A couple months back, I sent out a Wednesday Wellness about ‘Daily Breathers’ and a short 2-min meditation for practicing. Just to refresh… a ‘Daily Breather’ is simply taking a “time-out” from whatever you’re doing, wherever you may be, to pause and breathe mindfully.
Recently, I came across an article from a friend’s FB post that nicely explained a key physiological reason as to why this simple practice is so effective at calming and soothing the mind-body. That reason has to do with the vagus nerve, the 10th cranial nerve and the “controller” of the parasympathetic nervous system.
I’ve studied the relationship between yoga and the vagus nerve before, but what I really liked about this particular article was its simple and specific explanation of how smooth, deep breathing directly slows down the heart rate via the vagus nerve. Feel free to read the entire article, I Now Suspect the Vagus Nerve Is the Key to Well-being, but I’ve summarized some key take-away’s below.
First, for those that may not be familiar with the human nervous system, here’s a very brief lesson. The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is responsible for what we often call our ‘rest and digest’ functions or the ‘relaxation response’; whereas, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) dictates our ‘fight or flight’ functions or ‘stress reaction’. Per clinical psychologist and yogini, Dr. Arielle Schwartz, “These two parts of your autonomic nervous system are meant to work in rhythmic alternation, a process that supports healthy rhythms of alertness and restfulness that facilitate physical and mental health.”
Many of us are all too familiar with the ‘fight or flight’ because we tend to stay stuck in this mode longer than is healthy. We can feel this imbalance in our bodies because we’ll experience a faster heart rate, shallow breathing, stomach ‘knots’ or pain and general feelings of frustration, fatigue and overwhelm. Of course when this continues to happen over longer periods of time, it leads to anxiety, depression, heart conditions and digestive disorders among other things.
Of course, this is where that ‘Daily Breather’ comes into play to help counter the stress response and bring our nervous system back into balance with the relaxation response. But what exactly is happening in the body when take that slow deep breath? Various studies corroborate that slow deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve which is responsible for regulating key organs such as heart, lungs, stomach and intestines. So when we take those smooth even breaths, we are basically “speaking” to our major organs via the vagus nerve.
For example, when we inhale, our lungs signal the brain about the speed of our breath via the vagus nerve. Then when we exhale, the brain advises the heart to either speed up or slow down via the vagus nerve as well. Hence when we’re running a marathon, we’re breathing faster and our heart rate goes up, but when we’re doing gentle yoga or meditation, we’re breathing slower and our heart rate goes down. It’s not bad for the heart rate to go up, but of course, we don’t want it to stay there.
Given the nature of most modern lifestyles, it thus becomes important for many of us to have regular practice for inducing ‘rest and digest’ by stimulating the vagus nerve. One of the studies mentioned in the article validates something that yoga teaches us about breathing for relaxation… the most calming way to breathe is 6x/minute, or in other words, breathe in for 5 counts (1 count is 1 second) and then breathe out for 5 counts.
We can work toward this ideal rate as we do our ‘Daily Breathers’. Yoga meets you where you are, so I always recommend starting with the rate that feels most comfortable to you (2- count, 3-count or 4-count), and then gradually working up to a 5-count inhalation and exhalation.
So there you have it! I hope this little anatomy/physiology lesson has inspired you to do more pausing and breathing throughout your day. Sometimes, knowing what’s going on behind the scenes can motivate us to do the work!