Breathing exercises and techniques sound a little funny at first: after all, don’t we all know how to breathe? Using specific breathing techniques and breath control, however, means you’re being mindful about the way you breathe in and out. By purposefully changing the way we breathe, we can change the way we feel and how our bodies react to what’s going on around us.
4 benefits of breathing exercises
- Improve COPD
For people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, that feeling of not being able to take a deep breath is one of the earliest signs of the disease, though it’s often confused with aging. As time goes on and the lungs aren’t able to expel air, the diaphragm isn’t able to do its job and help bring in oxygen. So the body turns to other muscles, such as the ones in the chest, back and even neck to keep you breathing.
- Lower blood pressure
For folks with high blood pressure, practicing breathing techniques and breathing exercises for anxiety can help naturally lower blood pressure, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
- Reduce anxiety
Whether you suffer from an anxiety disorder or are simply confronting a nerve-wracking, anxious experience, breathing exercises for anxiety can be really helpful.
- Improve sleep and lower stress
If you’re lying in bed with thoughts racing and have run out of sheep to count, breathing exercises for sleep can help send you to dreamland. Slow, deep breathing actually helps the body override the sympathetic system, which controls our fight-or-flight response, and lets the parasympathetic system – which controls our ability to relax – take the wheel instead. When you practice deep breathing while in bed, you’re giving the body permission to quit being on high alert and, instead, to relax.
5 different types of breathing exercises to relax
Remember, that as with any type of exercise, practice makes perfect with breathing techniques. You might not nail them on the first try, but as you keep incorporating them into your wellness routine, you’ll eventually find you can do them without much effort.
- Pursed lip breathing
This one is super simple and easy to do, but extremely effective.
With relaxed shoulders, take a normal breath for about two counts. Then pucker your lips up (think of your mouth when you’re about to whistle — that’s what your lips should look like!), and exhale for four counts. Do this for a few rounds.
- Diaphragmatic breathing
Also known as belly or abdominal breathing, this is the granddaddy of breathing exercises, as you’re training the body to let your diaphragm do all the work. Your goal here is to breathe through your nose and focus on how your belly fills up with air.
You can do this one either sitting up or lying down; it’s often nice to do while in bed to help you wind down. With your shoulders back, keep one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. As you breathe in deeply for about two seconds, your belly should stick out a bit. Feel the air expanding your stomach and then breathe out slowly through the lips.
- Yoga breathing
Yogis know that controlled breathing is a huge part of a yoga practice.
To practice this one, start on the right side. Place your right thumb over your right nostril as you breathe in through the left nostril. Then take your right ring finger and place it over your left nostril as you exhale from the right one.
Leaving your ring finger where it is over the left nostril, inhale from the left, then switch to the right side, putting your thumb over the right nostril and exhaling through the left. It sounds a little funky, but you’ll get the hang of it. You can easily see why people do it to help focus on the present – it’s hard to think of anything else when you’re wondering which nostril is next!
- 4-7-8
This deceptively simple breathing technique is lauded as one of the best ones to help you fall asleep. In theory, it’s easy. You exhale through your mouth and then close it and inhale through your nose for four counts. You hold the breath in for seven counts, then release it in eight counts, and repeat at least three times.
Because you have eight counts to get the breath out in, you’re forced to slow down your breathing which, in turn, slows down the heart rate and helps you relax.
- Breath counting
This is another relaxation technique that will keep your mind from wandering too far. Sitting comfortably with your eyes closed, take a few deep breaths, then settle into a pattern of “normal” breathing. When you exhale, count “one.” The next time, count “two.” Do this until you have exhaled (and counted to) five, then start the pattern over. Don’t count past five, and if you find you’ve lost count, start again at one. You’ll be surprised at how much concentration it will take to keep yourself on count.
Precautions
Breathing techniques are generally a safe, inexpensive way to strengthen your lungs, relax and decrease stress and anxiety. However, if you do have COPD or another type of lung disease, you should speak with your doctor about incorporating breathing exercises into your lifestyle – only remember, don’t hold your breath forever!