EXERCISES TO TRY

“The optimal breathing rate for the human body to work at its best is 5.5 breaths per minute. However, the average respiratory rate is between 12-20. This isn’t ideal, as the faster we breathe, the more we activate our stress levels, just through our breathing. Thankfully there are some key breathing exercises which can help.

“One is coherence breathing: Start with an inhale for three seconds and then an exhale for three seconds. Then after one minute, increase your inhales and exhales to four seconds and then five.

“This type of breathing helps bring balance to the autonomic nervous system by engaging the phrenic nerve in a slow and consistent rhythm and stimulating the vagus nerve, which can help move our nervous system out of a fight or flight state.

“Another useful exercise is short breath holds. This technique helps you to increase your tolerance to

CO2 in your system, which can help keep the body calm in times of stress or panic.

“To try it, you simply breathe in and out like normal. Then you hold your breath for two seconds while pinching your nose, before breathing normally again for 15 seconds. You can repeat this until the body and mind feel calm. Then, as the exercise becomes easier, gradually increase the hold to three, four and then five seconds.

“Finally, it’s helpful to ensure we’re always breathing from our belly not our chest, as when we breathe from our chest, we are taking much shallower breaths, signalling to our body that we are in a fight or flight state.

“To check your breathing, put your hands on your lower ribs. You’re supposed to widen as you breathe and that’s how you know you’re doing it effectively.”

‘Become aware of how you breathe’