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DEAR MAYO CLINIC: Is breathing from your belly beneficial? If so, can you explain why and how to do it?
ANSWER: From the day you’re born, you know how to breathe correctly. That means letting the diaphragm — the large, thin muscle just below the rib cage — do the work of drawing air into the lungs and letting it out. It’s known as diaphragmatic or belly breathing, and it’s the most efficient and effective way to breathe.
But over time, almost everyone needs to remember how. Rather than belly breathing, people begin chest breathing. With chest breathing, the muscles between the ribs and the neck do the harder work of raising and lowering the rib cage to pull air into the lungs and push it out. Chest breathing requires a lot of effort and moves less air.
When it comes to the correct way to breathe, it doesn’t matter whether you breathe through your nose or your mouth. Where you breathe from matters — your belly and not your chest.
Relaxed breathing should originate primarily from the diaphragm with little movement of the chest and shoulders. Chest breathing activates “accessory respiratory muscles” that tighten the neck, chest and vocal cords and can trigger...