Congratulations.
You’ve just calmed your nervous system.
Controlled
breathing, like what you just practiced, has been shown to reduce stress,
increase alertness and boost your immune system. For centuries yogis have used
breath control, or pranayama, to promote concentration and improve vitality.
Buddha advocated breath-meditation as a way to reach enlightenment.
Science is just
beginning to provide evidence that the benefits of this ancient practice are
real. Studies have found, for example, that breathing.
How controlled
breathing may promote healing remains a source of scientific study. One theory
is that controlled breathing can change the response of the body’s autonomic
nervous system, which controls unconscious processes such as heart rate and
digestion as well as the body’s stress response, says Dr. Richard Brown, an
associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and co-author
of “The Healing Power of the Breath.”
Consciously changing
the way you breathe appears to send a signal to the brain to adjust the
parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, which can slow
heart rate and digestion and promote feelings of calm as well as the
sympathetic system, which controls the release of stress hormones likecortisol.
Many maladies, such
as anxiety and depression, are aggravated or triggered by stress. “I have seen
patients transformed by adopting regular breathing practices,” says Dr. Brown,
who has a private practice in Manhattan and teaches breathing workshops around
the world.
When you take slow,
steady breaths, your brain gets the message that all is well and activates the
parasympathetic response, said Dr. Brown. When you take shall rapid breaths
or hold your breath, the sympathetic response is activated. “If you breathe correctly,
your mind will calm down,” said Dr. Patricia Gerbarg, assistant clinical
professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College and Dr. Brown’s co-author
Dr. Chris Streeter,
an associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at Boston University,
recently completed a small study in which she measured the effect of daily yoga
and breathing on people with diagnoses of major depressive disorder
Stress
Relief
When your mind is
racing or you feel keyed up, try Rock and Roll breathing, which has the added
benefit of strengthening your core.
1. Sit up straight
on the floor or the edge of a chair.
2. Place your hands
on your belly.
3. As you inhale,
lean forward and expand your belly.
breath out and curl forward while leaning backward; exhale until
you’re completely empty of breath.4.Repeat 20 miuntes
