Get more energy, manage your emotions better, live longer, be happier, simply by adopting a smooth and regular breathing while you work.
How?
- Put your headphones on and click on the heart below
- Synchronize your breathing to the sound
- Adjust the rhythm to something that suits you
- Go back to work but keep it synchronized
Do this for a few days and you will notice that your breathing will become smoother, slower, and more regular even when you're not actively paying attention to it.
How does it work?
Your heart is strongly influenced by your breathing. In his book (see also his talk) Alan Watkins explains the importance Heart Rate Variability (HRV):
Although we can't change our chronological age we can change our biological age and increase HRV with the right kind of lifestyle adjustments. It is therefore possible to improve HRV and turn back the clock through exercise, emotional self-management, omega-3 supplements and yoga. The easiest and quickest way however is to create cardiac coherence through [these] breathing skills.
And how breathing affects it:
Generating a rhythmic breathing pattern creates cardiac coherence. The rhythmic changes in intrathoracic pressure caused by rhythmic breathing cause the heart rate to vary in a dynamic stable way. As our cardiac physiology becomes coherent the power output of the heart increases, and this drives other biological systems to synchronize with the heart causing physiological entrainment.
Many commercial products can help you improve your breathing and HRV, but the key points are always the same:
- Breathe with a slow, regular rhythm
- Focus your attention on your chest ("heart area")
Tips
- You can use a longer exhalation time (e.g. 1 or 2 seconds more) to better empty your lungs.
- Don't stress out when you notice that your breathing went out of sync with the sound. Just catch-up at your own pace.
- Don't try to breathe too deep - regularity matters more than depth.
- Practice relaxing your shoulders as you breathe out.
- Good breathing should generate sensations in the chest area, try to focus on it.
About
Background soundtracks help me focus, and have tried listening to natural sounds (ocean waves, rain) or electronic ones (drones, procedural music). But most online soundtracks are using compressed audio of bad quality, and some use very short loops which soon become irritating.
I was also looking to improve my breathing but most breathing apps or devices require active attention, and I wanted something I could use in the background while working.
So I experimented with Max/MSP and came up with a prototype that I used almost daily for about two months. I went for the simplicity of pure white noise, filtered at a varying frequency, which results in a very non-intrusive sound, halfway between natural and artificial.