Diaphragm and Digestive Dysfunction (Heartburn/GERD/Acid Reflux/Hiatal Hernia)

I have become more and more aware that breathing is an important part of health and wellness.  I talked about the relationship with anxiety in the last post.  Anxiety is not only mental distress, but can cause muscle tension, chest pain, and digestive disorders. 

The diaphragm is a unique dome-shaped muscle controlling breathing.  It is located horizontally separating the thoracic cavity (containing lungs, heart and etc) and the abdominal cavity (stomach, liver, intestines and etc.).  The esophagus, vena cava, and aorta pass through the middle of it.

With proper breathing, the diaphragm contracts when we inhale, moving down and expanding the thoracic cavity to suck the air in, and the diaphragm completely relaxes when we exhale.  We do this about 26,000 times a day.

If we have shallow chest breathing, where the diaphragm can’t fully contract and relax, it loses the elasticity and tightens like any other muscles. The dysfunction of the diaphragm could cause adhesion with the stomach, or squeeze the esophagus, causing digestive disorders like GERD and hiatal hernia.

Here is how it happens.

Anxiety/stress ➜  Incorrect breathing (shallow breathing) ➜  Diaphragm dysfunction ➜ Stomach dysfunction ➜  Digestive disorders 

I found very helpful and comprehensive videos about understanding heartburn and GERD and an abdominal massage for hiatal hernia.  Although I never had hiatal hernia, massaging the middle of the stomach right below the breastbone and rib cage has been effective for me to relieve the pain in the upper stomach because of indigestion.

It is important to massage other abdominal muscles (will post in the future) and use the breathing exercises in order to maintain the healthy digestive functions.

Calm Your Anxiety with Breathing Exercises

When we have stress, anxiety, and worries, we don’t breathe normally.  Shallow breathing could cause a panic attack for some people.  Keeping breathing under control not only calms our anxiety, but also transforms our life.    

There are many breathing exercises available.  I came across the book called Healing Power of the Breath.  It explains various breathing techniques and their benefits in different conditions or situations from trauma to relationships.  It emphasizes that breath is a “portal to the mind-body system.”  

Messages from the respiratory system have rapid, powerful effects on major brain centers involved in thought, emotion, and behavior. 

The exercises are very simple.  I found it more helpful to listen to the audio and follow the guiding cues to do the exercises.  

I will introduce 3 basic techniques.

1. Coherent Breathing

A rate of 5 breaths per minute- 5 bpm (inhaling for 6 seconds and exhaling for 6 seconds). 

Purpose: To increase Heart Rate Variability (HRV) by changing the pattern of breathing.  The higher HRV, the more flexible cardiovascular system and more resilient stress-response system.

If you were to learn one breathing technique, choose Coherent Breathing.  It helps relieve stress, tension, anxiety, worry, phobias, insomnia, and respiratory problems. 

• Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. 
• Close your eyes and mouth, and breathe through your nose. 
• Breathing should be very slow, gentle and comfortable, not forced.
• Play the practice. (If 5 bpm is too slow, play the beginning of this practice at 6 bpm.)

2. Resistance Breathing

Any kind of breathing that creates resistance to the flow of air (by pursing the lips, hissing, tightening the throat and etc.)

Purpose: To stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system by the increased pressure in the lungs, inducing relaxation. (Like cats purr!)

• Play the practice and follow the step-by-step instructions.

3. Breath Moving
With imagination, moving breath and awareness to different parts of the body

Purpose: To improve the circulation of energy through the nervous system and improve blood flow. (In Easter traditions, to open chakras and dissolve blockages so energy can circulate more freely.)

I personally like Breath Moving because I am a visual person.  When I am lying down, I can easily picture the breath as waves coming in and going out.

• Play the practice.

Total Breath

The combination of Coherent Breathing, Resistance Breathing, and Breath Moving.

Purpose: To maximize effectiveness and rapidity of response.

The book recommends you practice once a day for at least 20 minutes with full concentration. 

• Play the practice–5 bpm (20 min.)
• Play the practice–6 bpm (20 min.)

 

Body Scan

After breathing practices, finish with Body Scan to allow your system to consolidate the effects.  You can choose any other form of relaxation (meditation, visualization, deep prayer, and etc.).  It helped me calm down better because following the practices makes me more alert than relaxing.   

• Lie down and play Body Scan.

If you would like to know other healing breath practices including vibration breathing, and also make these great breathing practices your routine, download the audio files here to your device.  The book has much more information, and includes a helpful chart “How and When to Use Each Practice” in the appendix.

Hope these breathing practices transform your life!

            

These audio files are for your own personal use only.

FAQ: Why is tension carried in the shoulders?

Many of us seem to carry tension in the shoulders as if the whole world rests on our shoulders.  That’s right.  We often feel like it, with so many responsibilities, urgent tasks, and uncertainty for the future.  But, why in the shoulders?

It seems the main cause is mechanical – poor posture.  Most of us spend too much time sitting with the head forward or down and the hunched back.  Since we keep the same position for a long time, the muscles in the upper back are stretched out while the chest and abdominal muscles are short and tight.  Both stretched-out and short muscles cause problems.

From the perspective of body-mind connection, muscle tension and nervous tension are hand in hand.  Mental stress triggers the muscle tension, and the muscle tension causes discomfort leading to stress.  It goes both ways and is a vicious cycle.  Some degree of muscle tension or nervous tension is normal and even necessary.  However, if it’s happening constantly and becoming a habit, it will do more harm than good. 

When we are anxious, worried, upset, or distressed, we experience faster and shallower breathing as well as other fight-and-flight responses.  We sometimes hold our breath.  Thus, the chest has to work rather than the diaphragm,  a large muscle below the lungs to control breathing (read more about the diaphragm in this post).  To move the chest up, the muscles attached between the neck and the ribs or shoulder blades have to do more work.  If the condition persists, the shoulders stay tensed up. 

A small step to reduce shoulder and neck tension is to catch ourselves in the poor posture and under stress/anxiety.   Do the exercise for upper body, and breathe slowly from your stomach (read the next post about breathing exercises).  And, get a massage to relax!  We deserve a break from carrying the world.