When you do deep breathing, the message you are giving your body is that you are breathing like a very relaxed person. And when your body gets that message, it really does relax. Muscle tension is reduced, blood vessels dilate so that blood pressure drops, your heart rate slows, and stress hormone levels drop.
One of the most significant contributions to pain is muscle tension. So you can see that by relaxing your muscles, you will reduce your pain. The message gets around.
Deep breathing won’t always get rid of pain, but it can make acute periods more tolerable. It’s something to try when your pain is bad and other things aren’t helping enough, if your pain is making your anxious and tense, of when pain makes it difficult to sleep or move around.
A particular form of deep breathing, what experts at the International Breath Institute in Boulder, Colorado, call Transformbreathing, may help relieve symptoms of fibromyalgia, premenstrual syndrome, asthma, depression, even nicotine and alcohol addictions.
Chronic pain has an emotional component or may be the result of injury that someone still has a lot of negative feelings about. We believe that you can use your breathe to help release emotions associated with pain, emotions that may be enhancing your perception of pain.