Why Does Deep Breathing Help Calm You Down?

Oh…… [slow inhale and exhale]

Why does deep breathing help calm you down? Today we're going to talk a little bit about the power of your breath to manage your emotions and help to keep you calm.

What's going on you guys? Today we're going to talk a little bit about your body and its built-in mechanism to be able to stay calm—the power of your breath. And just to start with, I challenge you right now to notice your own body and the state of your breathing.

This is something that we actually have happen all day long, without ever thinking about it. And I would suspect, that if you're watching this right now and you check in with your body, your breath is probably standing fairly shallow, up in your chest area, and not actually going all the way down into your abdomen area.

It's interesting because our breath actually does help maintain our emotion on a certain level. Now let's talk a little bit about what it does and why deep breathing helps to calm us down.

So, the first thing that deep breath does, is it allows us to actually oxygenate our body and our brain in a much more effective and efficient way, when we can get into a deep breath. When we're in the shallow level of breath, our oxygen is going in and out of the body so quickly that the body isn't actually grabbing and processing quite as much of it, and it's not going deep enough for the lungs to actually process it push it to the brain in ways that it should.

So, when we learn to take a deeper breath, [inhale deep breath and exhale] we're allowing our body to actually process the oxygen the way that it was intended. That oxygen is what helps to fuel the brain. It allows us to think more clearly and so it helps to keep a better function all the way around inside of our body.

The next thing that our deep breathing does for us, is that it actually grounds us to the present moment. We go through our day just thinking—thinking—thinking all sorts of things, not even paying attention to whatever we're thinking. And we start to worry about the comings and goings of what's going to happen next or what did I just do, regrets about the past, worries about the future. And they're automatically causing our body to respond in that anxious kind of a way and our breath starts to get more and more shallow.

And when we can pause for a minute and get back into our breath, what it does is it grounds us back into our bodies. We start to become aware of this thing that happens normally, but we're now intentionally doing it. And our focus now is inside our body, in the present moment, grounded to the moment that we're living in.

So, it allows us to then be present or mindful instead of have all these other scattered thoughts that are pushing anxiety and fear and doubt and disappointment. We just allow ourselves to come right back into this present moment.

One more thing that deep breathing does for us is that our breath is pretty amazing in the way that it makes our bodies work. It's basically the mechanism that turns our body onto action and it's the mechanism that actually helps to calm us down.

So, every time we breathe in, we're activating the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is the part of us that moves into action. It increases your heart rate. Even if you take a breath right now, you'll notice that as you breathe in, your heart rate will actually increase. And as you breathe out, your heart rate will actually decrease. And the body is actually moving between both nervous systems with every single breath. So, the more we breathe in, and the faster we breathe in, the more we're activating the sympathetic nervous system which is the call to action.

As we breathe out, we're activating the parasympathetic nervous system. And the parasympathetic nervous system is the part of us that calms down. It's a part of us that gets activated when we want to rest, when we want to sleep. And so, if you can get a longer out breath, you're actually calming your system down.

So, a slow, deep in-breath allows the sympathetic nervous system to get oxygen pushed to the places it needs to. But then that slow deep out breath actually lets a parasympathetic nervous system take control and begin to soften the muscles in the body, begin to bring in that feeling of relaxation.

I'm just going to do a really quick exercise with you right now. Sit with both feet on the ground. Put your hands wherever it's comfortable. And for just a few moments, start by taking a deep breath in through your nose if it's clear, if not through your mouth [inhale] and then slowly release your breath. And with each breath, go a little bit deeper, a little bit slower. And just start to pay attention to what your body does with that deeper slower breath.

You might become aware of certain muscles that start to soften, that have been tight, that you weren't even aware that were tight. Maybe in your neck or your shoulders or some other place. You might notice a feeling of openness start to open up in your core. You might start to feel a feeling of peace all around you. But that deep breath—slow ,deep breaths—every breath go a little slower, every breath go a little bit deeper, and just notice what it does to the physiology of your body. Notice what it does to the clarity of your mind.

And it's been amazing as I've been working with people, that they'll come in and they'll be almost on the verge of a panic attack. And if we can take 60 seconds and just get into a state of nice real deep breathing, their heart rate will come down, by sometimes up to 20 beats per minute. They'll report calmness. They'll report grounded-ness. And what felt totally out of control after 60 seconds of breathing, feels totally manageable.

So, challenge for you. Set your alarm a couple times a day. When that alarm goes off, take 60 seconds and get as deep and slow of a breath as you possibly can in 60 seconds. And see what it does for your overall mental clarity and your overall emotional health.

Thanks guys.

Thank you so much for being here with me. If you found this to be valuable for you, please hit the like and subscribe button. If you're facing particular struggles that you need help with or roadblocks that you're running into, please submit a question. I'd be happy to answer it for you.