Breathing Exercises for Mental Health

If you are looking for easy ways to improve your mental health, such as anxiety, stress 
or depression, there are many basic strategies you can use. One of them is breathing 
exercises, which you not only can do anywhere when you need to, but can incorporate 
them into your workout routine.


Benefits of Breathing Exercises

When you start looking into natural ways to help with your anxiety or panic attacks, 
relieve stress, or just find emotional wellness, the topic of breathing exercises probably 
come up. But how exactly can they help you? Here are some benefits of incorporating 
breathing exercises into your daily routine:

They can ease up panic attacks – If you get caught with a bad panic attack, it is hard to 
focus on anything else until it’s gone. While they tend to last only a few minutes, those 
few minutes feel like torture. One thing you can do is try using breathing exercises to 
begin calming yourself down.

You can do them anywhere, at any time - Another big benefit of breathing exercises is 
that there are no tools needed. You can do them during workouts, at home, while 
walking or showering, at work, even while driving as long as you pay attention to the 
road.

They often help you learn how to meditate - Meditation can be used in conjunction with 
breathing exercises, but if you learn breathing techniques first, it makes it easier for you 
to learn meditation later down the road.


How to Perform Them

Breathing techniques start very simply, with just taking in deep breaths. This might 
seem like it is something you do already, but deep breathing is much different than what 
you do naturally. You want to sit in a quiet place and first relax. You then will just inhale 
deeply through your nose, hold for a few seconds, then exhale out your mouth. 

You can also incorporate what is known as belly breathing, where you hold a hand on 
your stomach and focus on the sensations as you inhale and exhale.


Breathing During Exercises

For people who are exercising for their mental health, they have a unique advantage for 
adding in breathing techniques. Combining both can really get you to a place of 
relaxation and start improving your stress or anxiety. It is best done during workouts like 
yoga, Pilates, hiking, and walking. If you are just starting out, try beginner’s yoga, which 
focuses on gentle movement and various breathing techniques.


