Just Breathe

Life can be stressful. Ever take a deep sigh after an unpleasant thought or after thinking of your long to-do list? That deep sigh is the body’s subconscious way of trying to regulate the nervous system in response to a stressor. We can use breath work as a tool to help us through stressful situations (like going to the dentist, wink wink), decrease anxiety and improve relaxation.

There are many “coined” terms when it comes to deep breathing exercises such as “Lion’s Breath”, 4-7-8 Breathing Technique, Lip Pursing, Diaphragmatic Breathing (also known as Belly Breathing) and Somatic Breathwork Therapy to name just a few.

Today we are going to focus on Diaphragmatic and Somatic Breathing. Although similar in technique, they are uniquely different. While both have been proven to lower blood pressure, improve relaxation, reduce heart rate and increase the oxygen in our blood, Somatic Breathing is said to also release unneeded bound energy such as trauma. Somatic Breathing treatments often involve music or music bowls and are considered a mind-body practice.

Let’s chat technique for diaphragmatic breathing! First find a comfortable chair, like one of our operatory chairs for instance!!! Next, place a hand on your belly and one on your chest to feel both rise (fill) and fall (empty). Close your eyes and breathe in through your nose allowing air to fill your belly nice and slow and breathe out your nose at the same pace. Take note, the hand on your belly should move more than the hand on the chest. Repeat this breath 10 times. Did you try it?

Somatic Breathing shares the same technique, however the focus is of mind-body connection, finding internal wisdom and is a therapeutic practice geared at influencing our emotion by our breath and our breath by our emotion. There is no wrong way to practice somatic breathing, the key is to not force the breath or movement.

How does it work? Breathing techniques help bring our nervous system from ” fight or flight” to ” rest and digest”. As you slowly inhale fully expanding your lungs puts pressure on our vagus nerve which stimulates that rest and digest. The large volume of air delivering the extra oxygen to our blood activates endorphins and reduces our stress hormone called epinephrine. As we take a longer purposeful exhale our nervous system automatically lowers our blood pressure and widens our blood vessels further activating rest and digest. A study done in September 2023 by Harvard Medical School found that “regular breathing exercises may reduce blood pressure as much as taking medication.” In fact the study quoted cardiologist Dr. Kimberly Parks “Anyone with stage 1 hypertension, which is classified as a systolic reading of 130-139, should know that breathing exercises are an effective way of lowering blood pressure without medication.”

The good news is you take your lungs wherever you go and can execute these techniques whenever you need now that you have the tool in your tool belt. A perfect place to start is at your next dental visit! Feel free to ask me to guide you in the chair!