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Stress is primarily a physical response which cannot be completely avoided but can be managed without affecting our own health. It is quite apparent that our breathing is very much influenced by oscillations in the intensity of stress. We observe an increased breathing rate when we are anxious or stressed and our breathing rate is at the lowest rate when we are relaxed.
Physiology of breathing
The action of Breathing is as a result of changes in the pressure between our rib cage (thorax) and the external environment. During inhalation, the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles (in between the ribs) contract to increase the size of the chest cavity and facilitate the entry of air and when we exhale the same muscles relaxes to reduce the lung size forcing the air to be expelled out.
As we all know breathing is an involuntary action controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS) - Sympathetic (the accelerator) and Parasympathetic (the break). Our breathing rate and exercise are closely interdependent. When we are relaxed, we inhale approximately 500ml of air per each breath. During an exercise, there is a slight increase in ventilation due to increased breathing rate and increase in the volume of inhaled air. Also during this process, the chemoreceptors detect the rise in carbon dioxide concentration in the blood which then stimulate the sympathetic system to increase the breathing rate and depth. In addition,when we exercise the muscles of respiration contracts to increase the lung capacity thereby increasing the depth and rate of respiration. Stress response is usually associated with shallow breathing and hence controlled deep breathing practices...