Slow breathing is also recommended for novices before public speaking, as it helps speakers overcome irrational physiological fear of facing people, the risk-taking shift is useful as it helps you speak more confidently, not more cautiously. Slow breathing can calm nerves quickly; bottom-up regulation: body tells brain “you’re safe”.
Slow breathing (in yoga: pranayama) instantly down-regulates your nervous system by boosting vagal tone and lowering sympathetic "fight-or-flight" activity. When your breath lengthens, it signals your brain that you are completely safe, dropping your heart rate and lowering blood pressure.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12858147/
Pranayama is translated more as "control of the breath"- there are some techniques that are much faster than normal respiration eg Bhastrika and Kapalbhati.
I first learned about this in the army, called "tactical breathing". I still consistently use this before public speaking or if I feel myself in a manic/stressed state of mind.
It doesn’t signal anything. Your heart rate drops because you’re inhaling less oxygen so your heart is like “we don’t need this high fi flow” and slows down blood flow to lower energy expenditure.
Lower energy state always wins unless chasing energy source.
Your confident ignorance motivated me to at least dig up some cursory research on this space, I hadn’t previously bothered because I live and breathe this stuff (pun not intended).
As a young impressionable, I set out to understand and overcome performance anxiety as someone who suffered from it. After some reading, one of my conclusions was that I should do the most stressful thing possible to understand stress better and develop physical tolerance to stress. This culminated in me signing up for a series of Muay Thai interclub fights because getting punched (or kicked) in the head while pushing your heart rate to ~200bpm is definitely up there for “stressful circumstances”.
Turns out breathing really helps in that situation too beyond just taking in more oxygen - relaxation is critical for both technical execution and strategic thinking.
Slow breathing also really helps with freediving - another hobby of mine that I dabble with that happens to involve going deep (no pun intended) on conscious relaxation.
But sure, it’s just you taking in oxygen to moderate your heart rate. Here are some papers I surfaced for you and others who are interested
[0] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aan1466
[1] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aai7984
[2] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/arti...
Cancel the Muai Thai, switch to Judo immediately.
Your brain is attached to your inner skull with candyfloss like tendrils. They do not repair. Software engineering, even prompting, with a concussion or CTE is impossible.
Judo isn't that healthy either. Many Judo-ka have hurt their backs from the damage accumulated from falls and there are other ways to injure yourself in Judo. If you're looking for those sorts of high stress combat situations you can get that with Karate styles that practice a lot less contact. There's still high pressure but a lot less than full contact fighting where you're just hitting and getting hit all the time. Some chance of injury but it's a lot rarer.
I do agree that getting constantly hit in the head is probably not a good idea (e.g. boxing). If you want the stress of public speaking join Toastmasters or something ;)
Note that fast breathing doesn’t necessarily mean high oxygen uptake. Deep breaths result in higher oxygen uptake (since you spend less time just moving the same stale air up and down your airways), and deep breaths are usually easier to perform when breathing slowly.
Professional public speakers use a beta blocker like propanolol before going on stage.
> Professional public speakers...
Maybe some do, but I've never needed it. Often I actually find public speaking easier than small groups. In a small group my brain is trying to "model" what each person is thinking about my talk, as the groups get larger that becomes impossible and I tend to relax and let go. I also find the energy in a larger setting is a useful feedback mechanism. I might toss a small joke out and see if the audience is engaged, or I will ask a question and get a show of hands. The more I engage the calmer I feel and the more enjoyable the experience is for me and my audience.
That's interesting. My brain does the same in terms of attempting to simulate that model of the people, but when it becomes impossible to run the algorithm (too large of a group), instead of just giving up, my brain goes into panic mode. I have found propranolol helps me with many of the physical symptoms that would otherwise dominate.
Years of practice and “This won’t kill me” thinking have helped a lot. Also I watch every single talk I’ve given which is brutal but it lets me improve but also re-affirm I didn’t die…
[1] https://www.karlbunch.com/random/change/
I agree regarding audience size and add the factor or preparation - no way am I going to speak to a large audience without solid prep. That helps me a ton, feeling prepared and rehearsed.
Cool point re: propranolol:
Exercise increases heart rate. The more we exercise, the more the heart gets used to that adrenergic stimulation. This decreases the number of receptors to sense adrenaline in the heart, so whenever adrenaline rises again into the system, like in public speaking, we can handle it much better.
Exercise mitigates public-speaking anxiety. Particularly prolonged cardio.
Not something I need for public speaking.
But what a godsend propranolol has been for a contentious work situation causing extreme anxiety.
Wonderful to take ahead of a scheduled meeting that could have otherwise been an hour of physical panic that no rational thought (this will feel unimportant in a week, it's just job, etc etc) could quell.
Maybe some do but thats not the norm.
I don't think this is necessary at all, anecdotal but I used to have terrible social anxiety and fear of public speaking but after putting myself through it for several rounds it just kind of clicked.
Eventually, your body learns to adapt and understand that this thing you dreaded isn't so bad after all
Presenting this as something that all or even most public speakers do is a bit wild. Have you got any evidence for that?
Propanolmao, even
Propanorofl
That's just sad.
also helped my chronic acid reflux/lpr but its more of diaphragmatic breathing. its backed by research.
using phones and laptops all day stuns your brain into shallow breathing all day.when i was kid i remember my dad taking naps in the afternoon and his belly moving up and down as he slept peacefully. i dont think anyone does that anymore.
i have a pet theory that this is what is driving high gastro cancers in young ppl.
It's also useful for actually speaking better; diaphragmatic breathing is necessary for projecting the voice without damaging it.