I joined cross country running for the sole purpose of finishing my Physical Education requirements to graduate high school.
Friday workouts were simple: run for an hour with a few teammates, any route you like. Coach called it the “free run”. The group of athletes I ran with jogged 5 blocks down the street, just out of sight and into a friend’s home to play Super Smash Brothers and eat Popeyes fried chicken. Free indeed.
Despite slacking, I remember one thing from my cross country coach: how to breathe and especially how to breathe when you have a big cramp but need to keep going (somehow my athletic prowess led to frequent cramping). Running cramps tend to be the side cramp or “stitch”, a signal to the body indicating insufficient deep breathing.
Coach’s tip was simple: two small breaths in through the nose and a larger breath out. It always worked, superior to whatever my face was attempting to do while desperately sucking down air. It turns out my high school coach also gave us a real-time tool to combat stress.
Most advice for combating stress doesn’t help with in the moment stress. You can’t freeze time during an interview, a fit of road rage, or before a big presentation to go take a 20 minute power nap, get a better night of rest, or meditate for 15 minutes.
You need a real-time tool: the physiological sigh.
Discovered in the 1930s with further research by Feldman and Krasnow, it’s something we do unconsciously: prior to falling asleep, during sleep when carbon dioxide levels are too high, or when we’re feeling claustrophobic.
Since we can control our breathing, we can use this mechanism to combat real-time stressors. The technique is simple: One inhale through the nose, followed by a second inhale through the nose and then a long exhale from the mouth. It’s okay if the second inhale is a small one.
Double inhale followed by a deep exhale.
How does the physiological sigh work? When we are stressed, carbon dioxide builds up in our bloodstream. The second inhale expands the alveoli, the air sacs in our lungs, and allows it to discharge even more carbon dioxide on the exhale. This process of expelling carbon dioxide relaxes us.
Do the physiological sigh a few times in succession and our heart rate slows down. A useful tool to have in the moment. When life stresses you out: sigh.