4-7-8 Breathing

Without a doubt my favorite technique for reducing my stress response is the breathing technique 4-7-8. It is free, quick (45 secs-60 secs) and very effective when used daily over time. I personally do this breathing daily and teach many of my patients in the office this practice.

To demonstrate its effectiveness, I would often have my nurse take a patient's blood pressure when they were nervous and of course it would be high. After spending just a few minutes learning how to do the 4-7-8 breathing it was not uncommon for the systolic blood pressure to drop 20 pts sometimes into the normal range. There is no medicine I could have given to have the same effect yet the patient was able to fix themselves with a simple breathing practice.

Share this with your friends and remind each other to do your breathing so you can reap the health benefits in both the short and long term.

To watch the video on breathing please click here: 4-7-8 Breathing