One of the biggest struggles when dealing with POTS or Long Covid is palpitations and shortness of breath.
Salt, hydration, and compression stockings help keep some symptoms at bay.
But if you are looking for a way to train your heart rate, regulate your breathing, and strengthen the autonomic nervous system, you’ve got to look deeper.
Here is where breathing exercises come in handy.
When we inhale, we increase the sympathetic activity in the body.
When we exhale, we increase parasympathetic activity.
If trying to relax, you should exhale for longer than you inhale.
But it can be tough to maintain a daily breathing regimen.
Even when you get yourself to do the breathing exercises, half the time, you’re probably wondering if you’re doing them correctly and if they are effective.
Thus, you are not too motivated to do them again the next day.
If only there were some guidance available...
Luckily for you, there are now many biofeedback devices that track changes in your breathing, as well as your emotions, affect your heart patterns in real-time.
Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback provides real-time feedback on your heart rate variability and your respiration changes.
What is heart rate variability?
HRV is the beat-to-beat change in the speed of your heart. It reflects the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
By doing breathing exercises, you help train the parasympathetic system.
This has been scientifically proven to reduce stress and anxiety as well as improve emotional self-regulation and coping mechanisms.
Even better, these devices can be found online at a minimal cost. Thus, you can do the work from the comfort of your home.
If working with a practitioner, you simply upload your data to the cloud so they can see your progress and advise you.
I became so interested in biofeedback and its influence on the brain and the heart that I became a HeartMath Certified Practitioner.
So if you are ready to positively shift your heart rhythm and experience more calm and control, click here for a consultation where we can go over how HRV biofeedback can help you.
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