THE POWER OF BREATHING

You have likely heard the phrase “take a few deep breaths and you’ll feel better”. Amazingly this is true on a number of physiological and emotional levels, but why is this and how can you do it effectively to improve your health?

Firstly many of us without even knowing it are not breathing effectively, instead we are shallow breathing. This is when we take small short breaths from our chest rather than our abdominal area. Even though it feels like you need more oxygen, it’s not a problem of too little air it’s a case of too much. You’re actually over-breathing – breathing out carbon dioxide too quickly which can lead to a myriad of symptoms such as tight chest, dizziness, increased heart rate, tense muscles, weakness and tingling.

A sudden fright can trigger shallow breathing. This comes from the activation of your fight or flight system. It’s an evolutionary adaptation designed to keep you safe from harm. When faced with danger, your heartbeat speeds up and you breathe faster in order to get more oxygen for fighting the threat or fleeing quickly. A panic attack is a more extreme version of this, where a person usually experiences severe shallow breathing or hyperventilation which is also often triggered and fuelled by anxious thoughts sometimes including fear that they are having a heart attack.

However what we see more commonly is shallow breathing occurring in response to our modern lifestyle; from having busy and demanding schedules, as well as psychological stress rather than physical threat triggering shallow breathing. Often this becomes habitual so that many people are breathing in this way on a daily basis.
Therefore it goes without saying that if we can control and slow down our breathing, we can reduce physical symptoms as well as regaining a sense of control and calm. To do this we need to shift our breathing from our chest back to our diaphragm and abdominal area. Try to think of an opera singer drawing air from deep down in their body. When inhaling, breath in from your nose, hold for a moment and then breathe out slowly through pursed lips. Pause and breath as you were before repeating. The joy of this is you can do it anywhere, anytime but reap the benefits. Some people may require more 1:1 support to learn abdominal breathing or to manage thinking or lifestyle patterns more effectively. If this is the case for you, feel free to contact us: enquires@tea-retreats.co.nz
Tea Retreats
Each month, Tea Retreats will be bringing you an article on Health and Wellbeing to help you make 2016 your healthiest year yet. Tea Retreats combines the skills and experience of Sarah Percy, Registered Dietitian and Sarah Donaldson, Clinical Psychologist to provide a comprehensive approach to health and wellbeing. The “Tea” in Tea Retreats stands for Think, Eat, Act – we believe a positive mindset, good nutrition and keeping active are 3 crucial areas in our life which are essential for good health. If you need some help getting your health sorted please get in touch, we’d love to help. www.tea-retreats.co.nz