Is Breathwork Safe?
Can Breathwork Hurt You?
More and more people around the world have been practicing breathwork in hopes to try and improve their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. But, let’s be honest here, as humans we are all somewhat skeptical to anything of the unknown, and although breathwork sounds like it’s 1-2-3, it is a little more complex, especially to ensure that it is safe for you.
Breathwork is the practice of various breathing techniques that have been around for thousands of years, and have been scientifically proven to help with your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
Some people have made the claim that breathwork as safe as riding a bicycle or going to the gym, but studies show that about 800 people a year die riding a bicycle, and almost half a million people injure themselves while operating gym equipment, or just working out, and since we’re committed to giving you factual information, and when we’re not, we’ll let you know, breathwork is safer than riding a bicycle or going to the gym. I mean, have you seen the folks at Planet Fitness doing fucking somersaults on the row machines? Holy Horus.
While there have been several deaths linked to the Wim Hof method of breathing, there have been no reported deaths or injuries reported to the breathing exercises we use at Breathwork for Recovery. That is because beyond the breathing technique, our practitioners are trained to help clients integrate trauma, and understand breathwork contraindications.
Let’s define contraindications, because if you’re not a therapist or medical doctor, you might not have ever stumbled across that big ass word.
Contraindication: something (such as a symptom or condition) that makes a particular treatment or procedure inadvisable (according to our friends over at Merriam-Webster).
So, the main question is, is breathwork safe? Yes! Overall, breathwork is a safe practice for everyone just as long as you don’t already have underlying issues such as seizure disorders of any kind, are pregnant and have never done breathwork, or have recently undergone heart or lung surgery. If you are ever unsure about whether breathwork is right for you, please consult with your medical practitioner. Breathwork is not a substitute for traditional therapies, or medical care, and just because a breathwork practitioner tells you it’s safe, doesn’t mean that it is, so please consult with your GP.
Here’s a few serious health issues that are contraindicated for breathwork:
● Seizures or seizure disorders (or TBI with accompanying seizures)
● Recent heart or lung surgery
● Detox (un)supervised by a medical professional
● Pregnancy
Seizures
Studies show that about 1.2% of U.S. people experience seizures. According to Penn Medicine, “Seizures occur when there are disturbances in the electrical activity of your brain.” Breathwork techniques are meant to help you regulate your breathing so that your body and mind can relax in order to release stress, but some practices initially increase sympathetic activity, and can increase the likelihood of seizure.
Although there are many techniques used that can help most people who experience seizures, our practice may edge on hyperventilation and we don’t recommend those with a history of seizures participate in that. We do use a more relaxing practice which is safe for anyone, so don’t get discouraged!
Heart or lung surgery
Studies show that about 16.3 million Americans over the age of 20 are diagnosed with coronary heart disease. 8.3% for men, 6.3 for women. According to the National Library of Medicine this includes heart attacks and chest pain.
Breathwork techniques help calm the nervous system and release the right amount of oxygen/CO2 to your brain and your body to help lower stress levels that have the potential to decrease your quality of health. If you already have heart or lung issues it is best to seek a medical opinion before deciding to practice breathwork as certain techniques if done wrong can possibly affect you differently, especially if you’ve undergone recent surgery.
Medical detox
We’re not talking about your juice or master cleanse here, we’re talking about detox off of benzodiazepines and/or alcohol. Detoxing off of these drugs unsupervised can be deadly. We encourage anyone who is detoxing off of these drugs without medical supervision to seek assistance immediately. If you are being supervised in your medical detox for these drugs, breathwork may or may not be appropriate for you and your breathwork practitioner will need to collaborate with your medical team. It can alleviate withdrawal symptoms, but your medical practitioner can more safely decide whether it’s right for you.
Pregnancy
We do not have enough data on the interactions of breathwork and pregnancy, so we advise you talk to your doctor to find out if breathwork is appropriate for you while pregnant.
In Conclusion
Breathwork is safe for those without serious health conditions such as medical detox, recent heart or lung surgery, pregnancy, and seizures. Breathwork is practiced to help us regulate our nervous system and it is important your medical provider be informed of your desire to utilize breathwork.
Your practitioner should be well aware of these issues and if they are not, please find a practitioner who is. Your life and health is important and as breathwork is not a regulated field, there is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there about it.
We are working to change that. Find out how here: American Breathwork Association.
Sources: