Breathe your way to better health

Breathing your way to better health

Conscious breathing can help quieten an anxious mind. photo: Jason An on Unsplash

Our new health & wellbeing officer, Gillian Harris, shares one simple thing we can all do to feel better. Breathing is an automatic process. It’s the first and last thing we do in life, but how many of us give it much thought in the years in between? We breathe between 12 and 16 times a minute, adding up to around 18,000 breaths a day. The average 80-year-old has clocked up almost seven billion breaths over a lifetime. But although we breathe without having to consciously remind ourselves, it is also something we can control. We can – and should – stop and notice our breath. Bringing the breath under control can help to calm an anxious mind. Just taking time to focus on your breath for a few minutes can be enough to settle your thoughts and clear your head. There are proven health benefits of regulating your breath: reduced anxiety & depression, help regulating emotions, increased feelings of optimism & happiness, improved sleep, and reduced addiction cravings. Conscious breathing can be done anywhere by anyone. You can do it sitting down, lying down or out walking. You don’t need any equipment, it’s free and it’s available 24/7.

So how does it work? Breath is linked to the autonomic nervous system (which regulates glands, blood vessels, internal organs). The autonomic nervous system is made up of two branches – the sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight or freeze) and the parasympathetic nervous system (quietens the mind – rest and digest). The parasympathetic nervous system is controlled by the vagus nerve, also known as the ‘wandering nerve’. Observing and regulating the breath during a period of anxiety or panic activates the parasympathetic nervous system to take over and stimulates the vagus nerve into making the mind relax. Research shows that making the exhale longer than the inhale – for example inhaling to a count of 4 and exhaling to a count of 6 – is the most effective way of activating the parasympathetic nervous system. To see how breathing practices can help, let’s look at the damaging impact that loneliness can have on health and wellbeing. Acute loneliness is a public health epidemic, creating chronic levels of anxiety and putting older people at greater risk of depression, low mood and cardiovascular disease. It also doubles the risk of developing dementia. While breathing practices alone can’t cure isolation, they can help people handle some of the symptoms. Observing the breath and bringing it under control activates the parasympathetic system to reduce stress. In time, regulated breath becomes a tool that can be used to stop an anxious mind from spiralling. There is a growing body of scientific evidence to support the benefits of regulated breathing. But the best proof is to try it for yourself. Take a big breath in and a big breath out… and relax.

Celebrating women in the Armed Forces

Women have played key roles in the WRNS and other services

Women have been a formal part of the armed forces for more than 100 years. Older ex-service women may have served in the Women's Royal Naval Service, the Women's Royal Army Corps, or the Women’s Royal Air Force. While these were absorbed into their respective branches of the armed forces in the 1990s, their service associations continue to support veterans. Other women were in services such as the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, which exists today with both male and female nurses. Women were conscripted during World War II. Many contributed to the wider war effort rather than serving in the armed forces and are not viewed as veterans by the Westminster and Scottish Governments. However, women who were in the Women’s Land Army and Women’s Timber Corps up to 1950 can apply to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for a badge in recognition of their service. Most veterans in Scotland are white and male, but diversity in the veterans’ population is increasing as gradually the armed forces have been getting smaller and new opportunities have opened within them for women. As of 2019 women can apply for every armed forces role available to men. Overall, the veterans community is gender balanced, as it includes veterans’ spouses and partners, widows, and widowers. Many armed forces charities and services will support family members as well as veterans. We asked women veterans about their experiences. They agreed that things were different for service women in the past. “I served in a unit which worked with the Royal Navy and when I was onboard ship I was not permitted below decks,” said Emma. Evonne told us: “For many years woman had to leave the forces or go on extended leave if they became pregnant. Promotion was a lot less for women in my time.” However, all feel veterans groups and services today are welcoming for women. Grace said: “When it comes to forces banter women are treated the same as men, but I’ve also found that male veterans are respectful of me.” Evonne said: “I am essentially ‘one of the boys’! I take this as a good thing and for men in their 40s upwards this is a clarification of being accepted.” Emma does however worry that “some older women may not identify as veterans as in the main they will not have done active service so may feel that they are not eligible for support, from veterans’ groups and services, when they are.”

Age Scotland, working with the Unforgotten Forces partnership, offers older members of the ex-service community a doorway to camaraderie and extra support, should they need it. To find out what’s available call the Age Scotland helpline 0800 12 44 222 or visit www.unforgottenforces.scot.