Breathing is the simplest of functions. You do it without thinking. And you probably put little attention to it. But did you know that every single breath is sending a signal to your brain and body that influences your physiology and reactions?
Take a moment and bring your Awareness to your breath.
- Are you breathing through your nose or mouth?
- Are you breathing from your chest area or is your abdomen rising on your inbreath and falling on your outbreath?
- How long does each inhaling/exhaling breath cycle take in seconds? – without changing it!
All of these features (nose or mouth breathing, diaphragmatic or chest breathing, and rate of breathing) sends information that you brain and body will respond to.
Breathing when under threat
Let’s consider what happens to your breathing when you perceive that there is something threatening in your environment. Evolutionary development has primed your body to react in certain ways when you perceive threat. In anticipation of being attacked, your brain and body have been designed to activate the most efficient way of getting blood to your muscles in a short space of time. Therefore, when under threat, your breathing rate increases, you tend to breathe through your mouth, and your breathing is from your chest area.
Now, that is a perfect response when you ARE under threat, but when you are not this causes problems. Because when you your breathing rate increases towards 20 breaths per minute, you breathe through your mouth, and you are breathing from your chest, it is signalling to your brain that you are under threat. Your brain stem will activate your sympathetic nervous system and your threat-response that kicks in the emotional limbic brain area. This means your breathing is now triggering adrenaline and cortisol release, and is activating emotional areas of the brain associated with threat. Simply from how you are breathing – and even when you are NOT actually under threat.
Breathing when calm
The brain and body also have another signalling mechanism for when you are calm. Imagine how you breath when you are most relaxed. Perhaps just as you are about to fall asleep. It is highly likely that you will be breathing diaphragmatically (abdomen rising and falling), your breathing rate will be slow (4-12 breaths per/min), and you may (or should) be breathing through your nose. Another important feature is that your exhaling will be longer than your inhale.
When these breathing features are present it is signalling to your brain and body that you NOT under threat and that it can activate your parasympathetic nervous system – your calming response.
This is an important point to reflect on. Your calming response (parasympathetic nervous system) will be activated if your breathing has these features:
- Deep diaphragmatic breathing and lower rib wall expansion
- Reduced respiration rate – 4-12 breaths per min
- Through nose – or inhaling through nose and out through mouth on expiration
- Having an extended pause at the end of each inbreath and outbreath
How are you breathing right now?
As you are reading this how are you breathing? If the features above are not present, then I can help you achieve them.
To breathe diaphragmatically your abdomen needs space. The diaphragm is a sheath of muscle that acts like a bellows, rising and falling to create your inbreaths and outbreaths. If there is no space in your abdomen area, by being slouched over on your seat, your diaphragm cannot move effectively. Additionally, if your knees are higher than your hips when you sit, this too is restricting your diaphragm from moving effectively.
To activate diaphragmatic breathing, as best you can, prop up your bum so that your hips are slightly higher than your knees. Move your back away from the backrest and hold yourself with an erect posture, shoulders down and chin out. Now you are in a position that allows you to diaphragmatically breath. Every breath can now send a signal to your brain and body that you are in a state of calm.
Think about the effect of not doing this. If you have habitually slouched at work, or have a chair that makes sitting as directed above difficult, then every breath is sending a signal to your brain and body that you need your sympathetic nervous system (stress response) activated. Just from your breath.
Benefits of nose breathing
For some of you, nose breathing will be tough. The reason for that is that you have habitually breathed through your mouth. From an evolutionary perspective, your mouth is designed for eating and communicating, NOT breathing.
The nose is the most efficient breathing mechanism, because this is what it was designed for. When you breathe through the nose, there is up to 50% more air resistance, so it will naturally slow your breathing rate. This results in around 10-20% more oxygen intake. Nasal breathing facilitates inhalation of nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels, raises blood supply, lowers blood pressure, and makes oxygen transport in your blood more effective. The nose warms, moistens and filters the air, making oxygen exchange more effective in the lungs.
