Breathe Your Way to Less Stress

Stressed? We get it—life moves quickly. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed sometimes, but too much stress can be detrimental to your overall health. It can lead to mental health problems, increased risk of cardiovascular disease and even poor gut health. Staying hydrated, eating healthy meals and routine chiropractic care all help in the long term, but what can you do right now? Enter—this simple diaphragmatic breathing exercise.

How-To: Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise

This deep-breathing exercise helps slow the heartbeat, stabilize blood pressure and get more oxygen circulating throughout the body. Here’s how you do it:

1. Stand, sit or lay comfortably, spine straight and head and neck relaxed.
2. Put one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach just below your rib cage.
3. Inhale slowly through your nose, so that your stomach pushes against your hand. Keep the hand on your chest as still as possible!
4. Breathe out slowly through your mouth, tightening your stomach muscles. And remember—keep the hand on your chest still!
5. Repeat for several minutes.