Simply taking deep breaths can reduce stress and anxiety

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ

NEW YORK (AP) — A simple, unusual ritual begins every staff meeting at Myosin Marketing. When everyone is gathered on Zoom and before getting to the meat of the agenda, CEO Sean Clayton leads his team through a breathing exercise.

The practice sets the tone for the meeting and helps his employees, most of whom work remotely, feel safe, grounded and willing to take creative risks, he said.

“At first they thought it was really weird, like, ‘What are we doing?'” Clayton said. “A lot of the cameras were off and I’m sure a lot of people thought, ‘This is embarrassing.'” But after a few weeks things took a turn. Employees of the Austin, Texas-based company said: “This feels good,” he said.

Studies show that deep breathing can be an effective way to reduce workplace stress. But when working, many people don’t think about how they breathe in and out.

Desk workers sitting at computers tend to breathe shallowly as their shoulders hunch. Workers who spend the day on their feet in retail or healthcare may be too busy to concentrate on breathing.

But there are good reasons to remember to take a break and take a deep breath. According to the American Heart Association, chronic, uncontrolled stress, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, can be just as harmful to our health as secondhand smoke. Research suggests that deep breathing exercises can lower a person’s blood pressure and relieve anxiety.

Other benefits: Deep breathing is free, can be done anywhere, and doesn’t require a half-hour meditation. Just a minute or two of deep breathing can help calm racing thoughts, experts say.

“It relaxes my mind. It makes my mind so light,” said Lisa Marie Deleveaux, a marketing professional and mother of five. “It brings you back to the present moment.”

Deleveaux was laid off a few months ago and had difficulty finding a new job. She usually wakes up at 4 or 5 a.m., before the children, to do breathing exercises. One of these is a technique known as alternate-nostril breathing. This is a yoga exercise in which you breathe in through one nostril and out through another, keeping one nostril closed with your thumb or index finger.

“If you make a priority … you can make the time,” Deleveaux said.

Focusing on breathing for one to five minutes “can help you stay on track and get all that stuff out of your head… and allow you to refocus on what you want to accomplish,” said cardiologist Glenn Levine, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “The best analogy is turning off your computer when you have 37 programs (open) and it freezes.”

A good way to do deep breathing exercises is to sit outside on a bench, Levine said. If that’s not an option, it also works at your desk.

“Either turn off your screen or just put something blank on the screen so people think you’re still working,” Levine said. “Instead of focusing on the screen or work, just focus on your breathing. If possible, close your eyes.”

There are other ways to incorporate breathing exercises. To stave off the anxiety of cold calling day, sales representative Lindsay Carlisle does breathing exercises with her 7-year-old daughter while driving to school. You breathe in seven times, hold your breath five times, breathe out seven times, and then repeat the cycle several times.

“During this process, my shoulders are starting to sag, and that’s really reassuring,” said Carlisle, who lives in Flint, Michigan. “I am not a yoga teacher. I don’t know what I’m doing, but it works.”

Suze Yalof Schwartz was an overworked fashion editor when her mother-in-law taught her a three-minute meditation technique that she says changed her life. She gave up her fashion career and founded Unplug Meditation, a company in Santa Monica, California, with a meditation studio, app and programs for corporate clients.

“When we slow our breathing, we send a signal to our brain that everything is OK, even if it isn’t,” she said.

A 16-second breathing technique she has taught to firefighters, police officers, doctors and others is called box breathing. You breathe in four times, hold it four times, breathe out four times and stop it four times.

“It’s the best thing you can do at work, before you have a meeting, before you send an email you wish you hadn’t sent, before you have a difficult conversation, because it just calms you down and frees you “Your negative energy,” said Yalof Schwartz.

Employers such as Coca-Cola, Mattel and Netflix have hired Unplug Meditation to teach breathing or meditation lessons.

It is not always easy for employees to find space for breathing exercises. For example, in retail jobs, workers often come into contact with customers. Yalof Schwartz recommends doing breathing exercises when calling a sale or folding clothes. You can also take a deep breath just before entering a door.

Office workers can set a timer on their phones to remind them to take deep breaths. That’s what Carlisle the sales rep does. She also recorded a post-it note on her monitor that said “Breathe.”

“The fear will always be there,” Carlisle said. “But at least I know I have a little tool. … It sounds so simple and silly, but it works.”

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