I want to talk about breathing techniques as an anxiety treatment today, and have some real life examples to help illustrate the point.

“I was in agony, my chest hurt and my limbs ached. Now I realize that stress is very physical and I learnt how to keep the physical discomfort to a minimum simply by learning how to breathe properly. I had been breathing far too quickly and making matters worse for myself by doing so. Now, I take things easy, breathe slowly and am able to be more relaxed in stressful situations. I still get some discomfort but nothing that I can’t tolerate.”

Although breathing comes naturally and we can all do it, there is a comfortable and an uncomfortable way to breathe. The uncomfortable way is rapid and shallow breathing, which uses only the upper part of the lungs and results in the inhalation of much oxygen. This is the sort of breathing that you will find yourself doing after you have just run to catch a bus or raced to get to an appointment on time. This rapid breathing is a perfectly normal response to exertion and stress and is called hyperventilation.

We all hyperventilate whenever we are tense or when we are exercising. We breathe faster at these times in order to provide our muscles with oxygen to bum during activity. In this way, our body is prepared for action to relieve the stress – running away, for example – or to sustain the exercise. Rapid breathing is not troublesome in the short term – in fact, your body will need the extra oxygen if you have just run to catch a bus; but continued fast respiration causes physical discomfort which can be quite frightening.

Habitual over-breathing causes problems because it results in too much oxygen entering the bloodstream so that the usual oxygen-carbon dioxide balance is disturbed. As the oxygen level rises the relative carbon dioxide level falls, and this imbalance causes many unpleasant physical symptoms, which could include:

• tingling face, hands or limbs;
• muscle tremors and cramps;
• dizziness and visual problems;
• difficulty in breathing;
• exhaustion and feelings of fatigue;
• chest and stomach pains.

Understandably, these sensations can be very alarming, and so they often trigger more anxiety and therefore more hyperventilation. This can then set up another cycle of stress and can often lead to a panic attack.

Although it is common to worry about losing control, this is very unlikely. You can easily learn to correct over-breathing and control the symptoms for yourself by simply developing the habit of correct breathing. This means learning to breathe gently and evenly, through your nose, filling your lungs completely and then exhaling slowly and fully. The “anxiety treatment” breathing exercise outlined below will help you to develop the ability to control the symptoms of hyperventilation.

The Breathing Exercise

Use your lungs fully and avoid breathing from your upper chest alone. Breathing should be a smooth action, without any gulping or gasping. When you first practice, it can be easier to do this exercise lying down, so that you can better feel the difference between shallow and deep breathing.

As you become more practiced, you can try the exercise sitting or standing.

• Place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach.
• As you breathe in through your nose, allow your stomach to swell. This means that you are using your lungs fully. Try to keep the movement in your upper chest to a minimum and keep the movement gentle.
• Slowly and evenly, breathe out through your nose.
• Repeat this, trying to get a rhythm going. You are aiming to take eight to twelve breaths a minute: breathing in and breathing out again counts as one breath. This might be difficult to gauge at first, so practice counting five to seven seconds for a complete breathing cycle (i.e. breathing in and out).
• Do not deep breathe rapidly.