Is the Way You Breathe Making You Anxious?

The way we breathe can set off a cascade of physical changes in the body that promote either stress or relaxation.

Breathing impacts the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) and parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) branches of our nervous system, and certain techniques can promote more parasympathetic calm and relaxation. Some may also cause us to release hormones like prolactin and possibly oxytocin, the feel-good hormone of love and bonding.

• Breathing fast can act as a trigger for people with anxiety causing symptoms that often accompany panic attacks, but you can use that to your advantage.
• When you breathe fast and start to feel symptoms that you normally associate with anxiety, it may help you re-interpret those symptoms in a less threatening way.
• They become less worrisome because they have a clear cause, the same way an elevated heart rate during exercise doesn’t bother us.
• And if you can connect anxiety to faulty breathing habits, it means you can change the way you breathe and potentially see some improvement.

Many of the techniques that have been formally researched are derived from pranayama, yogic breathing that dates back to ancient India:

• Ujayyi: Deep breathing with a narrowed throat, creating an ocean-like sound, often recommended while doing yoga asanas.
• Bhastrika, or “bellows breath”: inhaling and exhaling forcefully.
• Nadi Sodhan and Anulom Vilom: Types of alternate nostril breathing, where air is inhaled in one nostril and exhaled through the other, sometimes with breath holding.

Although these shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for therapy or a cure for severe anxiety, they can be a free, simple tool for both short-term relief and long-term benefit.