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How Stress Can Cause Fat Gain, Energy Drain, Hormone Imbalance and an Increased Cancer Risk!

These Breathing Exercises Could Lead to Good Resilience and Decreased Stress


There are a variety of breathing exercises out there that could help you soothe your mind as well as calm your body. Additionally, Dr. Andrew Weil suggests using the 4-7-8 breathing technique whenever you experience something upsetting and when you are mindful of internal tension.

First of all, you should not forget the numbers four, seven and eight. Simply focus on getting the ratio correct.

Even though you can practice this breathing exercise as often as you want during the day, avoid doing more than 4 full breaths within the first 30 days of practice. Then, you can work your way up to 8 complete breath cycles at a time.

To do, start by sitting up straight and then place the tip of the tongue up against the back of the front teeth. Make sure you keep your tongue there during the whole breathing process.

Inhale silently through the nose to the count of four.

Afterwards, try to hold the breath to the count of seven.

Next, breathe out through the mouth to the count of eight. Make sure you make an audible sound. This completes a full breath.

It is advisable to repeat the same procedure another 3 times for four breaths.

These Exercises May Help You Fight Breathing-Related Stress

Not only breathing exercises can make you more conscious of your internal or physical state, but they could also help you fight breathing-related stress. In case you suffer from chronic stress, you probably breathe high in the chest. However, this type of breathing could stimulate the stress response.

Specifically, whenever you feel anxious and tense, you breathe more quickly and your heart rate elevates, thus increasing the production of stress hormones and your blood pressure levels.

Chest-oriented, rapid and uncontrolled breathing helps contribute to a state of breathing-related stress.

A professional yoga instructor, Dana Santas, explains how to do these 2 incredible breathing exercises:

– Get rid of tension through breathing. Stress-related breathing can decrease your diaphragm function and contribute to poor posture, thus resulting in migraines, pain, and decreased mobility. Adequate breathing helps alleviate pain, and enhance your posture and diaphragm function.

To do, sit in a chair or lie on the back. Simply relax the shoulders as well as place the hands on the lower part of the ribs. While inhaling, feel the ribs expanding outward, and move the hands further away from each other. While breathing out, squeeze the core muscles to fully empty the lungs. Take a break before the next breath.

– When you sigh in frustration, you should take the cue from the autonomic nervous system to transform those sighs into relief exhales.

To do, breathe in through the nose for a count of five, and breathe out as if you are sighing with relief, out of the mouth, for a count of seven. You should also repeat the same procedure for about one and a half minute.

How to Use Energy Psychology to Lower Stress:

Not only you should do the above mentioned breathing exercises, but you should also practice other stress management techniques in order to reduce stress. For instance, EFT, also referred to as the Emotional Freedom Technique, is an energy psychology technique that helps reprogram the reactions of your body to daily stress, thus lowering your possibility of serious health effects.

This stress management technique is similar to acupuncture. Furthermore, the Emotional Freedom Technique uses tapping the energy pathways in the body by using your fingertips in order to stimulate them. It reprograms the manner your body responds to any emotional stressor.

Moreover, this technique can be practiced alone as well as under the supervision of a licensed therapist.

In the video above, you can see how Julie Schiffman, an EFT practitioner, practices this technique.

Here Are Other Effective Stress Reduction Methods:

There are also other stress reduction methods that can help you reduce your stress very effectively.

First of all, get restorative sleep every night since poor sleep can significantly interfere with the ability of your body to manage stress. Plus, other stress reduction methods include:

  • Aromatherapy
  • Take time to have fun
  • Music
  • Spend time in nature
  • Levity and laughter
  • Social connectedness
  • Yoga (Practicing yoga on a regular basis has been found to decrease food cravings, enhance sleep patterns, boost immune function, and reduce stress, to name a few.)
  • Mindfulness training
  • Meditation (Taking about ten minutes to sit quietly, like during work breaks, helps lower your feelings of anxiety and stress.)
  • Regular exercise

Source: articles.mercola.com