Deep Breathing Really Does Help with Stress Management!
Even for Parents with Crazy Schedules and a List 10 Miles Long
If you need help managing your stress, increasing your coping skills is a worthwhile pursuit. A stressful home atmosphere can affect the brain development of a child. According to an article in the academic journal Children, stress increases cortisol levels. When children are raised in an environment with chronic stress, such as in situations with domestic violence, neglect, and abuse, after a while, their cortisol levels will not readjust to normal healthy levels, leading to increased inflammation and decreased immunity to disease. Moreover, a home with constant stress can change the basic structure of the brain. Children who experience constant stress are more prone to heart disease, depression, suicide, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and psychosis.
Even if this is not a concern, working on our own stress management tactics can be a great help to your kids. Children learn through imitation, which is called “modeling,” and you can serve as their “calm in the middle of a storm” model.
What tactics do I use? Well, when I’m under extreme stress, I cry. lol :) Sometimes, that’s the best I can do, but I’ll wait until I’m not in my children’s presence. I would rather try and figure out a better way to react, and I don’t like upsetting them.
For all the rest of the times, and for most situations, I am devoted to and a big believer in deep breathing.
Why It’s Effective
The benefits of deep breathing has been known for centuries. I learned through one of my favorite books, Qigong Empowerment: A Guide to Medical, Taoist, Buddhist and Wushu Energy Cultivation, that breathing is in itself a meditation, such as the Buddhist 40 Breaths Meditation.
Science has been able to prove the effectiveness of deep breathing. The Harvard Business Review explains why deep breathing is so effective at reducing stress. Deep breathing reverses the physical effects stress has on the body. Stress signals are sent through the sympathetic nervous system. When we deep breath, it sends signals through the parasympathetic nervous system and deactivates the body’s fight-or-flight response.
How to Do It
Deep breathing is a strategy parents can use, and then they can teach their kids how to use it as well. It’s super easy to do, so it’s easy to teach even to young ones.
Here is a very simple method I use:
When you breathe, use your belly rather than your lungs. Deep diaphragmic breathing is thought of as the proper way to breathe.
Breathe in for a count of four.
Hold for a count of four.
Exhale for a count of four.
Repeat as many times as necessary.
For kids, it can be difficult to get them to cooperate, but keep at it! Eventually, your kids might realize the wisdom of your advice.
In my next article, I will share more deep breathing exercises and meditations that beginners can do, but expert meditators will delight in them as well.
