Question: I made the comment on a diabetes forum that shallow breathing can cause weight gain. I believe this can be explained physiologically because the low breathing rate will slow the metabolism and hence that will have an effect on the burning of carbohydrates and fats. I was told this was not based on science. Am I right in what I had said?

Thank you for your help
I would just like to ask about the opposite. I have seen that some people with very deep breathing, eg my husband had this from childhood and his rib cage was enlarged and his lungs over inflated some of the time, he also had underweight problems. Can you comment on this too please? How is the physiology affected?

And could we say that shallow breathing is associated with hypothyroid problems and too deep breathing is associated with hyperthyroid problems?

I'd like to ask a bit more on the thyroid function.
I know that there are many reasons for hypo and hyper thyroidism but with specific reference to breathing rates, if the breathing rate affects the metabolism, i.e., speeds it up or slow it down, is it then correct to say that the breathing rate would cause hypothyroidism, if the breathing is too shallow, and hyperthyroidism if the breathing is too deep and rapid AND if these conditions are pathological, i.e., stress related conditions?

To give you some background. I have learnt Aikido, a Japanese martial art. Our teacher used to say when you prepare to strike with the sword or rod or even to take a hand or leg action against your opponent, you should always do it on an in breath because when a person is breathing in they have no power.

To train myself I set about watching the breathing and keying into the breathing of everyone around me, in relationships, in casual meetings etc. I found that when most people were stressed they altered their breathing rate. Some people moved to more shallow breathing and others to deeper breathing. In some of the worst cases of deep breathing I found that they had an enlarged area around the neck which I later discovered had to do with the thyroid gland, others had large rib cages. Those with shallow breathing did not have such obvious changes. If they had under-inflated lungs or under-developed thyroid it was not apparent.