Breathing Exercises To Slow Heart Rate

Causes Of A Slow Heart Rate

Its normal for your heart rate to change throughout the day. It speeds up when you exercise, slows down as you recover from exercising, and is usually at its lowest while you sleep.

Sometimes people have a slower heart rate than normal. This is called bradycardia, and it isnt necessarily a problem. Its diagnosed when your heart beats less than 60 beats per minute.

There are several causes of a slow heart rate. The most common are being young or physically fit. The heart is a muscle, and just like the other muscles in your body, it responds positively to exercise. When youre in good shape, your heart doesnt need to beat as often to supply your body with enough oxygen.

But a slow heart rate can also be a sign of a medical problem, such as a heart condition. If your resting heart rate is slow and you have other symptoms of bradycardia such as lightheadedness, call your doctor or go to the ER.

Your Resting Heart Rate

Also known as your pulse, this is the number of times your heart beats per minute when youre at rest. For adults, the normal range is between 60 and 100 beats per minute.

A resting heart rate varies from person to person. It depends on things like:

Even emotions, temperature, and humidity outside can affect your pulse rate.

A lower resting heart rate is usually better when it comes to your health. Itâs typically a sign your heart is working well. When its lower, your heart pumps more blood with each contraction and easily keeps a regular beat.

On the flip side, a high resting heart rate may mean your heart works extra hard to pump blood. If your pulse is consistently more than 100 beats per minute at rest, itâs a good idea to see your doctor. Over time, a high resting heart rate may affect how your heart works. A high rate can also raise your chances of cardiovascular disease.

A slower than normal pulse is common in people who are physically fit. If your resting heart rate is regularly below 60 beats per minute but youâre not active, see your doctor, especially if you feel dizzy or short of breath.

Breathing Exercises To Slow Your Heart Rate & Improve Hrv

Try the breathing exercises below to determine which type of breathing works best for you. Enjoy a greater sense of calmness and focus, and increase your heart rate variability .

Breathing exercises are a lot easier than you might think: 5-20 minutes is the perfect amount to offer a powerful effect on your nervous system, and increase your HRV during sleep.

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Sama Vritti Equal Breathing

Sama Vritti, or equal breathing as some call it, focuses on taking consistent breaths. This exercise aims to clear your mind and balance your body. Its a breathing technique that has a calming effect that reduces stress and slows down your heart, helping stabilize your blood pressure.

You can perform this exercise anywhere you feel comfortable at any time. Its especially effective at helping you relax before bed since insomnia, sleep apnea and lack of sleep may lead to high blood pressure.

Sama Vritti is extremely simple and only takes a few minutes. Heres how you do it:

Rest in a quiet space that feels comfortable. Close your eyes and relax your entire body.

Slowly inhale through your nose while silently counting to four.

Hold your breath to the count of four.

Exhale through your mouth to the count of four.

Rest without taking a breath for another count of four before starting over.

Repeat this breathing cycle two to six times per day.

• If you have a hard time breathing, lower the count to two or three seconds until it feels more manageable. The key is to maintain an equal ratio.
• Take a deep breath and fill your abdomen with air. There should be little to no movement in your chest.
• As you become more comfortable with Sama Vritti, you can repeat this exercise for up to 10 minutes.

Consider these tips to make the equal breathing exercise more relaxing and effective:

How Does Obstructive Sleep Apnea Effect Hrv

âObstructive Sleep Apnea is a breathing disorder characterized by periods of night time breathing interruption due to total or partial upper airway collapse. The distruption in ventilation leads to hypoxemia ) and hypercapnia ). This is detected by chemoreceptors that feedback to the central nervous system resulting in the upregulation of the sympathetic branch of the ANS changing breathing patterns and consequently decreasing HRV.

