The Science Behind Breathwork: Understanding Its Impact on Heart Health and Blood Pressure

Yes, breathing. The thing we do every second of our lives. It only makes sense that our main life source could also hold the key to potentially unlocking immense health benefits. Dedicating some time each day to incorporate a breathwork routine can improve your mental, emotional, and physical health while also helping you lower blood pressure and improve heart health.

What Is Breathwork?

Breathwork is the intentional manipulation of an individual’s breathing pattern to achieve a desired outcome. The goal of breathwork is almost always to calm and reset the nervous system. There are many situations in which practicing breathing techniques can be helpful. From healthcare settings to fitness enthusiasts to everyday people looking to better themselves, there is a breathwork regime for everyone. 

Breathwork stems from the ancient Ayurvedic practice of Pranayama. Pranayama is actually one of the eight limbs of yoga, coming right after the much more commonly known asanas, or physical postures. While breathwork has roots in this ritualistic practice, breathwork has no dogma and is tied to no religion. Anyone can learn and utilize breathwork for self or health improvement. 

What are the Benefits of Breathwork?

Breathwork is one of the greatest health secrets there is and luckily, it is slowly becoming mainstream. As the practice moves out of holistic wellness and yoga centers and into the everyday routines for people all over the world, the movement continues to grow and spread bringing alternative approaches to health and wellness. 

Breathwork offers many physical, mental, and emotional benefits. Many of these benefits are also interlaced with one another. We know that stress plays a major role not only in our mental state, but in the state of our physical and emotional bodies as well. Breathwork has been shown to decrease cortisol, the stress hormone, in the body, allowing us to relax our nervous systems. 

Other scientific benefits of breathwork include: 

●    Lowered Blood Pressure
●    Improved Mood and Outlook
●    Better sleep quality 
●    Improve focus, memory, and alertness
●    Increase heart rate variability
●    Promote deeper relaxation
●    Improve symptoms of COPD
●    Increase creativity 
●    Alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression
●    and much, much, more

The personal benefits of breathwork need to be felt to be understood. The best way to achieve long lasting benefits is to create a routine and stick to a daily breathwork regime. Even as little as 10 minutes of breathwork a day may vastly improve your mental, emotional, and physical health. 

Does Stress Affect the Physical Body?

To truly understand the importance of breathwork in stress management, we need to look at the monumental effect stress has on the physical body. Stress affects every single one of the body’s systems.

When the body is stressed, the muscular system jumps into action tensing the muscles as a way to prepare for injury or impact. This constant state of physical tension, there can be complications like headaches, migraines, back pain, muscle strain, TMJ, and more. 

The Respiratory System cannot function correctly under stress. This system is responsible for bringing oxygen into the body and releasing carbon dioxide. Short, rapid, and shallow breathing can occur when an individual is stressed. This prevents the correct amount of oxygen from entering the body and stores too much carbon dioxide within the body. This can trigger panic attacks, induce asthma attacks, and cause light headedness. 

Acute stress like slamming on your breaks to avoid an accident or being nervous for a meeting with your boss causes a rapid heart rate putting strain on the cardiovascular system. While this short-term stress can be pesky, long-term stress can lead to major problems like hypertension, risks of stroke, and a weakened heart. 

The endocrine system works hand in hand with all the other systems of the body producing hormones that act as messengers to tell the body how to react to certain situations. When we experience constant stress, we are forcing our bodies to release a never-ending supply of stress hormones and causing the endocrine system to work overtime. 

Have you ever experienced butterflies in your tummy when you’re nervous or scared? This is the effect of stress on the digestive system. These butterflies may seem harmless, but encountering too much stress can cause major issues for our intestines like: acid reflux, IBS, bloating, nausea, and chronic bowel disorders.

The system that sets everything in motion, the nervous system, is perhaps the most important system to benefit from breathwork. When we experience stress, we enter a “fight or flight mode” which puts our nervous system on edge. From there, it channels the release of adrenaline and other hormones to be prepared to handle the perceived threat. This vicious cycle continues, keeping our systems overrun and fatigued.

When we live in a state of constant stress, our bodies become overworked and prone to diseases. Breathwork interrupts that circle and helps bring us back to a state of equilibrium.  

Cortisol (Stress) Test

Check if your body is under stress or over-training.

£59.00

Add to Cart ›

How Does Breathwork Work?

The science of breathwork is a bit of a mystery. While these ancient techniques have been proven time and time again to improve the mental, emotional, and physical health of practitioners, experts are still stumped on exactly how they do. 

The main scientific explanation for how breathwork works is that it moves your body out of fight or flight mode and back into balance. When our body detects a threat (real or perceived) it immediately begins to prepare itself for either running away or to fight. While this served our ancestors well, the stress of sending an email to your boss or being stuck in traffic is not a life-or-death situation. 

Taking deep breaths allows your body to relax and understand there is no real danger. There is no reason to release the stress hormones or adrenaline. Slowing your breath lowers the strain on your heart and blood vessels. This may help prevent high blood pressure and other heart-related ailments. 

Practicing breathwork for heart health is a great way to lower levels of stress, level blood pressure, and improve heart rate variability. Using breathwork for blood pressure alongside your doctor’s recommendations can help control and hopefully alleviate the condition.  A simple 15 minutes morning breathwork routine will allow you to begin your day calm and collected and knowing the proper techniques to fall back on during a particularly stressful moment during the day is helpful.

Where Can I Learn Breathwork?

Now that you know all the benefits of breathwork, you are probably ready to take the leap and start your daily breath regime. Breathwork classes can be found in many wellness centers and yoga studios as well as online. 

When you are starting your breathwork journey, working alongside a certified breathwork coach helps you establish a routine that aligns with your goals as well as teaches you the proper techniques and sets you on a path to success. Breathwork certification teaches individuals how to adequately guide students along their journeys, keep them safe and engaged, and help hold them accountable. Breathwork only works if you do!

There are many online resources for breathwork sessions. However, taking the time to find one that you feel aligned with is vital. Breathwork is a lifelong journey and your goals may shift and fluctuate as you continue down this path of wellness. 
Final Thoughts
Breathwork offers an array of mental, emotional, and physical benefits to practitioners who commit to a daily routine. Thanks to its ability to help stop the fight or flight response from occurring, breathwork can help lower blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health. This simple and easy-to-learn skill can improve the quality of life for just about anyone. 

What are you waiting for? For the best health, simply breathe!