Breathing exercises for stress
Four techniques that calm your nervous system within a minute, and when to use which.
Read articleBurnout never comes out of nowhere. It builds up over months while you just keep going. I know how that feels, because I was in a taxi to the hospital and kept working, because I thought I could still handle it and because my colleagues depended on me. This article helps you see the signs sooner.
Sleeping badly even though you are tired, a shorter fuse, and the feeling that rest no longer helps. Breathwork does not solve the cause, but it helps your nervous system switch back and makes it visible sooner when your tension is rising. With persistent symptoms, a GP or practitioner should be involved.
Stress is part of life. It is a temporary state of readiness: your body prepares to perform, and when the pressure lifts, it settles again. Healthy, functional, and not a problem.
Burnout develops when that state of readiness lasts for months without real recovery. Your nervous system is stuck in active mode. At some point rest no longer recharges you, sleep no longer helps, and the tank runs empty. That is not a matter of weakness or too little discipline. It is a body that has been switched on for too long.
The treacherous thing about burnout is that the signs come gradually. You get used to them, and you explain them away as pressure, tiredness or a bad week. Watch out for these:
You can no longer switch off in the evening. Your head keeps churning, even when there is nothing to do. You sleep worse or wake up in the middle of the night. You have a shorter fuse than before. You notice cynicism or indifference about work that used to energise you. You have physical complaints without a clear cause: headaches, a tense neck, stomach or bowel problems. And the most telling: free time no longer recharges you.
One or two of these is normal. But if you recognise several and they persist, your system has been switched on for too long.
Your autonomic nervous system has an active mode (sympathetic) and a recovery mode (parasympathetic). With healthy tension you switch between them all day. With chronic stress you get stuck in active mode, and the switching mechanism wears out, as it were.
Before smartphones and social media, there were plenty of moments in a day when we were bored. There was simply nothing to do for a while, and that is tremendously healthy. Those moments let our stress system switch over to the rest system, so we could recharge. Over the past fifteen years that has changed completely. We now live in a time when we are never bored. We fill every moment without stimulation with our smartphone or another screen. As a result our stress system stays switched on and it becomes ever harder to shift to the rest system.
Your breathing is the direct entry point to that switching mechanism. It is the only function of your nervous system you can steer consciously. Slow breathing with an extended out-breath brings you to a pace of about six breaths a minute, and that is what moves your organs towards recovery mode. Do that daily, and you train your body to switch back more easily again. You can read the full thinking behind this on the page about the method.
Let me be honest: breathwork is not a miracle cure. If the cause of your exhaustion is an unsustainable workload or a situation that does not change, breathing will not solve that. Setting boundaries, taking rest and sometimes seeking help remain necessary.
What breathwork does do is restore your capacity to recover. It gives you a reliable way to take your nervous system out of active mode several times a day. That way you pile up less stress, sleep better, and regain the clarity to see which changes you really need to make. It is not a plaster; it is maintenance.
A single session feels good, but does not change your system. As with sport, the effect lies in repetition. By breathing consciously for a few minutes every day, your nervous system learns to switch back faster, and you build resilience before the tank is empty.
That is why De Adempauze is not just about one-off sessions, but about daily guidance. Via WhatsApp, Ada sends you a short exercise every day and asks how it is going, so practising does not become an extra task on your list but simply happens. Ada only speaks Dutch for now, but will be speaking English soon. Concrete exercises to start with can be found in the article breathing exercises for stress.
Burnout is one of the biggest causes of long-term sick leave. For teams, a targeted breathwork session can help open the conversation about workload and give people a concrete tool. In the Netherlands such a session qualifies as a psychosocial workload (PSA) measure under the Working Conditions Act. Read more on the page team sessions.
Do you recognise many of the signs, or are you already past your limit? Then do not wait. Talk to your GP or an occupational doctor. Breathwork is a valuable addition, but with incipient or existing burnout, professional guidance should be part of it. I am happy to work alongside your practitioner, not instead of them.
Early signs are difficulty switching off, sleeping worse, a short fuse, cynicism about your work, physical complaints without a clear cause and the feeling that rest no longer recharges you. They develop gradually, which is why they are often brushed aside.
Breathwork is not a miracle cure, but it helps restore your capacity to recover. By putting your nervous system into recovery mode every day, you break the chronic state of readiness that precedes burnout. It works best together with setting boundaries and getting enough rest.
Stress is a temporary state of readiness that settles again when the pressure lifts. Burnout develops when that state lasts for months without enough recovery, so body and mind become exhausted and ordinary rest no longer recharges you.
Four techniques that calm your nervous system within a minute, and when to use which.
Read articleHow the 4-7-8 technique shifts your body into recovery mode so you fall asleep faster.
Read articleTonight you fall asleep with a calmer head. A short breathing session every day via WhatsApp, tailored and at your moment, two weeks free. Ada only speaks Dutch for now, but will be speaking English soon. Rather talk first? The twenty-minute introductory call is free too, and in English.