In. Out. Ahhh…..

A better life can come down to the simplest thing in the world. Yesterday, NPR.org investigated the science behind one of the most potent therapies for stress relief – simply taking a deep breath:

Mladen Golubic, a physician in the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Integrative Medicine, says that breathing can have a profound impact on our physiology and our health.

“You can influence asthma; you can influence chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; you can influence heart failure,” Golubic says. “There are studies that show that people who practice breathing exercises and have those conditions — they benefit.”

Esther Sternberg is a physician, author of several books on stress and healing, and researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health. She says rapid breathing is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system. It’s part of the “fight or flight” response — the part activated by stress.

In contrast, slow, deep breathing actually stimulates the opposing parasympathetic reaction — the one that calms us down

“The relaxation response is controlled by another set of nerves — the main nerve being the Vagus nerve. Think of a car throttling down the highway at 120 miles an hour. That’s the stress response, and the Vagus nerve is the brake,” says Sternberg. “When you are stressed, you have your foot on the gas, pedal to the floor. When you take slow, deep breaths, that is what is engaging the brake.”

Inhale. There’s also something nearly nonsensical at the end of the article about breath and gene expression… perhaps I’m misreading it or something. Whatever. The interesting stuff is the neurology. Now exhale.