Breathing method to relieve anxiety

There is no need to get hung up on genres or pursue movement standards. As long as you actively adjust your breathing rhythm to "exhale long and inhale short," you can quickly relieve acute anxiety in 30 seconds. Regular breathing exercises for a long time can also reduce the frequency of anxiety attacks.

I stayed up for three days before Double 11 last year. I was looking at the activity plan that had been changed to version 8. Suddenly I couldn't breathe. My palms were covered in cold sweat and I couldn't even hold the mouse. The operations team leader next to me reached out and patted my back. Without saying anything, he said, "Breathe with me: breathe in through your nose for 3 seconds and breathe out through your mouth for 6 seconds."

It was then that I realized how deeply I had misunderstood breathing techniques. In the past, I always thought that this was something mysterious that was done in yoga studios or mind-body classes. I had to learn abdominal breathing and chakra breathing, but if I didn’t do it, I would be exhausted. After checking a lot of information and asking friends who work in clinical psychology, I realized that the principle is actually very straightforward: when a person is anxious, the sympathetic nervous system has the upper hand, and the breathing will unconsciously become shallower and faster, just like an engine idling with the accelerator, and the slow-paced exhalation directly sends a signal to the parasympathetic nervous system - there is no danger now, and there is no need to maintain a state of readiness.

It’s interesting to say that I also signed up for a 99 yuan breathing therapy class before. The teacher taught a lot about "opening the central channel with breathing". I practiced for half a month and felt nothing. On the contrary, I became more anxious because I couldn’t remember the movements. Later, I asked a friend who is a psychiatrist and he gave me a clear answer: What you want is to relieve anxiety, not to take a breathing certificate. Why should you be so standard?

The breathing methods that are currently popular on the market actually have different emphases, and there is no absolute "optimal solution". For example, the most popular 478 breathing method was proposed by Harvard MD Andrew Weill. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, and exhale for 8 seconds. It is particularly effective in assisting sleep. However, many friends around me complained that they were panicking and had to count three different numbers for fear that they would be ineffective. The more they counted, the more anxious they became. Some people did not have enough lung capacity and could not breathe halfway through the 8 seconds, which made them even more uncomfortable. There is also the box breathing method that is commonly used in post-traumatic stress disorder intervention. It consists of 4 seconds of inhalation, 4 seconds of breathing, 4 seconds of breathing, and 4 seconds of breathing. The rhythm is even and the effect of stabilizing emotions is particularly stable. However, if you are in a meeting at work, you cannot count four times for 4 seconds with your eyes closed. It is too conspicuous. Your colleagues may think you are uncomfortable and call 120. There are also the abdominal and reverse abdominal breathing that Chinese medicine often mentions, which focus on long-term regulation of qi. However, if ordinary people have not practiced it, they will easily control the ups and downs of the stomach, but it will easily cause qi deviation, and the gain will not be worth the loss.

I have tried it myself in the past two years, and the most practical ones are the less "standard" variants. For example, when I suddenly received bad news during a meeting and my heartbeat suddenly spiked, I buried my head and pretended to take notes. I quietly inhaled through my nose for 2 seconds, exhaled for 4 seconds, and did this 5 times in a row. No one could tell. I calmed down first and then thought of a solution. Last time I couldn't catch the train at the high-speed rail station and stood sweating anxiously at the security checkpoint. I held my suitcase and felt the texture of the wheels against the ground. When I inhaled, I counted 1, 2, and when I exhaled, I counted 1, 2, 3, 4. After the third round of exhalation, I calmed down and immediately opened the APP to change the ticket for the nearest train. I didn't waste time by wandering around like before. If I read bad news while lying down at home and am so irritated that I can't sleep, I will try 478 honestly. When I exhale, I relax my shoulders and loosen my fingers. I usually feel sleepy within 10 rounds.

Oh, by the way, don’t believe those who say that “breathing must be practiced for 10 minutes a day to be effective.” If you use it during an acute attack, it will be effective immediately. Of course, if you can practice it for three to five minutes every day when you are fishing, it will indeed make your usual emotional threshold higher and make it less likely to explode at the smallest thing. I now lean back in my chair and practice for 3 minutes during my lunch break. In the past six months, I have rarely had the anxiety attacks that suddenly made me out of breath.

In fact, this thing is essentially an emotional switch that you carry with you. You don’t need to set so many fancy standards, and you don’t have to pursue any “healing effect.” Next time you suddenly feel flustered, irritable, or have a chest congestion, don’t rush to distract yourself with short videos, and don’t scold yourself for being emotionally unstable. Stop first, and exhale slower and longer than inhaling - it’s that simple.