Learn To Breathe To Reduce Stress

Our modern ways of living mean that our very lifestyle puts us in an almost constant state of excitement, whether we have something to be genuinely thrilled about or not! This can cause emotional problems including irritability, anger, and depression along with physical symptoms like headaches and stomach aches. Luckily, simply learning to breathe using certain techniques can help you to alleviate these issues.

Many people that we see are suffering from stress in some way or another, whether this is muscular tension or poor sleep, both of which can impact heavily on day to day life.

Practicing focused breathing exercises can help you relax and relieve the tension you’ve built up during the day and, done before you go to sleep, can help you slip off more quickly into a better quality sleep.

First, it is important to find a comfortable position for these breathing exercises. The most popular position for this is lying comfortably on your back, with a small pillow or book propping up your head, without straining your neck. If lying or sitting in an alternative position is more comfortable, this is fine too.

The next step is to breathe using proper techniques- THERE IS MORE THAN 1 ? . Ordinarily, throughout the day, you may tend to take small and shallow breaths. In contrast, breathing exercises involve taking deeper, fuller, longer breaths.

A deep, relaxing breath should start in your stomach. If lying on your back, it can be helpful to place your hands on your stomach to feel it rise and fall with your breath. With deep breathing, your stomach, chest and collar bones may rise and expand, but your shoulders should remain still, without rising towards your ears.

While doing this, it is important to focus on your breath. The point of breathing techniques such as this are to alleviate stress, not to give your mind the opportunity to dwell on stressful thoughts. Sometimes it can help to count each breath in and out, counting up to ten before beginning again. Alternatively, you might like to count each breath itself to ensure that you are breathing deeply. It is normal to count around 5-6 seconds in, hold for a few seconds, and exhale steadily. This is a great technique to practise in the evening and before bed.

During stressful incidents, you may tend to breathe shallow and quickly. This is effectively what happens in the fight or flight response and in times of stress can lead to hyperventilating. Therefore, when experiencing a stressful situation, at work, in traffic or with another person, it can help you dramatically to take a few deep breaths from your stomach to help calm down.

Many people spend most of the day sedentary, sat at desks, and breathing shallow breaths. Taking just a few minutes a day to focus on breathing will help both body and mind.

Overall this first method is usually beneficial during the day when you are active and perhaps breathing more shallower.

 

 

Next technique can be recognised to help you when your relaxed and benefits sleep. It is to encourage always breathing Nasaly ? 

which may be able to help Reduce snoring, obstructive sleep apnoea, decongest your nose.

 

Russian Dr Buteyko advised breathing through the nose day and night and breathing light!

Especially important if you’re suffering from sleep or respiratory problems and even more so in children. If we develop bad habits such as breathing through the mouth, periodic sighing and relatively noticeable breathing during rest this will translate into more intense breathing during sleep.

?  Good breathing == at rest, light, gentle, calm and through the nose.

Healthy breathing rate is 10 to 12 breaths per minute, drawing in 500 mL volume each breath. Total volume 5 to 6 L per minute. Breathing pattern should be quiet, still, calm, relaxed, regular, through nose and driven by diaphragm (around tummy). 

Those whom snore are suspected to be to be breathing in more deeply than average and thus creating chronic hyperventilation. Unnecessarily reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the lungs and blood which has vital functions in the human body. 

Imperative to this method is the control pause measurement  Useful to  track progress and measure breathing volume during rest and sleep.

How to do the controlled pause measurement:

Step one – breathe through nose

Step two – adult correct posture (relaxed)

Step three – Control Pause

“Control pause “ measurement developed to measure relative breathing volume. In simple terms it’s the length of time you can comfortably hold your breath following an exhalation. 

• The breath is taken after gently exhaling.
• Breath is held until first stress to breathe or the first involuntary movements of the breathing muscles. it’s not a measure of the maximum length of time you can hold your breath

1. Take small silent breath in and small silent breath out.
2. Hold your nose with the fingers to prevent air from entering
3. Count how many seconds until you feel the first signs of air hunger – in voluntary movements of breathing muscles,  tummy jerk, neck muscle contraction
4. Your inhalation at the end of the breath should be calm.
5. Release your nose and breathe in

If you have to take a big breath at the end of the breath hold, then you have hold your breath for too long.

The idea is that your nose will be more permanently free when you can easy when you can reach control pause breath hold of over 25 seconds.

 

Breathing through the mouth ? can contribute to feeling of exhaustion during the day and difficulty getting up in the morning. Ways to help encourage nasal breathing 

– actively concentrate on breathing nasaly

-keep good constant airflow into your room and try and get as much fresh air as possible

-nasal strips can also be beneficial in helping to open up nasal airways.  Porous paper tape across the lips during sleep to help discourage mouth breathing. 

The theory behind this method is to maximise body oxygenation!

 

Unblock your nose

To unblock your nose try the following exercise:

To unblock your nose try the following exercise:

-take a normal, silent breath in through your nose.

-Allow a normal, silent breath out through your nose.

-Hold your nose with your fingers to put an air from entering or escaping.

-Nod your head up and down or swear your body until you feel a medium too strong need for air.

-Hold your breath for as long as you’re comfortable can.

-Let go and breathe in through your nose.

-Calm your breath immediately

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick ⚡️ Overall 

Measure your control pause measurement each morning upon waking.

Breathe through nose throughout the day

Practise reduced breathing exercise for ten minutes, 3x daily, and 15 mins directly before bed.

Sleep in a cool airy bedroom