“Take a deep breath.”
Have you ever been told to do that? I certainly have! “Breathe deep…” that’s what instructors have told me during hard workouts as I sweat and sputter for air. I’ve had kind friends tell me to “just breathe deep!” when I’m going through a stressful moment.
This sounds like a good idea, because deep inhales calm you down, right? Well…actually no.
In fact, taking a deep breath is the last thing you want to do if you’re trying to calm down!
One of the best things you can do to calm and destress is to hold your breath.
Sounds crazy, I know! Because everyone always tells you to breathe, and we’ve all heard that breath-holding is really bad for us. That is true but also NOT True! Okay…let me break this down a bit.
Holding our breath is really unhealthy if we are unaware that we are doing it.
Disorders such as sleep apnea are harmful, unconscious forms of breath-holding. We want to avoid this for sure!
A new form of unhealthy, unconscious breath-holding is becoming more common and leading to all kinds of problems. This type of breath-holding occurs when we are constantly shifting between tasks and never focusing on one thing for a sustained period of time. Without realizing it, we forget to breathe.
Our current lifestyle promotes this scattered attention. With computers, phones, and watches pinging us all day long we can’t stay focused even if we try!
This form of unconscious breath-holding, now dubbed “email apnea” is very problematic- leading to poor digestion, increased stress hormone production, increased blood pressure, a dampened immune system, decreased ability to focus, and interrupted sleep. After months or years of this, your neck and shoulders get tight on top of everything else.
So why am I telling you that you should hold your breath? Because when you consciously hold your breath, all sorts of wonderful things happen.
Breath Holding for Clarity of Mind
Yes, it’s true, when you hold your breath you start to feel anxious, irritable, and hyper-focused on getting air in. But this momentary air hunger results in a state of peace and calm once you are finished with the technique. Over time this relaxed state becomes more and more prominent because your tolerance to carbon dioxide is increasing and your breathing patterns are becoming normalized at rest.
Yogis have been practicing breath-holding techniques for thousands of years.
At that time they already knew that there were health benefits, and now we know the science behind it.
By exposing the chemical sensors in your arteries to greater and greater levels of carbon dioxide by holding your breath, you restore normal breathing patterns that have been disrupted due to minor (or major) stressors in your life.
Yogis would often use breath-holding techniques as a way to prepare for sitting in meditation because as breathing normalizes, thinking becomes clearer.
But don’t worry! You don’t have to meditate to get all the benefits. Just doing the breathing techniques are enough.
Breath-Holding and Anxiety
Breath-holding techniques have been shown to help with anxiety and depression disorders (of which 50% of Americans will suffer one of).
The problem is, patients with anxiety have a much greater fear of holding their breath. To avoid the sensation of air hunger- which is inherently anxiety producing- they over-breathe.
Over time, their chemical sensors tolerate less and less carbon dioxide, and it becomes harder and harder to hold your breath. This cycle creates more anxiety, more over-breathing, and so on.
Slow breathing is taught to people who suffer from panic attacks because it increases carbon dioxide levels without the fear-inducing capacity of breath holding. So, if you know that you tend toward anxiety or panic attacks, try slow breathing first.
If you are feeling stressed, anxious, or panicky, your body is already increasing your oxygen levels and reducing your carbon dioxide levels. If this continues, a panic attack can occur. By increasing and maintaining higher levels of carbon dioxide, the anxiety can be prevented before it even starts.
So, instead of taking a deep breath, try holding your breath!
This will increase your carbon dioxide levels and trigger your chemoreceptors to increase your tolerance to carbon dioxide. At first, while holding your breath, you may feel MORE anxious, uncomfortable, irritable. Your body will scream at you to breathe. But AFTER you hold your breath, the opposite happens. You become relaxed, calm, clear-headed.
Precautions
A word of warning: do NOT try this technique if you are pregnant or if you have cardiac issues or heart problems. This technique is also not appropriate for children under age 12.
How to Do It:
To practice breath-holding, make sure to breathe slowly and smoothly in through the nose and out through the nose. If your breath becomes ragged or uneven, or you are feeling very anxious or panicked, reduce the time of holding until you can perform the exercise comfortably while still reaching the sense of slight urge to inhale.
Here’s what to do:
- Slowly inhale to the count of four.
- Exhale fully but slowly also to the count of four.
- Hold your breath when you are done exhaling for a count of four.
- Repeat this breath cycle for 1-2 minutes.
- You can increase or decrease the count depending on if it feels easy or too challenging, for example holding each stage for only 2 seconds if it feels very hard, or 5 seconds if it feels easy.
- *Aim to hold the breath for the same duration as the inhalation and the exhalation. This is a goal to work toward if holding your breath is hard initially.
A few things to keep in mind:
- Don’t over-effort to hold your breath, work within your range of sensing some air hunger but not over doing it.
- Practice this technique sitting or laying down. Do not do this technique while standing.
- Keep your mouth closed and breathe through your nose as much as possible.
- Practice this breathing technique on an empty stomach if possible.
Potential Health Benefits:
- Improved diaphragm function.
- Increased lung capacity.
- Cleared out residual, dead air from the lungs.
- Restored function of the respiratory center in the brain (due to the increase in carbon dioxide during breath-holding).
- Increased oxygen off-loading to tissues, resulting in improved breathing efficiency and endurance.
- Reduced stress and anxiety.
- Clearer thinking.
- Improved circulation.
- May help with relieve digestive problems, allergies, asthma, and auto-immune disorders.
