According to the American Lung Association, we take about 20,000 breaths a day.
In my experience, if at least 10 of those breaths are part of Box Breathing cycles, it can make a stressful workday feel a whole lot better!
What is Box Breathing?
Box breathing is a powerful technique to overcome stress, and to reset your breathing back to “normal” when something uncomfortable or upsetting happens.
The reason it’s called Box Breathing is to help us remember how to do it. If you imagine a box, each of its 4 sides represents a 4-count part of the Box Breathing cycle. It works like this:
1. Breathe in deeply through your mouth for 4 counts.
2. Hold your breath for 4 counts.
3. Exhale thoroughly through your mouth for 4 counts.
4. Stay empty for 4 counts.
I find it works best to do at least 2 to 5 Box Breathing cycles to get the desired effect.
A science-y look at why Box Breathing works
Box Breathing is a type of controlled breathing that calms your autonomic nervous system (ANS), which regulates and can improve heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure.
Regulating your ANS is so important because when you’re very upset or stressed, your body reacts like it’s in danger (similarly to the “fight, flight or freeze” response we see in pets).
When the body feels it’s in danger, the ANS can trigger a hormone rush of adrenaline and cortisol from the adrenal glands. This can make your heart beat faster, speed up your breathing, and raise your blood-sugar level.
Box Breathing is also beneficial to your parasympathetic nervous system, because it involves short periods of holding your breath (for 4 counts). This causes the CO2 or carbon dioxide levels in your blood to increase, which also helps lower your heart rate, which has a relaxing and calming effect.
Validation in psychology research
Box Breathing, as well as other types of controlled or rhythmic breathing, get a lot of attention from researchers. I believe this is because breathing techniques are easy to learn, drug free, and highly effective. Here are some examples of findings from peer-reviewed studies:
- Enhance ability to regulate emotions
- Improve cognitive performance
- Decrease negative emotions
- Improve heart rate variability, for more stress resilience
- Reduce production of hormones associated with stress
Before you get started
A few tips and watch-outs before you try Box Breathing:
1. Make sure Box Breathing is for you. If you have high blood pressure, are pregnant or may have difficulty holding your breath, check with your doctor beforehand.
2. Don’t rush your counting during the cycles. Sometimes beginners do this, and it can reduce how effective the breathing cycles are.
3. Keep the same rhythm and length for each set of 4 counts. This helps avoid hyperventilation, as well as enhances the benefits of the breathing.
4. Optionally, you can adjust your number of counts. If you want do 2, 3 or even 5 counts, that’s fine. Just make sure you do it for each part of the cycle.
Enjoy guided Box Breathing audios
I offer free access to my Box Breathing audios at this link.
If you decide to try out Box Breathing, it’d be great to hear from you about how it goes. Click here to message me.