Lifestyle

5 Breathing Exercises To Calm You Down And Improve Gut Health

Keep stress from affecting your gut health with these breathing techniques!

In this article:

Can Stress Cause Gut Health and Gastrointestinal Problems?
What is the Relationship Between Gut Bacteria and Lifestyle?
How Does Stress Affect Digestive Health?
Breathing Exercises You Can Do for a Healthier Gastrointestinal Tract

How To Restore Gut Health With Breathing Exercises

Can Stress Cause Gut Health and Gastrointestinal Problems?

Do you ever notice how your stomach hurts when you’re stressed or anxious? Stress can negatively affect that state of your microbiome due to the intimate connection between the gut and the nervous system. We want to keep stress at a minimum in order to digest our food well and support the live beneficial bacteria and fungi in the gut. To get a better understanding of how stress is related to the microbiome, be sure to check out our blog post on how stress impacts your gut health.

What is the Relationship Between Gut Bacteria and Lifestyle?

In addition to maintaining the use of your probiotics and prebiotics to increase good gut bacteria, it’s important to check in on your lifestyle to see how it is affecting your gut health. Even when we eat healthy foods and take our supplements, we are doing ourselves a disservice if we don’t take care of ourselves mentally. Not getting enough sleep, working too many hours, and allowing ourselves to get stressed out easily are detrimental to our overall health, but these bad habits are particularly harmful to the gut microbiome.

How Does Stress Affect Digestive Health?

When we’re stressed, our digestive system shuts down so that we can put all of our energy into addressing the stressful situation. This was helpful for our ancestors in life-or-death scenarios, but in today’s society, our bodies react in the same way too much less important, non-life threatening situations. As a result, our gut health is compromised by stressful lifestyles. Minimizing stress in combination with probiotic and prebiotic supplements will result in a digestive system that runs smoothly. You will experience little to no bloating, your mind will become more focused and creative, and your body will better absorb nutrients from your food.

When we’re relaxed, our parasympathetic nervous system is turned on, and the sympathetic nervous system is switched off. The parasympathetic nervous system results in a relaxed and calm state, while the sympathetic nervous system excites the body and makes it stressed. It also increases blood pressure, increases the heart rate, causes the mouth to dry, and suppresses digestion and the immune system.

Parasympathetic Nervous System Definition: As part of the autonomic nervous system, it stimulates various functions of the body including digestion, urination, defecation, and sexual arousal.

Sympathetic Nervous System Definition: This part of the autonomic nervous system is responsible for the body’s fight or flight response.

Breathing Exercises You Can Do for a Healthier Gastrointestinal Tract

We can control which system is turned on through meditation and breathing techniques. Practicing breathing techniques tricks the mind into sudden relaxation, switching the parasympathetic state on and resulting in a healthier digestive system. Here are five breathing techniques you can practice for a healthier gut and microbiome. You’ll also prevent gut inflammation, disease-causing bacteria, and the need for antibiotics with these exercises.

1. Extended Exhale

Deepening your exhale is the quickest way to switch the body into relaxation mode. Follow the steps below for this technique:

Inhale for four counts.
Hold the inhale for two counts.
Exhale for six counts.

If this is too difficult, simply inhale for two counts and exhale for four. Do this for as long as you’d like, but at least five minutes is recommended.

2. Zen Breath

This technique is a basic breathing meditation. Pick one of three points to put all of your focus on:

The breath coming in and out of your nostrils
Your chest rising and falling
Your belly expanding and softening

Focus on this one point for anywhere from 5-20 minutes. You can say “inhale, exhale” inside your head if it helps you focus.

3. Counting

Counting your breaths is great for beginners or anyone who has trouble focusing. Practice the zen breath technique by drawing all of your attention to one point. As you inhale count “one” and as you exhale count “two.” Work your way up until you get distracted, and then start back over at one. Try this for 7-8 minutes and work your way up to 10-20 minutes.

4. Tension Release

Here’s how you can release tension and increase good bacteria in the digestive tract through breathing:

Lie down for this exercise.
Extend your arms at your side, palms facing upward.
Let your breath be easy and effortless and try to relax your entire body.
Begin at your toes and work your way up to the top of your head, scanning the body for any pain or tension.
Wherever you feel pain or tension, inhale deeply and exhale out the mouth.
Repeat several times before moving to the next area.

5. Chakra Cleanse

The chakras are energy centers in the body. When they’re imbalanced you feel blockages as you sit upright and breathe full, deep breaths.

For this technique, sit upright, shoulders directly over hips. Take a deep inhale through the nose, all the way to the root of the spine and exhale out the nose, out the crown of the head.
Repeat, but this time exhale out the mouth to relieve any tension.
On your next inhale through the nose, send the breath to the point just above the navel. Exhale through the nose, out the crown of the head.
Inhale again, and exhale out the mouth to relieve any tension. This chakra is the solar plexus, which is linked to digestion.
Take a deep inhale and send the breath to your heart and exhale out the crown of the head. Inhale again, and exhale out the mouth to relieve any tension.
On your next inhale, send the breath to your throat. Exhale out the crown of the head.
Inhale again, and exhale out the mouth to release any blockages.
Inhale to your third eye—the point between your eyebrows. Exhale out the crown of the head. Inhale again, and exhale out the mouth to relieve any tension.
Finally, inhale to the crown of the head and exhale out the crown of the head. Inhale, and then exhale out the mouth, releasing any remaining tension.

To help you with your gut health, learn about BIOHM Super Greens in this video from BIOHM Health:

Practicing these techniques will help you relieve stress and calm your belly. In addition to practicing breathing meditation, it is important to continue to take BIOHM probiotics and prebiotics for total gut balance, as well as to fuel your body with gut-friendly food. Fermented foods offer the best natural probiotics. High-fiber foods are also great to improve your gut health.

How do you manage stress and digestion problems? Do you take probiotics supplements? Let’s talk in the comments below!

Up Next:

- Kate Wilke @meditatekate

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on February 9, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.