In this episode we're going to talk about one of our favorite pieces of advice, which is don't take a deep breath.

Exactly. Cuz you'll hear most people say, you know, if you are feeling nerves or stressed, they say, just take a deep breath.

Yeah. We see it all the time on Facebook group. Take deep breaths.

So, yeah. So what our advice is is not to take a deep breath.

Yeah. This is one that we use a lot when we are giving talks at conferences to driving instructors is also one that we include. In our training courses.

Exactly. A little while ago, there was a Wim h program on tv, BBC one, and he was putting people into cold water and. If you could imagine you were going to jump into a freezing cold lake or river or whatever it was, your normal human reaction is to take a sharp intake of breath.

Yeah, Whenever there's a shock, whenever you experience a shock, like cold water, whether that's in a lake or whether it's in the shower, you get that involuntary. gasping in breath, and instead of being calming, that type of breath can actually trigger a stress response to the brain because the brain wants to know why you've taken that sharp intake of breath, and what it actually does is it signals. Action, potentially danger. So this is why very often if somebody takes that gasping type in breath instead of feeling calm because they've taken a deep breath, they feel more anxious, more panicky.

Yeah, and it's, it's a very similar situation to, if you've ever been in a nice warm shower and all of a sudden hot water goes, and all of a sudden it comes out really cold, your immediate reaction is to go into shock, isn't it? Yeah. You know, you, you, you even know how the, you know, your body starts to tighten as well, isn't it? So it's a very similar situation to that and. We don't want that. When you take a sharp intake of breath, you're not really in control, are you?

No. And it can lead to hyperventilation, so it means that your breath, particularly when you're breathing like that through your mouth, your breath is un unregulated.

Yes. And what we want is we want people to be in control of their breathing.

Definitely. So before we move on to that, I just want to make it clear that we are not saying that deep breathing is a problem. We are talking more about the fact that when you just tell somebody, give somebody that advice of take a few deep breaths, you're not being specific, you're not. Giving them the instructions on how to take a deep breath safely, that's going to lead to a calming response. So if somebody doesn't have the knowledge of how to deep breathe and share that with somebody safely, then our advice is, don't take a deep breath. But deep breathing done properly is great.

Yes. And our way of doing deep breathing is slightly different, isn't it? We still want people to breathe deeply, but what we want to do is a more controlled way. What we want people to do is to take a slow, gentle, full breath in.

Yeah, and just the sound of it. You'll being specific so somebody knows exactly what to do. But even in the saying it, it's nicely paced. It sounds calming. And so you are able to feel calm when you follow the instruction.

And that's exactly it, isn't it? You know, we want, we want someone to say it to us in a calm way, cuz if someone is saying, take a deep breath, it's quite rushed, isn't it? Yes. So if we can take our time to say those five words, slow, gentle, full breath in, you actually mimic that as well when you breathe in. So you will naturally take a slow. Gentle, full breath in.

Yeah, definitely. And the ideal for this, so while it's not in the instructions, the ideal is actually to breathe in through your nose, because that helps you regulate that breath. It means that you're not gonna breathe too quickly. It means that you're not gonna take in too much air all at once. So breathing in through your nose is a really good way to regulate your breathing.

Yeah. But then also releasing that breath as well as if you're breathing out. Through pursed lips, so you are taking your time to bring you out as well.

Yeah. And that's moving on to our calming breath that we share. And this is one that we share a lot on social media, isn't it?

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