How does breathing impact mental health?

The rhythm or speed of your breath tends to dictate your mood. What does that mean? Well, pay attention to the speed of how you are breathing when you are afraid, stressed, or in deep thought. Is it slow, steady, or is it shallow, quick, and inconsistent? Paying attention to your breath can help you regulate your mood and improve your current state. For instance, long, slow, controlled breaths during a stressful situation may help you think clearly and change your perspective.

One of my favorite ways to practice breathing techniques is using meditation techniques. Whether guided or impromptu intentionally controlling your breath can help to regulate your mood and reduce stress. Using a relaxed breathing pattern seems to calm the nervous system that controls the body’s involuntary functions. Controlled breathing can cause physiological changes that include but not limited to lowered blood pressure and heart rate and reduce levels of stress hormones in the blood.

The next time you encounter a stressful situation try to practice a breathing technique like deep breathing where you just take Another great breathing technique that can be effective is called box breathing. In this technique, you image a square box in front of you and you inhale as you image yourself drawing the first line of the box, exhale drawing the second line, and so on.