Working Well: The simple act of taking deep breaths can reduce stress and anxiety
Deep breathing can be a simple and effective way to reduce stress
NEW YORK — A simple, uncommon ritual starts each staff meeting at Myosin Marketing. When everyone is gathered on Zoom, and before they get to the meat of the agenda, CEO Sean Clayton leads his team through a deep-breathing exercise.
The practice sets the tone for the meeting, and helps his employees, most of whom work remotely, to feel safe, grounded and willing to take creative risks, he said.
“At first they thought it was really weird, like, ‘What are we doing?’” Clayton said. “There were a lot of cameras off and I’m sure a lot of people were like, ‘This is awkward.’" But after a couple of weeks, there was a shift. Employees of the Austin, Texas company were saying, 'This feels good,’” he said.
Deep breathing can be an effective way to reduce stress at work, studies show. But on the job, many people don’t think about how they’re inhaling and exhaling.
Desk workers sitting a computer tend to take shallow breaths as their shoulders creep up. Workers who spend the day on their feet in retail or health care may be too busy to focus on breathing.
But there's good reason to remember to pause to take deep breaths. Chronic, unmanaged stress, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, can be as harmful to our health as secondhand smoke, according to the American Heart Association. Research suggests deep-breathing exercises can lower a person's blood pressure and reduce anxiety.
Other benefits: deep breathing is free, can be done anywhere and doesn't require taking a half-hour to meditate. Spending just a minute or two breathing deeply can help calm racing thoughts, experts say.
“It relaxes my mind. It makes my mind so full of ease,” Lisa Marie
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