Upper chest breathing

Written by: Dr. Rowena | Posted: Mar 07 2007

Q: Is upper chest breathing considered unhealthy?

A: In the normal course of a day, we breathe with both our chest and our abdominal muscles. The work of breathing is shared between muscles responsible for inspiration and expiration located in the chest wall and the abdomen. With exercise and disease, the use of the abdominal muscles to help with expiration is increased. Because of this, neither chest nor abdominal breathing should be considered bad. There are advantages to each type of breathing depending upon activity level and physical condition. Chest breathing tends to be shallower, so abdominal breathing is often recommended to encourage full expansion of the lungs. The breathing sensor on the RESPeRATE works better when placed in the chest position on women and in abdominal position on men but should be placed in the area where you are breathing from.

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