Breathing is a super important part of your giving birth toolkit. Here are some top tips why:
- Relaxation: Deep breathing can help you to relax your mind and body by triggering the parasympathetic nervous system, slowing the heart rate and relaxing your muscles. Relaxing can help release the fear of labour.
- Pain management: Deep breathing can disrupt the fear-tension-pain cycle. When the body begins to relax, tension and pain release from your body.
- Increase oxygen flow: Proper breathing helps to maintain an adequate supply of oxygen to you and your baby, which is crucial for your wellbeing. Not only that, with an adequate supply of oxygen, lactic acid doesn’t build up – lactic acid can cause your muscles to hurt more.
- Prevent hyperventilation: Rapid and shallow breathing can lead to decreased oxygen and lightheadedness, triggering the sympathetic nervous system or ‘flight or flight’ reflex. The heart rate increases, adrenalin is released into the body stimulating you out of your birth bubble and your blood pressure increases. Controlled deep breathing can help prevent this.
- Focus: A focused deep breathing technique can give you the psychological benefit of having something productive and useful to bring your awareness to.
Focused, deep breathing is a really simple, easy and above all effective tool for managing your physical and mental comfort levels during labour and birth. One of the central tenets of hypnobirthing is to be able to encourage the body and mind into the calm relaxed state we practice during sessions. The more you practice in pregnancy the easier you’ll find it – especially if you do it alongside your oxytocin boosters and in a peaceful environment.