NYTimes, Nov./16: The Benefits of Controlled Breathing (e.g. increased GABA)

[[La...]]

"When you take slow, steady breaths, your brain gets the message that all is well and activates the parasympathetic response, said Dr. Brown. When you take shallow rapid breaths or hold your breath, the sympathetic response is activated. “If you breathe correctly, your mind will calm down,” said Dr. Patricia Gerbarg, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College and Dr. Brown’s co-author."

 

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In a small study at Boston University, the following was found:

 

"After 12 weeks of daily yoga and coherent breathing, the subjects’ depressive symptoms significantly decreased and their levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid, a brain chemical that has calming and anti-anxiety effects, had increased. The research was presented in May at the International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health in Las Vegas. While the study was small and lacked a control group, Dr. Streeter and her colleagues are planning a randomized controlled trial to further test the intervention."

 

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Breathing: It's easy. It's available. It's not a pill. It may increase GABA. Best of all, there's no withdrawal.

 

(Wish I'd tried it instead of a benzodiazpine all those years ago.)

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/well/mind/breathe-exhale-repeat-the-benefits-of-controlled-breathing.html?smid=tw-nytimeswell&smtyp=cur 

 

[[Te...]]

Thanks so much for this, Lapis! I don't do enough of slow, steady breaths, and this is a reminder to do it! Also the yoga.

[[La...]]

Me too, Terry! It's so easy to do too. I'm going to try to focus on it a little each day. Then hopefully, it will become automatic.

[[Te...]]

Sounds like a good idea for me, too!

[[La...]]

The truth is.....we have to breathe anyway, so why not breathe well?! 

[[MT...]]

I read this the other day and thought it made a lot of sense. Here's something quick and easy, making it accessible to all of us no matter how sick we are. You always find good stuff Lapis.

[[La...]]

Glad to share, MTfan -- especially when it's positive! And yes, you're right. It's accessible to all of us, and if we can just put it into use when we need to, we may be able to avoid some of the stress.

[Guest [bo...]]

I have to say that breathing and meditation have played a significant role in my attempts to work while going through recovery.  I suffer from social anxiety and as well anxiety with crowds and open spaces, both of which I never had before benzo withdrawal.  I find that I can tolerate these settings much better on average days if I do a bit of meditation and slow breathing before I go into them.  On good days I don't have to worry about it and on days when I'm in a wave all the breathing in the world doesn't help me.  Regardless, I can say that it does have a positive effect on my well being and I want to learn more about it and become more disciplined with it. 

[[...]]

The truth is.....we have to breathe anyway, so why not breathe well?! 

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

And it's free.

Everybody on the supplements thread should be taking long slow deep breathing for 10 minutes a day and save loads of money.

:idiot: :idiot:

[[La...]]

I'm sure someone will try to find a way to monetize breathing, but for now, let's take advantage of the low, low cost of breathing. It's still free! 

[[Ph...]]

Excellent, thanks!

 

Adding this quote from the article:

 

Controlled breathing may also affect the immune system. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina divided a group of 20 healthy adults into two groups. One group was instructed to do two sets of 10-minute breathing exercises, while the other group was told to read a text of their choice for 20 minutes. The subjects’ saliva was tested at various intervals during the exercise. The researchers found that the breathing exercise group’s saliva had significantly lower levels of three cytokines that are associated with inflammation and stress. The findings were published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine in August.

[Guest [We...]]

This is very interesting. Thank you for posting!