If you are one of the millions of people who suffer with anxiety on a regular basis, you can benefit from knowing just how anxiety and breathing techniques relate to each other.
Anxiety And Breathing Techniques
During times of emotional stress our sympathetic nervous system is stimulated and effects a number of physical responses.
Our heart rate rises, we perspire, our muscles tense and our breathing becomes rapid and shallow.
Consciously slowing our heart rate, decreasing perspiration and relaxing muscles is more difficult than simply slowing and deepening breathing.
The breath can be used to directly influence these stressful changes…
resulting in relaxation and a reversal of the changes seen with the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system. We can see how our bodies know to do this naturally when we take a deep breath or sigh when a stress is relieved.
The breathing process can be trained
Chest breathing is inefficient because the greatest amount of blood flow occurs in the lower lobes of the lungs, areas that have limited air expansion in chest breathers.
Rapid, shallow, chest breathing results in less oxygen transfer to the blood…
The good news is that similar to learning to play an instrument or riding a bike, you can train the body to improve its breathing technique. With regular practice you will breathe from the abdomen most of the time, even while asleep.
The benefits of abdominal breathing
Abdominal breathing is also known as diaphragmatic breathing.
The diaphragm is a large muscle located between the chest and the abdomen. When it contracts it is forced downward causing the abdomen to expand. This causes a negative pressure within the chest forcing air into the lungs.
The negative pressure also pulls blood into the chest improving the venous return to the heart.
This leads to improved stamina in both disease and athletic activity…
But most of all it is an excellent tool to stimulate the relaxation response that results in less tension and an overall sense of well being.
Abdominal Breathing Technique
Breathing exercises such as this one should be done twice a day or whenever you find your mind dwelling on upsetting thoughts or when you are experiencing pain.
Place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. When you take a deep breath in, the hand on the abdomen should rise higher than the one on the chest. This insures that the diaphragm is pulling air into the bases of the lungs.
After exhaling through the mouth, take a slow deep breath in through your nose imagining that you are sucking in all the air in the room and hold it for a count of 7 (or as long as you are able, not exceeding 7)
Slowly exhale through your mouth for a count of 8. As all the air is released with relaxation, gently contract your abdominal muscles to completely evacuate the remaining air from the lungs. It is important to remember that we deepen respirations not by inhaling more air but through completely exhaling it.
Repeat the cycle four more times for a total of 5 deep breaths and try to breathe at a rate of one breath every 10 seconds (or 6 breaths per minute). At this rate our heart rate variability increases which has a positive effect on cardiac health. You can read the entire article on breathing exercises here.
Most people who suffer with anxiety attacks will have a sense that they are being engulfed with feelings and emotions that seem to completely overtake them, and that they are loosing control.
Practicing the right breathing techniques when you are calm can change all of this for you, because you will know immediately to begin getting enough breath to ease your anxiety.
Having knowledge of both anxiety and breathing techniques is the largest stepping stone to living free of the symptoms of anxiety.
