Heart health is something we often don’t think about until there is a problem.
We all know that nutrition, exercise, stress management is important for heart health. Much less understood is that how you breathe impacts the heart. This is something you can train and ultimately have control over.  As the old saying goes ‘prevention is better than cure’! So lets find out how your breathing affects your heart function over time.
The heart and lungs work as a team.
The lungs oxygenate the body and remove carbon dioxide. The heart distributes this oxygen to every cell in the body via the blood. It then picks up the carbon dioxide to be exhaled by the lungs. This bi-directional exchange means that changing how you breathe influences how the heart behaves.
As you breathe in, your heart rate naturally speeds up. As you breathe out, it slows down. This normal rhythm is controlled by the vagus nerve which controls our autonomic nervous system (ANS). Our ANS runs all the automatic processes in the body which you never have to think about, but they keep you alive and functioning.
Your breathing rhythm
When this rhythm is strong and flexible, the nervous system works well. This means the heart can adapt to changes in demands placed upon it by activities, exercise, stress or emotions. When breathing is fast, shallow, or irregular, this rhythm weakens and puts more strain on the heart.
Breathing affects your blood chemistry
Breathing also changes carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels in the blood. CO₂ is not just a waste gas, it regulates blood flow and oxygen delivery. When we breathe fast CO₂ levels drop, blood vessels constrict, and the heart must work harder to keep blood moving. If this becomes a habit, dysfunctional breathing patterns establish themselves affecting heart rate and blood pressure. This increases the workload on the heart, hampering its’ performance.
Ok so how does breathing properly actually help?
Blood vessel relaxation and flexibility
Maintaining healthy COâ‚‚ levels relaxes your blood vessels. This allows them to expand so the blood flow to the heart increases. This means the heart does not have to beat as fast or generate as much pressure to move blood around the body. Think of the toothpaste analogy or those tubes of filler we use when we are decorating. The smaller the hole in the tube the more pressure we have to put on the tube
Improves heart rate variability (HRV)
Studies show that regular, paced breathing improves heart rate variability (HRV). This is a measure of how adaptable your heart is to changes in your body’s needs. A higher HRV has consistently been associated with lower cardiovascular (CVD) risk.
Improves vagal nerve function
This improves nervous system function and balance. This in turn reduces the stress load on the heart, improving it’s resilience.
Helps to normalise blood pressure
Slow breathing lowers the heart rate and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, especially if you already have hypertension.
Oxygenates the heart
It’s not just about the air volume you breathe, it’s about how well you can oxygenate your heart. Nasal breathing improves CO₂ and nitric oxide levels which stimulate blood vessel relaxation (see point 1). This improves gas exchange, circulation and blood flow which are all very important for heart function.
