In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of research and interest in breathwork as a tool for building resilience – the ability to adapt to challenges and cope with stress.
It’s very exciting for those of us who are working in this field that the latest studies are backing up what we are seeing with our own eyes; that breathwork is an amazing stress reduction and resilience building practice. In fact, in two recent scientific studies that focussed on putting stress reduction and resilience programmes to the test, breathwork came out on top as the best intervention for coping with stress in both the long and the short term.
We’ll go into the studies a little bit further into this article. We will also explore the science behind breathwork and delve into its potential.
Resilience refers to the ability to adapt and cope with adversity, trauma, or stress. It involves developing skills and strategies to manage your way through difficult situations, which can help you to cope with setbacks. Resilience is an important factor in mental health and well-being, as it can help you to maintain a sense of control and a positive outlook in the face of the challenges you may face.
Being resilient means that you are able to respond to the challenges you face in a way that not only helps you survive the adversity, but with the ability to bounce back. It’s important to note that people with resilience do not experience less distress, grief, or anxiety than other people do. Instead, they use healthy coping skills to handle such difficulties in ways that foster strength and growth, often emerging stronger than they were before.
As much as resilience involves bouncing back from these difficult experiences, the interesting thing is that it can also involve profound personal growth. So being resilient doesn’t mean you’ll escape feeling things deeply, or experiencing so called ‘negative’ emotions such as loss, grief, sadness or anger. What it does mean is that you will maintain a greater sense of perspective and an ability to process these emotions and experiences, and may even come to regard them as learning opportunities or even as ‘gifts’ as you look back at them in the future.
There are several factors that contribute to resilience, including but not limited to: social support, problem-solving skills, self-esteem, and optimism.
Recent research from two studies that were published in prestigious scientific journals this year, Nature and Brain Sciences, has shown that breathwork can play a role in reducing stress and anxiety, as well as improving mental health and building resilience. Johannes Eggberts, breathwork pioneer and biohacker, who is a co-author of the Brain Sciences study has this to say:
“True strength is knowing when to take a step back, to reconsolidate, and fight harder another day” –
Johannes Egberts
Breathwork is the practice of using intentional, controlled breathing exercises to positively affect your physical, mental, and emotional state, and as such, can involve intentionally altering your breathing patterns to influence your body’s physiological response to stress.
This practice has been used for thousands of years in various spiritual and healing traditions including yoga, meditation and the martial arts, and recent research has begun to clarify its potential for improving physical and mental health.
You can try a simple calming practice for reducing stress relief and anxiety here.
Some of reasons that breathwork helps to build resilience include:
We will delve into these points below.
One way that breathwork may contribute to resilience is through its effects on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is responsible for regulating the body’s response to stress.
The ANS consists of two branches: the sympathetic nervous system more commonly known as “fight or flight” and the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the “rest and digest” response.
Breathwork techniques such as slow, deep breathing have been shown to activate the parasympathetic, calming side of the nervous system and promote relaxation and feelings of peacefulness. Breathwork techniques can help counteract the effects of chronic stress, which left untreated can lead to dysregulation of the ANS and contribute to physical and mental health problems, from anxiety and sleeplessness to early death.
Research has also shown that breathwork can improve heart rate variability (HRV), which is a measure of the variability in the time between heartbeats. Higher HRV has been associated with greater resilience to stress, as it reflects the body’s ability to adapt to changing conditions.
Imbalances in the ANS can be identified by assessing HRV. For instance, if the body is in the “fight or flight” or sympathetic mode, HRV is reduced. Conversely, if the predominating mode is the “relaxed” or parasympathetic mode, HRV is increased.
HRV is a crucial measurement as it not only predicts the risk of cardiovascular disease but also allows for the objective assessment of emotional health. In general terms, a high HRV reflects good cardiovascular health and a lower risk of developing mental illness due to improved stress tolerance.
high HRV = good cardiovascular health, lower risk of mental illness. Low HRV etc
Breathwork can help build resilience by improving emotional regulation. Emotions are a normal part of the human experience, but difficulties with emotional regulation can contribute to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.
