Breathing and Posture: Can Bad Posture Affect Your Breathing?
- Updated - January 24, 2025
Many of us don’t even think about our posture until we find ourselves in a situation where it’s either difficult to maintain or impacts our wellbeing.
You may be standing for hours or sitting at your desk all day. Either way, your posture can cause many problems over time. The only way to combat these issues is by practicing good posture and habits!
Different posture patterns such as forward head posture (FHP) and kyphosis have been shown to change breathing mechanisms, including diaphragm mobility.
In addition, today’s technology-based devices like handheld phones and tablets are frequently used in poor standing positions. This may lead to musculoskeletal issues in the shoulders, neck, and ribs, which can influence your breathing pattern, which can lead to breathing problems.
Posture often goes unnoticed—until it becomes a problem. Whether sitting at your desk or standing for long hours, poor posture can take a toll on your breathing and overall health. Fortunately, practicing simple posture habits can significantly affect how you feel and function.
What do we mean by POSTURE?
The term “posture” refers not only to our upright posture but also to our overall alignment from head to toe and the positioning of various body components relative to one another.
Posture is a term used to describe how you hold your body upright against gravity when standing or sitting. Posture also includes the position and condition of our internal organs, which can affect posture if they are compromised by illness or injury. In addition, your posture can affect how well you breathe, digest food, and expel waste. Proper posture can significantly impact respiratory function by preventing breathing difficulties.
Understanding Poor Posture
Poor posture refers to the misalignment of the body’s skeletal structure, which can lead to a range of health problems, including breathing difficulties. When we slouch or hunch over, our spine and rib cage are compressed, making it harder for our lungs to expand and take in oxygen. This can lead to shallow breathing, fatigue, and chronic neck pain. Understanding the causes and effects of poor posture is essential for maintaining good posture and proper breathing.
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What is shallow breathing?
Shallow breathing describes any type of abnormal breathing which usually occurs because of chronic lung infection or injury sustained to the respiratory system.
Shallow breathing is abnormal breathing where the lungs don’t fully expand, often linked to chronic lung conditions or injuries. It can result in shortness of breath, reduced oxygen intake, and higher levels of carbon dioxide in the body. Over time, shallow breathing can limit your physical endurance and negatively impact your posture.
Shallow breathing describes any abnormal breathing that usually occurs because of chronic lung infection or injury sustained to the respiratory system. Poor posture can also reduce breathing capacity, significantly reducing lung capacity and overall health.
Typically shallow breathers experience:
- greater difficulty with their posture,
- more challenges trying to do exercise routines, or,
- more rapid fatigue while concentrating on tasks.
How can shallow breathing affect your posture?
Poor posture and shallow breathing often go hand-in-hand, as posture issues can restrict lung expansion. Shallow breathing is the opposite of deep belly (abdomen) breathing. In addition, people with poor posture (rounded shoulders, tight pectoral muscles, forward head) have difficulty establishing healthy breathing patterns. Poor posture negatively impacts good breathing techniques, emphasizing the connection between posture, breath management, and overall health.
Diaphragmatic breathing is challenging for people with severe respiratory symptoms. Its shallow breathing does not take effect because of restricted movements around the chest.
To restore your posture, you will need to find ways to release these breathing muscles, which often become short and tight from overuse.
Does your posture affect breathing?
Yes, posture affects breathing by changing the position of our chest, rib cage, or diaphragm. Poor posture restricts lung expansion, leading to shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, and even pain if you try deep breaths.
How you stand or sit can affect your ability to breathe correctly, including the rate you take in air and release carbon dioxide from your lungs – known as ventilation. Poor posture restricts lung expansion, making it more difficult for us to take a full breath and bring in as much oxygen as we need, and overworked neck muscles can exacerbate this issue.
The Intercostal muscles, located between your ribs, assist your diaphragm in elevating your rib cage and allowing more air into your lungs.
The Sternocleidomastoid, Serratus Anterior, Pectoralis Minor, and Scalenes are other muscles that aid the intercostals in breathing if they become restricted.
These muscles allow for more movement of the ribs and air in and out. Breathing out results from posture muscles relaxing while pulling on your diaphragm so air can flow out of your lungs.
What is the process of breathing?
The respiratory system (how we breathe) consists of your lungs, surrounded by the respiratory muscles. The diaphragm is the primary muscle used in the inhalation process. A thorough examination of the spine and nervous system is essential for understanding and improving respiratory health.
The Diaphragm
The diaphragm, the muscle of inspiration, is dome-shaped and comprises muscle and fibrous tissue. It separates the chest from the stomach and is vital for respiration (breathing).
