MENTAL HEALTH MONTH 2020 – Breathing Exercises

Join us for Mental Health Month 2020, where we go beyond surviving and focus on THRIVING!

In today’s installation, we are focusing on breathing exercises for our mental health. According to the Michigan University of Medicine:

Deep breathing is one of the best ways to lower stress in the body. This is because when you breathe deeply, it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. The brain then sends this message to your body. Those things that happen when you are stressed, such as increased heart rate, fast breathing, and high blood pressure, all decrease as you breathe deeply to relax.

Stress Management: Breathing Exercises for Relaxation

As we continue to move through the COVID-19 experience, each of us is responding to the added stresses on our lives. Taking time to focus on healthy breathing exercises have a ton of benefits, including:

• It helps you relax, lowering the harmful effects of the stress hormone cortisol on your body.

• It lowers your heart rate.

• It helps lower your blood pressure.

• It helps you cope with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

• It improves your core muscle stability.

• It improves your body’s ability to tolerate intense exercise.

• It lowers your chances of injuring or wearing out your muscles.

• It slows your rate of breathing so that it expends less energy.

What Is Diaphragmatic Breathing? – healthline

So how to we practice deep breathing exercises? Here are a few options to consider!

Belly Breathing

Box Breathing

6 Ways to Practice Grounding

Consider printing the breathing techniques and posting them in common places you spend time – the living room, on the refrigerator, in the bathroom, or on your nightstand. That way you can quickly reference a simple technique to spend a few minutes focusing on breathing exercises.

If you are looking for something more interactive, the St. Louis Art Museum has an awesome “Show Art Experience” where you can breath along to some fantastic art!