Just Breathe Challenge!

90 DAY Just Breathe Challenge: Complete two 4-7-8 Breathing Cycles per day for the next 90 days!

If you are considering joining a 90 Day Challenge, it doesn’t get any easier than this one. Seriously– it’s just breathing. You do it all day every day, but did you know that focusing on breathing just a little differently just a few times per day can make a big impact on your health? Relaxation breathing is associated with a reduction in inflammatory biomarkers and could help improve your blood sugar control.

90 Day Challenge Overview

The Challenge: 90 Day Just Breathe Challenge
The Goal: Use relaxation breathing to improve your health
Better Bloodscore: This challenge could improve your blood sugar, and reduce your inflammatory risk
Connect for Support: Find other challengers on Instagram and Facebook #justbreathe #90daychallenge #upmyscore
Difficulty level: Beginner

4-7-8 Relaxation Breathing

This is a simple breathing technique that you can do anywhere, anytime, and with no equipment.
Body position: Sit up straight. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entire exercise.
Technique:

• Exhale completely through your mouth.
• 4 second inhale: Close your mouth and quietly inhale through your nose.
• 7 second hold: Hold your breath for 7 seconds.
• 8 second exhale: Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
• Repeat 3 times, for a total of 4 relaxation breaths.

Timing: Complete the exercise twice per day– Try 8AM and 8PM, for example.
If you feel a little lightheaded, take a break and ease into this exercise with just one cycle at a time until you get used to breathing this way. Always consult your health care provider if you have health concerns.

Why does Just Breathing reduce stress?

Our bodies are so amazing– we are built to immediately respond to threats and danger. When a threat comes our way– real, perceived, physical, or psychological– our bodies jump into fight or flight mode. You can measure a near immediate change in the chemical composition and physical stance of your body. Your adrenaline hormone spikes, which speeds up your breathing and heart rate and increases your blood pressure. Your stress hormone cortisol spikes, and more sugar enters your bloodstream.
While the stress response is ideal if you are being chased by a wild animal or getting beat up on the playground, it’s not so good when your body responds with the stress hormone cascade to the nearly constant modern life threats we face each day: traffic frustrations, job demands, family stress, and more. All of these stressors can lead to chronic elevations in our stress hormones which can damage our body.
Relaxation breathing works a natural tranquilizer for your nervous system and body. Relaxation breathing reduces your heart rate and blood pressure and helps quiet the stress hormone cascade. Reducing the amount of stress hormones circulating in your body helps protect your body from chronic inflammation and damage.

Why is stress dangerous?

Chronic stress leads to chronic elevations in stress hormones, which leads to chronic inflammation, which can damage the body resulting in:

• Anxiety and depression
• Heart disease
• Weight gain
• Weight gain and digestive problems
• Memory and concentration problems
• Sleep problems

How do we know if Just Breathing works?

We love data at Bloodscore, and we believe that if you can measure it, you can change it.
The stress hormone cortisol, when chronically elevated can lead to increases in your inflammatory risk biomarker hs-CRP (high sensitivity c-reactive protein). Bloodscore helps you track your inflammatory risk biomarker (hs-CRP) so you can find ways to help reduce your inflammatory risk.
Relaxation breathing is associated with reduction in stress and related inflammatory biomarkers. Check your Bloodscore again in 90 days and see if you have improved your Bloodscore and decreased your inflammation biomarkets and relative health risk–resulting in a better Bloodscore.
We know that this 90 Day Challenge is harder than it sounds! Here are some tips collected from Bloodscore Members who have successfully completed the challenge:

• Wear comfortable shoes- if you need dressier shoes, pack them or leave them in your office
• Power of support- tell your friends or colleagues, and invite them to join you
• Take the stairs halfway and elevator the rest of the way
• Add in an extra stair climb during your lunch break
• Focus on progress- count your flights or wear a pedometer to track your steps

Apps that might help your Just Breathe Challenge

Try Welltory
Take the Just Breathe Challenge to the next level and measure your Heart Rate Variability and more. Heart rate variability is an indicator of stress levels and can help you learn to sense when relaxation breathing could help you.
Try Elite HRV
If you are serious about improving your inflammatory risk, reducing stress, and also improving athletic performance, then this app might be for you!
Try Calm
Consider a basic introduction to meditation that you can take along on the go!
All of these apps are free to try and then offer upgrade options. We love that they show you trended data and connect with other programs and trackers you might already own.

Challenger Experiences

I have been doing 4-7-8 Breathing for about a year now. I notice myself doing the breathing exercises before I even realize I am stressed about something. Just the other day, my son asked me why I was taking such a deep breath when we were stuck in traffic…I didn’t even realize I was doing it! – Rachel

*Discuss all new health programs with your doctor. Challenges, suggestions, and recommendations on this Web site are not indicated as medical advice or treatment. Individual results are expected to vary.
Sources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037
https://www.drweil.com/videos-features/videos/the-4-7-8-breath-health-benefits-demonstration/