By Didier Dirickx in the morning
Breathing is perhaps the most fundamental human action. It catalyzes the critical mechanism of oxygen supply, which in turn keeps all the processes in your body going, every second of every day.
Doing something as simple as modifying your breathing has a direct and profound impact on your physiology. Here we explain how to practice Wim Hof Method breathing exercises, and why this is such an effective tool to keep down stress, improve sleep, and do many other wonderful things for your health & wellbeing.
What’s great is that Wim Hof Method breathing exercises are super easy and take only a few minutes, while the effects last.
How do Wim Hof Method breathing exercises help with stress?
You are at all times going back and forth between being stressed out and chilled out.
Whenever a situation arises — whether it’s something small like having to do the dishes, or an actual emergency — your brain releases wonderful signaling potions like adrenaline and cortisol to give you a boost in focus. Conversely, when nothing is bothering you, your brain makes you feel relaxed, so that you don’t needlessly stress and waste energy.
Each of these two modes is regulated by their own system— the sympathetic- and parasympathetic nervous system.
Each system has its purpose, but when the sympathetic system has been at the wheel for too long, you start to feel stressed.
Wim Hof Method breathing stimulates the parasympathetic system, thus counteracting the sympathetic system and bringing stress levels down.
“The parasympathetic system is directly connected to the heart via the sinus node, a conjunction of nerves”, explains Cristopher Kopplin of the University of Bayreuth. “There is a phenomenon called sinus node arrhythmia, where exhalation increases parasympathetic activity, and consequently, lowers heart rate and makes us calm down. Deep, slow, and rhythmic breaths maximize this effect.”
A 2022 study put this to the test: subjects who did Wim Hof Method breathing reported markedly lower stress levels than people who breathed the old fashioned way.