What is a 'Physiological Sigh?'

Take a few slow, deep breaths in and out.

Notice and enjoy the smooth, free sensation of the air passing in and out of your lungs.

Feel your body relax as you exhale each time. 😊

Breathing is something that obviously comes so naturally to all of us. We do it every day of our lives, and it never stops to take a break. It is something that happens unconsciously most of the time, yet it is easy to forget that we have a lot of control over when and how we breathe. This is especially the case when encountering stressful situations, either at work, home, driving in heavy traffic, taking a test, doing a job interview, or as you prepare to go on stage.

Under stress, your breathing can often become quicker and shallower. This is so that the body can absorb more oxygen and generate additional energy required for the fight-flight stress response. Excess carbon dioxide is also produced as a by-product of the body gearing up for action. The increased breathing rate acts to get rid of this additional gas, and tries to retain control and balance over the respiration function.

One of the best ways to calm your body and mind under stressful circumstances is to consciously control your breathing. When you breathe slowly and deeply, you are sending a message from your diaphragm (the thin muscle that sits at the bottom of the lungs, which flattens and raises to create inhalation and exhalation) via what is known as the ‘Phrenic nerve’, through the spinal cord, and to the brain.🧠

When your breathing is slow and steady, the diaphragm is telling your brain that everything is under control, you’re calm and safe, and there’s nothing to worry about. However, when your breathing rate quickens, the diaphragm shoots signals up the Phrenic nerve (think frenetic Phrenic!) to tell your brain that the body is now on the move and is active, or is anticipating action very soon (even if you’re sitting still on stage in your chair!) So it is important to note that your brain isn’t the one calling the shots and initiating bodily responses all of the time. Movement from the body informs the brain what to do, not just the brain being the boss all day long! This is why breathing diaphragmatically can be so effective for stress relief and energy control.

There are a variety of breathing methods that aim to create a more relaxed, calm state of mind and body within a very short period of time. I’ve covered ‘Square Breathing’, along with proper diaphragmatic breathing technique in previous blog posts if you want to check them out.

Recently I came across an interesting strategy that triggers activation of a subset of neurons in the brainstem that are responsible for the act of sighing. These neurons are responsible for “resetting” your natural breathing cycle by triggering you to sigh (called a “physiological sigh”), which recalibrate the ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide in your bloodstream and lungs. This normally happens unconsciously throughout the day and night (around every 5 minutes or so), and is a crucial bodily reflex that keeps your lungs and body working as efficiently as possible.

Instead of waiting for your breathing cycle to unconsciously reset itself while you’re under stress, Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman and his colleagues at Stanford University have devised a breathing technique that will help you calm down and relax as quickly as possible, utilising the sighing reflex. It’s a technique that I regularly use, and I call it “Double Nose Breathing.”

It’s a simple technique, whereby all you have to do is:

• Inhale long, through your nose, until almost full 👃

• then inhale again quickly, until full (the double nose) 👃

• before doing a long, slow exhale through your mouth. 🗣

Repeating this 2 or 3 times will bring you back into a more relaxed state, and help you to regain a feeling of control and stability under the circumstances.

One important thing to point out is that your heart rate will always take a little longer to slow down than your breathing rate. This is because the neural circuits controlling the heart work at a slower rate than those for the lungs, so you’ll have to be a little patient with your heart each time you do this! ❤️

Try out some ‘Double Nose Breathing’ and let me know how you go!