Hey guys.
When you're anxious,
Someone always says the same thing,
Take a deep breath.
It's the most common piece of advice there is.
For a lot of people,
It makes things worse.
Here's what's happening.
When you're anxious,
Your breathing is already fast,
Shallow,
And high in the chest.
You're already taking in more air than your body needs.
So when someone tells you to take a big deep breath,
You take even more.
Most people think breathing is about oxygen.
It isn't.
Not really.
Unless something is badly wrong,
Your blood is already about 97% saturated with oxygen.
You can't meanfully add to that by breathing harder.
What actually changes is your carbon dioxide.
And carbon dioxide isn't waste,
It's the signal,
The key.
It tells your red blood cells to release the oxygen they're carrying into the tissues.
So when you over-breathe,
You blow off CO2,
Effectively throwing away the key.
Your blood vessels narrow,
Less blood reaches your brain,
And the oxygen you're carrying stays stuck in your bloodstream instead of getting into your cells.
That's why over-breathing feels the way it does.
Light-headed,
Tingling in your hands,
Tight chest,
Heart racing.
Those aren't symptoms of anxiety causing bad breathing.
They're symptoms of bad breathing making the anxiety worse.
Which is the loop nobody explains to you.
You feel anxious,
So you breathe harder.
Breathing harder makes the symptoms worse.
Worse symptoms make you anxious.
Round and round.
The answer is the opposite of what you've been told.
Breathe less,
Not more.
Breathe through your mouth.
No.
Breathe through your nose only.
Make the breath small,
Slow and quiet.
Low into the belly rather than high in the chest,
And make the out breath longer than the in breath.
The longer exhale activates your vagus nerve.
Hot Ride Comes Down.
Cortisol comes down,
The system stands down.
Four seconds in,
Six or eight seconds out.
Nothing dramatic,
Nothing forced.
You should barely be able to hear yourself breathing.
I'm Ross Pollard,
Former paramedic,
24 years of service,
12 of them on the helicopter.
I've watched a lot of people in the worst moments of their lives being told to take a deep breath.
What actually brought them back was breathing less.
And that goes for the paramedics as well,
Myself included.
So the next time someone tells you to take a deep breath,
Don't.
Close your mouth,
Slow it down,
Let the exhale be long.
If you'd like to practice this,
Have a look at my anxiety recordings here on Insight Timer.
And if this helps.
Please leave a rating,
It means everything.
Take care of yourself.
And I'll speak to you next week.
