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If you’ve stumbled upon this blog post, chances are high that you already know about the relationship between your nervous system and your state of being. When becoming aware of the effects of a dysregulated nervous system on your life, learning about it is essential for physical and emotional healing. But you may have an unnoticed habit that keeps causing a dysregulated nervous system, regardless of your efforts.
A dysregulated nervous system
You may have already gathered some information on the subject, you understand it’s important to regulate your nervous system for physical and emotional health, and probably have some tricks and techniques in your toolkit to regulate your nervous system.
But for some reason, you can’t quite figure out why you still experience signs of a dysregulated nervous system, or why you easily slip back into a fight-or-flight state. You may wonder “Why do I keep getting a dysregulated nervous system so easily ? I’m doing a lot of the techniques but I can’t stay in that state for long and keep falling back”.
Well, I have a piece of information to share that might be missing in your container of knowledge.
First of all, good to have you on this side of the internet! Nervous system regulation has started to catch on in the (mental) health field recently, and I for one am thrilled with this new development.
I think it’s going to be a key element in mental and physical health care in the years to come and I can’t wait to see how it will unfold.
Deep belly breathing
When researching how to calm down a dysregulated nervous system, one of the first things you will stumble upon is breathing techniques. They are an important tool for regulating the nervous system.
Deep breathing allows the body to transmute oxygen, leading to lower blood pressure and a slower heart rate.
Simultaneously, it also stimulates the vagus nerve, causing the body to send a signal to the brain to trigger a relaxation response.
Bottom line? Breathing is a quick and easy way to regulate your stress response and nervous system, making it an effective tool in healing your body.
Tight abdominal muscles
I’ve known for years and years that deep breathing is important. But for some reason, I couldn’t ever make it work for me “long-term”.
I engaged in breathing exercises often, but it took me immense effort to keep my body engaged in deep belly breathing throughout the day.
I was short on breath often. I caught myself grasping for air multiple times throughout the day.
This all became even more evident when my teacher (I was studying psychology at the time) had us do an exercise to measure how many breaths we took within a minute, to reflect the state of our nervous system. Instead of breathing 5 to 10 times per minute (which is considered healthy), I was breathing 16 times per minute.
Yikes… I still remember the look of concern on my teacher’s face when I shared this number with her. She advised me to look into this, so I took her advice seriously and started focusing on breathwork.
However, often, when I tried to engage in deep breathing, I noticed that my body would just say “No, you are not”. As if my muscles would refuse to let me breathe.
I’d lay on my back with my hand on my belly to force myself to breathe deeply, and it would work for a few minutes, but even then it always cost me immense effort to expand my belly and just breathe deeply. It all felt so restricted.
Even if I could engage in deep belly breathing, my breathing would always go back to shallow in a couple of minutes. And this pattern kept on for years.
If you’re experiencing similar symptoms regarding deep breathing, my story and insights might help you solve (or at least drastically improve) the same issue.
My story
One day, I went to visit a new physical therapist with the same issues for the 100th time. And I’m glad I didn’t give up.
She told me she wanted to check my abdominal muscles to see if there might be any tension there that could be causing the constant issues I had.
She started to massage my abdominal muscles to see if it might help. And may I tell you, this massage felt like absolute torture. It. Hurt. SO. Bad!
As it turns out, there indeed were loads and loads of muscle knots in my abs, and my muscles were very cramped and tense.
She massaged my ab muscles with dedication, and after just one session, I knew my life had changed right then and there. I realized within every fiber of my being that that one piece of information – the fact that my abdominal muscles had been so tense for years without even noticing – would change the course of my life forever.
Being able to fully breathe
After going home, I noticed my belly could relax, and I could BREATHE! Like, really breathe. Breathe in a way I feel like I haven’t ever before.
I know it sounds a bit dramatic, but it truly reflects how shocked I was. Absolutely shocked that this is how it felt to be able to breathe deeply. My belly was relaxed for the first time in ages, and I didn’t have to put in any effort at all to breathe through my stomach.
The problems I was having significantly improved.
Because I could breathe without restriction, I felt way more relaxed. I could access and feel my emotions better. I sensed a type of calm in my body that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I was ruminating less. I felt less restricted, both in my body and in my way of being.
Everything just felt calmer.
Now, I’m not implying that my body is the same as yours, and you might not experience the same effects as me. But if your breathing techniques aren’t doing much for you and recognize some of the things I’ve mentioned in this blog post, this could be a problem you might want to look into.
How to check if you have tight abdominal muscles
1. Relax your ab muscles
The first way to check this is easy: as you’re reading this right now, try to fully relax your ab muscles. if there’s nothing to relax then your ab muscles are probably relaxed. However, if you do this exercise and notice there’s a lot to relax, this is a clear-cut sign you unconsciously tighten them. And that is probably the case throughout the day.
2. Check for tension in your ab muscles
Press your fingers or a thera cane in all your ab muscles and see if any of them feel sore. The pain or tension might be unevenly distributed across your muscles. If it feels uncomfortable or even painful, your ab muscles might hold some tension.
