x
Because your breath directly controls your nervous system, it’s the remote control to instantly calm your brain and body. Learning to control and calm your breathing has many physical, mental, and life benefits – both instantly and in the long run. You take roughly 20,000 breaths a day, which means you have a lot of chances to help yourself. Here are six ways to do that.
It’s been well-known for some time that slowing your breath can have a calming effect on emotions and increasing your rate of breath makes you anxious, but science didn’t know exactly why. Fairly recently, research determined that your breath directly calms your brain through the “breathing pacemaker.”
In a mouse study, the group of neurons at the base of the rodents’ brain stems was found to directly connect to the arousal center in the brain. When the scientists “silenced” certain neurons in the mice’s breathing pacemakers giving them “at-rest’ breath patterns, they remained calm even in situations that would normally stress them out. Turns out, these neurons have a direct line to the brain’s arousal center and can either tell the brain there’s an emergency or keep it calm. When you intentionally slow your respiration down, the pacemaker does not send a panic signal. The breathing pacemaker has also been identified and studied in humans.
You probably don’t even think about breathing, and you’re probably doing it wrong.
If you want to observe the correct way to breath, watch a newborn. They naturally practice deep breathing from the diaphragm. You’ll see their belly expand and chest rise as they inhale air through their nose into the lungs, and when they exhale, their belly contracts. For many people, this kind of respiration is no longer instinctive. Life teaches us how to breathe incorrectly. Many of us have become shallow mouth breathers. Our breathing patterns may have shifted due to stress and anxiety. Also, the desire to have a flat stomach encourages us to hold our breath and suck in our stomachs — which is the opposite of what we should be doing. We have to intentionally re-learn how to breathe optimally.
When you take shallow breaths, your body remains in a cyclical state of stress. Stress causes shallow breathing and shallow breathing causing stress. Breathing incorrectly can activate the sympathetic nervous system and the stress response. Shallow breathing can lock your body and mind in a habitual state of stress.
Deep breathing goes by many names. You may have heard it called diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, or belly breathing. When you breathe deeply, the air coming in through your nose fully inflates your lungs, and your lower belly extends. When you breathe deeply and consciously, you can tap one of your body’s strongest self-healing mechanisms. With the speed and depth of your breath, you are telling your body your psychological state which, in turn, directs your physical state. Your breathing affects many bodily functions from your blood pressure to the immune system.
As you inhale, you draw in oxygen (O2). As you exhale, you push out carbon dioxide (CO2). Your body requires a balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide. This means that we can also run into problems when our carbon dioxide levels are too low. Proper breathing techniques help you maintain a healthy balance.
The negative effects of mouth breathing are:
This means that even while exercising it is better to breathe through your nose than your mouth. One way to work on this is to back off the intensity of exercise and train breathing only through your nose. This will push your body to become more efficient and tolerant holding in carbon dioxide. Additionally, breathing through the nose allows you access to a small portion of nitric oxide that you carry in your lungs. Nitric oxide helps dilate our lungs and blood vessels while providing antibacterial properties to clear out germs and bacteria.
Best for: Chronic stress, anxiety, phobias, pain management, nicotine withdrawal symptoms, and trauma therapy.
The 365 method utilizes the scientifically proven technique of cardiac coherence. Cardiac coherence uses biofeedback to coordinate your breath and heart rate. Slow, steady diaphragmatic breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, which triggers the parasympathetic nervous system’s relaxation response. By stimulating the vagus nerve, you can calm your body. The parasympathetic nervous system also slows and stabilizes the heartbeat, decreases blood pressure, and relaxes muscles. The brain also relaxes and increases its sense of peacefulness, allowing for positive psychological effects.
This method is optimally practiced every day at least three times per day. Each session requires five minutes. The idea is to breathe at a constant rhythm of six cycles per minute for five minutes. The rhythm consists of five seconds inhaling and five seconds exhaling. Some versions ask breathers to spend more time on exhaling and inhaling, for instance inhaling for four seconds and exhaling for six, to exert a quieting effect on the heart rate. Keep in mind that long inhales with short exhales will speed up your heart rate; whereas, shorter inhales and longer exhales will slow the heart rate and calm the body.
The regularity of this breathing exercise not only causes immediate relief for those prone to stress or anxiety, but the consistent daily approach also makes these individuals less vulnerable to stress in the long run.
Best for: Relaxation and improved sleep, managing cravings, and reducing anger responses.
The 4-7-8 breathing exercise involves you exhaling twice for each time that you inhale. A longer exhalation than inhalation activates the parasympathetic nervous system and allows the body to relax. Since this practice calms the nervous system, it’s perfect to use right before bed. However, many people advocate using the technique to de-stress throughout the day. As you start out, begin with a four-breath cycle. You can increase to an eight-breath cycle as needed after about a month of frequent practice.
The breath is your remote control for your brain and body.
Best for: Mindfulness meditation, focus, good health, and yogic exercises.
Pranayama or yogic breathing prioritizes awareness. Yoga seeks to create a combined sense of awareness that incorporates the breath, mind, and body. It’s proven to reduce depression and stress. This technique will help you pay attention to what your body is doing in the present moment and supports healing, personal development and mental or emotional transformations, and spiritual practices. Yogic breathing includes four primary skills:
The exercises below are ayurvedic warm-ups. They can be used independently or in conjunction to help you begin noticing, focusing on, and controlling your breath. After a warm-up exercise, you can work your breath into more meditative even breathing. The end result of yogic breathing tends to be quiet without snoring sounds, physically smooth, and located deep in the belly or diaphragm.
Best for: Slowing the breath for focus and deliberation, physical training, and quitting smoking.
This technique is used by retired Navy SEAL Commander Mark Divine, to aid slow, calm deliberation and respiratory strengthening. Box breathing is a great way to calm the nerves and work toward physical fitness. It can help individuals regulate involuntary bodily functions, such as body temperature. Additionally, holding the breath allows a healthy buildup of carbon dioxide. Like most healthy respiration techniques, box breathing requires you to breathe through the nose and expand the breath through the belly or diaphragm. How to Box Breathe:
You can practice this technique for one to three minutes several times a day or before a meeting or event, whenever you feel nervous or anxious.
Best for: Physical health and exercise training, controlling anxiety and panic attacks, promoting good sleep, and decreasing the effects of asthma and sleep apnea.
Developed in Russia as a treatment for asthma, the Buteyko Breathing Method works to reverse the health problems that come with improper breathing, over-breathing, and mouth breathing. Buteyko traces the development back to his own realization one night that his heavy breathing was not a symptom but, instead, the actual cause of his respiration problems. He then worked to slow down his own breath and began to feel results. Reducing how much we breathe increases the oxygen that our tissue, organs, and especially our brain, are able to absorb.
Buteyko reminds us that we breathe more often than we really need to. The average adult takes 12 to 20 breaths a minute. However, with focused, deliberate breathing that slows the heart rate and offers more efficient usage of oxygen, a person can slow down to six breaths a minute. The Buteyko Breathing Method reminds us that breathing less is an indication of being healthier. Positive physical effects can include increased physical temperature or less commonly, temperature stability in extreme environments — which is a signal of better blood circulation.
Best for: Improving the quality of life through increased motivation, health, and energy.
Qi breathing is a meditative deep breathing technique developed from traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine with a modern twist. It helps to focus the mind on goals to channel motivation. How to begin with Qi:
At the end of a Qi breathing practice, you might find deep peace or energetic bliss. Shorter Qi breathing sessions can last for three minutes, but longer meditative Qi breathing can last up to thirty minutes.
