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How could deep breathing help me?

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How could deep breathing help me?

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 32

Well, I learned it from a doctor because I have an anxiety condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Common ways to treat the symptoms include the use of benzodiazepines, which are like sedatives. The benefit of using breathing in the way that they showed me is that it feels like you've taken a pill when in fact it's just your own nervous system reacting to muscular tension and release. It actually has less to do with breathing than with the squeezing of the muscles that contract around the vagal nerve. The sympathetic nervous system is the one that goes into overdrive when we are in a panic say, and the reverse is the parasympathetic nervous system, which comes into play if you do the breathing right. It produces calm and focus, increases blood flow and digestion, the norm for most people. I use it instead of taking a pill because the pills make you drowsy, whereas the breathing makes you feel fresh and alert though caution because some people get a bit of a head rush if they get too much oxygen.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 270

island,

Thanks for the helpful breathing tip! Can you please share with us how this method of breathing made a difference in your life? When do you personally use deep breathing and how do you feel after taking these deep breaths?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Sonia

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 32

I learned this technique from qualified health professionals. It is a similar breathing exercise, but there is a little difference. It works to relax the vagal nerve, which stretches through the torso and controls what we might call stressful reactions.

Only 3 breaths are necessary. Breathe in through your nose, mouth slightly open, and pull down your diaphram until you feel like you may run out of room and go just beyond that. Then squeeze the muscles of your pelvic floor (the ones you use for peeing and such).

Then blow out the breath through your mouth with a bit of push to it, again until you think you won't be able to breathe, and then start over again.

Repeat 3 times. It works. It's physiology. The vagal nerve ends in the pelvic floor and it controls the sympathetic nervous system, which is largely what creates a sense of anxiety and panic.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1

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11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 153

I know this helps me destress a lot . . . not just with quitting smoke butin dealing with life stressors in general. When I go to my yoga classes the "breathing" is the relaxation reward at the end of putting your body through a good workout. Different teachers do the relaxation breathing in different ways but it's all good. I find the more I excercise right now the more it manages the mood swings not to mention couteracting all the sweets I'm craving and often giving in too!

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 11212

Instead of yelling, slamming doors, or focusing on smoking, take a slow deep breath in through your nose to the slow count of five. Push your belly out at the same time; this makes the air go deeply into your lungs. Slowly breathe out through your mouth to the count of seven. Repeat this 3 times as you feel yourself relaxing and the stress dropping away.

Normally when we think about breathing, we think of it as having two parts: breathing in and breathing out. Not any more. We want you to think about breathing as having four parts, like a square or a box. Breathing in and breathing out are two sides of the box, but there are two more sides. It’s the two other sides that we want you to focus on.

If you pay attention to your breathing, you’ll notice it has four parts. We breathe in and we breathe out (sides 1 and 3), but we also actually pause twice with each cycle. We pause once after we breathe in, and once after we breathe out. So, our breathing really goes like this, breathe in on one, pause on two, breathe out on three, pause on four, breathe in on one, pause on two, breathe out on three, pause…

Sometimes it’s easier to notice the pauses. When we’re very relaxed the pauses are easy to spot. When we’re exercising or panicking, the pauses are harder to spot. But, they’re always there, no matter what. You can’t get rid of the pauses!

Where could you use this breathing technique to help you cope?

Ashley, Health Educator

Here to help :)

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How could deep breathing help me?