Breathing is essential to living. It comes so instinctively to us that it leaves little room to question its proficiency. But what if I told you there was a more efficient way to breathe and simultaneously reduce stress with the power of breath?
When we are born, our breathing primarily begins in our abdominal region. The diaphragm expands and deflates like an iron balloon sitting in our little bellies. As we grow older, our method of breathing changes. We pull further away from our instinctive breathing and into the chest or thoracic breathing. This can lead to shallow breathing when contrasted to the deep breathing we achieve when we pull our abdominal muscles downward to fill our lungs.
Why Diaphragmatic Breathing?
“Proper breathing is a master key to good health,” Andrew Weil, M.D., the founder and director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, states in his audiobook Breathing: The Master Key To Self-Healing.” “Breathwork is free. It requires no equipment. It’s simple. And it’s working with something that literally you have right under your nose and many of us never think to make use of.”
Breathing practices have been around for centuries. Also known as pranayama in yoga, they have roots in eastern medicine and yoga practices. According to a study done on yoga-based breathing with patients with generalized anxiety disorder, diaphragmatic breathing helped alleviate anxiety symptoms.
Deep diaphragmatic breathing is known to increase the activity of the vagus nerve. Subsequently, this calms the body, decreases blood pressure, relaxes the muscles, and slows the heart rate so it reaches a regular state. With controlled breathing, stress may not disappear entirely, but it can be alleviated.
How Does Diaphragmatic Breathing Work?
The power of breath allows us to establish rhythms of breathing through our voluntary nerves and muscles that affect our autonomic nervous system. Our nervous system has two parts: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.
According to Harvard Health, the sympathetic nervous system functions similar to a gas pedal. This system triggers our fight-or-flight response. In contrast, the parasympathetic system acts as a brake and prompts the “rest and digest” response that helps calm the body.
In other words, by using the power of breath as a healing technique, we can lessen the overactivity in our sympathetic nervous system and directly stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system. As a result, this can bring us to a calmer state and reduce stress with the power of breath.
How Can This Be Useful?
According to the Veteran’s Affairs Whole Health Library, you can reduce stress with the power of breath along with many other physiological and psychological concerns. This includes hypertension, asthma, hot flashes, insomnia, pain, stress, depression and anxiety to name a few. Diaphragmatic breathing is useful for:
- Helping you relax and lowering the level of stress cortisol hormones in the body.
- Lowering your blood pressure and heart rate.
- The training you to have personal tools for increasing calmness and relaxation.
- Shifting you from a state of passivity to activity; for instance, you are “doing something” which gives power in your healing process.
- Providing a simple method to silence states caused by pain and the emotions that come with it
- Presenting a cost-free and portable option.
- Use before, during, or after difficult procedures, situations, and life stressors.
- Providing a distraction that is positive for the individual.
How Do I Practice Diaphragmatic Breathing?
- Lie on your back on a flat surface or in bed. Support your head and knees with a pillow if comfortable, and keep your knees bent.
- Place a hand on your belly and the other hand on your upper chest (just below the rib cage).
- Breathe in deeply through your nose, letting the air pull in and slowly pass toward your lower belly. Meanwhile, you will notice the hand on your chest stay still and the hand on your belly rise.
- Tighten your abdominal muscles, and as they fall inward purse your lips and exhale. The hand on your belly should return to its original position.
You can try incorporating this practice for five or 10 minutes throughout the day as needed. On the other hand, if you’d rather sit for this practice, keep your knees bent, shoulders back, and your body relaxed. Maybe you would rather try diaphragmatic breathing while walking or standing—just remember to stand up straight with your shoulders back and your hips under your lungs. Meanwhile, good posture helps your body breathe on its own, and facilitates less restrictive movement of the diaphragm and muscles between the ribs.
Decrease Stress by Using Your Breath
If practicing diaphragmatic breathing feels difficult at first, this is normal. Over time and with continued practice, breathing through your diaphragm will become more easy and automatic. This Mental Health Day, let’s be reminded of the internal and external tools available to aid us in our mental health journeys. Sometimes we have to take it one day at a time. Because we utilize breath every day, we already have breathing as a primary tool.
References:
Learning diaphragmatic breathing – Harvard Health
Proper Breathing Brings Better Health – Scientific American
The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults (nih.gov)
The Power of Breath: Diaphragmatic Breathing – Whole Health Library (va.gov)
Understanding the stress response – Harvard Health