Breathwork techniques such as deep breathing and diaphragmatic breathing have been shown to activate areas of the brain associated with emotional regulation and decrease activation in areas associated with stress and anxiety. Numerous studies have found that breathwork leads to significant improvements in emotional regulation and stress levels among people with depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and engaged in the current moment, without judgment or distraction. It has been shown to improve emotional regulation, reduce stress levels, and increase feelings of well-being.
Breathwork can be a powerful tool for promoting mindfulness, as it requires focused attention on the breath and the present moment. Likewise, breathwork can help build resilience through mindfulness. Practicing breathwork can be a great tool to re-centre yourself in the present moment. Studies have found that breathwork leads to increases in mindfulness and reductions in negative effects among people with high levels of stress.
Breathwork can also help build resilience by improving cognitive flexibility and executive function. Executive function refers to a set of mental processes that enable individuals to plan, organize, and execute tasks. Cognitive flexibility refers to the ability to adapt and switch between different mental processes and strategies.
Research has shown that breathwork can improve executive function and cognitive flexibility by promoting increased blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain responsible for executive function. The study found that breathwork led to increases in prefrontal cortex activity and improvements in cognitive flexibility among healthy adults.
The Studies: Breathwork Vs Other Stress Reduction Techniques
Two recent studies, both conducted in 2020, explored several different stress reduction techniques and found that a breathwork technique called SKY Breathing Meditation (Sudarshan Kriya Yoga) was more effective than other stress reduction techniques for both immediate and long-term stress reduction.
SKY BREATHING – LONG-TERM AND SHORT-TERM EFFECTIVENESS
The first study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, was run by the research team at Yale. In this study, three wellbeing interventions were conducted:
Participants were randomly assigned to one of the programs or a control group, and researchers found that those who practiced SKY Breath Meditation had the greatest improvements in mental health, social connectedness, positive emotions, stress levels, depression, and mindfulness.
The second study, published in the Journal of American College Health, was conducted by the University of Arizona. Researchers compared SKY Breath Meditation to a workshop that taught conventional cognitive strategies for stress management (i.e., how to change your thoughts about stress). Both interventions produced significant increases in social connectedness, but SKY Breathing had a greater immediate impact on stress, mood, and conscientiousness, and these effects were even stronger when measured three months later.
To test the effectiveness of the interventions, participants underwent a stress task simulating a high-pressure business presentation/performance situation before and after the workshops.
The cognitive workshop group showed elevations in breathing and heart rate before the task, whereas the SKY Breathing group maintained steady breathing and heart rate, indicating a buffer against anxiety and stress. What this meant is that the SKY Breathing group experienced a more positive emotional state and were able to think more clearly and perform better.
In another study with veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who struggled with trauma after their deployment, the results were similar. Researchers found that not only did SKY Breath Meditation normalise the war veterans’ anxiety levels after just one week, but they also continued to experience the mental health benefits a full year later. Similarly, another study found that controlled yogic breathing, specifically SKY Breath Meditation appeared to reduce the symptoms of PTSD in veterans of the Armed Services.
SKY is a sequence of specific yogic breathing techniques that can alleviate anxiety, depression, everyday stress, post-traumatic stress, and stress-related medical illnesses.
HOW BREATHWORK IMPROVES RESILIENCE:
CONCLUSION
The research shows that breathwork can be used as a powerful tool for building resilience and promoting well-being. By activating the parasympathetic nervous system, improving heart rate variability, promoting emotional regulation, promoting mindfulness, and improving cognitive flexibility, breathwork can help you develop the skills and strategies necessary to cope with stress and adversity.
Sources and Links:
Effect of fast and slow pranayama on perceived stress and cardiovascular parameters in young health-care students
Breathing-based meditation decreases posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in U.S. military veterans: a randomized controlled longitudinal study
The Polyvagal Perspective
Effects of yoga breathing practice on heart rate variability in healthy adolescents: a randomized controlled trial
Sudarshan Kriya yogic breathing in the treatment of stress, anxiety, and depression: part I-neurophysiologic model
Sudarshan Kriya yogic breathing in the treatment of stress, anxiety, and depression: part I-neurophysiologic model
Promoting Mental Health and Psychological Thriving in University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Three Well-Being Interventions
Mindful attention to breath regulates emotions via increased amygdala–prefrontal cortex connectivity
Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials
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Copyright © 2022 | Breathless
Copyright © 2022 | Breathless
