We breathe without thinking.
We are hardwired to do so. It’s essential to human life and our wellbeing.
As adults, we breathe on average 14 times per minute. We breathe in oxygen for our brains and bodies and breathe out carbon dioxide.
Recent scientific understanding suggests that breathing is more than just this simple oxygen intake. We can change the way we think and how we feel by taking a conscious decision to change the way we breathe.
Speed of breathing and depth or volume of breathing can lower our blood pressure, change our heart rate, reduce our levels of stress, and so reduce anxiety.
Slowing down breathing is a great way to send ourselves to sleep too.
Changing breathing can also reduce pain, think about childbirth. Amazingly it can also improve decision making at work and home too.
There are lots of ways you can consciously adapt your breathing for different situations. One of the best ways to do this is to time your breaths. For example, if you are in a stressful situation, you can try the four-six method.
What is the four-six breathing method?
Breathe in for four seconds then breathe out for six seconds. Try doing it for a few minutes every day.
Breathing is directly connected to our emotional state. When we are scared we begin to breathe more rapidly. This quickened breathing can make us feel panicked and then we breathe even faster.
If you have seen someone have a panic attack, or if you have had one yourself, then you will have noticed their very rapid breathing. One way to calm them or yourself is to slow the breathing.
There are lots of scientific studies to show that controlling your breathing can control your anxiety. Yet, breathe control is nothing new. It is part of many ancient teachings and philosophies such as yoga and even the martial arts.
Controlled breathing can also reduce the effect of chronic pain. Chronic pain is amplified by stress. The effects pain and stress have on our bodies are very similar. They increase our blood pressure and heart rate and our breathing becomes faster and shallower.
For those who live in a state of constant chronic pain, their nervous systems are in overdrive, making them sensitive to and aware of pain signals. This can be addressed by beep breathing exercises.
These breathing exercises can also improve your decision making at work.
A French study of students at a business school involved asking the students to spend a few minutes deep breathing before undergoing a challenging mental task. The students not only experienced less stress but made better decisions than the control group.
Controlled breathing can give you almost instant results too. There is no need to go on a course or practice for weeks to perfect your technique. But practising can be beneficial. If we get used to doing something we can more easily remember to call upon it when needed.
Try the four-six method now while you are reading this. Do it ten times. You will feel the difference straight away.
The key is to get used to doing it. When you are practising do a quick body scan and become aware of your posture.
Why should slowing your breathing reduce anxiety?
How do breathing exercises work? Neuroscientist Ian Robertson, Professor Emeritus at Trinity College Dublin explained:
“Our breath affects almost every organ in our body because of its effects on the part of the brain called the locus coeruleus which is deep in the middle of the brain.
“It’s the only source of one of our chemical messengers, noradrenaline. Noradrenaline is the brain’s equivalent of adrenaline for the body, so it’s a general, preparation for action, arousal, neurotransmitter.
“The way we breathe affects the carbon dioxide in our blood. The locus coeruleus’s firing response is very precise as to how much carbon dioxide is in the blood at any particular moment. How we breathe affects this critical part of the ‘fight or flight’ network and also the so-called ‘rest and digest’ system as well. And these affect almost every single organ in our body including the brain.”
When you slow down your breathing, your heart rate also drops. It’s part of the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system.
As well as the four-six method there is the four-two-four method. Where you breathe in for the count of four, hold your breath for the count of two and then exhale for the count of four.
Ian recommends the four-six method:
“They are are incredibly potent ways of giving ourselves a perfectly safe and wonderful mini tranquiliser, a reset for the brain and yet a lot of the time we just don’t do it. We forget to do it.
“So, I have to consciously remember to do it. But when we’re pressured or when we are feeling we’re having to perform or when we are very busy, unless we have made that a very well practised habit, we tend not to remember to do it. And of course, when were are very busy or stressed many people tend to hold their breath.”
One technique to embed this is to try and remember to do the two-four breathing after each daily work activity such as after you have done your emails.
There are many other ways you can reduce anxiety in yourself and others.