Why deep breathing is so powerful

How deep breathing really works and the science behind it.

Groov co-founder Sir John Kirwan credits deep breathing with “saving his life.” He practices deep breathing around six times a day to calm his body and relax his mind. It’s one of the most powerful things he does to stay mentally well.

So, why is deep breathing so powerful? What does deep breathing do to our body and mind?

Let’s take a closer look at the science.

Deep breathing reduces stress

Stress is more than just a feeling. When you’re stressed, your clever body tries to protect you from harm. As a result, your sympathetic nervous system kicks into gear, triggering your fight or flight response.

Fight for flight is typically characterized by:

• Short, rapid, shallow breaths

• Elevated stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline

• Faster heart rate

• Reduced pain perception

When your body is in fight or flight, it’s trying to pump more oxygen to your brain and prime you to deal with danger. Fight or flight works wonderfully when there’s a serious, immediate threat to contend with – like a car hurtling towards you.

The problem is, the fight or flight response is very sensitive. It’s easily triggered by all sorts of things, like unread emails or a frightening scene on television. Your amygdala, the part of the brain that initiates the fight or flight response, does not differentiate between real, immediate threats and threats in your imagination.

To complicate things further, fight or flight is an automatic response. So even though you know it’s ‘just an email, not a tiger,’ your body will respond as if it’s about to face a tiger!

Deep breathing is your ticket out of fight or flight and back into relaxation. Deep breathing helps trigger your parasympathetic nervous system, which controls your ‘rest and digest’ response. That’s science speak for: deep breathing enables you to feel calm. It lowers your heart rate, decreases your stress hormones, and signals to your body that it’s safe to relax.

Staying relaxed helps you function well

Relaxation is about more than just feeling chill, although that’s a lovely side effect. Staying relaxed actually improves your ability to function well in most situations (except when you’re running away from a tiger).

When you’re relaxed, your body finds it easier to digest food, make complicated decisions, heal and recover, build new neural connections, and sleep deeply. As a result, you’re more likely to feel capable of tackling complex tasks. And you’re less likely to feel anxious.

Of course, you need both the fight and flight response and the relaxation response to stay safe. But in today’s modern world – with all our notifications and alerts – it’s easy to spend too much time in fight or flight. When you’re constantly on high alert, you’re at greater risk of burnout. You also miss out on vital rest and recovery.

Deep breathing is one of the fastest ways to switch from fight and flight to relaxation. You can do it quickly and easily whenever you start feeling stressed. That’s why Sir JK practices deep breathing six times a day.

Stress is ever-present – potentially lurking around every corner – and deep breathing is the antidote. It helps you feel more in control of your stress response instead of feeling like your stress response controls you.

More benefits of deep breathing

The ability to switch off the fight or flight response is arguably deep breathing’s most prominent benefit – but there are plenty of other great reasons to breathe.

Science shows that deep breathing also helps to:

• Improve posture

• Lower heart rate and blood pressure

• Support the immune system

• Improve digestion

• Improve core muscle stability

• Support you to cope with anxiety

There’s also plenty of anecdotal evidence about deep breathing. For example, people often report feeling happier, clearer, and more mindful when they take time to breathe deeply.

Try deep breathing for one minute a day

Now that you understand the science behind deep breathing give it a try! Proper deep diaphragmatic breathing requires some practice, but we can help with that. We suggest starting with one minute a day and building up from there. Deep breathing is easy and you can practice it anywhere. Place one hand on your belly and one on your chest. Take a deep breath. You should feel your belly move, not your chest. 

Give it a try and enjoy the benefits of deep breathing for yourself.

Your body, mind, and stress response will thank you for it.