.

Why Do Breathing Exercises?

Breathing exercises can help minimize the risk factors for most lung diseases and reduce the likelihood of mild conditions progressing into moderate, severe, or even life-threatening states.

Breathing exercises can help:

• Manage the symptoms associated with long COVID
• Manage inflammation caused by stress
• Reduce risk factors associated with high blood pressure
  

Strong breathing is something that can be measured and practiced.

Breathing Exercises vs. Cardio

Breathing exercises are as important as cardiovascular exercise.

While cardio strengthens the heart, it does not train the breathing muscles with the same specificity or effectiveness. In fact, many forms of cardiovascular exercise encourage restricted or inefficient breathing patterns, including those associated with exercise-induced asthma.

Breathing exercises directly strengthen and balance the muscles responsible for breathing, helping maintain efficient airflow, better control, and long-term respiratory health. This is something that cardio alone cannot provide.

Strong breathing capacity and balance play an important role in longevity, especially since breathing function typically begins to decline in the 20s unless actively maintained.

Respiratory Illness, COPD, and Prevention

People with respiratory illnesses such as COPD are at greater risk of long COVID. People with COPD are at greater risk of long COVID. COPD affects more than 14 million people in the United States and is the 6th leading cause of death nationwide.

Pulmonary rehabilitation focuses mainly on breathing exercises, particularly those that strengthen the exhale, to combat lung overinflation, breathlessness, and fatigue.

These same exercises can be practiced independently as part of prevention and daily health maintenance to support a strong respiratory system.

Oxygen Levels and Better Breathing

Maintaining healthy oxygen levels is supported by mechanically sound breathing.

Balanced breathing (strong inhales paired with strong, complete exhales) supports proper oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange. This balance is reflected in healthier breathing scores and greater overall efficiency.

Shallow Breathing and the Stress Loop

Shallow breathing creates a vicious loop of stress and tension.

Refer to the Optimal Breathing Window for greater clarity on this relationship. While lying on the back is often the easiest way to learn breathing (snoring and apnea excepted), side-lying breathing allows for lateral expansion of the lower lungs.

Several exercises in our Optimal Breathing Self-Mastery Kit demonstrate how to do this effectively.

Breathing, Stress, and the Nervous System

Breathing helps regulate inflammation caused by stress and high cortisol levels.

Breath is the mind–body connection. When breathing is tense or shallow, the nervous system receives signals that the environment is dangerous or overstimulating. This leads to increased heart rate, high cortisol levels, and a suppressed immune response.

Stimulating the vagus nerve supports a parasympathetic “rest and digest” state. This is achieved through breath, both through location and range of expansion.

An abdominal-thoracic breath (belly and ribs) has a good range of motion. This breath expands front, side, and back, widens a narrow exhale, and creates more control over breath pacing and slowing.

The reflex-triggering exercises C21 to C25 in the Breathing Kit are designed to support this process, along with additional exercises that replace or augment this pattern.

Stress causes bracing.  Bracing makes us feel prepared but we pay serious dues for bracing too often as that invites almost permanent shallow breathing. We humans are very resilient, but we need a reset from time to time. In order to reboot and release we need to take a few deep easy belly breaths through our nose and NOT exhale through the mouth, as this is taught incorrectly and can lead to overbreathing and increased anxiety.

Done properly, this brief interruption moves the body out of fight-or-flight for a few seconds, often all that’s needed to reset.

After more than 40 years of studying breathing, these foundational exercises remain the most effective tools we know for restoring deep, healthy breathing.