Most adults take approximately 12-16 breaths per minute.
Breathing is vital to our survival, yet we often don’t pay much attention to it.
In the past, when I would struggle with heavy bouts of severe anxiety, focusing on my breathing was the furthest thing from my mind. Back in those days, my primary focus was on avoiding negative thoughts and their associated emotions.
But when it comes to managing and coping with anxiety, avoidance doesn’t work.
You’ll never “outthink” your anxiety.
What you can do is build a foundation of healthy habits that creates stability and effective coping mechanisms.
THE BREATHING FOUNDATION
Because breathing is an essential part of our lives, it’s an easy coping mechanism for just about anything. We can use it to help initiate deeper sleep, relieve tension, promote mindfulness, and many other activities. Breathing is as natural for us as the sun coming up.
Why not use it to help us manage our anxiety?
Building a foundation of healthy habits assists us in managing stress, anxiety, and overthinking. Think of it as the foundation of a house.
If you pour a reliable, stable foundation, then the house has the support it needs to withstand the strains it will endure over time. Whereas, if you pour a foundation with weak spots, cracks, and kinks, over time, no matter how sturdy the rest of the house is, it will eventually crumble.
Your mental health is no different than a house – it needs a solid foundation to help get through the rough patches that life naturally brings to us.
Implementing healthy and proven deep breathing techniques can help to alleviate some of the pain and suffering that anxiety causes. It naturally calms down our sympathetic nervous system responsible for the fight, flight, or freeze response.
Deep breathing is a powerful and sometimes underutilized tool in our mental health toolbox.
THE AMYGDALA AND ANXIETY
I want you to stop and think of a moment in your life when you lost your cool.
You might be sitting around a campfire with friends laughing and enjoying the evening when suddenly someone says something that triggers you inside. Suddenly, your calm, relaxed demeanor shifts into a moment of anger, and you lash out, saying something you regret.
We’ve all, at one time or another, had a moment similar to this. My guess is that most of us have had quite a few moments of spontaneous outbursts.
But do you understand why this happens? What part of the brain is responsible for emotional reactivity?
The amygdala is the brain region primarily associated with emotional processes, and it plays a vital role in anxiety.
When you use your senses, the sensory information goes to the part of your brain known as the thalamus, which acts as a relay station. The thalamus then sends that information to the neocortex, which is the “thinking brain.” From there, the information is sent to the amygdala (the “emotional brain”), which then produces the appropriate emotional response.
But when you face a threatening situation, the thalamus sends sensory information to both the amygdala and the neocortex.
Once the amygdala senses a dangerous threat, it makes a quick decision to initiate the fight-or-flight response before the neocortex has time to overrule it. This is done to initiate a quick response to threatening stimuli.
The amygdala can also be triggered by the cortex. The area of the brain is associated with the higher brain functions, such as voluntary movement, coordination of sensory information, learning and memory, and the expression of individuality.
Overthinking, rumination, and worrying about the future all originate in the cortex, which sends that information to the amygdala, and the stress response is triggered.
HOW DEEP BREATHING HELPS CALM STRESS AND ANXIETY
The autonomic nervous system has two areas, the sympathetic nervous system, and the parasympathetic nervous system.
Whenever we are in a state of stress, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activates the stress response, which provides a burst of energy to respond to potential or perceived threats. This fight-or-flight response provides the body with a burst of energy so that it can react to perceived threats and dangers.
Conversely, the parasympathetic nervous system triggers the “rest and digest” response that calms the body down after the threat or danger has passed.
The problem with the stress response is that many times it is triggered by threats that aren’t real or that stem from some past emotional trauma.
This, in turn, causes high levels of stress and anxiety.
The question then becomes – how do we slow down the stress response?
THE RELAXATION RESPONSE
One of the ways to combat the stress response is by applying a series of relaxation techniques called the relaxation response.
The relaxation response relies on a combination of approaches, including repetitive prayer, yoga, meditation, mindfulness, repeating soothing words (peace, love), and applying deep breathing, specifically abdominal breathing.
Deep breathing is a critical component of the relaxation response since it has a direct effect on calming the nervous system down. It’s one of the best ways to lower stress in the body.
When you practice deep breathing, it sends a message to your brain, telling it to calm down and relax.
The brain then sends the same message to your body, telling it to calm down and relax.
Stress responses such as increased heart rate, fast breathing, and high blood pressure, all decrease as you practice deep breathing.
IN REVIEW
It’s important to remember that:
Breathing exercises are easy to learn and practice.
You can perform breathing exercises anywhere at any time.
Deep breathing can physically calm your body down after experiencing the stress response.
Try different breathing techniques out and see which works best for you.
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