How Your Breath Can Heal Anxiety

How often are you conscious of your breathing when you’re anxious? Do you realize if you’re breathing faster or slower than normal? Is it deep or shallow?

Breathing is a vital function controlled primarily by the autonomic nervous system—meaning you don’t have to think to do it. However, our breath is heavily affected by our body's operating mode: the ‘rest and digest’ response or the ‘fight or flight’ response.

When stressed or anxious, your body signals for small, shallow breaths, often using the shoulders rather than the diaphragm. This occurs because the body is preparing to respond to a perceived threat, redirecting oxygen to the muscles. This shallow over-breathing, also called hyperventilation, can actually worsen feelings of anxiety by making physical stress symptoms more intense.

Therefore, it is imperative to focus on your breathing when stress or anxiety hits and to have tools ready to help overcome these feelings.

5 Powerful Breathing Techniques for Anxiety

Consciously monitoring your breathing pattern is essential to knowing when to use these tools. All of these breathing practices are instant ways to shift the feelings of anxiety, stress, or tension.

1. Abdominal Breathing (Diaphragmatic Breathing)

This technique can help control the nervous system and encourage the body to relax.

• Practice:

  1. Find a comfortable position and place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen.

  2. Inhale slowly and deeply through the nose, feeling the abdomen rise and expand as the diaphragm pushes down. The chest should move little to none.

  3. Breathe out slowly through the mouth, allowing the abdomen to fall and the diaphragm to return to its resting position.

  4. Repeat as needed.

2. The 4-7-8 Breathing Technique

Commonly used in yoga, this technique aims to induce calmness by engaging the body’s natural ‘rest and digest’ response (the parasympathetic nervous system).

• Practice:

  • Inhale for 4 seconds through the nose.

  • Hold the breath for 7 seconds.

  • Exhale for 8 seconds.

3. Box Breathing

This is an easy and quick method to calm down the nervous system, reduce anxiety and stress, improve focus, and help regulate the autonomic nervous system.

• Practice: Involve inhaling, holding, exhaling, and holding again, each for a count of four, like tracing the sides of a box:

  1. Inhale for 4.

  2. Hold for 4.

  3. Exhale for 4.

  4. Hold for 4.

4. Cyclic Sighing

This technique involves a long slow inhale, followed by an even longer exhale, with a slight pause between breaths. It can help to decrease the respiratory rate, and improve sleep and mood.

5. Nasal Breathing

By primarily inhaling through the nose instead of the mouth, you bring in more oxygen to the body, which, in turn, means improved blood flow, heart rate, and other bodily functions. It also filters out particles (like dust and pollen) and warms and humidifies the air, making it gentler on the respiratory system.

Every day we are faced with difficulties, and stress is inevitable, but being able to deal with it promptly with conscious breathing will make you happier and healthier.