Five Tools to Help You Practice Deep Breathing

Deep breathing is a tool that you can use when you’re in a stressful situation or when you’re feeling overwhelmed in general. The reason that it works is that stress puts your body and your brain in a fight or flight status. This usually means short, shallow breathing that makes you feel even worse. Deep breathing takes your brain and your body out of that fight or flight mindset.

Elderly Care in Murray UT: Practice Deep Breathing

Think Consciously about Your Breathing

Often when you feel stressed, the last thing on your mind is how you’re breathing. If you can take a moment when you’re in that stressful moment to think consciously about your breathing, you can take stock of what’s happening. Using that one moment of conscious breathing can help so much.

Count While You Breathe

As you’re breathing in, count. What you want to do is to gradually increase that count as you breathe in. As you exhale, count again. Just like with your inhales, you want to gradually increase the amount of time that it takes to exhale a full breath. By counting, you’ll have a frame of reference to help you notice that your breathing is becoming deeper.

Use an App to Help Slow Your Breathing

Plenty of the major app stores have applications available, both free and paid, that can help you to practice deep breathing. Many of them offer audio prompts that can take you through a guided meditation of sorts to help you deepen your breathing. Others might use a visual cue that can help you to breathe slower and more deeply. You may want to try one or two to see which ones work better for you.

Don’t Force It

If you’re having a difficult time learning how to deepen your breathing, tensing up about it and trying to force the situation isn’t going to help. Take your time and be gentle with yourself. You will get a lot farther if you’re going about this process more slowly. This isn’t about punishing yourself. It’s about helping you to relax a bit.

Relax your Muscles

One way to help you to get to where you want to be with deep breathing is to focus first on your muscles. When you’re really stressed and tense, your muscles follow suit. Concentrate on how your muscles feel and try to consciously relax them. If that’s too difficult at first, concentrate on tensing them all and then relaxing. You may find that it’s a lot easier to practice deep breathing after this.

As a caregiver, you might find that you’re in a lot of different situations that leave you feeling stressed and breathing in a stressed pattern. Practicing deep breathing can help you to actively reduce your physical signs of stress.

Are you or a loved one considering Elderly Care in Murray, UT? Please talk to the friendly staff at December Rose Senior Care at Home. Providing Home Care in Highland, Utah and Surrounding Communities. 801-427-ROSE (7673)