Joe Kita Fights Road Rage with Breathing

Health and fitness writer Joe Kita's latest blog for his One Small Change blog at the Core Performance website tackles abject stress and the effects of road rage. His post, "Breathe Better Under Pressure" - part of a month-long series he's doing to explore the effects of mindful breathing on his life - finds him in a car, harrowingly cut off by another driver. His heart pounds, his face goes pale, his hands shake.

Writes Joe: "No doubt you've had a similar experience. This is the body’s fight-or-flight response kicking in. Whenever we’re threatened, this mechanism instinctively prepares us to either run or rumble. Heart rate quickens in order to pump blood where it’s needed most, at the same time that blood is drawn away from extremities as a protection against injury. It's simultaneously invigorating and debilitating. Rational thought is replaced by caveman impulse.

“Research shows that there are two pathways to the brain,” explains Al Lee, co-author of Perfect Breathing. “One is for rational or attentional thought, while the other is for emotions. The two pathways are inversely related. So when your emotions start heating up, your ability to think rationally diminishes. That’s why you have crimes of passion or road rage.”

"The key," concludes Joe, " to retaining control in these situations is, as Lee explains, 'to focus on an attentional task that brings down the emotional side and lets you be more objective.' And researchers have found that breathing does this best."

Joe offers our Pressure Breathing exercise to help alleviate the stress, to good result.

Read the full text here. Or visit our Perfect Breath website

health science