Functional Breathing – 3 Key Elements That Will Improve Your Physical, Mental, And Sports Performance
- Jul 10, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 11, 2024
Oscar & Daphy are lifepartners and co-founders of Awake Society, an innovative approach of 360° health & wellbeing specialized in mind-body connection, mindset reprogramming, deep nourishment and purpose driven life.
Breathing is an automatic action that occurs without conscious effort. But did you know that by bringing your attention and awareness to your breath, you can modify your breathing patterns? And by modifying your breathing patterns, you can significantly impact how your body and mind function and feel.
Sounds crazy, but it’s true, our body and mind are intimately connected, and the interplay between them is our breath. Whether you are a recreational or professional athlete, mastering your breath will unlock a universe of possibilities, elevating your physical, mental, and sports performance to new heights!
Today, we’ll share with you 3 key elements that will help you achieve this.
1. Breathe through your nose
The nasal cavity is our main breathing avenue, performing at least 30 different functions that promote health, well-being, and enhanced performance. Breathing through the nose warms, humidifies, and filters the air we breathe, helps induce relaxation, produces nitric oxide (which increases oxygen uptake in the blood), improves cognitive function, improves recruitment of the diaphragm, helps control asthma and allergic rhinitis, and increases sleep quality. In short, nasal breathing is essential for daily life. So, shut your mouth and start breathing through your nose—reserve mouth breathing for eating, talking, and kissing.
2. Slow down your breath (while resting)
Multiple studies have shown that the optimal breathing cadence for promoting health and well-being is 5.5 – 6 breaths per minute, which translates to one breathing cycle every 10 seconds, or breathing in for 4, and out for 6. What many don’t know is that slowing down our breath is equally if not far more important than this ratio. Slow breathing will stimulate the Vagus nerve, promote deep relaxation by activating your parasympathetic nervous system, improve gas exchange in the lungs, improve recovery, make you more resilient, and promote focus, concentration, and a calmer mind. To ensure your breathing is slow enough, aim for silence in your breath and a subtle yet tolerable sensation of air hunger. Positive signs include increased salivation and warm hands sensation.
3. Breathe low, aka: Use your diaphragm
The diaphragm is our primary breathing muscle. This dome-shaped muscle is located at the base of our lungs, separating the thoracic and abdominal cavities. Proper activation of the diaphragm draws air deep into the lungs which improves gas exchange, slows down breathing, calms the mind, improves posture and stability, and supports functional movement. To check if you are breathing deeply, just sit nice and tall, take a breath, and observe where your thorax expands—is it high in the chest or low towards the navel? Hint: Aim for LOW.
Focusing on these three elements and practicing this technique for as little as five minutes a day can lead to noticeable positive changes physically and mentally. The more you practice breathing through your nose, slow, and low, the more you will experience its benefits, which will carry over to improve your sports performance.
How should you breathe during physical activity?
If you are a recreational athlete, you should always breathe in and out through your nose during physical activity, this will ensure optimal oxygenation, and reduce fatigue, overtraining, and risk of injury. Initially, training with your mouth shut will feel harder, so you might need to lower your intensity for a few weeks. However, once conditioned to it, you won’t want to ever go back to mouth breathing.
If you are a professional athlete, you want to introduce nasal breathing to your warm-ups, easier training, and recovery routines, while keeping your usual breathing patterns for higher-intensity training and competition. This way, the benefits and adaptations achieved through nasal breathing will carry over to increase your performance when you need it the most.
Ready to use functional breathing to increase your physical, mental, and sports performance? Book a private functional breathing session with us today!
Oscar Orlandini M.D. & Daphy Cavero, Elite 360° Health Coaches
Oscar & Daphy are lifepartners and co-founders of Awake Society, an innovative approach of 360° health & wellbeing specialized in mind-body connection, mindset reprogramming, deep nourishment and purpose driven life. Oscar is a Medical Doctor and a certified Sleep, Stress Management, Recovery & Nutrition coach. Daphy is a certified Integrative Health Coach specialized in Nervous System Regulation, Somatic Work and Emotional Release. They are both certified Masters in Trauma-Informed Breathwork & Ice Immersions. Together, they empower high performers to overcome stress and low energy, reclaiming mental and physical health for lasting vitality and resilience.
