How can Breathing Techniques Reduce Stress and Anxiety?

Video – VLog #07

How can breathing techniques reduce stress and anxiety?

In this video Willie Nicol and David Logan discuss these techniques.

Script – VLog #07

David Logan: Hi and welcome to week seven. I’m David Logan – the IT Geek. I take the jargon out of technology for the homeworker. Joining me today on this video is Willie Nicol our Techno Dinosaur. So, Willie, where are you and how are you today?

Willie Nicol: Hi, David. Thanks for asking, I’m very well, thanks. I’m in the village of Loans, near Troon, south Ayrshire, Scotland in the UK.

David Logan: Fantastic. I forgot to say I’m based in Annan, south of Scotland, UK. So Willie – amazing isn’t it? Seven weeks. This is week number seven now and we’re still in lockdown in Scotland. AND I think its great the weather still good – don’t you think that?

Willie Nicol: Yes, it’s amazing to think that seven weeks – it’s become that dreaded phase of new normal, and this is what we do!! Well, we’re very fortunate, apart from one or two bad days, that the weather has been a very, very pleasant which can only have a beneficial effect on our outlook.

David Logan: Willie. Today’s question it’s your turn to answer the question – to give us, as I say, a spiel. I’d like to go back to week number three, where we talk about how to manage stress and anxiety. As I can hardly see the word myself.

David Logan: We talked – you talked about five different options for us.

David Logan: One of them being one breathing techniques. Can you tell us a bit more about this?

Willie Nicol: Yes, David, thanks. In the last video we talked about, especially if we fail to exercise and I mentioned exercise generates a feel good chemical called endorphins. Also mentioned in that a video about the fight or flight response, which happens when we are stressed.

Willie Nicol: One of the aspects of the fight or flight response is that our heart beats faster, our senses become more acute. But we also noticed that a breathing becomes quicker, more shallow.

Willie Nicol: You kind of huff and puff a wee bit, right? Because your stressed, now the danger when it passes like I talked about the cave man. The danger passes, that all reduces the constant exposure to stress, makes the reduction of these chemicals and their impact, the racing heart, the shallow breathing, a more problematic so breathing, which we all do normally anyway. Can play a big part in reducing stress.

David Logan: OK, so. Bare with me, so you talk about exercise to breathe more, faster and faster – is that a way of pumping the blood around the body that calms the nerves?

Willie Nicol: Well the exercise, if your out running, you can create these endorphins, a feel good factor and you get puffed out because you do when you’re running unless your some sort of Olympic athlete, but the endorphins are the things that can make you feel really good factor. Now cetain breathing techniques, and you can find any number on line – you can go on Google breathing techniques for stress relief and there are web sites galore dedicated to that. But I’m only going to gloss over the surface. So we’ve all heard the phrase take a deep breath and calm down.

Willie Nicol: Yes. That’s an old old saying, but it actually makes total sense. Taking a deep breath and stimulates a neurotransmitter in your brain, and I’m going to try and pronounced this correctly. It’s Gamma-amino-butyric acid or GABA for short. This chemical, we’ll call it that, right, has a calming effect. Gaba can be stimulated by certain breathing techniques, so you can Google, as I said, any number of sites to find breathing techniques. You should breath through your diaphragm, not through your chest. You should breathe in for four hold for six exhale for eight. There are any number. You can do it standing up. You can do it sitting down, you can do it lying down, breathing in a particular manner is good for you. When it comes to reducing your stress. So I would urge people to go online, find something that you like, that doesn’t seem to way out and give it a go. If you are stressed out within your office, or at home or wherever. Go into a room – close the door and do these breathing techniques and see how you feel after it. If you spend five minutes just being quiet and breathing in a particular manner. I am well prepared to guarantee you will feel better now if that seems a wee bit out there, a wee bit woo woo – fine. There’s lots of people doing it and getting the benefits from it, and we’re going to be talking on a later video about mindfulness and meditation of which breathing is a big part. I hope that makes sense to you, David. Have you any questions?

David Logan: No, I’m good. I’m good a lot. Let’s wait till next week comes along. I do have one question. We’re talking about breathing in and out. I do know of one I don’t know if you’re aware of it? Where we breath in through the mouth, I breath out the nose. Is that something you know about or does it come have a special name?

Willie Nicol: Well, that you could breathe through your nose and breathe through your mouth. Right? You could probably do your breathe in and out through either your nose or your mouth. The recommendations are, you should breathe through your mouth. You inhale through your mouth and you should draw the breathe right down to your diaphragm, your abdomen, and hold it and then breathe out through your nose. Or you can breathe out through your mouth and actually push the breathe out. Right, to empty your lungs fully. Ready for the next beautiful deep breath in. Right.

Willie Nicol: So I’m not going to bore you with nose and in through the nose and out through the mouth. All that stuff you can find all the stuff online. Or if you want to contact me.

Willie Nicol: I will give you more information about it. The thing to do is find some quiet, stand outside, then lie down. Close your eyes. Take a big, deep breath in and let your mind go blank and breathe out. It takes into account, it can take a bit of practice this, but the whole point of the exercise, so to speak, is if you feel better after you’ve done it than you did before. So I would actually give it a go. If it works for you, great. If it doesn’t come up with some other idea. But don’t dismiss out of hand as a lot of mumbo jumbo. I’ll give you a wee bit about the science behind it, as I did with the exercise. So it’s not all mumbo jumbo, let me assure you. So any questions? By all means, get in touch.

David Logan: Great. Thank you Willie. We’re up to our time now for this week. It’s great having you online here. So for the viewer, as Willie says, if you’ve got any questions on breathing techniques – look at it – research it. Fire a question back at Willie, we’re on different social media platforms, Facebook. We’ve got a Web site, YouTube, Twitter. Give us a shout. Contact us. You can direct message us. Big thing for the viewer, though, please. We’re all looking for you to come onto our YouTube channel to subscribe to it. So please hit the subscribe button down here.

David Logan: So for me – the IT Geek explaining technology taking the complexity out of it. Bye from me. Over to you Willie.

Willie Nicol: Thanks, David. me the Techno Dinosaur who has been helped enormously by David and I hope that little hints and tips I’ve given you the exercise breathing would be beneficial and maybe stimulate your curiosity to go and look for them. So it’s goodbye from me Willie the Techno Dinosaur.