Take a deep breath

In today's post I wanted to get a bit ‘sciency’. It is all well and good me sharing my opinions and stories about recovery, but I know some people will need more than ‘it worked for me’ stories.

The fact of the matter is that there is a lot that happens through a recovery journey that stands outside of scientific proof. It just happens because it does. If you track recovery back nearly 100 years to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, they would likely tell you that it all just happens because it does. But in these last 100 years Science has caught up with many of the ideas that were initially peddled as ‘beliefs’ and where that happens clearly I find it helpful to highlight the science and I try my best to understand it.

One of the things that I have loved about my recovery journey is that it has rekindled my love for reading. Now I find myself reading any book that is even loosely connected to recovery and self improvement. Where once upon a time I would just read, now I study: highlighting key and poignant lines and putting the book aside while I conduct additional research into points of interest.

The line ‘TAKE A DEEP BREATH’ is one that has always frustrated me. I have vivid memories of being a child and being told to ‘just breathe’ or to ‘take a deep breath’. And I can tell you from those experiences that when you are in an emotional crisis this is often the worst thing to say, akin to throwing petrol onto the fire! But that did not stop me from using the same line when I was a teacher, or as a parent, and I was trying to support young people through their own emotional crisis.

The truth of the matter is that this line ‘TAKE A DEEP BREATH’ is something that requires logical thought and processing and when we are in a period of high anxiety our abilities to actually process any form of logical thought are shut off. Blood is physically directed from the prefrontal cortex (the logical thinking part of the brain that also processes language) and is diverted to the ancient amygdala, which is responsible for our ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response. Meaning that our efforts to use words to bring around a sense of calm are worthless.

But learning to take control of our breathing is really important and here’s why!

Our bodies are fundamentally controlled by two systems:

• The SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM (SNS)

• The PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM (PNS)

They both play key, but very different roles.

The Sympathetic Nervous System is often referred to as our FIGHT / FLIGHT / FREEZE response. On an evolutionary basis it has been key in helping to ensure we have stayed alive. When our lives were more nomadic and we would have had genuine fears about our safety, e.g. when being pursued by a predator, our brains would have unconsciously switched into this mode. Our hearts would have started beating faster, our breath would become quicker, the number of logical options available to us would diminish so that we could react quickly and decisively to the situation in hand.

I'm sure, described like this, we can see this system would have had distinct benefits. The problem with the SNS is that it is of limited use in modern society. This is because the threats that we face now aren’t immediately life threatening. Being told off by our boss, or being pulled over by the Police, does not put us in the same danger!

However the SNS can still be activated, leaving us unable to effectively deal with the situation at hand!

What is key to remember is that the activation of this system happens completely unconsciously, meaning we have no control over when, where or how it is triggered!

The Parasympatheric Nervous System, which is often referred to as our REST / DIGEST system is equally as powerful, but as equally outside of our control. This is the system that is online once the danger has passed. Our breathing slows, our muscles relax and our brains and bodies are able to return to normal function.

You may think that this is the ideal, ‘why can’t this system be online all of the time?’ It is a good question, until you are staring into the face of a lion and your brain is thinking of 100 different ways this scenario can play out, whilst also thinking about stories you have heard about lions. Your body is slow and sluggish as it digests its last meal and you can feel that you are in a state of unreadiness. Because with only a PNS you are destined to be the lion's next meal.

But there is one way to ‘hack’ your nervous system and it works both ways.

That is BREATHING!

Whilst ordinarily unconscious it is the only part of the nervous system that we can actively control.

If we can feel that our bodies are overrun with adrenaline, our anxiety levels are rising and logical thought is in danger of leaving us, we can bring focus and control to our breathing and if we do it right we can stop our SNS from taking over, by bringing our PNS to the fore.

It is something that we have been doing, as a human race, for decades. All we need to do is think of a movie or TV program depicting a hysterical person and they will be given a paper bag to breathe into. The bag in itself is doing nothing! But the act of having the bag is bringing our breathing into our conscious control and through that we are able to slow it down and regulate ourselves - employing the PNS.

Am I advocating that we should each carry around a paper bag for those times when we are feeling overwhelmed? 

No, the beauty of breathing is that it is something that we can always turn to. Without the need for any equipment, wherever we are!

And there are so many different techniques we can try!

The two that I find myself turning to most frequently are…

Box breathing - simply put you breath in for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4 and hold for 4 and repeat

and

Long exhales - breath in for 4 and then exhale for 8 

If this is something you have never tried before I implore you to give it a go! BUT do not wait until you are in crisis. If you want to be able to use breathing as a way of gaining regulation you need to practice the techniques whilst you are feeling regulated. Just in the same way that soccer players will practice the penalty outside the context of the stressful, pressurised shoot out.

So take some time (it can be done in as little as two minutes, and can even be done while doing other things, cooking, cleaning, driving) and start breathing as outlined in one of the techniques. Try and notice how you are feeling before you start the technique and try and notice how you feel afterwards.

I am certain that you will notice a very marked difference in the way that you feel!

So powerful is the impact it has had on me that I start my day with focussed breathing, to ensure that I can start out feeling as prepared and in control as possible!!

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