Use this 60-second exercise when you’re stressed at work, says Harvard-trained psychologist: Anyone can do it

Lindsay Bira swears by freediving for long periods of underwater diving while holding her breath as a method of reducing stress. Water may even be optional.

Working to increase the amount of time you can hold your breath is a highly valuable mental and emotional trick, according to Bira, clinical health psychologist and adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center. , in San Antonio.

When you’re stressed at work, doing a freediving exercise at your desk can help, Bira said Wednesday at the 2023 NeuroLeadership Institute Summit in New York.

It only takes 60 seconds. Here’s how to do it:

1. Close your eyes and relax your body
2. Take a few deep, controlled breaths
3. Take a deep breath and hold for 60 seconds, making sure to consciously calm yourself when you start to panic.
4. Slowly release your breath and repeat three to five times

Holding your breath for so long can seem like a difficult and impossible task. That’s why it works, Bira said.

“It’s the same skills of tolerating breath holding that strengthen the areas of the brain that allow us to tolerate life’s stresses,” said Bira, who completed psychology residencies at Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine before coming to UT Health. Saint Anthony.

“You are, physiologically, fully capable” of holding your breath for more than 60 seconds, but your brain starts sending distress signals before you reach that milestone, she added. This also happens in other stressful situations: if you’re giving a big presentation, you may be full of worries and doubts, no matter how much you’ve prepared.

When you take a second or 60 seconds to hold your breath and reframe your thinking in those moments, you are doing something called “reappraisal,” Bira said.

“We have to intentionally embrace the skill in the face of the anguish that is trying to drag us down,” Bira said. “When we see something [stressful] and we can think of multiple options or look around”, that’s when you find the power to overcome it.

Breathing exercises can help mitigate stress and burnout by triggering relaxation responses in the mind, a 2017 study in Frontiers in Psychology found. They can also provide physical benefits, such as lowering blood pressure and improving the health of the cardiovascular system.

The average person can safely hold their breath for up to 90 seconds, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine last year. You may want to avoid breathing exercises if you have a condition such as asthma and emphysema and your lung capacity may decrease with age or if you are pregnant, notes a recent post on the health website Healthline.

Breathing won’t solve all your problems, especially if you’re dealing with something traumatic, but it can especially help if you practice it regularly, Bira said.

“Doing this every day is a great way to build muscle… for reassessment,” she said.

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