Ever find yourself constantly overbooking yourself and running around each day trying to balance all your responsibilities only to find yourself exhausted and overwhelmed?
It is important to remember that despite your busy, everyday life of checking things off the to-do list, maintaining family relationships, creating a social life, balancing work or school, and any other activities you might have, you need time in each day to engage in deep breathing and relax.
It is so easy to let your responsibilities take over your mental health and wellness.
However, one of the most beneficial things you can do to maintain your well-being amongst your busy life, is to engage in deep breathing. It is one of the best forms of stress management and takes as little as 30 seconds.
Feeling better in less that a minute has never been so easy. This simple task provides instant results! Keep reading to learn how and why it is so beneficial.
Why Deep Breathing?
Obviously, we need to breathe in order to survive. Your body uses oxygen to move your muscles, digest food, and processing all information like reading these very words. You don’t have to remind yourself to breath, your body just does it.
However, the difference between breathing unconsciously and deep breathing is the efficiency and effectiveness at which you are breathing.
Deep breathing allows your body to fully exchange the oxygen coming in, with the carbon dioxide going out. The cardon dioxide is a waste product of all the things your body processes. This means that deep breathing allows you to remove more waste and exercise your full lung capacity.
Despite breathing being fundamental to survival and your bodies natural and unconscious instinct, focusing on deep breathing is proven to improve your wellness and gives your body and mind a multitude of amazing health benefits.
Benefits of Deep Breathing
1. Increases your calmness
When you close your eyes and take a deep breath in and out, releasing all your thoughts, a rush of calmness will take over. The oxygen that you take in, reaches the brain, and sends a wave of calmness to the rest of your body. This causes the heart rate to slow down which will make you feel calmer and more relaxed.
2. Boosts your energy
The oxygen that is released into the blood stream after you breath fuels the body and improves its function and energy levels. If you are feeling tired, taking a few deep breaths will help boost your energy.
3. Lowers blood pressure
When you breathe, your heart rate slows down which decreases your blood pressure. Your blood vessels also dilate which helps to improve circulation.
4. Improves the Immune system
The oxygen in your body, helps to move and absorb nutrients and vitamins throughout the body. Therefore, the more oxygen your body receives, the more efficient the immune system will be. In addition, breathing removes 70% of the toxins in your body.
Read the post in the Wellness Series: Goal Setting: 6 Benefits that will Lead to Success
Start Practicing
Take a few minutes out of your day to engage in some deep breathing.
- Choose a relaxing place to do your deep breathing.
- Close your eyes.
- Clear your mind and release any tension your body has.
- Slowly, breathe all the way in. As you do that, feel your whole body being filled with air and sense of calmness and peace.
- Hold it for a few seconds before slowly releasing all the air out. As you release the air, feel any stress and tension you may have be released as well.
- Repeat however may times you would like.
Deep breathing often gets overlooked and forgotten in the times you need it most. However, this is one of the best things you can do to improve your mood and health instantly! When you start to feel overwhelmed, tired, or stress, deep breathing can relieve some of those feelings.
Breathing deeply and controlling your breathing impacts your body in a multitude of ways.
Go to the next post in the Wellness Series here.
”Breathe deeply, until sweet air extinguishes the burn of fear in your lungs and every breath is a beautiful refusal to become anything less than infinite” – D. Antoinette Foy
“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure” – Oprah Winfrey
“When the breath is unsteady, all is unsteady; when the breath is still; all is still. Control the breath carefully. Inhalation gives strength and a controlled body; retention gives steadiness of mind and longevity; exhalation purifies body and spirit” – Goraksasathakam
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