Staying Healthy

Breathing your way to better health

By , Former Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch

Deep breathing can help reduce stress and potentially your risk of some diseases.

Inhale. Exhale. It’s something you do tens of thousands of times each day, probably without thinking much about it. While it may seem strictly utilitarian, breathing isn’t only life-sustaining; it can be life-enhancing when used as a tool, says Dr. Shalu Ramchandani, a health coach and internist at the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Simple breathing exercises incorporated throughout your day can actually disengage a potentially health-harming chronic stress response and help insulate you from the damage that it can inflict on your body.

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About the Author

photo of Kelly Bilodeau

Kelly Bilodeau, Former Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch

Kelly Bilodeau is the former executive editor of Harvard Women’s Health Watch. She began her career as a newspaper reporter and later went on to become a managing editor at HCPro, a Boston-area healthcare publishing company, … See Full Bio
View all posts by Kelly Bilodeau

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