9 out of 10 people breathe in a dysfunctional way

Unmanaged stress can silently build up and impact your physical and mental health - just like squeezing a sealed tube of toothpaste, the pressure eventually finds a way out. This blog explores the powerful connection between emotional stress and the body, revealing how chronic tension can manifest as sleep issues, anxiety, illness, and more. It also highlights the critical role of breathing patterns in stress regulation, showing that most people unknowingly breathe in dysfunctional ways. With simple, mindful breathing techniques, you can begin to relieve stress, restore balance, and improve your overall well-being starting today.

Imagine you are trying to squeeze some toothpaste out of a tube, but you’ve forgotten to take the lid off.

What will happen? If you keep squeezing, it will probably come out at another point, a weaker point in the tube. Now I want you to imagine that this tube is you. You are under pressure and beginning to experience psychological or emotional stress. But you don’t take the lid off. You don’t recognise it or you ignore it. You don’t take time out to relax, breathe or deal with it and pressure continues to build and you continue to come up with excuses and reasons.

When mental and emotional pressures continue to build inside of us, eventually it finds a way out, and as it can’t come out through the top and be expressed, it will come out somewhere else. It will find the weakest point in our being, in our body and in our mind. It could be our digestive system, our nerves, our immune system, or our sleep. Any of these and more become affected. So then, we blame external factors, still not addressing the true cause. Symptoms will continue to grow. The more you push it down and come up with excuses, the more illness will occur. Could be respiratory issues, depression, addiction, or anxiety. And if this continues, it could even be projected outwards and become hostility, aggression, prejudice, judgement, or fear.

The clearest way to see how the mind directly affects the body is through stress. The fight or flight response enables you to respond to danger. However, seemingly unimportant events can also cause stress reaction because the brain is unable to tell the difference between real and imagined stress.

Your breathing is one of the first signs that your body is experiencing stress or perceived stress. But unfortunately, most people breathe unconsciously because it’s taken for granted.

9 out of 10 people breathe in a dysfunctional way, damaging their mind and body. Doing small but effective awareness breathing for just a few minutes each day, can be life changing.

Breath is free, but the way you breathe is your choice. As Maya Angelo said, “When you know better, you do better”.