To send a link and summary of this article to a friend, click here . But to get really good at them, you need to practice. Here are some stress blasters worth learning. Breathe with your bellows.
Most people breathe using the muscles in their chests.
But chest breathing actually perpetuates stress and makes the heart and lungs work up to 50 percent harder than they should, according to Dr. Nuernberger. He notes that many mental disciplines, including yoga, get people to practice nonstressful breathing methods to relax the body and focus the mind. Instead of overworking those chest muscles, breathe using your diaphragm, the dome-shaped muscle under your lungs, advises Dr. Nuernberger. Using that muscle like a big expanding bellows, you actually pull air into the blood-rich lower lobes of the lungs. This allows the lungs to work more efficiently than when you are chest breathing.