Discover why willpower fails: evolutionary biology meets nervous system science. Learn how breathing practices reprogram your stress response for better choices.

Modern life creates many areas of chronic stress triggers without outlets that we evolved with. Examples of modern activities that trigger it are digital triggers such as information overload, social media, perceived threats; lifestyle such as poor sleep, diet, toxins in the environment, overtraining; physical and biological such as chronic pain, infections, and poor gut health. We can consider this as a allostatic load which was coined as "the biological burden from repeated or prolonged stress".

Breathing retraining has a role in conditions like snoring and sleep apnea. Did you consider your day time breathing might be impacting your night time sleep?

Did you know that holding your breath while reading emails is a real thing called 'screen apnea' and it's quietly fueling your stress? Poor posture and unconscious breath-holding lower CO2 levels, triggering your body's fight-or-flight response. The good news? Just a few minutes of intentional breathing can break the cycle and reduce anxiety fast.

Still feeling breathless months after COVID even when your lungs look fine? Long COVID can rewire your breathing patterns, creating a cycle of shallow breathing and low CO2 that keeps your nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight. The good news is that breathing is a trainable behaviour, and gentle techniques like the Buteyko Method can help break the cycle and restore ease over time.

Anxiety and breathing are tightly interlinked. The breath is a powerful way to gain control over anxiety.