In everyday life, mental health affects how you think, feel, and act. Apart from that, having good mental health helps you in coping with stress.
Breathing practice is one of the most recommended stress management techniques to help reduce issues related to mental health, such as anxiety. Anxiety can cause breathing problems such as feeling as if you are out of breath.
Different breathing exercises can help you relieve symptoms and improve your health. These exercises can easily be done at any point in the day for several minutes or longer moments. Below are several tips of breathing exercises for anxiety you can do
Exhale Longer
You will be able to calm yourself down when you take a deep and slow breath. This is related to the sympathetic nervous system that controls the fight-or-flight response. On the other hand, a parasympathetic nervous system is linked to exhaling your breath which affects your body’s competence to relax and calm down.
Under certain circumstances, taking too many deep breaths in a short amount of time may result in hyperventilation. Hyperventilation causes a decrease in oxygen level to an extent obstructing blood flow to your brain.
How to do it:
- Find a comfortable position, whether it’s sitting down, lying down, or standing up.
- Try attempting a thorough exhale instead of taking a big deep breath. This allows you to push air out of the lungs and easily grant your lungs to do the inhalation.
- Spend a longer time when exhaling than when you are inhaling.
- Repeat these steps a few times or for two to five minutes.
Use the ‘Belly Breathing’ Technique
Belly breathing, or also known as abdomen breathing, can help lessen the amount of work needed by your body to breathe. This exercise is done by carefully breathing from your diaphragm, which is a muscle that sits underneath the lungs.
How to do it:
- Find a comfortable position while lying down with pillows beneath your head and knees or you can also do it while sitting down. Let your body relax.
- Place your hand under the rib cage and the other hand right on your chest over your heart.
- Take a deep breath in and out through the nose and pay attention to how your stomach and chest rise up and down as you breathe.
- Ultimately you want to breathe from your stomach and your stomach to move instead of your chest.
- Repeat these steps until you feel calmer or as needed.
Practice ‘Resonant Breathing’ Technique
Resonant breathing is commonly known as coherent breathing that helps you to calm yourself down, reduce anxiety, and allow yourself to relax.
How to do it:
- Lie down while closing your eyes would be the most comfortable position
- Slowly inhale through your nose with your mouth closed for approximately six seconds.
- Inhale, and slowly exhale for six seconds to allow the air to leave your lungs slowly and gently.
- Repeat these steps for around 10 minutes to reach stillness and focus on your body.
Moreover, you can do breathing exercises whenever and wherever you need. When you breathe better, you also help maintain both your mental and physical health.
To facilitate your breathing exercise, get your hands on WellO2’s breathing device! The right device to help strengthen your breathing and improve your quality of life. Get yours now here. If you want you can also join our WellO2 breathing exercise club for free!
