You can count on your breath

If you experience anxiety, do you notice unpleasant feelings in your body? When our minds start worrying it leads to the production of stress hormones which affect our bodies, leading to ‘fight, flight, freeze’ responses.

 

If I had described my anxiety when it was at its worst, I would have thought of it as the flight response, needing to get away. But I only ever actually ran away once. Usually, I would in fact freeze, rather than try to escape. I would hold my body tight and practically stop breathing. I just did the absolute minimum; tiny, shallow breaths. 

Whether this was in a meeting or in the pub, most likely no one even noticed, they had no idea of the turmoil I was experiencing. This is probably the experience of many people with anxiety. Often on the outside everything looks fine. 

I didn’t realise it at the time, but restricting my breathing was probably the worst thing I could do. It seems obvious now, but when you’re in it you just can’t seem to think rationally at all. Instead of keeping me safe, it made me dizzy and spaced out which just increased my anxiety.

Anyone experiencing fight or flight responses may start breathing heavily and quickly which can also lead to dizziness and feeling spaced out, leading to even more anxiety.

So, what’s the answer? 

It’s not the whole answer but a handy thing to keep in mind is to think, “how is my breathing?”.

There’s a lot of talk about breathing and how we can use it to our advantage and it all sounds fascinating. I’m not an expert and there are many different techniques. Experimenting to find out what’s best for you could be really helpful. 

What many clients have found helpful is going back to basics. When we inhale, our heart rate rises slightly, whereas exhaling slows our heart rate slightly. So, if we breathe out for longer than we breathe in, and do that for a minute or two, it might well help us to feel calmer. 

If you’d like to try it out it’s good to be curious and experiment, see what length feels right for you.

Some people breathe in for three and out for five, whereas others may breathe in for five and out for seven. It also depends on how quickly you’re counting. 

Everyone is different so it’s worth trying it out to see if it helps you, and adjust the speed depending on what feels right for you.

When we are in the grips of ‘fight, flight, freeze’ it is very hard to think rationally, but if we give breathing some thought from time to time, we might be able to prevent or at least reduce some of the physical symptoms of anxiety.

When we are thinking about our breathing it’s worth also considering how we use our voices. Speaking calmly is an indication that we are calm and is reassuring to our minds that everything is ok. 

So, as well as being mindful of how we are breathing, and perhaps slightly adjusting it if needed, we can also use our voices to help us to feel calmer and more in control. 

Often when anxious, we can speak quite quickly. So, being mindful of the speed we are speaking at allows us to include some small pauses or just slow our sentences down a little bit, which may also help us to feel more in control.

So, as the sign says…”Take a big old breathe. Go on”, from time to time.

Of course being mindful that breathing too deeply, too many times might make you a bit dizzy, so whatever makes you feel good, always at your own pace!