American shoppers have access to an array of herbal supplements and over-the-counter medications that ease mild stress, anxiety, and sleep problems. But there’s an alternative — without a price tag. Studies show that the way you breathe can affect stress levels, sleep patterns, and mental and emotional balance. Shallow breathing can worsen these health conditions, while deep breathing may improve them. According to the medical journal Respiration, deep breathing techniques may help reduce high blood pressure and ease anxiety in asthma patients. Try these breathing techniques for general health, relaxation, and headache relief.

Belly breathing for general health

This exercise helps you focus on your breathing patterns, and encourages “belly breathing,” or breathing from your diaphragm (the sheet-like muscle separating your lungs and abdomen). This type of breathing allows for maximum oxygen exchange — the process of bringing fresh air and oxygen into the body when you breathe in and expelling waste products like carbon dioxide when you breathe out. Belly breathing helps ease anxiety, depression, muscle tension, and fatigue.

1. Lie down on your back in a comfortable position, palms facing up. Close your eyes.
2. Focus on your breath. What part of your body is moving in harmony with your breathing? Place your hand on the area of your body that seems to rise and fall the most as you breathe in and out.
3. If you’ve placed your hand over your stomach, you’re breathing from your diaphragm. Continue breathing deeply, focusing on each inhalation and exhalation. Repeat for 25 breaths.
4. If you put your hand over your chest, concentrate on the muscles there. If there’s any tightness or rigidity in the muscles of your chest, focus on relaxing a little more with each breath.
5. Then work on breathing from your diaphragm. Place your hands on your stomach. Try to breathe so your hand rises when you breathe in and falls when you breathe out. Gently push your hand down on your stomach as you exhale. Let your abdomen push your hand back up as you inhale deeply.
6. Repeat for 25 breaths.

Natural breathing for relaxation

Do you find yourself sighing or yawning often during the day? This could mean your body isn’t getting enough oxygen. Over time, poor blood oxygen levels may contribute to irritability and stress. In fact, sighing or yawning is your body’s natural tension reliever, forcing a deep breath to increase the amount of oxygen in your blood. This exercise uses your body’s natural cues to promote relaxation.

1. Sit or stand upright in a comfortable position.
2. Sigh deeply — and audibly. Feel free to sigh out loud as the air rushes out of your lungs.
3. Don’t focus on breathing in. Allow the air to come into your lungs slowly and naturally.
4. Repeat this cycle 12 times, or until you’re totally relaxed. After the first few sighs, you should feel the muscles in your neck, chest, and upper back become loose and heavy.
5. Repeat this exercise whenever you’re feeling anxious or stressed.

Breathing for headache relief

The following exercise may help relieve tension or sinus headaches. Since tension and sinus headaches are often stress-related, it’s important to relax as much as possible when doing this exercise.

1. Sit upright in a comfortable position.
2. Close your right nostril with your right thumb, resting your index finger on your forehead.
3. Breathe in slowly through your left nostril.
4. Close your left nostril with your left thumb and simultaneously open your right nostril by removing your right thumb.
5. Exhale slowly through your right nostril.
6. Repeat the cycle on the opposite side, beginning by inhaling through your open right nostril.
7. Alternating between nostrils, repeat this cycle 10 to 15 more times, or until your headache goes away.

As with all types of exercises, breathing exercises offer the most benefit when they are done regularly. As you get used to the breathing sensations you experience during a particular exercise, your body will become more efficient at achieving its intended effect. Your health care provider may be able to recommend additional breathing exercises for stress relief and overall good health.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 6:26 am and is filed under Healthy Breathing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.