BREATHE IN. BREATHE OUT. Taking "deep and slow" breaths for 5 minutes has been shown to decrease sympathetic nervous (flight or fight) system activity; to decrease feelings of tension, anger, and depression; and to increase pain thresholds. PMID: 21939499. Most of us are living life, rushing around. This means that we are in flight or fight mode a lot of the time. This isn't always a bad thing. However, humans thrive on variability and the resilience to move into and out of different activations in our nervous system. When is the last time that you felt safe and relaxed? When we are safe and relaxed in our bodies and minds, we activate the parasympathetic ventral vagal (safe and social, rest and digest) part of our nervous system.
Taking a few deep and slow breaths frequently throughout your day is an easy way to help regulate your nervous system. It uses a bottom-up approach by calming the body to influence the mind.
