How to Get Stress Relief with Breathing Exercises

Deep breathing exercises are an easy way to get stress relief. Doing deep breathing exercises helps bring more oxygen into your body and is thought to release excess tension in the diaphragm. You can get stress relief from anxiety disorders by doing deep breathing exercises on a regular basis. There are many variations of deep breathing exercises, and all provide stress relief. This article will focus on how to do a diaphragmatic breathing exercise.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Position yourself for the diaphragmatic breathing exercise so that you are comfortable. You may sit up or lie down, whichever position feels right for getting maximum stress relief. Likewise, remove any ill-fitting clothes and accessories that might interfere with getting stress relief.

2. Bring one hand (laid flat) to your chest. Place your other hand on your stomach.

3. Carefully inhale through your nose. Do this in a slow, controlled manner. Alternatively, you may prefer to inhale through pursed lips, as this helps to further control the rate of your deep breathing.

4. While you are inhaling, you should feel stomach get bigger. Your chest should not expand. (This is why you placed your hands on your stomach and chest in step 2.) For deep breathing exercises like this one, you want to breathe with your diaphragm for stress relief. Breathing with your chest will not provide the stress relief you seek.

5. It’s time to exhale. This exhalation should be done slowly, through pursed lips. Exhaling in this manner will control the speed of the exhalation and give you greater stress relief.
   
   That’s it! You did your first diaphragmatic breathing exercise. Now you can rest a bit and do some more deep breathing. Do this diaphragmatic breathing exercise as many times as you need for stress relief.

Resources

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[ejaywa]

on 4/28/2009 I tried this method of getting stress relief with breathing exercises and proves to me as very effective. It now become a habit of mine everytime I got stress of anykind.www.ergonomicsmadeeasy.com

[ampersand]

on 3/13/2009 Great information!

[yourmamasaidwha]

on 3/5/2009 great and useful information! i'll be using this in my post tonight for the Ehow Daily Read

[WordWhizKid]

on 11/17/2008 I really needed this, thanks! Adding to my faves.

[Gardengates]

on 10/30/2008 Sounds like a very handy exercise to relieve stress. And it likely works better than all the breath expended in screaming and hollering!!