How breathing could be the key to reducing stress

Breathing. 

You’ve been doing it all your life. You’re doing it now. Breathing is so damn simple, you can even do it in your sleep. No matter how hard you try, you can never forget how to breathe. It’s like riding a bike that way. (Except, trust me, you can actually forget how to ride a bike!)

Breathing is basic. And yet this simple function contributes much more to wellness than exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. 

For one, breathing the proper way can be a deadly weapon in the battle against stress. At the same time, when breathing doesn’t work properly, stress will rise up and wreak havoc.  

Tell me how.

First, let’s take a quick look at the anatomical elements of breathing. Specifically, the muscles of the diaphragm and pelvic floor. When we breathe in, these muscles contract, pulling the lungs down which expands their volume and allows them to fill with oxygen-rich air for our oxygen-needy blood, muscles, and organs.

When we exhale, the same muscles relax and push the base of the lungs up, forcing out CO2.

It’s kind of a complicated process and generally speaking, we don’t even realize it’s happening but the take away here is this: Those muscles are vital to breathing.  And when you become just a little more conscious of them, they tend to perk up and engage, and when they’re engaged, the breath becomes deeper…and slower and oxygen reaches the parts of the lungs that are most adept at extracting it.

Pump me up!

They’re different from other muscles. You can order the muscles of your arm and hand to lift a plate off a table. The breathing muscles work automatically, without being told. 

However, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be made to work better. They can. More on this later.

Why does this matter?

In a word? Stress. 

Think back. Maybe to the first time you met your partner’s family. Or to the last time you sat for an important exam. Or to that job interview, that presentation. Or when you stood at the foul line for two shots with your team down by one with no time on the clock in the championship game. 

You may recall that in situations like these, your breathing became shallower. That’s okay. You were under stress. Your sympathetic nervous system was working the way it is supposed to in the face of stress. This trait is a remnant of the time when humans faced daily dangers like being eaten by a lion. It’s what tells you to fight or flee. (FYI: In the case of a lion attack, I recommend the latter),

Once the source of stress has passed, the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in. You relax. Stress levels drop. You breathe easy. Later on, you sit around the fire and tell your friends about how you were almost eaten by a lion. 

Stress is Everywhere. Stress is Unavoidable.

Unfortunately, not all sources of stress are so identifiable as an overgrown cat with razor-sharp claws. It can - it does - come from anywhere: Work, school, relationships, traffic, the evening news, getting dinner ready in time. 

In a word? Life.

Stress and breathing have a bi-directional relationship. That is, the higher the stress, the less functional the breathing. Improper breathing only stresses the body more, which leads to even worse breathing, which adds even more stress and so on and so on. 

It can even lead to over-breathing (or hyper-ventilation) when the lungs are too efficient in ridding themselves of carbon dioxide. 

Longer term, inefficient breathing can lead to more chronic issues such as sleep disturbances, muscle tightness, chronic low level anxiety. 

Shut up and Breathe.

Fortunately, there are many simple, drug-free treatments to help us breathe better. 

One is to re-learn the basic skill. Keep your mouth shut.  Let your nose do the breathing.

Air that enters the lungs through the nose is more conditioned, partially filtered of dust and other particulates (like pet dander, bacteria and viruses!) and naturally richer in nitric oxide, which has been shown to contain anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and increase energy. Nasal breathing also naturally regulates the breath in terms of both depth and length.

Mouth breathing has its place but should really only be used when it comes to extreme physical output and the volume of air required can’t be achieved through the nose.  Otherwise we want to be breathing through our noses for all the reasons mentioned above.

So what can I do to improve my breathing?

THE 4-7-8 BREATH FOR STRESS RELIEF  

Made popular by Dr. Andrew Weil, it involves breathing in through the nose to a count of 4, holding the breath for a count of 7, and breathing out through the mouth with pursed lips to a count of 8.   This exercise is great for acute stress, it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which calms the body and mind.  Do anywhere from 3 to 5 rounds of this at a time while being conscious of the movement of the diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles.

DEEP BREATHING FOR STRESS AND RELAXATION

There is no counting for this form of breathing but rather a focus on the expansion and contraction that takes place during the inhale and exhale.

As mentioned above, when we inhale, the diaphragm descends, compressing the contents of the stomach. The pelvic floor descends as well and the lungs expand and fill with air which cause the ribs to expand laterally. The shoulders should remain relatively stable. Take in as much air as is comfortable, perhaps pushing just a little more than normal on both the inhale and exhale and really feel the muscles involved as well as the rib cage, expanding and contracting. You can play with the deepness of the breath and just remember to feel everything that’s happening. It’s a great way to become more intimate with your breathing apparatus.

LEARN TO NASAL BREATHE

People become mouth breathers for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is nasal obstruction, for others it’s just years of bad habit.

The nose is like any other body part it adheres to the law of “use it or lose it”. You may think you can’t breathe through your nose because it’s always stuffed up and so, end up in a vicious circle. But with some conscious effort, the nose can again regain it’s clarity by simply being used again!  All that’s required is to try and breathe through it as much as possible. And if you wanted to take it a step further, “mouth taping” (yes it’s a thing) during sleep is a surprisingly effective method of improving nasal health, sleep quality, snoring output and possibly even mild forms of sleep apnea. Check out this video by James Nestor on mouth taping - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nxi2kDcZx4

So you’re saying how you breathe can have a major impact on my health?

In a word, yes.