The holiday season can bring on a full sensory experience of sights, sounds, and smells. We all have those neighbors who put the power grid in jeopardy by going all out with lights and decorations, Clark Griswold style. People are baking cookies and pies, and the air in every coffee shop is filled with the scent of pumpkin spice. No surprise, the radio stations are once again playing Christmas music way too early. For some people, however, the holiday season is not all sweet memories and Sugar Plum fairies.
*This article is intended for education and entertainment purposes only, so talk to your doctor before trying anything new.
I wrote an article around this time last year titled, “Just Breathe for Holiday Stress Management.” In the article, I explained that the holidays can be stressful, if not downright traumatic, for some people. For many people, this time of year can bring back memories of loved ones that are missed or have passed, the chaos of trying to find the perfect gift, the stress of overspending, or simply loneliness. All of which can make this a time of crippling anxiety and depression.
My article also discussed some tips for dealing with milder cases of stress and anxiety, such as talking with a friend, taking some quiet time to collect your thoughts, or maybe even a good workout to burn off some steam. I also mentioned the often-overlooked method of performing breathing exercises for managing anxiety. Well, being the human guinea pig that I am, I have been consistently experimenting with several breathing techniques to manage a few stress-related issues that middle-aged men often have to deal with. In truth, my blood pressure has been creeping up over the last several years, and, like most people my age, I usually feel that if I don’t take on the weight of the world, nothing will ever get done. All of this is coupled with the body of a long-retired athlete that has seen more than a few injuries and whose joints sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies. I figured I couldn’t write an honest article if I didn’t at least try some of the techniques I wrote about. The crazy thing was, the more I practiced these techniques, the more benefit I got out of them. I’ve actually stuck with the practice quite well. Adding two twenty-minute sessions most days to my existing routine of exercise, mostly good nutrition, and other modalities.
For those who haven’t read or don’t remember my earlier article, let’s take a minute to review some basic physiology. When someone is under physical or emotional duress, they go into some degree of fight-or-flight mode. This is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Stress hormones are released; their chest may begin to heave, and breathing will increase in frequency and intensity. Their body is getting ready to face whatever threat is perceived. This is our natural response to extreme stress and a built-in survival mechanism. When faced with life-or-death situations, our ability to perceive stress is a good thing and may even save our lives. We are not, however, built to be in this state of high alert for very long. It is meant for the rare occasion when we need it to get out of trouble, and there is abundant evidence that being too stressed for too long leads to all kinds of damage to our minds and bodies.
When I talk about talk to my clients or in public forums, I often hear, “I’m always stressed,” and “There is no way to not be stressed.” The common theme seems to be that there will always be stress and that people lack control over their stress. They are partially correct. True, there will always be some level of stress in a person’s life. That’s life! There are ups and downs. However, we do have some control over how we perceive stress and how we respond to stress. All of us have friends for whom everything is an emergency. Their week is just shot trying to pick out curtains, or Starbucks is out of their favorite latte flavor, and their world is ending. Then we have those friends who are never bothered by anything. Their house blew up, no problem, they always wanted a skylight, and who needs stuff anyway? What I propose is nothing that extreme. I just want to help you find middle ground without resorting to pharmaceutical intervention with a million side effects, if possible.
When stressed, and not in immediate danger, the aim should be to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The “rest and digest” system, if you will. Like the SNS, the PNS is part of the autonomic nervous system. While they are opposing systems, they are both largely automatic and help maintain homeostasis, or balance, within the body. Could you imagine if we had to think about our heart beating or breathing? Because these systems are part of a largely automatic network of neurons that control organ systems, it was thought there was little control over them. Au contraire! We absolutely, with practice, can affect these systems. Just like we can activate our SNS by breathing heavier and psyching up for an event that requires power, we can activate our PNS by slowing down our breathing and mellowing out.
If this is the case, why then are we not doing this regularly to de-stress? As I mentioned in my earlier articles, I basically grew up in a powerlifting gym that was populated by correctional officers and a goofy kid, me. Things like stress management were complete fiction, and yoga was considered a swear word. Heaven forbid you ever got caught flexing in a mirror. You’d never hear the end of it. So, learning breathing techniques to relieve stress was not a thing.
Flash forward to middle age. Two health degrees and decades of experience, and I think something so simple as breath control may be one of the greatest and overlooked discoveries in the last couple of millennia. In fact, I’ve found it so effective for reducing stress and increasing mental focus that I would put it up there with exercise and nutrition as basic pillars for health.
I mentioned that I have experimented with several techniques. While I am not one to directly offer advice in my articles, I will tell you what I do, and you can decide for yourself if it would be beneficial to look into. The basic techniques are easy to learn. First, there is diaphragmatic (belly) breathing. Many people have a habit of breathing from the chest by lifting their chest when they inhale. While this will keep you alive, it is somewhat inefficient. Conversely, diaphragmatic breathing calls for relaxation of the chest and an expansion of the belly to draw breath. Think of a sleeping infant. This technique allows for an increase in lung capacity and efficiency. Try lying flat with one hand on your belly and the other on your chest. The goal is to only allow the hand on your belly to rise. Slowly inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Allow your “abdomen” to fill with air, then slowly contract those muscles as you exhale. With a little practice, it will be easy to master.
Next, I slowed things down. I added long, slow breaths to my diaphragmatic breathing practice, with a 6-second inhale and a 6-second exhale, in a very quiet spot. Slightly longer than I originally wrote. I began with 5 minutes, and with time, was able to quickly increase my time to 20-30 minutes. Though I thought I would get bored, and did a little in the beginning, I have learned that if I focus on my breathing, the time flies. When my mind keeps jumping from thought to thought as it does on some days, I simply let stray thoughts float away. When I’m finished, I find that my stress has melted away and my mental focus is much improved. No one should be intimidated by breathing exercises, and everyone can start with just a few minutes a day and work up from there. For me, it’s been life-changing.
