Coping with anxiety
Here are three very simple breathing techniques for helping to control stress. Changes in our breathing can often signal our exposure to stress. For example, frequent shallow breaths, or hyperventilating, can signal the onset of a panic or anxiety attack. Research has shown that the parasympathetic nervous system can be controlled by altering the way in which we breathe. This type of breathing is called the Relaxation Response. Below are three techniques which can help you de-stress.
For best results, find time everyday to practise these for a few minutes. Obviously if you can lie down and forget the world for half an hour and focus on these, great. But, in the real world of busy stressed people – especially those with babies or young children, this isn’t always possible. The success of these techniques depends on practising them and using them. Begin by practising one of them for 5 minutes a day when, for example, you are; feeding your baby, standing the supermarket queue, sitting on the loo or before going to sleep at night. Then try the next one. Find one that you can fit into your everday life, so that you are able to use it bring down the scale of real stress.
- Relaxation response
This technique works as it reduces the ant of carbon dioxide in our blood stream and this in turn lowers the heart rate and breathing and signals the body’s own natural relaxation response.
Begin by inhaling for a count of seven, hold the breath for a count of two, and then exhale for a count of eleven. Do this as slowly as is comfortable for you. Focus your attention on the counting and the breaths you take. Spend a few minutes like this and notice the changes in your body as the relaxation response is gently triggered. You will find your heart rate lowers, and your muscles naturally begin to let go of tension and relax. Listening to yourself counting the in and out breaths. By doing this you are interrupting whatever inner dialogue is going on and disengaging from it. This can be an important part of interrupting the stress, so remember to count.
- Diaphragm or Abdominal breathing
This is a simple technique where we change the way we breathe, with practise it can become our normal breathing pattern. Shallow breathing is what we commonly do, where the air expands the chest and the shoulders rise. Change this by placing your hands gently on your sides, just below your ribcage. When we breathe the diaphragm lowers and pulls air into the chest. This is deep abdominal breathing. So breathe deeply and feel your hands expand as your stomach area fills with air on each inhalation. The chest should not expand. Practise taking long slow breaths in this way.
- Progressive Muscle relaxation
This is where you tense and relax different groups of muscles in turn. This should be done in a quiet state without interruption. However, we’ve found that by doing it in any situation can alert you to the amount of tension your are carrying. Becoming aware of tension in our bodies and discharging it is an important part of distressing. Personally, I’ve used this is supermarket queues and traffic jams and successfully lowered the stress rate I’m under at a given time. This is a good technique for insomnia, try it lying in bed at night.
Begin by tensing all the muscles in your face and tensing your whole head. Hold tightly for seven to ten seconds, making them as tense as possible. Then let them go. Feel them relax much more deeply than they were before you started. Then move down to your neck and shoulders, again tense them as tightly as you can, hold for seven to ten seconds and then slowly let the tension go and feel them relax. Move down your arms and hands, through your torso, back, pelvis, legs and feet. Repeat the sequence and feel yourself moving into a deeper state of physical relaxation each time.