A number of years ago, we were renting a home and the owner sent over someone to fix the blinds for us. This handyman kept sighing really loudly, and my then-4-year-old daughter said to me, “Mom! He’s breathing like Daddy!”
This made me laugh quite a bit because my husband, who was pretty stressed in his job at the time, really did sigh quite a bit and it was funny that my little one noticed and recognized that breathing pattern.
Sighing is an automatic process that our body initiates to make sure that our lungs are filling properly. Humans sigh approximately every 5 minutes. Who knew?! But breathing is an automatic process that we can do consciously if we want to, and this is a very good thing, as it gives us access to our autonomic nervous system.
A specific type of breathing, the physiological sigh, has a lot of research behind it showing that it is an excellent way to quickly calm the nervous system down. Try it out next time you’re feeling stressed or starting to feel dysregulated. Here’s how:
Take 2 breaths in through the nose, and one extended exhale through the mouth. Easy, right? A deep breath with a sip of air on top to fill up the rest of the lungs, and then a long breath out through the mouth.
Let me know how it works for you!
Cheers,
Bethany