Being a medicine student, I am always curious to think of logic and evidence of intervention. When I was advised by my psychologist to start breathing exercises, I avoided it for months. The motivation to do it was not there and the argument I gave myself for avoiding it was that it’s an illogical practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When my problems grew, I started practicing it and felt that it was relieving for my mind. The logic for starting it was, better do it if it helps and many interventions that are helpful are used in modern medicine even if their logic is not fully understood. While searching for evidence I listened to the logic by Andrew Huberman here<\/a> and the HBR article here<\/a>, quoting below from HBR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u201cResearch shows\u00a0that different emotions are associated with different forms of breathing, and so changing how we breathe can change how we feel.\u00a0For example, when you feel joy, your breathing will be regular, deep and slow. If you feel\u00a0anxious or angry, your breathing will be irregular, short, fast, and shallow. When you follow breathing patterns associated with different emotions, you\u2019ll actually begin to feel those corresponding emotions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How does this work?\u00a0Changing the rhythm of your breath can\u00a0signal relaxation, slowing your heart rate and stimulating the\u00a0vagus nerve, which\u00a0runs from the brain stem to the abdomen, and is part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body\u2019s \u201crest and digest\u201d activities (in contrast to the sympathetic nervous system, which regulates many of our \u201cfight or flight\u201d responses).\u00a0Triggering your parasympathetic nervous system helps\u00a0you start to calm down. You feel better. And your ability to\u00a0think rationally returns.<\/em>\u00a0\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also listed below some types of breathing exercises –<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further reading –<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n