Feeling Stressed? Try This Breathing Exercise

When you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, your sympathetic nervous system is activated. This system is responsible for turning on fight-or-flight mode, which is when your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate increase. These effects were helpful to our ancestors, giving them that extra boost to, for example, run away from a predator.

Today, our bodies respond to stress as if a threat is present but that stress can be work deadlines, a nosy mother-in-law, or financial worries. When we’re in that state, we can’t function at our best, effectively solve our problems, or have a good time.