Check in every few moments when you are working. Are you mouth breathing or nose breathing? This may take some time to change, however, the benefits could lead to you reducing your levels of stress response, simply through making the change to nose breathing.
Diaphragmatic breathing – the secret to managing stress reactions
Imagine you have an important meeting or presentation coming up. Every thought of it sends you into an anxious state and you feel your stress response building and getting intense. You don’t know how you are going to manage this.
- Solution = BREATHING – ‘if in doubt, breathe out!’
This is not a panacea for all stress responses, but diaphragmatic breathing is the most direct access that you have to your calming response (parasympathetic nervus system). For the high performance athletes and corporate executives I coach, this is one of the most effective tools in the stress response toolkit.
How does this work? I’m going to draw on some neuroscience, and the wisdom of Andrew Huberman (see his podcasts for the detailed, scientific explanation).
The relationship between heart rate and breathing means that there is a way you can directly control your heart rate utilising the relationship and interaction of your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
How does it work? When you inhale, the diaphragm moves down, the lungs expand which creates a little bit more space in your thoracic cavity, so the heart gets a little bit bigger as it is under less pressure. The reduced pressure and more space results in the blood in the heart moving a little bit slower. In the heart there are a little group of neurons (sinoatrial node) that registers this reduced blood flow. It sends a signal to the brain to say that the blood is moving slowly. The brain reacts with a signal back to the heart to get it to speed up, by activating the sympathetic nervous system. So, what this all means is that if you want your heart rate to increase and to activate a stress response, make your inhales longer and more powerful than your exhale
However, there is an opposite effect. And you can use this relationship and interaction between the brain and the body if you want to slow your heart rate down, and bring down the intensity of a stress response. When you exhale, the diaphragm moves up making the space in the thoracic cavity where the heart sits, a little bit smaller. The heart is under more pressure and the blood therefore moves more quickly as it is pushed through a smaller space. Those sinoatrial nodes register that the blood is moving more quickly and send signals to the brain, which the brain responds by activating the parasympathetic nervous system. Neurons in your brain stem actually signal back down to the heart to slow it down, and kick in the parasympathetic nervous system. So, if you want to invoke a calming effect, you need to make your exhales longer and more effortful than your inhales.
Intentional breathing techniques exploit your brain and body’s own natural systems, which makes it an attractive tool when it comes to controlling stress reactions. You can activate these in any moment, and is very easy to apply. It does not require learning, in other words, creating new neural pathways, which takes repeated effort and action, these neural pathways are already available to you.
Breathing for stress management
Now that you know how the breathing system works and how it influences your stress response and calming systems, you can exploit this knowledge to breathe more effectively. And by breathing more effectively, you can manage your stress responses. And with more control over your stress responses, you are more able to perform at your best.
Remember, these breathing techniques will only work if you are sitting in a posture that allows for your abdomen area to move freely and openly. It is also necessary to practice nasal breathing and diaphragmatic breathing. Begin practicing at home first.
- Learn to breathe in and out through your nose
- Breathe diaphragmatically – abdomen rising and falling
- Think about taking time with each inhaling and exhaling – rather than short inhales and exhales
- Extend the pauses at the end of each cycle of inhaling and exhaling
- Practice holding the pause at the end of the exhale until the sensation to get your inhale kicks in – over time, practice extending this and being more with that little uncomfortable feeling before you take your next inhale
With practice, you will be better placed to manage your stress response. However, a crucial note is that this type of breathing practice will not get rid of your stress response. It will allow you to manage it. It gives you a direct means of managing the intensity of your stress response, by keeping it from building.
Over time, by making this type of breathing more habitual, you will not only be helping to manage stress and perform more effectively, you may also be saving your life!
Stuart Munro is a performance psychologist working with elite athletes and corporate executives. He has developed an 8-session performance empowerment program that has been researched at two major universities in the UK. Study results show both elite athletes and corporate executives can be more psychologically empowered, develop more resilience, increase levels of self-awareness, improve self-regulation and enhance interpersonal skills. Contact Stuart for more details.