How to breathe properly to calm down. 3 exercises from a doctor

How to breathe properly to calm down. 3 exercises from a doctor

Just five minutes will help you come to your senses.

LFC doctor, wellness platform expert level3mind

What breathing exercises will help to calm down?

There are many breathing techniques and practices to find inner balance, get rid of anxiety and come to yourself. Let’s consider some of them.

Exercise #1

The goal is to increase the concentration of carbon dioxide in the body. It may seem strange, but it has a calming effect. Also, extra concentration on breathing and changing the habitual “pattern” activates the prefrontal part of the cerebral cortex. It, in turn, reduces the activity of the center responsible for fear. In this case, the feeling of shortness of breath should not be strong and cause significant discomfort.

It is necessary to alternate normal breathing with delays.

• 10 seconds breathe in the normal mode.
• Exhale and hold your breath for five seconds.
• Breathe again for 10 seconds as normal.
• Then exhale again and hold your breath for five seconds.

In this rhythm continue for about five minutes. Breathe through the nose.

• Sit down and pull the top of your head up, but do not scuff your chin.
• Put your hands on your hips.
• Feel how on the inhalation your ribs and abdomen expand as air passes through your nostrils. As you exhale, relax.
• After several such inhalations and exhalations, start breathing as smoothly as possible, so that you almost do not feel the air passing through your nose.

In the process, there should be a slight feeling of lack of air. If nothing happens, inhale less air. Breathe only through your nose.

• Take a comfortable position: straighten your back, do not clench, so that nothing obstructs your lungs.
• Start with normal inhalation-exhalation and gradually increase the amplitude: smoothly, slowly take a deep inhalation and then just as slowly – exhalation. Feel how on the inhalation your lungs expand to the limit, and after exhalation there is no air left in them at all.
• During the exercise, concentrate on your breathing.