What Is The Diaphragm And Why Should You Care?
The diaphragm is essential to breathing, being a muscle of respiration. It sits under your lungs, attaching to the spine, rib cage and sternum (bone in the middle of your chest). It is controlled by the phrenic nerve, a nerve that originates in your neck. It separates the thorax (chest) from the abdomen (belly).
You can think of it like a dome, or mushroom. When we inhale, the diaphragm should contract, flattening out, allowing the volume inside your chest in increase. When we exhale, the diaphragm should relax, rising back up into a dome shape.
So when people talk about belly breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing, it means appropriately using your diaphragm, allowing it to move down, pushing your belly out as you breathe in.
So why does this matter?
Well at WYLD we typically see people thoracic, or chest breathing, which stimulates your “fight or flight” response, keeping you in a stressed state more than we typically need to be.
However, when you learn to diaphragmatically breathe, you can start to utilise it as a tool to calm your nervous system any time of day, no matter what you are doing, or where you are. Diaphragmatic breathing is one of the fastest ways to drop into your “rest and digest” state, helping manage day to day stress more effectively.
If you want to learn how to breathe more appropriately, and ensure your nervous system is functioning optimally, book to see one of our WYLD Chiropractors. And lastly, a fun fact! Hiccups are actually involuntary spasms of your diaphragm.