How to decrease stress in seconds (even while being in meetings or calls)

We're all familiar with this feeling.

There's a challenging situation. Without our conscious control, our breathing quickens, our heart rate increases, and we feel very, very alert. It's called the stress response. 

If we want to decrease stress quickly and effectively, telling ourselves to calm down – by trying to control our mind with our mind, that is – often backfires.

Instead, the best way to switch off the stress response includes prompting our body to switch on its opponent: The calmness response.

As it turns out, two physiological processes allow us to pull this off in real-time. The first is vision. As I described last week, we can control our level of alertness – and thus of stress and calmness – by deliberately getting into “panoramic vision”, for example by looking outside or going for a walk.

The second process is breathing. Similar to vision, it's both automatic and under our conscious control. And like shifting ourselves to “panoramic vision”, changing the ratio of our inhale to exhale kickstarts our parasympathetic nervous system and activates our calmness response.

Here's how to make it work, depending on the circumstances you find yourself in:

1. If you're sufficiently private, do 1-3 “physiological sighs”

   The most effective practice for destressing quickly involves a double-inhale followed by an extended exhale. Scientists call this breathing pattern the “physiological sigh”. 
   
   Here's how to do it: First, inhale as deeply as possible through the nose for a count of two. Second, do another deep inhale on top of the first one through the nose for a count of one (inhaling as fully as possible is crucial!). Third, exhale as fully as possible through the mouth for a count of six. Here's a video on how that's done.

2. If you're with others, do exhale-emphasized breathing

   Another effective practice involving exhale-emphasized breathing is even more straightforward and also takes less than a minute.
   
   Here's how to do it: First, inhale through the nose until a count of three. Second, exhale through the mouth until a count of six. Third, repeat this cycle at least two or three times – for a total of 27 to 36 seconds. With a bit of practice, you'll be able to do it without anyone else noticing, even while being in meetings or calls.

I know what you're thinking. That breathing stuff can't possibly work. I also was very skeptical at first – only to find both practices to be true game changers.

So here's a challenge for you:
Given your surroundings, do 1-3 “physiological sighs” or 3-4 rounds of exhale-emphasized breathing right now (as in "right now", no excuses).

You'll instantly notice what it does to your stress level, I promise.

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Until next week,
Christian