Therefore, chronic OSA can lead to a chronically upregulated sympathetic response and a low HRV as elucidated by a systematic review on 513 participants conducted in 2019. Hence, the resultant ANS dysregulation is the main culprit for the cardiovascular implications of OSA. That being said, this can potentially be reversed by the various available treatment modalities for OSA.â

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Benefits Of Breathing For Your Heart

Deep breaths help oxygenate your muscles, but they can also make your heart work a little harder which is a good thing! Breathing exercises can improve your circulation, lower your blood pressure, enhance your mental outlook, improve the quality of your airways and even strengthen your bones. These four simple breathing exercises may be exactly what the doctor ordered to help keep your heart health in check.

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How Does Breathwork Boost Hrv

Breathing exercises can reduce stress and improve your HRV. Improving your breathing is the most fundamental, yet most overlooked tool for reducing your stress and raising your HRV, among other health and wellbeing benefits.

When you control your breathing, you control your entire body and mind. Breathing properly is a powerful way to increase HRV and vitality. Your wilful control of the amount of oxygen you take in â and carbon dioxide you expel â allows you to consciously adjust the chemical makeup of your own nervous system. In doing so, you can use your breath to signal to your body that you arenât actually in danger.

Breathing affects people all the time, whether they’re exercising, sitting, or sleeping. Many donât even realize its powerful effect on the body and mind. Consciously controlling your breath can help you take immediate control of your emotional state, and let your body know that itâs safe to relax. The lower lungs are actually packed with parasympathetic nerve receptors that, when stimulated through deep diaphragmatic breathing, release endorphins to spread a sense of calm throughout the body and mind.

Here is a wonderful example from Oura ofHRV expert Marco Altiniâsdata showing an increase in weekly and monthly HRV scores while implementing a deep breathing practice:

Image Credit: Ouraâ

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Lowering Your Heart Rate

There are several ways you can do this to help your heart stay healthy:

Exercise. Physical activity strengthens your heart just like other muscles in your body. It trains your heart to be more efficient so it doesnât work as hard when youâre at rest. A walk, bicycle ride, or yoga class can all help.

Quit smoking.Smoking causes your arteries and veins to get smaller. This can lead to a higher heart rate. Nixing tobacco products can bring your pulse down to a healthier level.

Relax.Stress can send hormones like adrenaline and cortisol racing through your blood, which can raise your heart rate. Things like meditation and yoga can help lower stress levels. Over the long term, they can lower your resting heart rate, too.

Eat more fish. A healthy diet is the cornerstone of heart health. In addition to fruits and vegetables, which are rich in vitamins and minerals, add fish to your menu. Eating it regularly can help lower your heart rate.

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Boltanother Measure Of Breath

Improving our breathing will improve our HRV, but theres also another important number you should measure. When I teach functional breathing, I use a breath-hold test called the body oxygen level test . This test, which involves an easy breath hold after exhalation, gives an objective measure of your sensitivity to carbon dioxide and your tolerance for breathlessness.

As you practice breathing exercises and nasal breathing, your body becomes less sensitive to carbon dioxide. Breathing becomes easier and your blood pressure receptors function better. I recommend that you take your BOLT score each morning and observe whether improvements are reflected in your HRV readings.

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Basic Science To Understand:

1. Heart rate changes with breathing. Inhalation accelerates your heart. Exhalation particularly when sustained longer than inhalation slows your heart.

2. This is called sinus arrhythmia or heart rate variability. When it follows a sine curve it is a very reliable marker of good health and reduced risk .

3. Exaggerating inhalation engages chest muscles shortening and accelerating the breath. This causes CO2 to drop and is part of hyperventilation syndrome .

4. Hyperventilation happens when anxious and, if sustained, leads to low CO2 and a range of symptoms including anxiety, pounding heart rate, chest pain, light-headedness. It is estimated to affect 10-30% of otherwise healthy people and can lead to hospitalisation.

5. Arousal, with increased heart rate is associated with the sympathetic nervous system and calm, with lower heart rate is associated with the parasympathetic nervous system and called vagal tone or vagal brake .

