Introduction:
According to a survey, around 18 million adults in the United States practice meditation in order to improve cognitive function. People desire to explore the easiest way to improve mental health and sleep, relieve anxiety, decrease depression, and boost their mood without any hardships and struggle but they end up finding nothing. However, such a thing exists. It’s high time to incorporate breathing exercises into your daily regimen.
There are various breathing techniques including deep breathing, circular breathing, coherent breathing, and much more that can keep your vanity safe and make you fresh and young internally. As the author of Breathe, Belisa Vranich said breathing is the most critical thing we do, but we pay the least amount of attention to it. Observe your breathing the next time you feel stressed or angry, the body’s natural response makes your breath shallow and short. Thus, pay attention to your breathing patterns to make your body able to shield against the stress response and improve the mental capabilities. Here is a list of multiple breathing techniques that can help you in improving your mental health.
Abdominal Breathing
Abdominal breathing is also familiar with diaphragmatic or belly breathing. This breathing technique is sustained by the diaphragm. You can perform these techniques anywhere and at any time. Find a comfortable and quiet place. All you have to do is place your one hand on your belly and another on your chest and keep your shoulders back. Start breathing deeply through your nose for around two seconds and let your belly expand because of the air and finally start breathing out slowly through your lips. Changing the way of your breathing can effectively help in regulating the body functions.
This deep breathing sends signals to our nervous system to control various body activities like stress responses or managing heart rate. Abdominal breathing even promotes full oxygen exchange in the body that assists in stabilizing the blood pressure. It triggers neurons in the brain to stimulate relaxation and ultimately make you feel calm. Abdominal breathing supplies huge amounts of oxygen to the brain that promotes global activation of the brain and results in improved energy levels, clarity in thinking, focus ability and much more.
Breath Counting Technique
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The great Buddhist meditators discovered how we can control our thoughts and moods, nervous system and circulatory system and thus we can live at a higher level of consciousness. This relaxation technique can be performed by sitting in a quiet place keeping your eyes closed. Start with a few deep breaths and then settle into a normal breathing pattern. Count one when you exhale, count two the next time and keep counting till five and then start it all over again.
Breath counting technique is a strengthening exercise for your brain because it removes all the distracting thoughts and improves concentration. Performing this exercise daily in the morning is as essential as working out your body because it builds your mental power.
A recent study revealed that counting breaths and controlling breathing stimulates the neuronal oscillations in every part of the brain, particularly in regions which are associated with emotions, memory, and feelings. Thus, breath counting technique is great for your mental health as well for physical health.
Pursed Lip Breathing
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Pursed lip breathing is the simplest and most effective technique to keep yourself calm and relaxed. All you have to do is keep your shoulders relaxed. Start taking a normal breath for about 2 counts and then pucker your lips up like a whistling mouth and exhale for nearly 4 counts. Perform few more rounds of this breathing pattern. This pursed-lip breathing technique helps in releasing the air trapped in the lungs. Dr. Robin Berzin claimed that when the exhale is a few counts longer than the inhale, the vagus nerve in our body sends a signal to the brain that stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and halts the functioning of the sympathetic nervous system. You can easily feel the calming effects of your first few breaths. It minimizes the mental stress and makes the body capable of dealing with it through a strong stress response. Also, according to a study published in 2015, revealed that pursed-lip breathing improved exercise tolerance in patients suffering from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
Final Thoughts
Breathing exercises can help you feel connected to your body. It removes all the distractions and worries from your mind and provides you a feeling of calm. Changing the breathing patterns help the body in controlling our emotions effectively. Performing breathing exercises regularly can assist you in preventing the symptoms of sleep problems, mood swings, anxiety, depression, stress, and even COPD.
Breathing exercises relax the body muscles and deliver fresh oxygen to every single cell of the body that results in improved physical stamina and mental concentration. It enhances the functionality of all the systems present in our body, especially nervous and cardiovascular system. It dilates the blood vessels and regulates the normal blood pressure. Deep breathing technique stimulates the release of endorphins and enhances the function of the lymphatic system that cleanses the body and kills the toxins.