The 3 best breathing exercises to reduce stress and anxiety in seconds
Want an easy way to overcome stress? Pay attention to how you’re breathing.
Breathing is something we do instinctively the moment we’re born. And when we stop doing it, we die.
But in between the start and end of our lives we pay very little attention to our breathing.
So… how’s your breath right now?
That simple act of observing your breath for just a few seconds could be enough to alter your mental state.
It’s a powerful tool that you can use at any moment to override your stress response and put yourself into a state of calm.
How is this possible?
Overview
- Our evolutionary ‘fight or flight’ stress response is overactive
- The stress response is linked to our breathing
- You can overcome the stress response with breathing techniques
- Scientific studies have shown that specific breathing exercises help to reduce anxiety and stress and improve overall well-being
- The best breathing techniques for reducing stress are deep breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, and 4-7-8 breathing
Breath and the evolution of the stress response
I’m not going to retrace our entire evolutionary history, but this will help you to understand why the breathing exercises below work.
In short, humans evolved to have both mental and physiological responses to stress. Take this example. It’s the year 10,000 BC and a hunter gatherer is picking berries in a forest when he spots a sabre toothed tiger.
He has a choice to make. Today, we call it fight or flight. It’s the body’s emergency reaction system.
In an instant, the brain reacts by flooding the body with adrenaline and cortisol, which causes us to freak the fuck out.
The hunter gatherer panics. His heart rate increases. His breathing gets faster. His mind is alert and body ready for action.
Back in hunter gatherer times, this response was helpful. It saved lives.
But today, when we don’t face many life-threatening situations, the human stress response has become a real problem.
Our threshold for fear and stress has dropped drastically. The stress response used to kick in when we were in real danger – a wild animal was nearby, or an enemy tribe was attacking.
Now it kicks in when we don’t get enough ‘likes’ on Instagram, or we’ve got a lot going on at work. We fear not being accepted, or failure, or looking stupid.
This means that our stress response is overactive. For some people, simply walking through a busy street can cause it to kick in because we fear what people might be thinking.
These low-level stressors keep us in a near constant state of fight or flight.
This can wreak havoc on our mental and physical wellbeing, often contributing to serious health issues like heart disease and digestion problems.
But it’s a problem that can be overcome by focusing on the breath and reprogramming our nervous system.
How breathing exercises work
Consciously focussing on and slowing down the breath tricks the brain into thinking it’s in a calm state.
It helps to activate what’s known as the parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the “rest and digest” state – the opposite to “fight or flight”.
The parasympathetic nervous system lowers your heart rate and blood pressure and prepares the body for rest and digestion.
Breathing is one of the most accessible and easy ways to override our stress response and put our mind and body into a state of rest and relaxation.
That’s because calm, controlled breathing tells our nervous system that there’s no threat, there’s nothing to fear, and we can stop freaking out.
That’s why you’ll often see people doing controlled breathing before doing scary or dangerous things, like fighting in the UFC, skydiving, or public speaking.
The great thing is that you have access to this tool whenever you need it.
Breathing techniques to reduce stress (supported by science)
1. Deep Breathing
This sounds overly simple. That’s because it is. And that’s why I recommend it as an easy breathing exercise to use in everyday life.
In 2005, a study of more than 25,000 people in Japan found that deep breathing decreased blood pressure and pulse rate.
Deep breathing was defined as six breaths in 30 seconds. That’s inhaling for about 2.5 seconds and exhaling for 2.5 seconds six times.
It’s barely a “deep” breath and more just regular controlled breathing for 30 seconds.
Yet, that alone was enough to have an effect on blood pressure and pulse rate, both of which are indicators of stress and anxiety.
How to do deep breathing
- Inhale deeply through the nose for 2.5 seconds (you can do it longer if you want)
- Exhale fully out the nose for 2.5 seconds
- Repeat 6 times
- That’s it. Really. You can do 3 or more rounds, according to your time and needs
When to use
This is such a simple breathing exercise that it can be used in almost any situation.
You might be in the midst of an argument with your wife and you can use this exercise to calm yourself down before saying something you might regret.
You might be about to go on a date and you can use this to help yourself to chill out so you don’t come across as a nervous wreck.
Or maybe you’re just jetting across town in an Uber to meet with a client and you want to de-stress quickly.
Take 30 seconds, or do a few rounds of this deep breathing exercise to get yourself in the zone.
2. Belly Breathing (Diaphragmatic Breathing)
Belly breathing is similar to deep breathing, but requires you to consciously focus on expanding your diaphragm as you inhale and contracting it as you exhale.
Several studies have looked at the benefits of belly breathing. While these studies have their limitations and further investigation is needed, there seems to be mounting evidence that this breathing exercise helps to reduce stress and tension in your body.
A 2017 study in China found that diaphragmatic breathing could help to “improve cognitive performance and reduce negative subjective and physiological consequences of stress in healthy adults.”
How to do diaphragmatic breathing
Diaphragmatic breathing is best done while laying on your back with a pillow supporting your knees and head, or sitting comfortably upright in a chair.
The study mentioned above describes the participants “breathing in as deeply as possible and then exhaling almost all the air from the lungs, slowly, in a self-controlled, slow rhythm”.
- Place one hand on your upper chest and the other on your stomach just below your ribcage and close your eyes.
- Breath in slowly through your nose, filling your lungs. You should feel your stomach expanding against your hand while the hand on your chest remains still.
- Tighten your stomach muscles and gently exhale through pursed lips.
- Repeat as many times as needed.
You should try and note how your body feels during this exercise. Breathing deeply can cause you to become lightheaded, which is why you should always do this safely while laying down or sitting.
When to use
This technique can’t be used on the go in the same way as simple deep breathing above.
It’s best used when you have a few minutes at home before or after a stressful day at work for example.
It can also be used backstage if you’re about to deliver a talk, or even before heading out on a first date.
Diaphragmatic breathing will definitely override your stress response and help you to relax in just a couple of minutes.
Please be aware of doing it for too long or too intensely. You want to relax and decompress, not hyperventilate.
3. 4-7-8 Breathing
The 4-7-8 breathing technique was popularised by Dr Andrew Weil who describes it as “a natural tranquilliser for the nervous system”.
While there haven’t been any specific studies on the 4-7-8 technique, it operates on the same premise as other focussed breathing exercises.
It takes a few minutes at most, doesn’t need any equipment, costs no money, and will likely transform your state of mind and physiology.
How to do the 4-7-8 breathing technique
- Exhale completely through your mouth
- Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four
- Hold your breath for a count of seven.
- Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight
- Minimum recommended dose: Four full breaths (no more than eight at a time)
For extra guidance here’s a video of Dr Weil demonstrating the technique.
When to use
Dr Weil recommends using the 4-7-8 technique twice a day. He says the more you do it, the more powerful it becomes.
Like the other breathing exercises mentioned above, it can be used anytime you need to centre yourself and manage a stressful situation or experience.
Just breathe
I find it incredible that our breath – the thing that we do instinctively from the moment we’re born – can be like a powerful anti-anxiety drug if we just take a few moments to connect with it.
If you’re feeling stressed, anxious or overwhelmed, I highly recommend trying any of the simple exercises outlined here. They are tools that we can access anytime, any place.
I think you’ll be surprised how transformative breathing can be.
