Box Breathing?

Is As Good As Meds

November 08, 2022

Good morning, this is Dynasty Dad. Dadding ain't easy, and you're busy. We give you one tool each week to make one area of being a dad feel like "just setting it and forgetting it."

🍗This week's "just set it and forget it" is on Self-Care: Box Breathing Is As Good As Meds 🍗

Dad Joke Of The Week

Q: Why can't you hear a pterodactyl go to the bathroom?

A: Because their 'P' is silent.

Box Breathing Is As Good As Meds

One of our guiding principles is to make vague ideas clear and practical.

With that in mind, one of the most frustratingly vague topics in the “self-care” category is meditation.

What is it? How does a normal dude do it?

We’ve written about it here. 

But, for this article, we want to focus on one specific breathing technique:

Box Breathing: As Good As Meds

Box Breathing is a breathing technique that science shows reduces cortisol, our bodies’ primary stress hormone.

This study found many potential benefits: a possible non-drug treatment for mental illness. A practical tool to cope with job burnout. And as good as meds to cut blood pressure.

Breathing techniques like this are already in widespread clinical use in treating PTSD.

If you want to read the science for yourself, click here.

Otherwise, all you gotta know is that this shit works!

So, How Do I Do it?

Ok, this is incredibly complicated, so pull out that Moleskine you never use!

Just kidding.

First, let’s use a visual — a box.

A box has four sides, representing the four equal (4 seconds long) steps of the technique.

Breath In

4 seconds of inhaling through your nose. Focus on filling the bottom of your belly with breath.

Hold

4 seconds of holding your breath.

Breath Out

4 seconds of exhaling forcefully from your mouth. Purse your lips, and make a wooshing sound as you exhale.

Hold

4 seconds of holding your breath out.

Start over

Other Notes

For this technique, you can quietly count in your head.

If you prefer external help, you can use a guided mediation app like Insight Timer to count for you. (Not an ad, just a good app!)

Think of the entire box breathing sequence like a Set in the gym.

However many sets you want to do is up to you.

As you get used to it, you can adjust the number of sets to your stress levels.

Your homework: 

Try a set of 10 to start!

For context: that adds up to less than 3 minutes (160 secs).

You have three minutes each day to lower your stress.

Do it. You deserve it.

P.S. I like to do this midday Monday through Friday. It’s as refreshing as closing all my browser tabs and starting all over.

Box Breathing Is As Good As Meds — Dynasty Dad: A Guide To Shaping Your Future Generations

Box Breathing…and why it is good as meds. Dynasty dad is your weekly newsletter that gives busy dads tools to be great dads.

https://dynastydad.com/blogs/this-breathing-technique-has-been-proven-to-lower-stress

This Week's Interesting Read:

Your kids will be more resilient if you don't punish them...here's why:

The author starts by suggesting reframing our thinking. “Actually children [behave] well when they can and when they can’t there is a reason”.

One of our most important jobs as a parent is to teach emotional skills. We can do this by modeling calm responses and engaging with acknowledgment and validation. Responding to our child's meltdown this way teaches our kids how to regulate their emotions.

If they don't learn this from us they will have a difficult time adapting to changes and challenges in adulthood.

Don't punish your kids if you want them to grow up resilient, child psychologist says. Here's why

When you allow a child to figure out how to handle unpleasant emotions by themselves, you're increasing their ability to be flexible.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/04/how-to-raise-resilient-kids-through-responsive-parenting.html

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