Have you found these times particularly difficult?
Do you feel stress, anxiety, nervousness, exhaustion, tiredness or impatience?
Certain physical symptoms may indicate that you are literally out of breath, such as
- Difficulty breathing
- A lump in your throat
- Chest pain
As simple as it sounds, you can feel better after practising deep breathing.
Deep breathing can help you deal with negative emotions and the physical symptoms they cause.
But before you start, it is important to understand how to breathe properly and how it can reduce stress.
We will explain this to you.
What is deep breathing?
This is slow, deep abdominal breathing. Simply breathe through your stomach to activate your diaphragm.
You can practise deep breathing anywhere:
- At home
- In the car
- At the office
- In bed
- During certain activities, such as yoga, meditation or relaxation
Integrate it into your daily activities when you have a free moment.
What are the benefits of breathing deeply?
The rate and intensity of breathing has a direct effect on mood and physical health.
Breathing supplies the body with oxygen.
If there is no breath, there is no energy, no life.
Practicing deep, slow breathing for just 3 minutes can have many benefits.
Deep breathing helps:
- Increase oxygen in the blood
- Increase vitality
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Improve posture
- Manage strong emotions such as anger, sadness and fear
- Boost the immune system
- Improve concentration
- Improve sleep
- Improve digestion
How do you practice deep breathing?
Would you like to try a deep breathing technique?
Try this exercise.
- Get comfortable, standing or sitting.
- Stretch your spine.
- Roll your shoulders back and open your heart.
- Place your right hand on your belly (at the navel) and your left hand on your heart.
- Breathe in deeply (count to 5).
- Hold the inhale (count to 2).
- Exhale slowly (count to 5).
- Repeat this cycle 5 times (or more).
- Take a moment to observe how you feel after a few minutes of this breathing exercise.
We recommend that you start by concentrating on your breathing for 10 minutes.
Then you can gradually extend the deep breathing sessions to 15 or 20 minutes.