4 breathing exercises to manage overwhelm

By Vivian Nunez

‍

Ground yourself no matter where you are.

It’s natural to try to reach for something (anything) when big feelings like overwhelm, anxiety, or frustration start to take over. One of the best gifts you can give yourself is to have a toolkit of resources ready for those stressful moments, to help you lessen your load or the stress on your heart.

Those tools also don’t have to be overly complicated. They can be as simple as pausing for a few seconds and taking a few deep breaths. Deep breathing exercises can help you calm everything from your heart rate to the physical tension in your body. They are especially helpful if you want to keep your heart health under control because it can work to minimize your stress levels both physically and mentally.

Below are four breathing techniques for anxiety that are easy to turn to whether you’re overwhelmed at work or stuck in traffic. None is better than the other; your goal can be to try each and see which works best for you (and this may change depending on your circumstances each time!).

‍

3-2-5 breathing exercise

It’s normal if you’re not used to deep breathing exercises for the practice to feel uncomfortable at first. Knowing how many seconds to inhale, exhale, or hold a breath can help turn “just take a deep breath” into a more tangible and doable exercise. In our Calm Health: Living with Heart Disease: A Guide for How to Thrive clinical program, you’ll find the 3-2-5 breathing exercise, where you want to inhale for 3 seconds, hold for 2 seconds, and exhale for 5 seconds.

‍

4-count box breathing exercise

The box breath is one of the easier breathing techniques for anxiety to remember because of how repetitive it is. The next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, just think of 4s. You’ll want to breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, and hold for another four seconds. If you can close your eyes during this exercise, try visualizing drawing one side of a square with every four-second count. Need a companion to help you visualize each inhale and exhale? One of Calm’s breathe bubbles can do the trick.

‍

Belly breathing exercise

Belly breathing focuses your attention on both your breathing and your physical body, which can be helpful if you’re trying to ground yourself back into where you are at any given moment. To belly breathe, you want to sit or lie down, then place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest to feel your belly expand and release every time you take a deep breath. On your inhale, you want to expand your belly outward as much as possible while keeping the hand on your chest sturdy and stable. On your exhale, you want to pull your stomach and abdominal muscles inward until your stomach is at its starting position.

‍

4-7-8 breathing exercise

If you have a little extra time to breathe, say about eight seconds for an exhale, then the 4-7-8 breathing exercise may be a good exercise to work yourself up to. While this breathing exercise is more advanced, its long breath patterns can help you carve out an extra second to quiet your mind, anxiety, and heart rate. First, you will breathe in for four seconds, hold for seven seconds, and then exhale for eight seconds. You can repeat this pattern (and any breathing exercise) as many times as you’d like until you feel like your heart health is under control. This breathing exercise is also very helpful if you ever have trouble sleeping.

While we breathe regularly and instinctively, using our breath as a calming tool takes more concentrated effort. The more you practice deep breathing exercises, the more you may see a positive impact on your mental health, heart health, or sleep. One deep breath at a time may be exactly what you need.

‍

Calm Health is not intended to diagnose or treat depression, anxiety, or any other mental or physical health condition. The use of Calm Health is not a substitute for care by a physician or other health care provider. Any questions that you may have regarding the diagnosis, care, or treatment of a health condition should be directed to your physician or health care provider. Calm Health is a mental wellness product.