Hello, in this post we are going to go over a simple breathing exercise to help decrease stress levels called box or square breathing.
Stress is a normal feeling. You may feel stressed due to physical or emotional reasons and is something all humans experience at one point or another. Usually when we think of stress, it is in a negative light. However, some stress can be healthy and even motivating. This is known as eustress. The Yerkes Dodson law shows the relationship between stress and productivity.
However, when stress levels become too high we may feel fatigued, exhausted, anxious, and this build-up over time can lead to disease. In fact, a large reason why people visit their primary care physician is due to stress-related issues. If we don’t deal with our stressors than over time it can negatively impact our physical health.
The technique I want to share with you, box breathing, is very simple yet effective. I learned it while going to a workshop for healthcare professionals on the topic of anxiety. The reason why this works so well is it helps put you in the present moment. Usually our stressors and anxiety lives in the future, over things we can’t control but when we bring ourselves in the present moment it puts our issues into perspective.
In addition, deep breathing not only helps put us in the present moment, but it helps calm down the sympathetic nervous system, involved in the fight vs. flight response. When we breath out deeply, our vagus nerve is stimulated, which is involved with our parasympathetic nervous system, rest and digest. It is very difficult to physiologically be both in a state of calm and a state of high stress at the same time.
When you feel stress levels dip into higher levels, it can be paralyzing and difficult to get anything done. Instead of trying to continue trucking along, I recommend trying box breathing.
Let me go over how box breathing works. You will breath in deeply for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, then repeat as many times as needed. Make sure you “breath from you diaphragm.” I used to hear this phrase all the time when learning how to play the flute. You aren’t actually breathing from your diaphragm, but harnessing the diaphragm to help you breath more deeply. The diaphragm is a muscle, which helps separate the thorax and abdomen. The more the diaphragm is contracted, the more the thorax can increase it’s volume to help the lungs inflate with more air. If you breath too shallowly, it may make you feel light-headed.
Go ahead and try a few rounds. Make yourself comfortable. Some people find it helpful to actually draw a square while they are counting, which can further help you focus on the present moment. Follow the diagram below:
Let’s check in and see how you feel. Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, consider using this technique. If you found this technique helpful, please let me know in the comments below, as well as your experience.