February 29th, 2024
In a world where chaos seems to reign supreme, where the pace of life often feels like a relentless sprint rather than a gentle stroll, it's all too easy to become entangled in the suffocating grip of anxiety and overwhelm. From the incessant buzz of notifications on our smartphones to the never-ending demands of work, family, and social commitments, our modern existence can feel like a never-ending marathon with no finish line in sight.
But amidst the loud noise of everyday life, there exists a profound truth that is often overlooked: the power of simply pausing to breathe. As a Christian Health Coach, I've witnessed firsthand the transformative effects that carving out time and space for relaxation and introspection can have on our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being; not just for my clients but for myself as well.
Deep breathing techniques or exercises are often cited as an important tool that can help to immediately alleviate stress, anxiety, frustration, and anger. “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 33:4
Yet, many people have difficulty practicing deep breathing exercises because they either don’t believe that it would help, or they try once, think it’s lame and don’t try again. Many people, while they wouldn’t want to admit this out loud, are afraid to just BE STILL. In our culture today, we feel as though constantly being on the go makes us more productive. It doesn’t. It’s causing us more harm by not settling down and taking a break to mindfully breathe. “Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10a.
The more you get into a routine of practicing breathing exercises, the better and more comfortable you’ll become at doing so, which will give you the ability to reduce stress, anger, and frustration easier than before.
The body has two systems within the nervous system: the parasympathetic and the sympathetic. They both contribute to the reasons why deep breathing exercises can calm us down. Here’s how:
Our biological systems have a natural ability to react during times of stress, especially in those situations where we’re facing a huge threat. As a matter of survival, humans have always had this ability. In prehistoric times, humans came face-to-face with all sorts of wild animals, such as bears or tigers. While we’re no longer standing off with wild animals in this day & age, it’s still in our wiring. In response to whatever types of threats we face today, our bodies activate the Fight, Flight, or Freeze (FFF) Response.
The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the physical sensations we get when we feel stress, anxiety, or severe anger and frustration. These can include sweaty palms, increasing heart rate, and faster breathing. The activation of the FFF response is preparing our bodies to either run, fight the threat, or freeze.
The problem with the activation of the FFF Response is that it can be activated whenever we perceive that we’re up against a threat - whether we really are facing a threat or not. Even though we experience negative situations in our lives, this does not necessarily make them a threat to our physical well-being. One other important aspect of the FFF Response is the way that it diverts your blood flow. To prepare you to fight or to get ready to run from a perceived threat, blood is diverted away from the brain to the extremities in the body, such as the arms, legs, hands, and feet.
Situations involving personal relationships, work responsibilities, work promotions/added responsibilities, intense verbal arguments with others, and bad news about your health or the health of loved ones are just a few scenarios that can trigger the FFF response. Even though all of these situations may be emotionally hurtful or painful, our body’s nervous system may interpret them as physically threatening. As such, our bodies activate the natural FFF response to get us ready to fight or run away.
To tell our biological systems that the situations we’re facing don’t require a fight or flight response, we must trigger the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system produces the opposite response to the FFF, causing a relaxation response instead. Deep breathing reverses this process. Breathing exercises send the blood supplies back from the extremities (since we’re not concerned with running or fighting) to the areas of the brain that allow us to think, reason, and problem solve.
This is why breathing exercises work to calm us when we experience acute stress, anger, or frustration. Blood is returning to the brain and it becomes easier for us to think and accurately perceive the situation.
There are several ways in which you can practice deep breathing to relax both your body and mind.
The simplest way to practice in times of stress or anger is to:
1. Close your eyes.
2. Tense your whole body for a few seconds and inhale deeply through your nose. Be sure to breathe in and expand your belly. This creates space for your lungs to fully expand. We were created to breathe to thrive. We are only breathing to survive when we restrain the full capacity of our lungs by taking short, choppy breaths.
3. Then exhale slowly through your mouth. Exhaling should last longer than the inhale
4. Repeating these five to six times can take you back to a state of relaxation and calm.
As you can see, the body’s natural ability to fight or flee from a perceived threat has been useful throughout the ages and is still useful today, when truly necessary. However, reversing the process through breathing exercises places you in a better position to think more clearly and reason about the stress or other difficult situations that you may be faced with.
These exercises are also great to do randomly throughout your day just for general feelings of wellness and calm.
In a world overrun by chaos, loud noise, and stress, let's remember the simple power of deep breaths. By understanding how our body's fight or flight response works alongside our calming parasympathetic system, we can take charge of our mental and emotional health. With mindfulness and regular, intentional breathing exercises, we're not just coping to survive, we are thriving. So, let's embrace the calm within the chaos and find peace one breath at a time! “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” Psalm 150:6
Jennifer is a Christ-follower, Certified Health Coach, Fitness Instructor, and Nutrition Advisor at Pure Lifestyle Wellness, where FAITH, FITNESS, and NUTRTION collide to bring WHOLENESS in the Lord.
