Controlled breathing exercise

Controlled breathing exercises can help:

• make you feel calmer
• reduce anxiety
• help sleep
• reduce anger

The controlled breathing technique involves focusing on your breathing and slowing it down. It’s particularly helpful if you feel dizzy or light-headed when you get anxious.

The goal of this exercise is to turn off your brain’s alarm system, so you have time to think before you react. Breathing slowly and deeply will send a signal to your brain that everything is okay. Being calm will help you express your feelings in a healthy way

How to do the exercise

To practice:

1. Sit in a comfortable chair or lie down.
2. Breathe in through your nose for 3 seconds.
3. Hold this breath for 3 seconds.
4. Breathe out through your mouth for 3 seconds.
5. Hold it for 3 seconds.
6. Repeat this steady breathing for a few minutes until you feel more relaxed.

Breathing exercise tips

It can be helpful to count as you breathe in and out during this exercise. For example, ‘in, 1, 2, 3’ and ‘out 1, 2, 3’.

While you’re focusing on your breath, try saying a calming statement in your mind like ‘relax’ or ‘stay calm’.

It’s normal for your busy mind to distract you when doing this exercise. Keep practicing and don’t feel discouraged. It takes time for your mind to get used to relaxing and focusing like this, and getting distracted doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong.

If you had been feeling dizzy then this should also get better after a few minutes of doing this exercise.