Many musculoskeletal injuries we see come from overuse injuries, increasing levels of exercise too quickly, or sometimes just plain goofiness on the part of a patient. Honestly, some of the musculoskeletal issue we’ve seen of late have a psychological component to them.
Certainly, we have all heard someone say, “I carry my stress in my shoulders.” I cannot tell you how true this has been not just in the last two years but continuing still today. Most of you know I will not shy away from the tough discussions of life, and I have a few psychologists and counselors that I’m happy to refer to.
I’m also interested in what tools we can suggest for you to do at home. Recently, a study out of Stanford Medicine looked at styles of breathing techniques for reducing anxiety and improving overall mood. One method seemed to stand out a bit more than the others.
Cyclic Sighing can be done for 5 min / day and may assist with less anxiety, better mood, and a decrease breathing rate at rest.
How it’s performed:
- Inhaling briefly through the nose to partially fill the lungs
- Complete filling the lungs with a second brief inhale
- Exhaling through the mouth for twice as long as the inhale.
This exhalation that is double the length of inhalation is extremely powerful for finding a sense of peace and calm.
If you’re someone that could use a little less anxiety in your day, we’d love for you to give it a try and let us know what you think. Here is a link to Andrew Huberman’s Guided Cyclic Sighing to help you get the hang of it:
