What are the Benefits of Breathwork?
5 of the Biggest Breathwork Benefits
The average American’s stress level is 5.1 on a 10 point scale, and 75% experience stress at least once a week, 15% of them experience stress once a day, and then there's us. Facing an interminable onslaught of consciousness. Whether it be from work, poor health, lack of sleep, or anything having to do with family and the household, life can be extremely stressful at times. Especially under the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
Amongst many outlets we use to try and help cope with stress and the issues that stem from it, such as physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion, breathwork has been proven to have tremendous success in helping improve stress overall.
Breathwork has been around for thousands of years through various traditions such as pranayama and Qigong, but “modern” breathwork technique practices have been around since the 1960s, many techniques appropriated without attribution. We imagine a more coherent world where ancient techniques are respected and honored, and science and research support what Indian and Chinese practitioners have claimed about breathwork all along.
Breathwork is an umbrella term used for any regulated breathing practice. Every practice offers different benefits, but by taking control of your breath, you gain access to your autonomic nervous system responses allowing you to manage anxiety, depression, PTSD, and mental health. It’s almost like magic. Magic backed by a shit-ton of scientific evidence.
So, what exactly are the benefits of breathwork? Here are a few major benefits that have really changed people’s lives:
Reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression
Help with pain management
Enhance your focus
Increase energy levels
Improve sleep
Reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “generalized anxiety disorder affects 3.1% of the U.S. population, yet only 43.2% are receiving treatment.” Because the breath is part of nervous system regulation, how we breath affects how we feel. Quick shallow breaths can cause anxiety, while deep breaths can help us feel calm and centered. Generally speaking, the more disenfranchised you are, the fewer resources you have access to, especially mental health resources. This means mental health concerns are likely to impact BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled folks more.
When you change your breath, it also changes your brain waves. A study conducted by University of California, Berkeley states that there is: “…a strong connection between participants’ intentional (that is, paced) breathing and activation in the insula. The insula regulates the autonomic nervous system and is linked to body awareness. Prior studies have linked intentional breathing to posterior insular activation, suggesting that paying particular attention to the breath may increase awareness of one’s bodily states—a key skill learned in practices like yoga and meditation.”
Help with pain management
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that about 50 million adults in the U.S. experience chronic pain, and 19.6 million had high-impact chronic pain.
Stress levels, pain levels, and cortisol levels can be reduced through breathwork techniques. Humans release endorphins when we practice deep breathing which then decreases our experience of pain. Hell yeah for natural pain relief.
Enhance your focus
Focus and concentration can be hard to maintain, especially with all of the distractions we may face on a daily basis and whilst living under the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. Studies show that when we concentrate on our breathing we stimulate the cerebral cortex, improving focus and concentration.
Breathwork techniques have been known to help boost attention span. According to mgbmindfulness breathwork can help balance the amount of noradrenaline in the brain which has been shown to enhance focus.
Increase energy levels
Let’s face it. We’re fucking exhausted and until the systems responsible for keeping us that way are burnt down, we will continue to be impacted by them negatively. That said, we do have some control over our bodies, and many breathwork techniques have been proven to have an enervating impact on us. Breathwork can be a powerful tool to help us dismantle this shit.
Improve sleep
According to Science Daily, “about 25% of Americans experience insomnia each year, and about 75% recover without developing persistent poor sleep or chronic insomnia.” Let’s be honest here, sleep is very important; it’s crucial to our overall health. Without enough sleep, or having had poor sleep our focus levels decrease, our health decreases, and we can become depressed and lethargic. Sadly, that double macchiato isn’t a great replacement for proper sleep.
Breathwork techniques have been proven to help improve sleep. Practicing breathwork helps calm the nervous system putting the body in a state of relaxation as it can increase parasympathetic response thus allowing your body to fall asleep. Breathwork is the shit, and there’s a technique out there for everyone, no matter your experience level.
In Conclusion
The average person experiences stress daily, and it can take a huge toll on their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Our health is very important, and we must make sure that everything is functioning properly in order to function in our lives, and live to dismantle these shifty systems keeping us locked in cycles of work, bills, repeat.
Breathwork has been practiced for thousands of years and has been proven to help improve issues such as anxiety and depression, chronic pain, focus, energy levels, and sleep. Systemic issues (and stress) can cause you to become anxious therefore not allowing your body to reach a relaxed state in order to focus or even have a good night sleep. Fuck that noise.
Breathwork techniques are one of the best tools for stress management and self-care, which are important components if we are to help each other out of this hellscape created by corporate greed and sociopathy.
As the world continues to evolve, so does breathwork. Breathwork offers so many benefits that help improve overall health as its main focus is to give you back control over your autonomic nervous system. Despite conditions forced upon us by our oligarch overlords, we do have a responsibility to take care of ourselves and each other. People have seen improvement in their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health through practicing breathwork.
Breathwork not only gives us the opportunity to breathe in life around us, it also gives us the opportunity to regulate the way we feel, which is a powerful tool to combat despair, hopelessness, and overwhelm. We can’t let these fuckers win, and we have too much to accomplish to give up now.
Sources:
Anxiety and Depression Association of America
National Institute of Mental Health