Breathing exercises help relieve stress and fatigue by activating the mind’s relaxation responses.
Lindsay Bira promotes freediving (long periods of diving underwater while holding your breath) as a way to reduce stress. Water may be optional.
Working to increase the time you can hold your breath is an important mental and emotional trick, according to Bira, a clinical health psychologist and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.
If you’re stressed at work, practicing apnea “holding your breath” at your desk can help, Bira said at the 2023 NeuroLeadership Institute Summit in New York.
Close your eyes and relax your body. Take deep, controlled breaths. Take a deep breath and hold for 60 seconds, making sure to calm yourself down if you start to panic. Slowly release your breath and repeat three to five times. Holding your breath for a long time may seem like a difficult, even impossible, task.
“It’s the same skill of allowing breath control that strengthens the parts of the brain that allow us to tolerate the stress of life,” said Bira, who completed psychology residencies at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Medical School. School. from Boston University before joining UT Health. San Antonio.
“Physiologically you are fully capable of holding your breath for more than 60 seconds, but your brain starts sending distress signals before you reach that milestone,” he added. You may feel full of worries and doubts no matter how much you prepare.
When you take a second (or 60 seconds) to hold your breath and reframe your thinking in those moments, you’re doing something called “reappraisal,” says Bira.
“We must consciously use this skill in the face of anxiety that tries to drag us down,” Bira said. “When we see something (stress) and think of many options or look around it,” that’s when we see the power to overcome it.
Breathing exercises help reduce stress and fatigue by inducing relaxation responses in the mind, a 2017 study in Frontiers in Psychology found. They may also have physical benefits, such as lowering blood pressure and improving the health of your cardiovascular system.
The average person can safely hold their breath for up to 90 seconds, according to a study published by the National Library of Medicine last year. You may want to avoid breathing exercises if you have conditions like asthma and emphysema, and your lung capacity may decrease as you age or if you’re pregnant, says a recent post on the website of health Healthline.