Diaphragm function and respiratory muscles
The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that lines the bottom of your ribcage when contracted. It will make your lungs expand downward from their usual dome shape to take in more air when you breathe in or exhale.
The diaphragm contracts and flattens once it’s been activated. This mechanism decreases pressure while increasing the thoracic cavity’s size, allowing your lungs to expand as you breathe.
Breathing In
The diaphragm contracts and is drawn into (sucked into) the abdominal cavity, while the intercostals (the muscles that sit between the ribs) lift the ribs outward as we breathe in.
Breathing Out
As we breathe out, the diaphragm relaxes, returning to its dome-like shape, while the rib cage returns to its original position.
There are three phases of breathing.
Inhalation or inspiration; an exhalation or expiration; and a resting phase called apnea between breaths.
To inhale oxygen into our lungs, we must expand by filling the alveoli with air. Alveoli are tiny air sacs inside your lungs. These air sacs fill and empty as we breathe in and out.
The diaphragm contracts, which expands and flattens out as it moves downward toward your abdominal cavity.
INHALATION
Inhalation occurs when the diaphragm contracts, pulling down on its attachment at the base of the rib cage and pushing out against your chest wall while tightening around your lungs, which causes them to expand laterally outward toward each side of your torso. Incorporating deep breathing during flexibility exercises is essential for retraining the body to breathe correctly and improve overall respiratory function.
Muscles of inhalation:
- Sternocleidomastoid
- Scalenes
- External intercostals
- Diaphragm
EXHALATION
Exhalation means getting air out of your lungs. For example, you exhale when you breathe out, talk, laugh, cry, or laugh. It is a passive process that happens automatically because our posture muscles exert a slight pull on the diaphragm. This is why you may feel your posture muscles working when getting out of breath.
Muscles of exhalation:
- Internal Intercostal Muscles
- Abdominal muscles
- External Oblique
- Internal Oblique
- Transversus Abdominis
- Rectus Abdominis
When we exhale carbon dioxide from our body, we relax the muscles to allow for reabsorption into the bloodstream via capillaries.
Your capillaries are small blood vessels that allow for the exchange of nutrients and waste products between the blood and tissues of your body.
As a result, the diaphragm relaxes, moving back up to its dome-like structure towards your thoracic cavity.
What are you feeling when you breathe, and how does it affect your breathing capacity?
Breathing is accomplished automatically, meaning it does not require us to think about the action, but we have some control over our breaths. For example, we can breathe faster or slower and hold a breath for longer before exhaling if needed.
Your postural control muscles that keep you upright are what you feel when breathing out after holding in a deep breath, as they assist in keeping the lungs expanded. Muscles along your back, known as your posterior chain, provide another layer of support when inhaling.
However, before we inhale again, we return to this mid-position between breaths. As a result, these posture muscles aid us in expelling all of the air from our lungs by pushing it out.
What happens to your breathing when you have poor posture?
A common example is the ever-increasing incidence of Forward Head Posture and Jandas Upper Cross Syndrome. This pattern can be seen in those of us who spend long periods looking down at our phones! This slouching pattern can lead to difficulties, such as shallow breathing and reduced breathing capacity.
Because of chest restrictions, diaphragmatic breathing is challenging for these people, and even shallow breaths are ineffective due to restrictions around the chest.
Sagging or slouching posture will cause your diaphragm to be pulled up and forward. This will restrict the flow of air in and out of your lungs. Slouching also forces you to take shallow breaths, which does not provide a full inhalation or exhalation of oxygen.
Improving Posture for Better Breathing
Improving posture is essential for better breathing and overall health. Maintaining good posture ensures that our spine and rib cage are adequately positioned, allowing for adequate breathing and oxygen intake. This improvement can be achieved through a range of techniques, including exercises, stretches, and physical therapy. Additionally, being mindful throughout the day can help us maintain good posture and prevent breathing difficulties. By improving our posture, we can breathe easier, reduce fatigue, and maintain overall health and wellbeing.
Finally
How you stand, sit, and walk can significantly impact how well your lungs work. Poor posture restricts lung expansion and affects airflow in and out. This is why posture correction and exercises are often recommended for individuals experiencing pain or difficulty breathing due to restricted chest movement.
Slouching can limit your ability to take deep breaths, leading to poor ventilation, quicker fatigue, and reduced focus. Therefore, if you tend to slouch, it’s important to pay attention not only to your posture but also to how you position yourself while using your phone!
In general, try sitting up straight when possible – even if just while working from home!
PLEASE NOTE
PostureGeek.com does not provide medical advice. This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical attention. The information provided should not replace the advice and expertise of an accredited health care provider. Any inquiry into your care and any potential impact on your health and wellbeing should be directed to your health care provider. All information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical care or treatment.
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