6. Neck and upper chest muscles ventilate the upper lung. These are only required in extreme situations of physical effort

7. Diaphragm and intercostal muscles ventilate lower lung. These muscles facilitate heart rate variability, calm and good health.

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Breathe Lightan Exercise To Reduce Breathing Volume

Sit up tall in a straight-backed chair, and allow your shoulders, chest, tummy, and jaw to relax. Bring your focus to the airflow. Notice the slightly colder air as it enters your nose and the slightly warmer air as it leaves your nose. Keep your focus on the inside of your nostrils and begin to gently slow down the speed of air entering the nose. At the top of each in-breath, allow a relaxed, gentle slow breath out.

The goal is to breathe about 30 percent less air into the body. Youll notice that theres much less turbulence inside your nose. Youre doing the exercise correctly if you feel you would like to take a slightly bigger breath.

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Heart Rate Variability And The Baroreflex

The instantaneous heart rate can be measured on an ECG recording as the time between beats: the RR interval. Fluctuation of RR intervals is a physiological occurrence known as heart rate variability . HRV and blood pressure fluctuations occur both randomly and rhythmically. Power spectral analysis of these fluctuations shows two significantly correlated rhythmic oscillations indicated by a peak at a frequency around 0.25Hz ) and another at around 0.1Hz ) . The HF oscillations coincide with the typical respiration frequency and, hence, are related to the phasic effects of tidal respiration on the cardiovascular system , whereas LF oscillations are thought to correspond to cardiac feedback mechanisms that are slower than and independent of respiration .

Breathing Exercises To Try

If you feel your body’s fight-or-flight response creeping up on you, consider trying one of these three types of breathing exercises:

â1. Diaphragmatic breathing.â “I have found that true diaphragmatic breathing â syncing up the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles with the breath cycle â can be extremely centering and relaxing,” Brabender says. In about five minutes, the body’s “rest and digest response” increases and the fight-or-flight response slows down, she says.

To successfully practice diaphragmatic breathing, the Cleveland Clinic recommends that you:

• Situpright in a chair with your knees bent and relax your head, neck andshoulders.
• Placeone hand right below your ribs and the other hand on your upper chest.
• Takea slow breath in through your nose, allowing your stomach to move out againstyour hand.
• Tightenthe muscles in your stomach and allow them to fall inward as you breathe outthrough pursed lips.

â2.â âBox breathing.â “This exercise is helpful because you can do it without anyone noticing â for instance, in line at the grocery store or during a work meeting,” says Jennifer Douglas, PhD, a psychologist and clinical assistant professor at Stanford University, California.

To practice box breathing, Douglas advises that you:

â3.â âCleansing breath.â To practice cleansing breath properly, Melanie Webb, a personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise , based in Salt Lake City, Utah, recommends that you:

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What Is The Normal Hrv Range

A normal HRV range for adults can be anywhere from below 20 to over 200 milliseconds. Your HRV rate is determined by several factors you canât control, such as age, gender, and hormone cycles. However, itâs also affected by some factors you can control, like your sleep, nutrition, and physical activity.

When To Call 911

When your doctor teaches you how to do a vagal maneuver, ask how long you should do it before stopping. You should also know when to stop and call 911. For many people who have tachycardia, waiting 30 minutes may be enough.

Often, a fast heart rate will ease on its own. But if your doctor suggests you learn one or more vagal maneuvers to slow your heart down, you may be able to cut short the unsettling feeling that comes with a racing heart.

Show Sources

American Heart Association: âAtrioventricular node,â âTachycardia / Fast Heart Rate,â “Congenital Heart Defects and Physical Activity.”

Mayo Clinic: “Tachycardia: Symptoms and Causes.”

Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions: “Ice Bucket Challenge — For the Heart?”

Cleveland Clinic Wellness: “What Happens in Vagus.”

UCSF Department of Surgery: “Arrhythmias.”

Stanford Health Care: “Vagal Maneuver Treatment.”

