This is the first part of a three-part series on the No Panic breathing exercise. In this series, we are focusing on when to do the breathing exercise. It’s all about the timing.
Anxiety causes some people to struggle with eating. In some cases, people avoid eating, so they don’t have to experience the effects of eating with anxiety. In other cases, people still eat, but they experience high anticipatory anxiety before eating. After they have finished their meal, they struggle to digest what they have eaten.
Even if you have high anxiety around eating, you can eat any meal you would eat if you did not have anxiety.
We usually advise people to have small, simple meals if their anxiety is affecting their eating. The reason we give this advice, is one of the general rules of anxiety. The bigger something is, the more overwhelming it is. The more overwhelming something is, the less likely people are to do it.
If your anxiety is high while you prepare your meal, you may do the breathing exercise to bring it down. For the breathing exercise to be most effective, do it for at least two minutes before you eat. As soon as you stop doing the breathing exercise, start eating. It is important not to leave a gap, because anxiety can return to fill the gap.
The point of eating immediately after doing the breathing exercise, is that you will be eating in a more relaxed state. When you are relaxed, there is more room for the food travelling through your digestive system. The journey should be smoother, so you should feel more comfortable.
After people who have anxiety finish eating, they can experience upset stomachs and other irritating symptoms. These symptoms can be prevented. When you succeed at preventing them, you will know you can prevent them. That knowledge is reassurance, which may cause you to feel less anxious about eating.
Once you finish your meal, do the breathing exercise again. This time, there is no risk of food going cold, so you can do the breathing exercise for the amount of time we usually recommend – ten minutes. Doing the breathing exercise should result in your stomach and other parts of your body feeling more settled. This way you can avoid the discomfort experienced by people who have anxiety, after they have finished their meals.
Before you had anxiety, you may have enjoyed larger meals. Do you really want to wait until you have overcome anxiety before you can enjoy larger meals again? What if you could enjoy larger meals, even though you have anxiety?
You can. There is just one thing you may need to do differently. In your mind, divide your meal into sections that are no bigger than the simple meals you were eating before you decided to start eating larger meals again. It is not necessary to change how your meal is organised, but you may do that if it helps. The sections don’t have to be different to each other, but you can make them different if that helps.
After eating each section, stop eating, and do the breathing exercise for at least two minutes. As soon as you finish the breathing exercise, carry on eating.
Depending on the size of your meals, you may want to challenge yourself by gradually increasing the sizes of the sections of your meals, and dividing your meals into fewer sections. Make sure this is done gradually, and only when you feel ready. Gradual changes are more likely to endure.
Ideally, you should reach a point where you no longer need to do the breathing exercise before or after eating. Until that time, it doesn’t matter if you have to do the breathing exercise so anxiety doesn’t affect you at or after mealtimes. It doesn’t even matter how long you have to include the breathing exercise in your eating routine. What matters, is that you are able to eat what you want to eat, even if you have anxiety.
Use the breathing exercise, and enjoy your meals.
