Respiratory Pattern Disorder; Apical Breathing. Are You Suffering from it?

I recently discovered that I have been suffering from apical breathing since my childhood. This led me to develop a depersonalization syndrome due to the severe physical and psychological consequences. My dysfunction was resolved in a few days through intensive breathing exercises. This radically changed my life, improved my psychological well-being within weeks, and solved my chronic back pain in just 3 days. I have an idea on how to diagnose this severe, understudied, and underdiagnosed dysfunction.

How to test your breathing:

Try to inhale as slowly and for as long as possible. If you have apical breathing, you will not be able to inhale for 10 seconds or more, no matter what you do. For my part, I could not inhale for more than 4, maybe 5, seconds. It was physically impossible due to my breathing pattern. Test this at least 3 times, using a chronometer. Then, place one hand on your abdomen and one on your chest. Inhale as quickly and deeply as possible, as if you were preparing to stay underwater for a long time. If your abdomen goes in, it’s a sign that you are suffering from this dysfunction. I have a feeling the prevalence might be higher in ADHD and high achievers’ people, like me.

Here are the symptoms I identified in myself:

It was physically impossible for me to inhale for more than 4 to 5 seconds, and my abdomen would go in instead of out with each breath. In my thirties, I developed chronic back pain; my main sign was muscle knots between the shoulder blades and the spine. I had a high and chronic level of stress. I am a good swimmer, but I never found a good way to breathe in freestyle, and I would get out of breath very quickly. I tried yoga, but I could not follow the breathing instructions that go with the movement. When I was lying on a hard surface, I was uncomfortable, thinking it was because of my back, but actually, the hard surface was causing a restriction in my breathing. I took a sport freediving course, but during a maximum inhalation, it was very uncomfortable, I felt congestion in the upper chest. Note that I am very athletic; I played soccer and never had a notable problem with shortness of breath, even at maximum intensity.

One simple thing changed everything for me:

My therapist told me to use my diaphragm to breathe, pushing out my belly on inhalation. I was somewhat able to do it, but it wasn’t proper functional breathing. I experimented to understand how I was supposed to breathe. I focused on my chest and abdomen. However, it didn’t work. For me, everything changed when I tried to forget my body while breathing. I focused solely on the airflow passing through my nose. You can do it through your nose or mouth, it doesn’t matter. While lying down, try to relax as much as possible, and just focus on drawing air in through your nose/mouth, without thinking about your lungs or chest. I believe this activated my subconscious breathing. If you don’t have a physiological restriction due to an illness, I believe your body knows how to breathe correctly, but your mind doesn’t know, or has forgotten. When I performed this exercise, I felt an incredible sensation. I was able to inhale for what seemed like an eternity. When I reached the end of the inhalation, I pulled even harder. Be careful with this exercise and listen to your body to avoid injury. I felt pain in the back of my chest, but a good kind of pain. I felt all the tension in my back easing, and the back of my ribs seemed to open for the first time. I did 1 hour and 30 minutes of deep breathing training per day. It felt like doing physiotherapy from the inside. After 3 days, my back was incredible, I felt light as a feather. I don’t think you have to do as much to benefit from it; I am a bit intense sometimes.

If you show signs of abnormal breathing, perform intensive deep-breathing exercises. Do it every day, for as long as possible, and you will see a drastic change in your well-being. Your stress level will decrease and if, like me, you have developed a depersonalization syndrome, you will reconnect with your body and emotions. You can also seek help from a specialist, like an osteopath or a physiotherapist, or anyone specialized in respiratory training. Doctors don’t talk about it and don’t seem to care because there is no consensus on the appropriate diagnostic tests. They prefer to ignore this debilitating dysfunction that is probably too frequent.

Good luck and thank you for sharing your personal stories!