Breathing Exercises and Anxiety: Your Guide to Stress Response

Imagine you're driving along a road and suddenly a person swerves and brakes in front of you. You barely have time to react. Automatically, you begin to take shallow breaths and feel your pulse quicken. The stress response takes over. Your heart races and so too does your mind, you take sharp inhales and exhales. You get agitated as you brake just in time, but you can’t seem to calm down.

This is an excellent example of where the stress response begins to feed itself. Breath gets shallow, our heart races, and our emotions take over. 

Now imagine the same scenario. You brake fast and feel your pulse quickening, but you remember to breathe into the diaphragm or lower belly, which begins to slow your heart rate and help you to think clearly about the next best step. Not only does this reduce stress in the body, but it helps us to move in the world from an active state, rather than a reactive state. This leads to myriad benefits, and it all begins simply by recognizing breathing-related anxiety in everyday life.

Stress is normal, and our automatic physiological response cannot be denied, but we can learn to release harmful stress with simple breathing techniques.

In this article, we'll cover:

• The link between anxiety and breath
• The physiological impacts of shallow and deep breathing
• Breathing techniques and how to incorporate them into daily life
• Diaphragmatic breathing
• 3-3-3 Breath
• Alternate nostril breathing
• Pursed-lip breathing
• Soft belly breathing
• Segmented nose breathing
• Ways to implement breath practice into your daily life

The link between anxiety and breath

When we're anxious, our breath becomes shallow, and our heart races. There are evolutionary reasons for this. According to Medical News Today, anxiety and panic cause the body to go into a fight or flight response, which "causes a person to breathe more quickly to provide more oxygen to the muscles. The result can be shortness of breath."

Understanding the physiological explanation for why anxiety affects breathing can help us in a few ways. Utilizing this information allows a person to gain control and create a state of homeostasis in the body. Harvard Health explains that there is a close link between breath control and anxiety levels by reducing the impact of an automatic stress response. 

Breathing exercises have been used before test taking or speeches, and they can lead to lasting change if practiced daily. Northwestern University says that just 5 minutes of deep breathing will increase test scores, and in my personal experience with an anxiety disorder, I found that deep and intentional breath, when combined with mantra, offers quick and reliable support when I feel anxious thoughts taking hold. 

The physiological impacts of shallow and deep breathing

Normal breathing patterns, by default, usually mean breathing into your chest and lungs. When we are going through a bout of anxiety, it can feel more like hyperventilating, where we are pulling in oxygen only to the upper chest. This means less oxygen is absorbed by the body, and the shallow breath will increase heart rate and exasperate the stress response.

The key to reducing anxiety-induced breathing problems is to train yourself to initially recognize when your breathing gets shallow. It is only with body awareness that we can begin to change patterns. 

Utilizing breathing exercises to combat anxiety

Breath can become an anchor in your life when you learn to control it because it triggers your parasympathetic nervous system. This means that instead of triggering our fight or flight response, we are reminding ourselves to balance that with a sense of homeostasis. Benefits of controlled breathing exercises in managing anxiety include:

• Lower stress reduction and increased calm 
• A more regulated nervous system
• Improved clarity and mood
• Better sleep -- understanding how to control your breath can help you to know how to calm down at night
• Improved and quality energy 
• Improved posture
• Better circulation
• Increased lung capacity
• Healthy immunity

Part of the reason that deep breath is so powerful physically and mentally is that it helps to soothe the nervous system.

So how to incorporate effective breathing exercises into your daily routine?

One of the best times to begin to practice various breath control exercises is in the morning to help boost energy and get more oxygen to your muscles and your brain. It doesn't take much. Just a few minutes a day can help you train yourself to learn to control your breath by simply focusing acutely on each inhale and exhale.

Most Effective Breathing Techniques for Anxiety

3-3-3 breathing

The 3-3-3 breath technique is similar to box breathing, only you do not hold the breath out. To begin, you can sit comfortably and begin to consciously breathe in for a count of 3, hold for 3, and breathe out for 3. Focus on using an equal amount of time for each breath and continue one. You'll begin to notice as you inhale and exhale, focusing on deep belly breathing, that you will begin to settle both mind and body.

Alternate nostril breathing 

Alternate nostril breathing is a yogic technique that will help you to find balance and start the relaxation response. Simply bring your index or ring finger and thumb up to your nose. Block your right nostril with your thumb and inhale through the left slowly and deeply. Then block the left and exhale through the right. Begin again by inhaling through the right, blocking it, then exhaling through the left. Inhale through the left, and continue on like that for a few minutes. Alternate nostril breathing takes a bit of focus as well, so it relaxes the mind away from stressful thoughts. 

Soft-belly breathing 

A compassion-focused technique, soft belly breathing invites a sense of groundedness and calm. Our belly is at the center of the body and, therefore, is often holding us up and tensing when we're stressed. This technique helps to relax the entire body. Begin lying down or seated in a comfortable position. As you breathe in, focus on softening your belly and allowing the breath to fill your body. As you exhale, see if you can soften even more. Feel the stomach gently rising and falling, and let go of any desire to hold the muscles in or contract. As you continue, focus on relaxation and physically let go of any feelings of anxiety. This particular breathing exercise can help to prepare you for meditation or even act as a meditation in itself.

Pursed-lip breathing

This technique helps you to control the pace of the out breath. Pursed-lip breathing can be done anywhere. Begin by getting comfortable and breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth with attention to the way the breath comes in through the nostrils—the temperature of the breath, its quality, and the way it exits the body. Once you've take a few breaths like this, begin to purse your lips on the out-breath. Breathe in through the nose and deep into the body, pushing down the diaphragm with the breath. Then exhale through pursed lips, which will force the breath to be released a little slower than usual. Slow breathing provides a truly calming effect.

Segmented nose breathing

Segmented breath can bring you to breathe deeper and focus more. To begin this breath practice, inhale in four equal strokes, with each inhale pulling the breath deeper into the body, beyond the chest, and to the lower belly. As you exhale, do so in four equal strokes as well, feeling the breath leave from collar bones to the lungs and chest to belly. This breathing exercise is ideal whenever you need to cultivate more clarity of mind, calm, and well-being. You can use this recording at Aura to accompany you in this practice.

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Building a Breath-Based Anxiety Management Routine

There are many proven strategies for making breathing exercises a routine. You can find the breath practice that works for you, but you can also use mind-body practices such as:

• Somatic exercises: releasing deep-seated stress by focusing on the mind-body connection and are often about breathing deeply while also moving mindfully
• Qigong: a way of working with the body's energy to find increased harmony
• Tai chi: a flowing set of exercises that are derived from qigong and also work to harmonize the body and set the body to a parasympathetic response
• Yoga and pranayama: within the various types of yogic practices, you will also find many forms of pranayama, which are controlled breathing exercises that support healthy lungs, a regulated heart rate, and a strong nervous system 

Each of these practices works with the body and breath together. The best times and settings for doing breathing exercises are times you will consistently remember. First thing in the morning or last at night is a good way to begin. With practice, you will learn to control your inhales and exhales in the moment. 

To see lasting changes, place importance on the consistency of your routine, and be patient with yourself. The beauty of breath practices is that they don't cost money, and the answer to relief stressors is always right inside of you. As you begin to practice breathing exercises, you'll learn to trust yourself more and feel in control in any situation.

If you’re looking for more guidance and community support, along with gratitude meditations to support your journey, join me at Aura, the most holistic meditation app on the market, for 30 days free.