ACTIVITY

Did you know that in addition to physical effects, breathing exercises help you achieve calmness and reduce stress hormones.

Many of us have probably heard of breath work, or the importance of breathing as it increases in popularity over the past few years. But why and what is it?

At its most base level, breathing obviously keeps us alive. We take somewhere between 17,000 and 30,000 breaths every day! From a physical point of view, breathing delivers oxygen to our organs, purifies our blood, and helps us release toxins.

But why do specific breathing exercises, where we become more aware of our breathing, via mindful breathing techniques, sometimes known as Awareness of Breath, especially as it relates to mental health and well-being?

STEPS

1

Stress reduction. Breathing is controlled by our automatic nervous system, made up of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic.  The sympathetic links to our ‘fight or flight’ response which comes from stress, fear, anxiety etc, and sends stress hormones into our body.  The parasympathetic system is designed to counteract that – it does the opposite – it slows us down, lowers blood pressure and our heart. It also releases a hormone called acetylcholine which supports relaxation.  We bring our parasympathetic system into play with deep breathing.  This then contributes to anxiety management and improved mood.

2

Improves our cognitive function by increasing oxygen flow to the brain – this can help with problem-solving, memory and concentration – great for sport!

3

Mindfulness. Breathing exercises are very often the cornerstone of meditation techniques.

In addition, we can obtain better sleep, regulate our emotions, build resilience to stress, and even help with pain management by incorporating some basic deep breathing exercises into our life. Doing it outside is even better – inside the air is oxygen depleted, so another reason to get out in the Clear Air!

Try this – focus on each breath, pay attention to each inhale and exhale, and make them the same length, say a count of 3-5. Do ten!