Slow diaphragmatic breathing balances your autonomic nervous system, it moves lymphatic fluids, and it even changes your brain. In this article I will very quickly review some basic information and highlight why it’s important.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of understanding the basics of our human nervous system. Knowledge is power! The more you know about how your mind and body work, the more empowered you will be to improve your health and well-being.
Know your nervous system
Our peripheral nervous system helps us sense the outside world (sensory neurons) and move around (motor neurons). Our motor neurons help with voluntary motor movement (e.g., walking, talking, eating) and involuntary movement (e.g., digestion, heart rate, blood pressure).
Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) has two branches: the relaxation branch and the stress branch. “Rest and digest” is the relaxation branch, and it activates your body’s repair and healing system. These two branches often act on the same body part in opposite directions (for example, raising or lowering blood pressure).
Chronic stress vs. relaxation
Chronic stress is the silent killer. It damages the part of your brain that helps with memory, it weakens your immune system, and it increases your risk of many diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Stress is good in small doses — emergency situations (running from a tiger) or moments that require energy, arousal, attention, and concentration (public speaking, sports, or exams).
Relaxation strengthens your immune system, heals your body, brain, and mind, and lowers your chances of many diseases. We want balance between these two systems, because too much of anything is bad — including too much relaxation.
The lymphatic connection
Your lymphatic system is, simply stated, your body’s garbage-removal system. Your cells make waste every second, and without proper removal it builds up — and that’s not good news.
A well-functioning lymphatic system is critical to health, wellness, and healing. Lymphatic vessels lie just below your skin and form a web that supports immune functions like fighting off infections, viruses, and bacteria, healing injuries, and preventing cancer. The lymphatic system doesn’t have a pump like your blood, so it relies on body movement to circulate. One way to move it, besides exercise, is to breathe into your diaphragm. That’s right — diaphragmatic breathing moves lymphatic fluid. It decreases stress, improves memory, increases relaxation, removes waste, decreases inflammation, and in turn improves healing and chronic conditions like chronic pain.
How breathing changes your brain
Slow diaphragmatic breathing can create structural changes in your brain over time. Changing how you breathe changes your brain, which of course influences your mind.
So one step toward changing your mind is learning to breathe properly. Breathing slowly into your diaphragm engages brain regions related to strategic thinking, reaction, and self-regulation. When you breathe slow and deep, the vagus nerve in your lungs and heart sends a signal to your brain that supports these regions. The vagus nerve also activates relaxation, causing many positive changes across bodily systems including hormones, neurotransmitters, and immune cells.
The takeaway
Breathing slow and deep into your belly balances your ANS, strengthens your immune system, increases attention, activates relaxation, aids digestion, improves mind-body healing, decreases anxiety, decreases chronic pain, increases memory, improves reaction speed — and the list goes on. It’s a simple thing, breathing, but how we do it powerfully influences our mind and body.
Clinical neuropsychologist. Board certified in neurofeedback. Specialist in the places where mind and body meet.
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