Take a breath in through your nose.
Why this matters:
Do you breathe through your nose or mouth? The difference between the two is huge. Breathing through the mouth results in a higher heart rate, more stress, and can actually lead to changes in your core strength. Breathing through the nose on the other hand, slows down the heart rate, reduces stress, and allows your core to function a little better.
Improving your breathing mechanics can also bring down your pain. This works by calming down your nervous system and brings you to a parasympathetic state; rest, digest mode. Pain itself is an alarm. That alarm causes stress and it becomes a snowball of increasing pain. You can manage this by focusing on your breathing.
Action steps:This breathing practice is extremely helpful with calming down the nerves and pain. Find a quite area and lay down with your feet elevated. To avoid hyperventilating, breathe in for 4 seconds, and breathe out for 4 seconds (extra points for holding a pause between stages). I like to spend about 2-5 minutes in this position before resuming my day.
