How Breathing Impacts you Pelvic Floor

Breathing is a super important thing we do, roughly around 22,000 times a day without even thinking about it, and it can have a big impact on our pelvic floor muscles. These muscles are a support system for our pelvic organs, our bladder, uterus (if you're a woman), and rectum. If these muscles are weak, tight, or not working properly. it can lead to some not-so-fun issues like having trouble controlling when you pee, pelvic pain, and even problems in the bedroom.

So, when we breathe, our diaphragm (which is the anatomical term for the muscle that moves to allow our lungs to expand) moves up and down, creating changes in pressure in our belly. This change in pressure also affects our pelvic floor muscles. There are some easy techniques we can use to help strengthen these muscles simply by breathing well.

One way to do this is by practicing what we call diaphragmatic breathing. All you have to do is breathe really deep into your belly, let your diaphragm fully expand, and then breathe out all the air. This kind of breathing really helps to improve the coordination and strength of your pelvic floor muscles as it mirrors the movement of the diaphragm. As you breathe in, the pelvic floor muscles lengthen and relax, as you breathe out, they gently contract and support the organs with a lifting movement.

Now, on the other hand, if you're breathing super shallow, no belly movement and all the air goes into your chest and shoulders, it can actually make your pelvic floor muscles tight and overworked because they never fully release without the diaphragm lowering. That can lead to some real pain during sex or even when you're trying to go pee.

To sum it up, breathing is super important for your pelvic floor muscles. But, by practicing some simple breathing techniques (like diaphragmatic breathing) you can help strengthen and improve the function of these really important muscles.