Breathing Exercise for Stress and Anxiety

Breathing Exercise for Stress and Anxiety

A deep breathing exercise can help to cope up with stress and anxiety which is prevailing now in daily life situations also. Taking deep breaths can help us to say calm and relaxed in stressful situations.

What is Stress

Stress is our body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. One can experience stress from environment, body and thoughts. Our body reacts to these changes with physical, mental and emotional responses. It is a feeling generated when we are overloaded and struggling to cope with demands like finances, work, relationship and other situations. It can be a motivator. But it can lessen a person’s mental and physical health and become harmful, if it is triggered too easily.

What is Anxiety

Anxiety is intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Fast heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating and feeling tired may occur due to anxiety.

Let us see some Deep Breathing Exercise for stress and anxiety feeling.

We can do these exercises daily for 5 minutes each to cope up with stress and anxiety. Its better to do it in morning on an empty stomach. It can be done in evening also after work or during stressful situations or before them.

They can be done sitting or lying down on the back also.

4-7-8 Breathing Exercise for Stress and Anxiety

How to do 4-7-8 Breathing Technique

·         Sit in a comfortable position on floor or chair. Keep the spine and shoulders straight.

·         Breathe out completely through nose.

·         Inhale through nose for a count of 4.

·         Hold the breath for count of 7.

·         Exhale forcefully through mouth pursing the lips and making a “whoosh” sound for 8 seconds.

·         Repeat this cycle 4-5 times or till you feel calm and relaxed.

·         This exercise can be done daily for 5 mintues or more.

Benefits of 4-7-8 Breathing Technique

·         Regular practice of this technique helps to reduce anxiety.

·         It helps in sleeping problems also.

·         It manages cravings.

·         It helps to control or reduce anger responses in stressful situations.

Box Breathing Exercise for Stress and Anxiety

How to do Box Breathing Exercise

·         Sit on a floor or chair with feet on floor. Keep spine and shoulders straight.

·         Close your eyes. Breath out completely through nose.

·         Breath in slowly and deeply upto count of four through nose.

·         Hold the breath and slowly count till 4.

·         Now exhale through nose till count of of 4.

·         Hold breath again for count of 4.

·         This is one round. Do it for 5 mintues daily. Do few rounds of Box Breathing when feeling stress or anxiety. Duration can be increased for 5 seconds or more for inhale, hold, exhale and hold each.

Even Navy SEAL commander Mark Divine does this exercise.

Also Read: Brahmari Pranayama or Humming Bee Breath

Benefits of Box Breathing Exercise

·         It lowers levels of cortisol stress hormone.

·         It also increases attention level.

·         It helps to reduce anxiety, depression and stress.

·         It increases mental clarity, energy and focus.

·         It can also help to manage impulses associated with smoking and other addictive behaviors.

·         Regular practice of Box Breathing or Deep Breathing exercise can reduce the activation of genes linked to inflammation and stress. It can improve future reactions to stress.

·         It can be done before a stressful event like speech. Doing it can help to calm down during or after a stressful event.

Source www.medicalnewstoday.com , www.clevelandclinic.org