• Home
  • Mental Health
  • Depression
  • Meditation
  • Stress Disorders
  • Anxiety
  • Mental Illness
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Natural Element
  • Home
  • Mental Health
  • Depression
  • Meditation
  • Stress Disorders
  • Anxiety
  • Mental Illness
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Natural Element
No Result
View All Result

The Biggest Lie You’ve Been Told About Stress Relief

October 29, 2022


“Take a deep breath.”

We’ve all heard those four words. In fact, they’re undoubtedly the most common advice we hear on how to calm down in moments of stress or anxiety.

Now, science tells us, deep breathing is the biggest lie we’ve been told about how to relieve stress in the long term. What we’ve been using as a method to help ourselves is actually leading to chronic hyperventilation, a pattern of over-breathing that exasperates stress and anxiety.

It seems to be common knowledge that quick, labored breathing (what we all know as hyperventilation, aka “too much breathing”) is a result of and a contributor to stress and anxiety. When the “fight-or-flight” response is activated, our sympathetic nervous system quickens and deepens our breathing, making us breathe in more air; in this way, stress causes hyperventilation.

However, hyperventilation also causes stress. If you were to make yourself breath quickly, deeply, and heavily right now, you would activate your body’s fight-or-flight response, creating feelings of anxiety and panic, an ironic feeling of shortness of breath, tingling sensations in your hands, and possibly even feelings of derealization. There is a feedback loop whereby stress activates hyperventilation, and hyperventilation activates the stress response.

The destructive feedback loop that is panic

So, the common advice told is to interrupt this feedback loop with slower, deeper breathing.

It is, in fact, good advice to slow down your breath, which reduces the volume of air that you take into your lungs (as opposed to quick, repetitive breaths) and takes you out of the hyperventilation cycle. It can also be helpful to take a deep breath in if it is done very slowly, with a longer exhale, and leads to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the lungs (rather than oxygen, contrary to proper belief), as is done in pranayama breathing.

However, when we take deep breaths to breathe in more air, we’re just using another form of hyperventilation. Using this advice, you stay stuck in a panic loop and, over the long term, end up teaching your body to over-breathe or hyperventilate, leading the body to stay chronically in a state of fight or flight.

“Just as we’ve become a culture of overeaters, we’ve also become a culture of overbreathers. Most of us breathe too much, and up to a quarter of the modern population suffers from more serious chronic over-breathing.” ―James Nestor,Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

You’ve probably never thought you could really breathe too much, but according to 24 published studies, over-breathing is one of the epidemics of our age. In 1929, the average person breathed 4.9 liters of air per minute. This number has been increasing rapidly with the rises in stress, processed foods, unhealthy diets, and unhealthy breathing patterns; today, that number is at a staggering 12 liters of air per minute, almost three times the amount we breathed just 93 years ago.

Such over-breathing is keeping the average person today stuck in a fight-or-flight feedback loop, creating chronic stress and anxiety.

Reverse unhealthy breathing patterns with the Buteyko Method

Konstantin Buteyko was a Russian physician who made an interesting observation. While working with people with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, asthma, and other conditions, he noticed that those who were unwell demonstrated quick, heavy, deep, labored breathing, often from the chest. He developed a method of retraining that focused on breathing less (i.e., breathing less air and slower), breathing through the mouth, and breathing with the diaphragm rather than the chest. He found remarkable results in improving many of his patients’ symptoms simply from changing the way they breathed. Given the well-established link between stress and physical health, it’s no surprise that Buteyko was able to improve many of his patients’ physical health by targeting their stress response through the breath.

The foundation of the Buteyko Method of breathing is reduced breathing, in which, slowly, your body is taught to breathe less. This resets the respiratory center of the brain to become used to breathing less air, reversing the destructive over-breathing habit that is feeding our modern stress and anxiety. The result is much less stress and anxiety and a feeling of peace that is felt deeply in the body.

About the Author

Tasha Seiter, MS, owns a therapy private practice providing online therapy to couples, individuals, and families throughout the state of Colorado. Her research investigates topics related to couple relationships, the benefits of mindfulness, and stress physiology. 





Source_link

Share120Tweet75Share30

Related Posts

Understanding Stress on Those Who Serve
Stress Disorders

Understanding Stress on Those Who Serve

January 31, 2023

Understanding Stress on Those Who Serve  (An Observation About Public Servants)   By Robert B. (Scott) Kuhnen, USAF Civilian (RET)  *This is an article from the Winter 2022/2023 issue of Combat Stress Please forgive me. I’m a neophyte in your...

Chronic Stress Spikes Your Risk of Dying From Cancer: Experts Say This Is How to Combat It
Stress Disorders

Chronic Stress Spikes Your Risk of Dying From Cancer: Experts Say This Is How to Combat It

January 25, 2023

If chronic stress has you at your wit’s end, you may be among the one-third of U.S. adults who report feeling extreme stress consistently. Sure, we all experience some form of stress in our daily lives, but chronic stress—the kind that...

Is stress improving your brain health?
Stress Disorders

Is stress improving your brain health?

January 23, 2023

It’s no secret that mental health and stress levels can have an impact on one’s physical health. However, short-term bursts of stress may benefit a particularly important part of the body. A recent study found a correlation between low to moderate stress levels and...

You’re Doing Something That’s Creating Work Stress 47% Of The Time
Stress Disorders

You’re Doing Something That’s Creating Work Stress 47% Of The Time

January 20, 2023

Science shows that mind wandering and present-moment focus are on opposite sides of the spectrum of how we pay attention and that it hurts work performance. It’s human nature for your mind to wander from time to time. Studies reveal that wandering...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

  • Anxiety (441)
  • Depression (136)
  • Meditation (210)
  • Mental Health (428)
  • Mental Illness (383)
  • Sound Therapy (2)
  • Stress Disorders (245)

Popular

  • Stress Level Of Americans Is Rising Rapidly In 2022, New Study Finds

    Stress Level Of Americans Is Rising Rapidly In 2022, New Study Finds

    302 shares
    Share 121 Tweet 76
  • 4 signs of burnout in your teen– and how to help them through it

    302 shares
    Share 121 Tweet 76
  • How Stress Affects Your Vision

    302 shares
    Share 121 Tweet 76
  • Helpful Resources During Suicide Prevention Month 2022 – My Brain’s Not Broken

    301 shares
    Share 120 Tweet 75
  • The Covid Symptoms No One is Talking About, But You Need to Know, Say Experts — Eat This Not That

    301 shares
    Share 120 Tweet 75

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Copyright © 2022 Naturalele.com | All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Mental Health
  • Depression
  • Meditation
  • Stress Disorders
  • Anxiety
  • Mental Illness
  • Contact Us
What Are Cookies
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT