Essentially, this means that your diaphragm is being over-stimulated and causing your discomfort. In a recent episode of his podcast, The Huberman Lab, Dr Huberman further explored what exactly is going on here. To start, he explained what the diaphragm actually is: a muscle shaped like a dome that sits below our lungs.

“The diaphragm is skeletal muscle, much like our bicep or a quad – that’s important because it has a unique property of being able to control it voluntarily by consciously deciding you want to breathe in a particular way,” he said.

Pain in your side when running? A neuroscientist explains why (and the breathing technique to help)