Breathing Exercises to Calm Your Breath

How is breath related to heart rate? | Effect of breathing | Methods to calm breath rate

Calm breathing is a natural process: we inhale air rich in oxygen and exhale air rich in carbon dioxide. It happens automatically, which is why most of us do not even notice our own breathing, subconsciously ignoring the key function for living a healthy life. Current research shows that when you are mindful about your breathing and controlling it the right way, you can unlock a plethora of health benefits, both physical and psychological. This is why breathing control is a part of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga. It is known as pranayama, the fourth limb.

Experts believe that when we breathe, the millions of sensors in our breathing organs start sending signals to our brain. When you breathe fast, it pings your brain at a much higher rate, which activates your sympathetic nervous system. This increases the levels of stress hormones and your blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, anxiety, and sweat production. Relaxing your breathing has the exact opposite effect. It offers calmness, relaxation, and clarity of mind.

Slowing down your breath can help you lead a healthier and happier life. Let us look into the important scientific studies that prove how practicing slow breathing offers overall improvement in your mental and physical health.

How is breath related to heart rate?

A faster heart rate is associated with many health issues, including risk of heart related diseases and atherosclerosis. People with a higher heart rate are also more at risk of developing high blood pressure compared to people with slower heart rates. This is why it is essential to lower your heart rate, and an effective way to achieve this is by reducing your breathing rate.

A comparative study looked into the effects of different breathing patterns on the human heart rate. There is a research article⁽¹⁾ that explains the findings of the study.

The study was designed to compare and measure the heart- and lungs-related interactions and instant heart rate behaviors during practices of three different meditation protocols. Relaxation response, segmented breathing, and breath of fire were the three interventions used on 10 experienced meditators. The continuous breathing signals and heart rate between beats were analyzed.

During the segmented breathing and relaxation response, breathing organs-related behavior and heart rate were mostly similar. During them, low frequency (roughly 0.05-0.1 Hz), high amplitude fluctuations due to the respiratory sinus arrhythmia were observed. A significant increase (p<0.05) in consistency between breathing and heart rate during the two exercises were also noted. During the breath of fire exercise, a noteworthy increase in mean heart rate with respect to the baseline (p<0.01) was noticed, along with a decrease in consistency between the breathing and heart rate. The findings confirm that heart rate is directly affected by breathing patterns.

Another research article⁽²⁾ indicates how slow breathing can effectively slow down the heart rate. The study was performed on 60 patients who had hypertension; they were asked to make 8 and 16 breaths per minute. The respiratory, blood pressure, and electrocardiogram signals were recorded simultaneously to study the effects of breathing slowly on blood pressure and heart rate.

The study revealed that 8 breaths per minute slowed down the heart rate and decreased blood pressure better compared to 16 breaths per minute. The findings concluded that slow breathing has a positive effect on hypertension and heart rate.

Effect of calm breathing control on psychological and physical health

Most relaxing and meditative practices depend on the conscious slowing down of breathing to improve brain-body interaction with positive changes in psycho-physiology. A review article⁽³⁾ elaborates its findings on the effects of slow breathing (more than 10 breaths per minute) on psychophysiological mechanisms.

The research showed that calm breathing practices affect psychological status, central nervous systems, and autonomic activities. The available fMRI study showed reduction in anxiety, arousal, depression, confusion, and anger. They also increased comfort, pleasantness, relaxation, alertness, and vigor.

The research concludes that slow breathing practices enhance autonomic, psychological, and cerebral flexibility. It changes parasympathetic and CNS activities, promoting psychological well-being and emotional control.

Another study⁽⁴⁾ looked into the effects of breathing meditation on human psychology and how it can help improve performance. The study concludes that yogic breathing practices have the ability to positively impact mental health conditions like generalized anxiety disorder and depression. These breathing meditation practices can enhance physical performance and cognitive function, improving overall performance. The study also suggests that regularly practicing breathing meditation can keep hypertension, dementia, depression, panic attic, hemorrhage, and other medical conditions at bay.

Methods to calm breath rate

When you focus on your breathing, its patterns slow down. Hence, the best way to reduce your breath rate is to regularly practice breathing meditation. Below are a few techniques that can help you in this.

Basic breath awareness – The most effective way of slowing down your breathing is to be aware of it and concentrate on it. The first step of this process is noticing how you are currently breathing and trying to determine what speeds it up or slows it down. You can practice this anywhere. You just need to become aware, notice the speed of your inhalations and exhalations. Try to understand which is longer and slower and which is quicker and faster. If you focus for a couple of minutes, your breathing will naturally become calmer.
Listening to music – Listening to music has shown great calming effects on breathing. According to a research paper⁽⁵⁾, practicing deep-diaphragmatic breathing exercises when listening to specific types of music can successfully deepen your breathing, resulting in more soothing calmness and faster relaxation.
Ocean Breath – Have you ever noticed how relaxing the sounds of ocean waves breaking are? This breathing meditation aims to achieve that by recreating the sound through your inhalation and exhalation. It creates vibrations in your larynx to stimulate sensory receptors, which signal your vagus nerve to generate a calming effect. To practice this meditation, inhale through the nose and then exhale slowly through the mouth while making a “Ha” sound. Repeat this a couple of times before closing your mouth while still keeping the back of your throat in the shape used while making the “Ha” sound, and then exhale through your nose.
Alternate-nostril breathing – One of the most effective ways to reduce the breath rate is the alternate-nostril breathing. According to a study⁽⁶⁾, regularly practicing this meditation can increase parasympathetic activity and significantly reduce diastolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, and pulse rate.
Anuloma Viloma Pranayama is one of the best alternate-nostril breathing exercises you can try out. To practice this breathing meditation, sit in a comfortable position. Make a gentle fist with your right hand in front of the nose, and extend the ring finger and thumb. Use your thumb to close the right nostril gently, and inhale for 4 seconds through the left nostril. Next, close the left nostril with the ring finger and hold the breath for 16 seconds. Then, open the right nostril to exhale through it slowly for 8 seconds. Now, inhale through the right nostril for 4 seconds, close it, hold your breath for 18 seconds, open the left nostril, and exhale through it slowly for 8 seconds. Repeat this method three to five times to start with, and then increase the number of repetitions.

What’s next?

Listening to sacred sounds and divine music can help you channel the focus on your breathing and be mindful of each inhalation and exhalation. Ruhgu app offers many breathing techniques and breath meditations to easily achieve your mental health goal.

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