Don't Forget to Breathe!

Have you found yourself amidst the time crunch of a deadline drawing near, a race across town to your next client meeting, or gritting your teeth as a customer tells you that the "big box" down the road sells the same product for 10% less, when suddenly you feel the surge of rising blood pressure and anxiety threaten to take over your very existence?

Well, when was the last time you stopped to breathe?

In our fast-paced, just-on-time society, it's amazing just how often we actually forget to breathe!

The relationship between stress and blood pressure regulation is highly correlated and researchers are continually founding theories on how "stress" can actually kill us.  With all types of stressors (on the job, at home, in the classroom) in our day to day life, it's no wonder it's a contributing factor in the rise in high blood pressure and heart disease plaguing our population. Stress pumps up the autonomic nervous system. This system oversees involuntary bodily processes, including blood pressure and heart rate, but also more symptomatic functions like sweating and flushing (you know, all those lovely symptoms you experience as you stand at the head of a boardroom trying to appear as if you actually know and believe in what you're talking about). The hormone adrenaline is a fundamental part of the body's response to stress.

Adrenaline prepares you for the "fight or flight" mechanism, which so impressively saved our ancestors' lives, pending a bear attack, yet has rendered itself useless and problematic to 99% of mankind's current daily stressors, which rarely involve life or death scenarios and more often involve matters of time crunching and over-working ourselves. Guess evolution hasn't yet rid itself of these natural reactions as we have become less and less likely to encounter bear attacks or barbarian invasions. I digress...

Adrenaline increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure and boosts energy supplies. Everything you need in the heat of the moment. Cortisol (aka the Devil), the primary stress hormone, increases sugars (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances your brain's use of glucose and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues. Sounds great doesn't it? NO!

Cortisol also curbs normal bodily functions that would be non-essential or detrimental in a fight-or-flight situation. It alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes...you know, all that stuff that actually matters to us on a day-to-day basis. This complex natural alarm system also communicates with regions of your brain that control mood, motivation and fear. Here lies the biggest problem... our daily stress isn't revolved around one momentary fight or flight event that will subside when the life or death crisis is averted, but rather a day in, day out, onslaught of stressors that rarely rectify themselves, causing our adrenaline and cortisol levels to be at a regular and constant high. The overexposure to cortisol can contribute to this lovely list of disorders: Anxiety, Depression, Digestive problems, Headaches, Heart disease, Sleep problems, Weight gain, Memory and Concentration Impairment. Do you experience a few of those? Yeah, I thought so.

Now...linking this back to that oh-so-precious oxygen and that silly function of breathing I started on several paragraphs earlier...

Most people breathe shallowly. A lifetime spent rushing, sitting hunched over desks doing paperwork, studying, working on computers and getting stressed out all contribute to the bad habits of shallow breathing. How is this compounding the negative effects of your day to day stress?

"...Insufficient oxygen means insufficient biological energy that can result in anything from mild fatigue to life threatening disease. The link between insufficient oxygen and disease has now been firmly established. The more oxygen we have in our system, the more energy we produce."
- Dr. W. Spencer Way: Journal of the American Association of Physicians

The more shallowly you breath, the less oxygen you take in. The less oxygen you take in, the more your blood pressure rises. The more your blood pressure rises, the more adrenaline and cortisol your body secretes. The more adrenaline and cortisol your body secretes, the less likely you are to be able to calm down and relax. The less likely you are to be able to calm down and relax, the more shallowly you breath. See what I'm doing here? It's a vicious circle!

So...the next time you are rushing across town trying to get to your next client before they replace you, pay attention to whether or not you are breathing. I bet you aren't. STOP THAT!

Take a deep breath. It will be the best thing you've done for yourself all day. And therefor, I suggest you make the process of deep breathing a part of your every day! It will allow you to calm down, aid in your ability to cope with stress, and help your damn heart, which as it turns out, you will need between now and the end of time.

Here are a few tips:

Take a slow, deep breath in through your nose. Let the air completely fill your lungs. Resist the urge to exhale quickly before you've fully inhaled. It takes some practice, since most of us are in the habit of taking quick, shallow breaths instead of long, deep ones. Focus on breathing in as much as you can through your nose.

Let your stomach expand. As you draw in a deep breath, let your stomach expand by an inch or two. The air should travel all the way to your diaphragm, causing your belly to round out as it fills.

Exhale fully. Let out your breath slowly through your nose. As you breath out, pull in your belly toward your spine. Exhale all of the breath in your lungs. After you exhale, take in another deep breath through your nose and continue breathing deeply. Try to exhale for twice as long as you inhale, and fully expel the air.

Try Yoga

Try Meditation

Try anything.....but just BREATHE!

It will save your life in more ways than one!

-Lindsay