Strange title, right? Everybody knows how to breathe! However, there may be more to breathing than we may realize. Everybody has gone through moments of nervousness and worry, be it when taking a test, thinking about the next sports game, or even choosing a gift for someone you care about. When feeling anxious or generally stressed out, a typical and initially meaningless suggestion would be to breathe and relax.

The Benefits of Breathing Techniques

Breathing techniques look beyond the simple act of inhale and exhale but are also not difficult to implement or incorporate in daily lives. While breathing techniques will not necessarily make your problems go away, more current research that has looked into breathing techniques suggests that implementing relaxation in therapy have positive effects for stress, anxiety, depression, and even medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease and various pain syndromes (Bertisch et al., 2009; Lalande et al., 2012; Perciavalle et al., 2017).

One example of an effective breathing technique is known as The Relaxing Breathe Exercise and can be implemented as follows:

1. Place yourself in a calm environment and either sit or lie down comfortably. 
2. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth and keep it there throughout the exercise. 
3. Begin exhaling through your mouth around your tongue making a whooshing sound; try pursing your lips slightly if this seems awkward. 
4. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four seconds. 
5. Hold your breath for a count of seven seconds. 
6. Exhale completely through your mouth making a whooshing sound to a count of eight seconds. This ends us with one complete breath. 
7. Repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four complete breaths. 

Works Cited

Bertisch, S. M., Wee, C. C., Philips R. S., & McCarthy E. P. (2009). Alternative mind-body therapies used by adults with medical conditions. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 66(6), 511-519. doi:10.1016/j.psychores.2008.12.003.

Lalandel, L., Bambling, M., King, R., & Lowe, R. (2012). Breathwork: An additional treatment option for depression and anxiety. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 42(2), 113-119. doi:10.1007/s10072-016-2790-8.

Perciavalle, V., Blandini, M., Fecarotta, P., Buscemi, A., Di Corrado, D., Bertolo, L.., & … Coco, M. (2017). The role of deepbreathing on stress. Neurological Science, 38(3), 451-458. doi:10.1007/s10072-016-2790-8

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