New Chiropractic Patients
Have you ever asked yourself ‘Why do I keep forgetting to breathe?’ You might for example suddenly take a deep gulp of air or realise you’re holding your breath. But – can you literally ‘forget’ to breathe?
In this post, we explain what ‘forgetting to breathe’ is, how you might realise you’re doing it, and 5 common causes for the habit.
We’ll also touch on what you can do to help get your breathing back on track.
And explain that although breathing is something we do automatically, ‘forgetting to breathe’ per se is actually more common than you think.
Normal breathing happens on autopilot thanks to our autonomous nervous system. The same way our heart beats and our blood circulates without our active involvement…
All these processes are fundamental for life so if you really do stop breathing, it’s a medical emergency!
So, when we say ‘forgetting to breathe,’ we don’t mean you literally ‘forget’ or stop breathing.
Rather, it’s a figure of speech that refers to interruptions in your automatic, unconscious breathing process that restrict oxygen intake. This produces a sense that you’re not getting enough oxygen AKA have ‘stopped breathing’.
Stress, tension, and bad breathing habits…can all lead to shallow breathing.
Shallow breathing in turn creates a feeling of tightness, dizziness, anxiety, or fatigue, which are all symptoms of inadequate oxygen intake.
More specifically, you may feel:
If you experience or do any of the following, you might well be prone to feeling you’ve forgotten to breathe!
Stress is part of our innate ‘fight or flight’ response.
Notably, stress triggers rapid, shallow breathing intended to increase oxygen intake for boosted glucose metabolism and energy production.
It also redirects these resources to your fight-and-flight system, which includes your heart, muscles, and brain.
Non-essential systems for emergency purposes – metabolism, immune function, skin, hair – are all put on the back burner for the duration of the ‘emergency’.
Whilst this situation is fine for emergencies, shallow breathing in non-emergency situations is inefficient breathing. Notably, it reduces the amount of oxygen available for other body systems.
As a result, you may feel like you’re low on oxygen, or ‘not breathing’.
Focus on activating your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for relaxation and processes like normal breathing. In particular, learn to breathe diaphragmatically.
To do this, place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. Breathe in slowly through your nose. Make sure your abdomen rises while your chest remains relatively still. Exhale slowly.
Poor posture and tension in your shoulder, chest, and neck muscles block normal rib movement and inhibit lung expansion.
They also affect diaphragm function and restrict its capacity to contract and expand properly.
These situations make deep breathing difficult so you get into the habit of shallow breathing instead. As explained above, constant shallow (inefficient) breathing can make you feel oxygen starved and that you’re ‘forgetting’ to breathe…
Gentle stretches and mobility exercises are good ways to loosen tight muscles.
Specifically, focus on relaxing your shoulders down away from your ears and opening up your chest. Chiropractic care or massage therapy may also help to release chronic tension, improving your breathing mechanics.
Specific muscles, like the diaphragm, intercostal muscles, and those around the ribcage, are heavily involved in breathing.
If these muscles become weak or inactive, which can happen if you spend a lot of time sitting down, or lead a generally sedentary lifestyle, it can compromise your breathing.
If it also compromises your oxygen intake, this too can create a sense that you’re forgetting to breathe,
Start doing exercises that will strengthen and activate your core and diaphragm.
Simple ones like cat-cow stretches, yoga poses like the ‘prayer’ or ‘child’s pose,’ and focused diaphragmatic breathing can all help re-engage and strengthen these muscles to improve your breathing.
Lazy, or shallow, breathing habits develop when shallow breathing becomes normal behaviour. Eventually, you may even forget how to take proper deep breaths.
Again, this can lead to inadequate oxygen intake, creating that feeling of forgetting to breathe.
Try to create an awareness of your breathing patterns.
Set reminders throughout your day to check your breathing. Are you breathing shallowly into your chest, or deeply into your diaphragm?
Practice controlled breathing exercises. Box breathing – inhale for four seconds, hold for four, exhale for four, hold for four – is a good way to retrain your body out of lazy breathing habits.
A down-regulated nervous system is essentially a state of low energy caused by chronic stress and anxiety. It’s a defence mechanism the parasympathetic nervous system triggers to try and conserve energy.
Normally, conserving energy is a good thing. Unfortunately, however, too much of a good thing can also be a bad thing and when chronic, this condition often results in fatigue, difficulty thinking, and shallow breathing.
In other words, it’s a bit like ‘safe mode’ for your body. You simply don’t have enough power (energy) to breathe correctly, resulting in shallow breathing.
As with other scenarios involving shallow breathing, you may not take in enough oxygen, making you feel like you’re not breathing.
If your nervous system has gone into ‘safe mode’ you will need to rebalance it with activities that promote healthy relaxation and recovery, such as meditation, nature walks, a good diet, and consistent sleep.
Rhythmic activities like swimming or walking can also naturally regulate your breathing and support nervous system health.
So, if you have asked yourself ‘Why do I keep forgetting to breathe?’ the answer is that you haven’t. Or at least not literally, or you wouldn’t be reading this post!
Rather, you’ve likely developed bad or lazy breathing habits from one or more of the causes discussed above. This restricts your oxygen intake and triggers that feeling of not breathing.
The good news is that you can take proactive steps to overcome the issues causing the problem, and retrain yourself to stop ‘forgetting to breathe’.
