Breathing – we all do it!

I could spend hours talking about the benefits of breathing – obviously we need to breathe, it gets Oxygen to the brain and I think we all know what would happen if we dont breathe – but why should you spend a couple of minutes every day focusing on the breath.

Deep breathing has many benefits both long term and short term, it turns on your parasympathetic nervous system which calms your body down. These long slow breaths, slow your heart rate, reduce your blood pressure and reduce any stress or tension you might be feeling.

How many of you stub your toe or bang your hand and notice the kids are within earshot, so instead of shouting out loud you just take a slow long deep breath in? Deep breathing is an effective way of dealing with pain.  With both stress and pain the heart rate increases, the blood pressure increases, your breath comes faster, your muscles tense….so slow it down and breathe.

Also with your brain, all these stress hormones keep your brain in an aroused state, more sensitive to pain, more aware of stress…..so slow it down and breathe.

So why not take a couple of minutes out of your day and try the following exercise – it can be done anywhere….even in the middle of a boring meeting…

Take a slow long deep breath and count 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 in your head, hold for 4 and then a slow long exhale, counting to 4 – repeat this 5 or 6 times – should take more than about a minute.

Next time you book in – let’s finish with a minute of breathing and see how it feels.