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Over the past couple of years there’s been a huge rise in interest in breathwork. Sure, we all know how to breathe, and we’ve been doing it since we were born – take air in, let it out, repeat 25,000 times a day. But, faced with a virus that affects the respiratory system, the ongoing pandemic has shown us how important breath-training really is.
The NHS is now recommending diaphragmatic breathing (otherwise known as deep breathing) for stress relief, and breathing control therapy is being used widely to help treat depression, PTSD and insomnia. Research suggests that simple breathing exercises can boost your mood, sleep, digestion and energy levels.
But, sometimes, remembering to breathe deeply is half the problem. Enter Fitbit Sense.
Not only does Fitbit’s Relax app help you find moments of calm throughout the day with personalised guided breathing sessions, but the electrical sensor on the Sense smartwatch can actually detect changes in your sweat level on your skin, showing how your body may respond to stress, through its EDA (Electrodermal Activity) Scan app. The Sense uses the sensor to detect the tiny electrical (EDA) responses through your palm. Typically, the calmer you are, the fewer EDA responses you’ll see.
Learning how to manage your stress is a skill, and using a smartwatch such as Fitbit Sense can help you to develop a breathing and mindfulness practice which can help you understand the power of breathing to help manage stress and improve your wellbeing – revealing the all-important connection between your physical and mental health.
So, what are the benefits of using breathing techniques? And how can using a smartwatch like the Fitbit Sense help us achieve a balanced approach to our health?
1 It can help your gut
“Our response to stress and anxiety is often quick, shallow breathing, which isn’t ideal for optimal gut health,” explains Gabriella Espinosa, yoga teacher at Movement for Modern Life.
“When this happens, we move into a fight or flight response, and oxygen is directed to our muscles in order to run from perceived danger. This constricts blood flow to our digestive system, interfering with its normal functions and leading to issues such as constipation, loose stools, bloating and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
“Focusing on our breath is an effective way to encourage the body to relax; this helps us lower our heart rate and blood pressure, and switches on our ‘rest and digest’ mode.
“A good way to do this is with diaphragmatic breathing,” she continues. “Here, it is the stomach, rather than the chest, that moves with each breath, expanding while inhaling and contracting while exhaling. Deliberately paying attention to each breath serves to calm the mind and ease feelings of anxiety.”
2 It supercharges your mood
“Breathing more deeply and more consciously naturally promotes a range of amazing benefits,” says mindset expert and coaching practitioner Poppy Delbridge.
“Often, our natural rhythms of breathing have been interrupted by our stressful, fast-paced modern lives. But once we discover our breath again, we begin to feel awakened and invigorated both in mind and body. We begin to feel healthier and freer, and with this comes increased levels of confidence. We feel we are happy with where we are right now and stop wanting more for the future; we are in this exact moment. All this feels very liberating for people.”
3 It reduces stress
Doing an active somatic breathing exercise, such as abdominal breathing, or using a touch and breathe technique — where, for 20 minutes each day, you touch various acupoints as you breathe — can significantly reduce not only stress, but a range of feelings of anxiety, says Delbridge.
“You become more connected to your body (often we do not feel in our bodies when we are stressed) and as your mind quietens and your thoughts stop whirling, you begin to think more clearly and make better decisions. Regular breathwork is one of the easiest ways to beat stress in the modern world.”
And if you take this one step further and combine your breathwork with mindfulness, you could really give stress the send-off. Fitbit members can use their app to access mindfulness audio content: the ‘Relax with Guided Breathing’ is a great place to start, and in Mindfulness tile you can even choose a weekly mindfulness goal and set reminders to complete a mindfulness session.
Ready to take your breathwork to the next level? Try pioneer of integrative medicine Deepak Chopra’s Mindful Method course exclusively available with a Fitbit Premium subscription. As the man himself has said: “You can definitely take control of your stress. Mindful Method simplifies these practices to help you build a more conscious mindfulness practice and implement it into your daily lives.”
4 It induces the parasympathetic response
The way you breathe has a direct influence on your nervous system. “While your sympathetic nervous system is constantly active at a basic level, in order to calm the body and mind, it’s helpful to know breathing exercises that we can adopt to help counterbalance the fight, flight or freeze response,” says Fi Clark, yoga instructor at FLY LDN.
“When we are faced with a situation that evokes a takeover of our sympathetic nervous system, our heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate increase significantly. It then takes the parasympathetic nervous system kicking in to reduce the level of these bodily functions to aid a return to normal levels as the body settles back into a state of equilibrium. By really focusing on the breath, slowing it down and concentrating on a fuller and wider breath, we can do just that.”
5 It improves your posture
Most people will think that breathing and posture are two separate subject matters, but the truth is they are intrinsically linked and they can hinder or help each other, says Clark.
“Having a good posture will not only increase the resonance but also the volume of breath intake. On the other hand, poor posture will compromise the ability of the diaphragm opening fully when breathing, due to compression of the thoracic region,” she explains.
“If you suffer with kyphosis (a pronounced curvature of the upper back in a hunching forward action), this restricts the space in which the ribcage and sternum can expand in order to take in deep breaths. Therefore, by working on improving posture through exercise, it is possible to create more physical space to increase the flow of breath.”
6 It can help you sleep
Breath is intrinsically linked to your quality of sleep, explains Clark. “If you’re unable to get to sleep at night, taking time before you go to bed to create a ritual of five to 10 minutes of purely focusing on your breath – with techniques such as Alternate Nostril Breathing or Diaphragmatic Breath – can help soothe your fleeting mind and slow down your heart rate in preparation for a good quality night’s rest,” she says.
“While asleep, if you are mouth breathing, your body will receive less oxygen than nostril breathing. This can cause frequent waking or even sleep apnea. Mouth taping is being talked about a lot in the world of health and fitness as a suggested prevention of mouth breathing,” she continues.
The six-month Fitbit Premium free trial you get with a Fitbit Sense means you can access all the specific mindfulness content to help calm your mind – including guided meditation sessions, relaxing soundtracks and stories. You’ll also find Deepak Chopra’s Mindful Method content available in Fitbit Premium, with content such as ‘Mindful Breathing’ and ‘How to Let Go’.
Achieve your holistic health goals
The past year has been a real rollercoaster, with many of us feeling more stressed as we juggle working from home with childcare and self-care. But there have also been some positives. We’ve learned some valuable lessons about how resilient we really are, and about how we de-stress – and that’s where tracking our own health data has come into its own.
Fitbit Sense can help you connect the dots between activity, sleep, nutrition and stress management, with tips on how to understand your body better and ultimately help improve your overall health and wellbeing.
For more information, visit Fitbit.com
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