What are the benefits of breathing on body and mind?

“There is a period of my life when I was very anxious, due to difficult relations with a hierarchical superior,” says Bérénice, sixties, contractual in the public service. I then started to practice breathing exercises twice a day. In a few months, a good part of my anxieties had disappeared. By chasing them, I also lost 10 kg too much in two years. »»

From now on, as soon as she feels the need, Bérénice concentrates automatically on her breathing. A habit that has changed his life.

Yoga, pilates, mindfulness meditation …

The power of our breath has long been known on an experimental level. Many therapies and methods of relaxation or personal development – yoga, pilates, mindfulness meditation, sophrology or Vittoz method – are based on it.

Practices that experience renewed interest in the evil of the century: stress. Thus, between 2010 and 2020, the number of yoga practitioners tripled, indicates the national union of yoga teachers. And that of sophrologists increased by more than a third between 2015 and 2020. As for cardiac coherence (Read box)this technique has successfully spread in France since the 2010s.

Antidote to black ideas

It is undoubtedly no coincidence that the scientific environment in turn manifests an increasing interest in the beneficial effects of breathing. In recent years, numerous studies have given proof of its effectiveness: reduction of anxiety, blocking black ideas, moderation of brain activity or attenuation of post-traumatic stress.

“For a long time, the relationships between breathing and the brain have raised little curiosity in researchers. But for five years research on this subject has multiplied, because we realized that breathing has mobilized all parts of the brain and synchronize them between them, “underlines Professor Thomas Similowski*. “The brain captures the frequency of the respiratory system, the activity of which has repercussions on the whole body, and is stalled on it. If, for example, we make the effort to breathe slowly for a few minutes, it slows it down and leads to relaxation, ”he explains.

“In the evening, when the anxieties arrive, I practice cardiac coherence until they disappear. At one point, I feel my heart rate come back down and my dark ideas vanish, ”says Bérénice. Sophrologist Annie Viot also observes the benefit of slow and deep breathing on her sleep and that of her patients. “I adopt a complete breathing, swelling the belly from the bottom up. This disconnects the little bike that turns in my head, ”she analyzes. A virtue due to a simple mechanism: “When you think of your breathing, you don’t think of anything else”, summarizes the professor. Focusing on your breath would also leave the “default mode” of the brain, active in the mental wandering phases and conducive to negative ruminations.

Stress regulator

Odile, the sixties, has successfully experienced cardiac coherence. “Following an excess of work, I started to have tension peaks. My doctor advised me to take treatment, but I first looked for another solution. I then came across cardiac coherence, which, combined with daily walking, solved my hypertension problem, ”she welcomes. His experience is again scientifically confirmed: by regulating stress, these exercises could prevent the development of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension.

Adopt a slow and ample breathing therefore powerfully soothes the body. It amplifies the oscillations of the parasympathetic system – responsible for the relaxation of the body – by superimposing that caused by breathing and that of the rhythm of the heart. Solicited, the parasympathetic system decreases heart rate, blood pressure and stress hormones production, thus promoting relaxing emotions.

This mechanism would be one of the keys to the efficiency of sophrology. To deal with stress or during her sports sessions, Hélène, mother of four children, often uses it. She was initiated there before the birth of her first child, during a natural childbirth preparation with her midwife. “The association of images, positive thoughts and breathing has been very effective in managing pain,” she recalls.

Powerful painkiller

“During my pregnancy, I participated in around twenty sophrology sessions, also testifies Cécile, a mother of his thirty years. During my third delivery, I used a slow and deep breathing when the contractions arrived, then jerky and superficial at the time of peaks of pain. »»

Recent studies confirm the experience of women who have made the same choice: some exercises decrease the intensity and emotional impact of pain. “Fast and superficial breathing requests parts of the brain that inhibit the perception of bodily sensations,” said Professor Similowski. An effect amplified by concentration.

“The effort asked for my breathing to me immersed me in a kind of indescribable state, never experienced before. My head has taken control of everything else, ”recalls Cécile. Thus, breathing plays the features of union between body and mind, illustrating the amazing potential of our organism.

* Book co -author Breathing superpowers ,, Ed. Albin Michel, 272 pages ; 21.90 euros.