From work to paying bills and organizing vacations, life is full of stressful situations, and knowing how to relieve that stress is key.
A neuroscientist has shared one easy breathing technique which he says is the “fastest way” to get rid of stress – and it only takes a few seconds.
‘Fastest way’ to relieve stress in real-time
“This is the fastest and the best way to de-stress, to lower your level of stress in real-time,” Andrew Huberman explained during the latest episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
He said it’s really important to know how to lower stress, because “life is stressful” and we can’t control external events that make us feel on edge.
We hear all these stress remedies like meditation, vacations, and massages, but they aren’t useful when you’re “stressed in the moment,” the neuroscientist said.
If you’re about to give a talk at work or have a difficult conversation with someone and are feeling stressed, remember this simple three-step breathing exercise:
- Inhale through the nose so that your lungs feel full
- Inhale a second time to inflate your lungs to the maximum
- Long, slow exhale through the mouth until your lungs are empty
Watch the neuroscientist demonstrate the technique below:
Science behind the breathing technique
This breathing technique is known as the physiological sigh, which is a type of deep breath characterized by a double inhalation, followed by a single, long exhalation.
“The physiological sigh brings your level of stress down immediately, very quickly, and we all have the capacity to do it,” Huberman said.
When you breathe, 500 million air sacs in your lungs called alveoli are open, as that’s where the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place, another neuroscientist, Dr Daya Grant explained.
Over time, these air sacs collapse. If left closed, the lungs wouldn’t work properly. However, sighing pops these alveoli back open and breathing continues.
This is a normal process that occurs in our bodies every second, but we can use this knowledge of the way the body works to relieve stress.
The physiological sigh is us consciously opening those collapsed alveoli, which in turn helps you to de-stress both physiologically and emotionally.
Now try another popular breathing trick that will help you drift off to sleep in no time.
