Use Stress to Create Calm (5:20:10) - Case Study Answers

You will see this exercise in the breathing for calm and focus section of the course.

A 5:20:10 (inhale:hold:exhale) restricts your breathing to around 2 breath cycles per minute.

See the questions below and comment with your answers.

Could this exercise be used as a calming breathing practice? The answer is yes and no - it all depends on the person and there cardiorespiratory health, stress tolerance and HRV (heart rate variability) which is a measurement of autonomic tone (parasympathetic vs sympathetic) and breathing capacity. A 5:20:10 is roughly 2 breath cycles per minute and this can be a very calming practice for many individuals - What you may notice is that during the breath hold the mind tends to focus on the body (less reactive) and this tends to have a calming effect. Holding the breath can also stimulate the vagus nerve (the primary nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system) secondary to an increase in intrathoracic pressure (pressure inside the chest). The exhale creates a calming effect and by extending the breath hold it tends to amplify this effect (build up a little bit of stress/pressure and then let it go on the exhale). The real key here is that in order to achieve a 5:20 :10 and stay relatively calm and relaxed you have to really focus on being calm and relaxed - which brings a lot more conscious awareness to what you are doing.

What do you think will happen in terms of arterial oxygenation saturation? Oxygen saturation (SpO2) is a measurement of how much oxygen your blood is carrying as a percentage of the maximum it could carry. It is a reading out of 100%. Normal Sp02 is between 95-98% and can be recorded on a simple pulse oximeter. Generally Sp02 will not change much and should remain within 95-98% ( normal range). Breathing rate and depth is largely controlled by increasing and decreasing levels of C02 in the body. Oxygen has to be very low to start being the primary driver of your breathing rate and depth - much lower than what occurs during rest, recovery and light to medium intensity exercise or during relatively short breath holds. The air hunger you may experience during the 5:20:10 exercise is the buildup of C02 rather than a lack of oxygen.

If one day you find this exercise easy (no stress or air huger) and another day you find it more difficult, what is that a reflection of? It is a reflection of your physical and mental state and your HRV (heart rate variabilty). If you HRV is low (sympathetic dominance) you will find this exercise more challenging as this reflects a higher energy state (stress) were the body is using more oxygen and creating more CO2. On another given day if you find it relatively easy this is a reflection of a high HRV (well reseted - parasympathetic dominance).

This is an exercise I would regularly use at the start of a recovery session with athletes we train (see pic below). Why would I start with this? what am I trying to learn about the state of the athlete with this exercise? Improves self awareness and demands focus and calm. It also allows the athlete to peer under the hood as its gives insight into the individuals physical and mental state. You can guarantee that if the athlete is overtrained and under recovered that it will reflect in this exercise. Overtime practices like this bring you far better understanding and awareness of your own body.

Thanks to everyone who contributed - more to come

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