Breathing: Your body was built to do it. It is the most natural unconscious action you do every minute of every day. Babies can do it. It sustains life. But you might not be very good at it. Pollution, poor posture, or stress can cause vertical breathing that only utilizes the top part of your lungs. You’ll find yourself shallow breathing, which creates stress in your body and puts your brain in a fight-or-flight mode. Breathing exercises reduce stress by relaxing your whole body and sending signals to your brain to chill out. Start your day right by trying a few of these exercises.

Belly Breathing

One of the most-loved breathing exercises focuses on belly breathing, which uses your stomach to breathe instead of your chest. This pulls air down into your lungs instead of just using the top portion. Before you even get out of bed, you can try this exercise by lying flat on your back and placing one hand on your chest and one on your belly. The hand on your chest should not move, while the hand on your belly should rise and fall with your breath.

Breathe & Stretch

One quick exercise to do when you first wake up is some basic stretching. Stand up and move your neck side to side while taking deep breaths. Inhale and bend over from the hip to touch your touch toes while you release your breath in short bursts. This will help relieve tense muscles from sleeping, get your blood flowing, and clear early morning congestion.

Roll Breathing

Roll breathing engages a few different breathing techniques and takes some practice to get good at. Start by doing it lying down. When you’ve mastered that, you can utilize the exercise standing up, sitting at your desk, or whenever you feel you need to calm down.

Looking for more ways to stress less and wake up right? Read on at the Olympus Emerald Coast blog.