Archive for March, 2011
Deep Breathing Exercises for Stress and Relaxation
March 8th, 2011 >> Relaxation and Stress
Do you do deep breathing when you get stressed or anxious? It seems to be an instinct that we usually do this whenever we are in stressful situations. Breathing exercises make you relax since they give your body the feeling of being relaxed.
Also, breathing exercises help the body achieve the amount of air it needs to carry out various processes. This may also explain why it is important to do deep breathing in times of stress when the demands for oxygen increase to keep up with your physical activity.
Deep Breathing and Relaxation
Have you noticed how your body feels after breathing-in deeply when you are tired or exhausted? Think of how you feel when you do deep breathing before you fall asleep or upon waking up. You might have noticed how it relaxes your body and even your mind just by doing so. This is because it sends the brain a message to relax. In turn, the brain will release electrical signals for the body to calm down.
Deep Breathing and Stress
When you are under stress, the body compensates by increasing its level of functioning to meet up with the needs. The heart beats faster, the production of hormones becomes faster and your brain even works double-time. If this continues for a long period of time, you may reach the point of exhaustion. This is when illness sets in.
Deep breathing technique is a proven approach against stress. It allows your brain to command your vital organs including the heart and the lungs to relax after vigorously doing their work all day. It may cause your increased blood pressure, rapid breathing and heart rate to lower down.
Here is How It is Done
First, place one hand on the chest and the other above your belt line. This may help you to know if you are using the right muscles and body parts during this exercise. This time, you have to sigh gently by opening your mouth. This will help your muscles relax and not really to exhale the air in the lungs. Pause for several seconds with your mouth closed.
Using the nose, inhale slowly. The stomach must be pushed out during inhalation. This will allow the air to reach the lower lobes of the lungs where the oxygen binds with the blood to be transported to the body. When you get the enough air to fill your lungs comfortably, stop. Pause and count from 1 to 10 or until when you can tolerate holding your breath. Just be careful that you don’t experience light-headedness. This may be a sign that you are having larger breaths compared to what your body is used to. This is just a signal though that you need to do the breathing more slowly.
Now, you have to exhale. Open your mouth and let out the air through it with your belly moving inwards. This facilitates the exhalation of the air in the lungs. You need to pause after exhalation just before you start with the inhalation and do the steps all over again.