ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. –May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This is the second of three articles that APG News and the Commander’s Ready & Resilient Council will share over the course of the month focusing on mental health and strategies to combat stressors.
As it pertains to Mental Health Awareness Month, utilizing various breathing techniques to enhance mental health hygiene helps APG’s Soldiers, civilian workforce and community to improve cognitive, emotional and behavioral practices.
The APG community prides themselves on remaining ready and resilient, therefore it is beneficial to maximize as many resources as possible to bolster our health holistically, according to Sean A. Green, APG’s Community Ready and Resilient integrator.
Breathing deeply has a physiological response on both the body and the mind to calm the central nervous system, helping to reduce stress and anxiety, according to the Army Wellness Center at APG.
According to the AWC, benefits to deep breathing include a decrease in stress and an increase in calm, pain relief, stimulation of the lymphatic system — which detoxifies the body — improvement in immunity, increase in energy, lowering of blood pressure, improvement in digestion and helping support correct posture.
Green highlighted the significance for Team APG to consider the importance of implementing different breathing strategies for mental health hygiene and overall human performance optimization. Green said two types of simple breathing techniques — diaphragmatic and rhythmic breathing — target an individual’s mental agility, poise under pressure, and energy management.
Information and videos for diaphragmatic and rhythmic breathing are found on the Army Resilience Directorate’s website, https://www.armyresilience.army.mil/ard/R2/Deliberate-Breathing.html.
For those interested in using an app to track their mental hygiene, Green suggests using the Defense Health Agency’s Breathe2Relax app, a portable stress management tool that is used to promote resilience and cope with daily stressors.
For more information pertaining to the Breathe2Relax application, please visit https://www.health.mil/Reference-Center/Fact-Sheets/2020/10/26/Breathe2Relax-App.
The AWC offers individual health coaching and online classes in stress management. Call 410-306-1024 to schedule an appointment or for more information.
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