Why Breathing Is So Effective at Reducing Stress

The idea that breathing should affect my mood or mental function was nonsense. It didn’t seem like it should make much of a difference.

He enjoyed it so much and was so excited though, I figured what the hell, I’ll give it a shot. That was a couple months ago and now I do it almost twice a day, daily. My breath holds are well into the 3 minute range and the restful reset it provides me is becoming something I actually look forward to. It’s sort of my ‘okay, time to wake up/sleep’ activity. Get the blood going, get relaxed, get the brain ready.

I never would have imagined that simply breathing would make me feel so nice.

I don’t have the experience others describe, but it’s a great experience nonetheless.

One of the fun features is that you can tell how well it’s working by how much better your breath holds get with each hold. As my body and mind calm and relax, my ability to hold my breath dramatically increases. The times I haven’t been able to calm or relax well due to external factors (kids arguing or loud music for example), my breath hold has tended to be consistent but much shorter. When it works, it really works.

Now, the moment you are bored you get super annoyed and try to entertain yourself immediately. I believe that breathing exercises are very helpful, but even more helpful now that everyone on earth forgot how to be bored and just relax for 10 minutes.