Why Breathing for Anxiety is So Effective

When you are feeling a strong emotion such as anxiety, your breathing becomes fast and shallow, and your prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for rational thinking is compromised, making it hard to think straight or talk your way through it.

Changing the rhythm of your breath slows your heart rate and engages your body’s parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for its rest and digest activities, and helps you calm down and think logically in the face of anxiety-producing stress.

How deep breathing for anxiety works

The way you breathe has a powerful effect on your body. Deep breathing techniques help trigger a relaxation response and are one of the most effective coping strategies for symptoms of anxiety.

Anxiety activates your sympathetic nervous system, triggers its fight, flight, or freeze response, and automatically sends your body into a state of emergency. Your heart rate gets faster, your muscles tense, and you start taking short, quick, shallow breaths from your chest.

Deep abdominal breathing, on the other hand, relaxes your body, activates the parasympathetic part of your nervous system, sends more oxygen to the thinking part of your brain, and signals to its anxious part that you are safe, everything is fine, and it can calm down and relax.

Breathing exercises

Below are some of the many breathing exercises for managing stress and anxiety. Pick what works best for you and practice it regularly when you are calm so that it becomes second nature and can be the most effective when you are in the midst of an attack of anxiety.

For most of these exercises, you can monitor your breathing by placing one hand on your stomach and one hand on your chest. When you inhale, the hand on your stomach should rise, while the hand on your chest should barely move at all.

Belly breathing

Also known as abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing, belly breathing can be done sitting, standing, or lying down. However, lying down on your back is the best position for learning how to do it.

• Relax your shoulders and put one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach.
• Slowly breathe in through your nose, feeling your belly rise while your chest stays almost still.
• Purse your lips and exhale slowly through your mouth, feeling your stomach contract as the air gets pushed out.
• Repeat.

Box breathing

Box breathing, also known as square breathing, equal breathing, or 4-4-4 breathing, consists of four steps that each take four seconds to complete. It can be done in any position.

• Slowly inhale through your nose to a count of four.
• Hold your breath for a count of four.
• Slowly exhale through your mouth to a count of four.
• Hold your breath for a count of four.
• Repeat.

Alternate nostril breathing

Alternate nostril breathing involves breathing through one nostril at a time. It is best done in a quiet place while seated in a comfortable position.

• Close your right nostril with your right thumb and inhale slowly and deeply through your left nostril.
• Hold your breath for a second, then close your left nostril with your right ring finger, release your thumb, and exhale slowly and completely through your right nostril.
• Hold your breath for a second, then slowly inhale through your right nostril.
• Close your right nostril with your right thumb, release your ring finger, and exhale slowly through your left nostril.
• Keep repeating this alternating pattern of inhaling through your left nostril and exhaling through the right one and then inhaling through your right nostril and exhaling through the left one.

4-7-8 Breathing

4-7-8 breathing, also known as relaxing or rhythmic breathing, can be done in any position, but sitting comfortably with your back straight is best while learning how to do it. Some people find that this breathing technique helps them fall asleep faster.

• Before starting the exercise, empty out all the air in your lungs.
• Slowly breathe in through your nose for a count of four.
• Hold your breath for a count of seven.
• Exhale through your mouth for a count of eight while making an audible whooshing sound.
• Repeat.

Cyclic sighing

Cyclic sighing can help stop the momentum of an oncoming anxiety attack before it becomes full blown.

• Slowly inhale through your nose.
• At the top of the inhale, pause and take a second small inhale to fully expand your lungs.
• Slowly exhale all the air out through your mouth while making a sighing sound.
• Repeat.

Calm breathing

This technique is best done sitting upright to increase your lungs’ capacity to fill up with air.

• Breathe in slowly through your nose for a count of four.
• Hold your breath for one to two seconds.
• Slowly exhale through your mouth for a count of four.
• Hold your breath for one to two seconds.
• Repeat.

Hand Breathing

Hand breathing uses both your hands to make you take ten deep breaths accompanied by the grounding sense of touch.

• Hold up one hand and use the pointer finger of your opposite hand to slowly draw up and down each finger.
• Breathe in as you go up a finger and breathe out as you go down its other side.
• When you finish going up and down the fingers of one hand, repeat the exercise with the fingers of the other hand.

Pursed lips breathing

Pursing your lips while you breathe slows your breath and keeps your airways open longer. Studies have shown that in addition to having a calming effect, pursed lip breathing can help improve lung function in people with respiratory conditions.

• Relax your neck and shoulders.
• Breathe in slowly through your nose for a count of two to four.
• Purse your lips as though you are blowing out a candle, and slowly exhale through your mouth for a count of four to six. (Your exhale should be twice as long as your inhale.)
• Repeat.

Lion’s breath

This exercise can be done seated straight in a chair with your hands on your knees, or seated on your knees on the floor with your hands stretched out flat in front of you, palms facing the floor.

• Spread your fingers wide and slowly breath in through your nose.
• Open your mouth wide, stick out your tongue, and stretch it toward your chin.
• Breathe out forcibly through your mouth while making a loud “HAA” sound.
• Take a few regular breaths and then repeat.

Breath prayer

Breath prayers are simple one sentence prayers paired to the rhythm of your breathing. The first half is prayed while inhaling, and the second half while exhaling. An example would be:

• Breathe in slowly through your nose while focusing your thoughts on the first half of the prayer – God of all comfort…
• Slowly breathe out through your mouth while focusing your thoughts on the end of the prayer …fill me with peace.
• Repeat several times, keeping your breathing slow, steady, and synchronized to the words of the prayer.

Resonance breathing

Resonance breathing, also known as coherent breathing, involves intentionally slowing your breathing and focusing on maintaining a slow, even, rhythmic pattern rather than on whether you need to inhale or exhale through your nose or mouth.

It consists of only two steps.

1. Inhale slowly for a count of five.
2. Exhale slowly for a count of five.

Repeat several times, slowly extending the time of each inhale and exhale from five to six seconds.

If you have questions about this article on breathing for anxiety or feel you need more help than what it could provide and would like to set up an appointment to meet with one of the faith-based counselors in our online directory, please give us a call today.