American Family Physician: âManagement of Common Arrhythmias: Part I. Supraventricular Arrhythmias,â âPerforming Carotid Sinus Massage in Elderly Patients.â

UpToDate: âVagal maneuvers.â

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Fast Facts On The Heart Rate

• The heart rate measures the number of times the heart beats per minute.
• After the age of 10 years, the heart rate of a person should be between 60 and 100 beats per minute while they are resting.
• The heart will speed up during exercise. There is a recommended maximum heart rate that varies depending on the age of the individual.
• It is not only the speed of the heart rate that is important. The rhythm of the heartbeat is also crucial, and an irregular heartbeat can be a sign of a serious health condition.
• One in every four deaths in the United States occurs as a result of heart disease. Monitoring your heart rate can help prevent heart complications.

It is important to identify whether your heart rate sits within the normal range. If disease or injury weakens the heart, the organs will not receive enough blood to function normally.

The United States National Institutes of Health have published a list of normal resting heart rates.

The heart rate gets progressively slower as a person moves through childhood toward adolescence.

The normal resting heart rate for adults over the age of 10 years, including older adults, is .

Highly trained athletes may have a resting heart rate below 60 bpm, sometimes reaching 40 bpm.

The following is a table of normal resting heart rates at different ages according to the NIH:

Age
Over 10 years	60 to 100

What Are The Best Breathing Exercises To Use For Improving Heart Rate Variability

There is a clear evidence that HRV is influenced by breathing exercises, however, debate remains regarding the best breathing exercise for improving it. A recent randomized control trial conducted in 2021 evaluated the best breathing technique to improve HRV. Participants that attempted breathing at 6 breaths/min along with those in the soothing rhythm breathing achieved a significant increase in HRV compared to the group that watched relaxing nature videos. That being said, there is a need for a systematic review comparing different breathing techniques to confidently ascertain the best breathing exercise for you.

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The Role Of Breathing In Mindfulness

Eastern traditions pay close attention to breathing in mindfulness and meditation . In Yoga, a central axiom is attaining clear mental functioning. Regulated breathing is inextricably linked to a clear mind. Eastern systems have traditionally emphasized attention to mindful breathing as part of stabilizing mind wandering and emotional lability. In Western Medicine, breathing and heart rate variations correlate with anxiety, panic, and distress. Therefore, primary attention to breath regulation is an essential part of the background of mindfulness practice.

For example, those working on computers often hold their breath, an action referred to as screen apnea . This inadvertent suspension is unhealthy and disrupts the regular flow of oxygen to the lungs and tissues. Screen breathing rates are about 1218 breaths a minute . The higher rate is relatively quick and shallow, and less deep. Breathing such as this describes the most common, less preferable breathing styles: vertical chest, shoulder, and neck-based breathing.

Breathing regulation guidelines are fundamental and foundational. While an integral part of the mindfulness process, these suggestions do not represent breathing as the only anchor for mindfulness exercises but are always a central part. Conducive breathing facilitates the minds ability to stabilize and align with all mindful activities.

Carin A. Hagberg MD, FASA, inHagberg and Benumofs Airway Management, 2018

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Proven Ways To Lower Your Resting Heart Rate

If your heart is racing as youre sitting reading this article, its possible your body is trying to tell you something. A high resting heart rate, or a heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute, means your heart is working extra hard to pump blood through your body. And, that extra effort could result in a wide range of negative effects on your overall health, including feelings of dizziness and fatigue and most seriously blood clots, heart failure and, in rare cases, sudden death.

Normal resting heart rate is anywhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute, and its simple to check how fast yours is beating. While idle, hold your pointer and middle finger between your bone and tendon on the thumb side on your wrist until you feel your pulse, and count the number of beats for a minute that is your resting heart rate.

Certain aspects of someones resting heart rate are directly connected to uncontrollable factors, such as age and genetics, however there are certain actions that be taken to help decrease heart rate and improve overall wellbeing for those whose resting heart rate is above normal.

Here are six proven ways to lower your resting heart rate:

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