Feeling frustrated, anxious or overwhelmed? Then, stop and take a deep breath.

But, does this actually do anything? YES! Mechanisms within your body are activated when you breathe deeply, helping you feel more calm and relaxed — even when you’re not especially frustrated, anxious or overwhelmed. Specific breathing techniques can help you maximize the calming benefits. Let’s explore how you can harness the power of deep breathing.

What’s the big deal?

The average person breathes somewhere around 12-16 breaths a minute. That’s roughly 17,000 breaths a day, 6 million a year and 420 million over the course of a 70-year lifetime. So, can concentrating on a few breaths a day out of thousands really do anything? ABSOLUTELY!

For thousands of years, Eastern cultures have taken advantage of the health benefits available through mindful breathing. The benefits are astounding:

Increasing focus and internal awareness
Improving your mood
Reducing pain
Strengthening the immune system
Strengthening the heart
Reducing blood pressure
Reducing heart rate
Strengthening lung function
Strengthening all things nighttime such as sleep quality and sex

Your entire livelihood depends on your ability to breathe, so it makes sense that manipulating your breath can also change what goes on within your body.

So, how does it create in-the-moment benefits?

The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) releases adrenaline and that famed fight-or-flight response. For thousands of years, humans depended upon the ability to detect threats, analyze them and decide if they were better off to turn and beat feet to escape or utilize their ninja skills to neutralize.

When faced with a potential threat, your body activates a cascade of events to maximize your chances for success with either choice. Your heart and breathing rates increase to deliver the oxygen needed for your muscles to perform. You become flushed or pale as blood is re-routed from the skin to your brain and muscles to make more oxygen and energy available. You begin to sweat to keep your body from overheating while taking action. Pupils dilate, taking in more visual information and making you become hyperaware of your environment — anxious. Trembling may ensue as your muscles tense to stay in the ready.

These changes are much needed when you’re in the woods and come across a bear!

The body is full of opposing systems. The opposite of the SNS fight-or-flight response is the rest-and-digest response of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The two of these together make up the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Luckily, we have a method to activate this rest-and-digest state. This is where deep breathing comes in. As you take deep breaths, the PNS is activated, releasing chemicals that slow your heart rate, bring down your blood pressure and reduce your anxiety. As the SNS settles, you feel much more relaxed and able to direct your focus.

Are there benefits outside of acute stress?

When you’re stressed, your SNS is active at various intensities depending on the perceived need. While you may not experience the acute sensations outlined above, “low-key” chronic stress can still have numerous effects on your well-being if you do not take the time to relax.

There is another hormone called cortisol that increases during of periods of stress. Cortisol increases the amount of sugar available for energy, improves the brain’s ability to use sugar, reduces inflammation and increases the amount of material needed to repair body tissues. This is useful all the time, right?! Wrong!

You see, cortisol also increases blood pressure, suppresses the immune system, creates mood imbalances and decreases the activity of the digestive system, reproductive system and growth. Over time, chronic stress puts you at risk for anxiety, depression, digestive problems, headaches, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, weight gain, sleep issues and memory problems. There’s no end to the problems it can cause.

Taking the time to regularly practice deep breathing has been shown to significantly decrease the amount of cortisol floating around in your body.

So, how do I do it?

Two of the most popular and versatile ways are the 4-7-8 method and belly breathing.

4-7-8 method

The 4-7-8 method acts as a sort of sedative for that fight-or-flight response through activating the rest-and-digest system. You can feel it start to work almost immediately, and it’s easy to perform while sitting or lying down. Here are the steps:

Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth just behind your top teeth.
Breathe out completely.
Inhale for a count of four through your nose.
Hold your breath for a count of 7.
Completely breathe out for a count of 8.
Repeat three more times for a total of 4 cycles.

It’s not necessary to use actual seconds for the count but keeping the 4-7-8 ratio is vitally important. You can practice this a few times daily or use it as needed during times of high stress.

Belly breathing

While sitting or lying down:

Place one hand on your upper chest and the other hand on your belly, just below your ribcage.
Allow your stomach to relax.
Slowly breathe in through your nose. While inhaling, you want to concentrate on using your stomach to draw the air in. You should feel the hand on your belly move outwards without any rise or fall in your chest and shoulders.
Slowly exhale completely by tightening your stomach muscles to push the air out.
Do this for 5 to 10 minutes every day with the goal of 3 to 4 times a day.

Give it a try!

For the next two weeks, we challenge you to choose one of these breathing methods and perform it at least once a day. At the end of the two weeks, we believe you will see the positive impacts of performing deep breathing exercises. The more you practice, the stronger the benefits. Take the time for you. The return on investment is endless.

Sources:

Deep Breathing or breathing with your belly for less stress symptoms (attune.nl)

How Your Lungs Get the Job Done | American Lung Association

Benefits of Deep Breathing | Livestrong.com

How the Fight or Flight Response Works – The American Institute of Stress

Take a Deep Breath – The American Institute of Stress

Chronic stress puts your health at risk – Mayo Clinic

Cortisol Production and Use by the Body | Ausmed

Chronic stress puts your health at risk – Mayo Clinic

8 Deep Breathing Exercises for Anxiety Relief (verywellmind.com)

How to Do Belly Breathing Like a Pro | Yuri Elkaim