How Deep Breathing Can Reduce Anxiety?

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.” __ Thich Nhat Hanh

Deep breathing is healing: it can reduce anxiety, bring you into the present moment through mindfulness, and calm you down.

What happens when you are worried, upset or anxious?

Your heart starts to beat faster and faster, you can feel dizzy, and blood rushes toward your heart and your brain. The sympathetic nervous system is switched on just like we are being chased by a predator. It’s an absolutely normal response. However when we are constantly stressed out or anxious, the stress response remains activated. This chronic, constant stress we’re under every day has a cumulative effect.

The great way to interrupt that stress response is to turn on the vagus nerve, which in turn powers up the parasympathetic nervous system. Deep breathing turns on the vagus nerve and acts as a brake on the stress response. The vagus nerve, along with stimulating your body’s relaxation response, can inhibit inflammation, slow down your heart, and even help you make memories.

In order to overcome the unhealthy day-to-day stress response, you should practice this type of breathing daily, and not just when you’re feeling stressed

How to practice deep breathing?

Set aside two minutes, once or twice daily, to slow down your breath.

I recommend Dr. Andrew Weil’s popular method: Breathe in for four counts, hold for seven counts, and breathe out for eight counts.

Let’s find a way to get back to our baseline relaxation to bring us to our calm, normal state. Do you incorporate deep breathing into your self-care?