Do you freak out on receiving bad news or get nervous before a job interview? Relax! There is a proven method to handle this. As soon as the nervousness sets in, start doing the deep breath technique to up your spirits immediately, a study suggests.
Fast active and faster ‘sniffing’ breaths and more slow breaths can chill our senses out.
The investigators made a guess that rather than regulating breathing, these neurons were monitoring it instead and reporting their finding to another structure in the brainstem.
This structure, the locus coeruleus, sends projections to practically every part of the brain and drives arousal: waking us from sleep, maintaining our alertness and if excessive, triggering anxiety and distress.
In other words - these neurons play a big part in the effects of breathing on everything else, including arousal and emotion. So, slower breathing equals calmer feelings.
The next time you feel nervous and cold sweats, don’t forget to breathe slow and deep. Our ancestors have been telling us since long to control our breathing when we’re nervous. Whenever we are stressed, people ask us to take a deep breath and it’s for our good. Now, we have a scientific backing to it.
(ANI)
