Proper breathing gives relaxation and better health!

Breathing is so central to life that it is not surprising that humanity has long emphasized its value, not only for survival but also for the proper functioning of body and mind.

What do the studies show?

An increasing number of studies show that breathing techniques are relaxing and effective against anxiety and insomnia. These techniques affect both physiological factors (stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system) and psychological factors (distracting from persistent thoughts). Because these techniques are safe and easy to use, scientific validation may result in their most common practice.

Breathing as a method of relaxation

In the 1920s, the German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz developed “indigenous education” as a method of relaxation. The approach is based in part on slow and deep breathing and is probably, even today, the most well-known relaxation breathing technique in the West. Modern forms of meditation and mindfulness also emphasize breathing-based exercises. In fact, any relaxation, relaxation or meditation technique is based on breathing.

Whether the stress comes from respiratory problems or other causes, it can be treated with a variety of breathing techniques. For example, an exercise that focuses on breathing is one of the first steps in mindfulness meditation. Combining soothing thoughts with proper breathing is a technique that emphasizes the harmony of body and mind that borrows exercises from many approaches, including yoga.

The technique of cardiac cohesion

A look at a popular technique, cardiac cohesion, provides more details on how breathing exercises promote relaxation [1]. With the help of biofeedback, this approach attempts to coordinate respiration with the heart rate, slowing the respiration in order to stabilize the heart rate.

The method was developed based on the understanding that slow, deep breathing increases the activity of the pneumogastric nerve which is part of the parasympathetic nervous system. The pneumogastric nerve controls the activity of many internal organs. When stimulated, calmness permeates the body: the heart rate slows down and becomes normal, blood pressure decreases and muscles relax. When the pneumogastric nerve “informs” the brain of these changes, feelings of peace increase. Thus, the technique works with both neurobiological and psychological mechanisms.

A typical cardiac cohesion exercise involves inhaling for 5 seconds and then exhaling for the same amount of time (a 10-second breathing cycle). This technique can significantly reduce stress. Biofeedback devices make it possible to monitor on a screen how deep breathing slows down and stabilizes heart rate. A simple application of slow breathing, with rigor, could give the same result.

Some studies show that the emotional impact of breathing, through heart cohesion, and other exercises stems not only from the effect on the parasympathetic nervous system but also from the effect on the central nervous system. Breathing can act directly on the brain itself. In 2017, researchers at Stanford University showed mice that a group of neurons that regulate respiratory rate (the pre-Bötzinger complex in the brain stem) control part of the activity of an area of ​​the brain called the subclavian space, which is located in the prefrontal cortex. wakefulness and anxiety [2]. Breathing techniques can affect this seat of emotion by modifying activity in the pre-Bötzinger complex.

What is the best time to apply slow breathing techniques?

One case is during occasional stressful episodes, for example, before taking an exam or before a routine appointment. In 2017, researchers at the University of Manipal, India, studied stress before giving a public speech. The participants, all medical students, spent 15 minutes doing an exercise in which they slowly inhaled from one nostril and exhaled through the other using a finger. Compared to the control group, participants experienced less stress when speaking in public.

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Sources

1. Cardiac coherence, self-regulation, autonomic stability, and psychosocial well-being.
2. Study shows how slow breathing induces tranquility.
3. Effect of Alternate Nostril Breathing Exercise on Experimentally Induced Anxiety in Healthy Volunteers Using the Simulated Public Speaking Model: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study.