3. Check if your breathing is restricted
Lay on your back and see if you can deeply relax your pelvic muscles and lower ab muscles. Next, breathe deeply through your lower belly, expanding it as much as you can. If you are trying to fully expand your belly while breathing, but feel restriction, or if you are unable to press any further while you know it’s not at its’ max yet, this is a sign.
4. Check how many times you breathe per minute
Another way to find out if you may have chronic issues with breathing is to see how many times you breathe per minute. You can do this by getting out a pen and a piece of paper.
Set a timer for exactly one minute and start breathing as you normally would. Drag your pen up if you breathe in, and down upon breathing out.
Your drawing should look something like a sound wave after you’re done. The amount of “peaks” in your drawing, is the amount of times per minute that you breathe. Anything above 10 times is considered too much and could be a sign of restricted breathing
How to get your abdominals to relax again
1. Massage yourself with thera cane
What helps most to keep the tension in your muscles at bay is massaging your ab muscles. Massaging your muscles with your hands is an option. But this is not nearly as effective as you can’t deeply reach the muscles and it costs a lot more effort, so you might stop before you can relieve all the tension.
That’s why I always use a thera cane when massaging myself. I wouldn’t want to live without this simple piece of plastic. It’s worth every penny. You can deeply massage your muscle tissue because you can apply way more constant pressure.
Don’t shy away if it feels uncomfortable or if it’s painful. That just means that a lot of tension has built up. Start gently and increase the pressure as you go. Continue this practice at least 1 time per week for a couple of minutes each session, to release built-up tension. You’ll probably notice the difference immediately after massaging.
2. Avoid tight pants
One of the reasons my breathing got restricted in the first place, was that I was wearing tight pants that made it very hard for me to breathe deeply. I’m talking skinny jeans and non-stretch jeans. The ones that look great on your figure, but unfortunately won’t support your breathing pattern.
Therefore, I recommend you avoid pants that are tight around your belly and restrict your breathing. Be honest with yourself about how free you feel like you can breathe wearing each pair of pants, especially when you’re seated.
I never noticed the effects of tight pants were so bad, because they were all I owned. But now, I barely wear them anymore, if ever.
If tight pants are all you know, you want to consider investing in some loosely fitting pants. The difference will definitely be noticeable over time.
As soon as you wear skinny jeans after getting used to loose-fit pants, you’ll be shocked by what you’ve put yourself through all this time.
3. Keep your belly relaxed throughout the day
One of the reasons ab muscles tense up in the first place is tightening them unconsciously.. Therefore, it’s important to understand what causes it.
The main reason why my abs had become so tense in the first place, is that ever since I was a teenager I learned to suck in my belly for it to appear flatter (hello puberty…) Over time, this grew into a subconscious habit and I wasn’t even aware that I was constantly sucking in my abs. It sounds rather innocent, but sucking in my stomach for years has been a large contributor to my dysregulated nervous system. And you might unknowingly have the same problem.
Upon learning how to breathe deeply, I had to remind myself multiple times throughout the day to relax my ab muscles. My body had gotten used to tensing my ab muscles all the time so I had to unlearn this habit my relaxing my ab muscles throughout the day as often as I could.
Teach yourself to start noticing the tension in your muscles throughout the day.
If it helps, you can set a timer every 15 to 30 minutes and check in with your muscles. Take some time to mindfully relax them if you notice them being tense.
4. Stretch your ab muscles daily
A good way to help support a relaxed abdomen is by stretching them. This prevents them from becoming tight and could help relax them as soon as tension has started to rebuild.
Some exercises I frequently do are snake pose and cat-cow pose.
5. Lay on your back while breathing deeply
Keep doing breathing techniques. They still help to relax your ab muscles and will give you a sense of calm. This will help support relaxing your ab muscles throughout the day.
The best way to do this if you struggle with tight abs, is to lay on your back. Lay your hand on the highest part of your belly and press your belly in your hands upon breathing in.
Slowly move your hand down to your pelvic area and focus your breath here. You want your lowest ab muscles to go up and down while breathing. That’s what it means to truly engage in deep belly breathing.
Preferably, you’ll want to do this technique in the morning, before you start your day to reap the benefits throughout the day.
But in the end, it’s just important that you do them. Even if you can’t make a habit of this exercise, keep focusing on your breath. Just taking 3 random deep breaths in the middle of the day can make a huge difference.
Keep practicing!
If you’ve concluded that tight abdominal muscles are something that you are struggling with, you want to take this issue seriously. A dysregulated nervous system can wreak havoc on your body and mind. Tight ab muscles have a bad influence on the state of your nervous system, and it’s so unnecessary.
Keep in mind that undoing this pattern can easily take months. That’s why you want to keep reminding yourself of it. You want to keep relieving the tension until it becomes less and less. But keep pushing! Your nervous system (and thus ultimately you) will be glad you did.
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