"Over the past year, I started practicing breathwork to help with my mental health. Slowing my breath and breathing deep into my diaphragm has helped bring me calm and perspective, and longer sessions have helped me work through negative thought patterns. Breathwork, I have found, is an important adjunct to other components of a healthy life, such as nutrition, physical exercise, sleep, and social connection."
"I recently began to wonder whether breathwork can also help protect against infectious diseases, the area I spend much of my life working on. The theoretical argument is that breathing affects the nervous system and psychological well-being, both of which can impact immunity. Moreover, breathwork is accessible, inexpensive, and safe, and many people already accept it as a tool for mental health."
Breathwork practices alter breathing depth, pace, or pattern to influence physiological and psychological states and include diaphragmatic, rhythmic, and breath-retention techniques. Historical and cross-cultural practices include yogic pranayama, meditative breathing, chanting, and contemplative prayer. Breathwork can support mental health, reduce stress, and serve as an adjunct to nutrition, exercise, sleep, and social connection. Breathing affects the nervous system and psychological well-being, which can influence immune responses. Breathwork is accessible, inexpensive, and safe, and many people accept it as a mental-health tool. Reported immune changes from breathwork are short-term, modest, and of uncertain clinical significance.
Read at Psychology Today
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