BrainScience Newsletter

Breathing Relieves Stress

The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Practices

DID YOU KNOW?

Breathing can help calm down intense
feelings of stress & anxiety
● Say what!? How? With repeated, slow, and controlled breaths,
this helps calm down the Amygdala, which is your emotional
response center in the brain.
● When the Amygdala is under stress, it’s on alert and all the
information that your brain is learning at school scatters!! OH NO!
● When we focus on our breathing, it helps calm the body by
slowing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and sharpening
our focus.
● Controlled breathing helps to reduce stress, which is caused by a
chemical in our bodies called Cortisol. Too much cortisol causes
anxiety and fear related feelings, stressing out the amygdala.
● Controlled breathing helps to calm the amygdala, and then calms
the body.

MindUp! Curriculum: Brain focused strategies for learning and living – Copyright  2011 by The Hawn Foundation
 ● When deep breathing becomes a habit, we can train our brain to
THINK first, and then plan a response. This is using mindful
behavior!!

Try using this mindfulness practice when you need to calm your body
and start a fresh new focus when learning at school :)

MindUp! Curriculum: Brain focused strategies for learning and living – Copyright  2011 by The Hawn Foundation