Research on the Benefits of Effortless Breathing & Relaxation
In our effortless sleep course, you’ll learn several breathing and relaxation practices that many have found especially helpful for improving our overall sleep.
In case you’re not familiar with these kinds of practices, I thought you might find it inspiring to look at some of the scientific research showing how effective they can be.
Calming the Autonomic Nervous System with Relaxation Exercises
Dr. Edmund Jacobsen was one of the early pioneers in the field of mind-body medicine research (then known as psychosomatic medicine). In the 1920s, using one of the first machines that measured electrical activity in muscles and the nervous system, he demonstrated that there’s a connection between tension in the body and tension in the mind. Studies of Jacobsen’s particular ‘tense-relax” practice show that it can improve sleep as well as reduce anxiety, tension, high blood pressure, the likelihood of seizures, and more.
In the 1940s, Dr. Hans Selye studied what he called the body's natural "stress response." He showed how our natural, healthy, biological response to stress can be distorted by our conditioned habits and negative thinking - and when that happens, rather than saving our life, the stress response can make us sick. Research shows that relaxation exercises can neutralize the stress response.
Dr. Herbert Benson, famous for his phrase, “the relaxation response,” is probably next in the line of well-known researchers in the field of mind-body medicine. He helped show how negative thoughts, emotions, and deeply rooted beliefs maintain our sympathetic nervous system in a state of constant arousal, leading to a wide range of physical and psychological problems. The relaxation response, which can be brought about through simple relaxation, breathing and other practices, returns the autonomic nervous system to a balance of its sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. Better sleep and overall well-being are the result.
Along with hundreds of other researchers around the world, Dr. Benson’s research team at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital has been exploring the effects of relaxation for more than 40 years. They've found relaxation practices to be a crucial component in the treatment of insomnia, anxiety, depression, various types of physical pain, respiratory, cardiovascular and other physical conditions, as well as being helpful for reducing addictions of all kinds.
Calming the Autonomic Nervous System with
Breathing Exercises
As with relaxation, breathing has a direct and rapid effect on the autonomic nervous system. Researchers, including Suzanne M. Bertisch of Harvard Medical School, Richard P. Brown, associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, the above-mentioned Dr. Herbert Benson, and many more have found a wide array of benefits from various kinds of breathing exercises. These benefits include:
Cognitive: Better working memory which is a major component of general intelligence; improvement in attention which enhances one's skills in the arts and sports; and reduced symptoms of ADHD
Emotional: Reduced anxiety levels, fewer panic attacks, reduction in symptoms of PTSD and depression, reduction in overall stress levels
Physical/instinctive: Reduced cravings related to smoking, alcohol and drug abuse; reduction in blood pressure, improvement of overall cardiovascular functioning