Reduce Stress and Improve Digestion in Seconds

Stress can have a big impact on digestion, especially for those who already struggle with gut problems. Stress is also a normal part of life and not something you can usually run away from or switch off easily. Everyone is talking about stress more than ever, and how detrimental it can be to health, you might even feel stressed about being stressed. Yet, there are very few realistic coping tools offered.

We have all heard of methods for dealing with stress, like meditation, taking a hot bath, or exercise. All of which are fantastic tools, but they take time out of our day — time that many people don’t have to spare. It’s only natural that we reach for not-so-healthy coping tools, the most common being food or alcohol.

Whether we are choosing healthy or unhealthy stress coping strategies, the goal is the same — utilising the parasympathetic “rest and digest” part of the autonomic nervous system to counteract the arousal of stress.

What we need is a realistic tool that can be used in real time, as often as you need. Turns out we have this tool built into our bodies!

The Physiological Sigh

Specific breathing patterns to reduce stress are not new. You might have heard of box breathing, or experienced the power of your breath during a meditation or yoga session.

A physiological sigh is a particular breathing pattern that is unique, because it seems to be more effective than other common practices such as mindfulness meditation, and takes seconds to have an effect. It turns out that It’s something we do all the time involuntarily, during the moments before we are about to fall asleep, during sleep, and when we cry.

A physiological sigh is a particular breathing pattern when two inhales take place followed by a long exhale. When we inhale twice the surface area of the lungs increases and removes CO2 from the body much more efficiently. This makes the body feel more relaxed. When w