Cortisol Management
KnitOrMiss
Posts: 10,103 Member
Just heard this on a podcast from a functional practitioner who works with preventing and treating diabetes and other major diseases/conditions, including mental disorders...
If you take at least three full deep breaths in a row, you can drop your cortisol 30-40% almost instantly! We currently breathe to live, we are not breathing to thrive, and we need to be doing that!
thedempsterclinic.com
If you take at least three full deep breaths in a row, you can drop your cortisol 30-40% almost instantly! We currently breathe to live, we are not breathing to thrive, and we need to be doing that!
thedempsterclinic.com
4
Replies
-
Taking deep breaths out, emptying the lungs slowly signals to the body to go into resting state. I'm a bit sceptical to the claim that only 3 breaths will reduce cortisol by 30-40%, though.
But I agree it's one of the methods that are the easiest to implement in a world where we often feel as if spinning a hamster wheel.
Possibly also one of the reasons yoga has such a calming effect. A lot of breath work. Ty for the share
1 -
I don't know specifically. I know it is that that gentleman said in his podcast. He may have forgotten to add that it works in conjunction with something else. Regardless, it's good, even if it helps 3%, right?
And yes, definitely agree on both counts -that it's something simple to add in AND that it probably has a lot to do with why YOGA and meditation work.1 -
If you practice yoga, you're familiar with savasana - called the hardest pose by some, due to the difficulty in simply remaining still and quiet and calm. I spend 5 minutes in savasana at least once per day. The type of breathing done to move into a relaxed state is to expand your lungs as far as they go and hold that breath for a moment before slowly exhaling. For those deep, lung-stretching breaths, I find relaxation sinking in after just 3 - 5 inhalations.5
-
<Ommmm>1
-
That makes a lot of sense. If you walk on a treadmill until you are getting slightly winded and then take several slow deep breathes, but don’t change your pace, your heart rate will go down. You can actually watch the numbers drop on the screen, as soon as you do it. Since your heart rate increases when you are under stress and stress raises cortisol levels, it's logical that lowering your heart rate should result in lower cortisol levels. Now to just remember to breathe deeply all day long….2
-
Works for biathletes too. Ski like hell, then stop, do a couple deep breaths, then hold and fire.1
