Breathe. Just Breathe. Those words are not just lyrics to a great early 2000s song or a kind sentiment, it truly is excellent advice. You see, when we are emotionally overwhelmed we can almost forget to breathe. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “it took my breath away”. This can reference seeing something beautiful or experiencing something so scary or so devastating that it seemingly took the air right out of your lungs.
Let’s consider the brain for a moment and the role of our amygdala. The amygdala is the seat of our emotional processing and also plays a massive role in the limbic system which regulates our fight-flight-freeze response. This structure in our brain is constantly scanning our environment for danger and quickly sending out a message to the rest of our brain to respond quickly. For example, if you accidentally touch something really hot your hand almost reflexively pulls back. You do not have to keep your hand on the fiery hot object while your fingerprints are searing off to allow complex processing like – “hey man, this is pretty painful, what can I do to make it stop hurting” – No, instead, your amygdala senses that danger and sends signals to the rest of your brain that then causes the body to react in a means of self preservation. (To learn more about the role of our amygdala click here).
Our amygdala and it’s friends in our limbic system have the ability to automatically control body functions such as our heart rate, breathing, and sweating. In a truly dangerous situation it may be beneficial for our heart to beat faster and our breathing to become shallow so we have more blood going to our muscles so we can get away quickly. However, in relation to anxiety this system can actually work against us because we are not really in danger but our bodies may react like we are because our amygdala is tricking us with it’s false alarm of fear.
When we are in a spiral of anxiety, if we intentionally focus on our breathing and take deep diaphragmatic breaths (learn how here), we are able to send signals back to our brain letting it know that we are not really in danger. By doing this you prevent your amygdala from hijacking your brain and your body. You create a signal that tells your amygdala “I am okay and I am not in immediate danger because I am able to slow down and fill my belly with air”. If you were truly needing to run from a bear or any other life threatening situation, you would not be focused on breathing.
So I say again…breathe. Just Breathe. (and tell your amygdala to shhh…)
