Deep Breathing Exercises For Anxiety

Breathing exercises are effective for anxiety and stress. These techniques are easy to learn and can be done anywhere at anytime. Learn these techniques to improve your quality of life.

Breathing is one of the few bodily functions that is regulated both by our fight and flight nervous system and by our rest and digest nervous system. These two nervous systems keep our bodies functioning at all times by controlling the rates of our breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, anxiety level, and stress level. When the fight or flight nervous system is stimulated, our heart rates, breathing rates, and blood pressure rise. At the same time, we can experience feelings of stress or anxiety. The scientific name for this system is the sympathetic nervous system.

On the other hand, when the rest and digest nervous system is activated, the heart rate drops, the breathing slows, our blood pressure decreases, and we experience calmness. The scientific name for this system is the parasympathetic nervous system. Most of the time, these two systems operate in a state of equilibrium that keeps the blood pressure and the heart rate within the normal range. When we feel threatened, stressed or anxious, the sympathetic system becomes activated, producing feelings of stress.

Scientific studies have shown that by deliberately controlling our breathing, we can influence or modulate the level of stimulation in these two systems. These are called breathwork techniques. This means that with particular deep breathing patterns, we can deliberately calm ourselves when we are stressed or anxious. This has led to the recommendation of deep breathing exercises for anxiety and deep breathing exercises for stress. When we perform deep breathing techniques, blood pressure falls, and our heart rate slows down. Researchers are actively trying to understand exactly how these deep breathing exercises, called breathwork, can influence the nervous system.

Several small studies have reported deep breathing exercises as effective for reducing anxiety, stress, and high blood pressure. Deep breathing exercises have a mild-to-moderate effect on blood pressure and are usually recommended in combination with traditional medications. Deep breathing exercises are also commonly recommended as a behavioral strategy for sleep-onset insomnia, particularly when anxiety or physiological hyperarousal is present.

Because we are still at a crossroads regarding deep breathing techniques, there is a lack of standardization regarding the exact ratios of inhalation, exhalation, and pauses that are required to experience a given result. There are, however, several paced breathing patterns and protocols that have been proposed and popularized, including the A52 breathing pattern, and the 448, the 478 protocols. The A52 or 552 method requires inhalation through the nose for 5 seconds, exhalation for 5 seconds, and a pause for 2 seconds after exhalation. The 448 method requires inhalation for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 4 seconds, and exhaling through the mouth for eight seconds. Another popular method requires inhalation for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds.

So, which of these deep breathing techniques is the most effective? Researchers are still actively involved in trying to answer this question. The most prudent course at this time is to try them and see which feels most comfortable and which produces the desired effect for you. Like everything else, we may receive surprises in the future when we really understand how these interventions really work. One size may not fit all, and a certain ratio might work for one condition and a second ratio for another. We are still in the very early stages of these fascinating discoveries; so, at this stage, you just have to try them and see which works best for you.

 References

Fincham, J. E., Strauss, J., Houghton, L. A., & Zaccaro, A. (2023). Breathwork interventions for stress and mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 13, 1472. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-27247-y

Bentley, K. H., Walsh, K., McConnell, K. M., & Decker, M. L. (2023). The effects of slow and diaphragmatic breathing on stress and anxiety: A narrative review. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1192300. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1192300

Magnon, V., Dutheil, F., Auxiette, C., & Pereira, B. (2021). Effects of slow breathing on parasympathetic activity and anxiety in adults: A randomized controlled study. Scientific Reports, 11, 17052. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98736-9