In James Nestor’s book Breath, he provides multiple recommendations for how we can connect with our breath and improve our overall wellness. One of my favorite recommendations is to use humming. Here’s why that works!

Humming

How Humming Improves Wellness: Video Transcript

Looking for a way to decrease stress and anxiety and boost your overall wellness?

Then you’ll like this week’s Take Five. It’s the second video in a series I’m doing on my favorite lessons from James Nestor’s book Breath.

The first one can be found here!

This week is all about humming, so it’s simple. You already know how to do it, I’m pretty sure. Next time you find yourself stressed out or lost in anxious thoughts, put on your favorite song and hum along.

There are a couple reasons why this works.

One, a reason not discussed in the book, is simply that it’s a great way to interrupt your thought pattern. As humans, we have selective attention. We can only focus on one thing at a time. And if we’re focusing on the song that’s playing on the radio, then we can’t be focusing on those ruminating thoughts.

I discussed selective attention in relation to the Five-Sense Grounding Technique here!

I just taught a class yesterday to new moms about managing their own stress and anxiety. One of the moms told me her favorite thing to do when she’s stressed and the baby is fussing, is to turn up music and sing along. Part of what is so helpful about that technique is it’s an enjoyable experience and she’s in the moment. When you’re really stressed out you can instead redirect your attention to something you enjoy.

Back to the science of what’s presented in the book, the science behind humming.

Why does humming work?

One, it slows down our breathing. We talked about this last time when I taught you to do paced breathing, or to take the perfect breath. Most of us are walking around breathing way too much, too rapidly, too often. All that rapid, quick breathing sends a signal to the brain that we are stressed and anxious.

So, by slowing down our breath, which humming can help us do, we are changing that signal that the brain is getting. We are telling our brain that we are calm, and we are safe.

Another reason why humming is effective is that it changes the nitric oxide. It increases the release of nitric oxide by 15-fold through the nose.[1] It’s an effective technique.

Why would nitric oxide be important? Why do you care about it? It’s really important in relaxing the smooth muscles in our vital organs throughout our body. It also helps to widen our capillaries and increase blood flow and oxygenation. So overall, we are boosting our wellness.

It’s worth giving humming a try next time you’re stressed or anxious.

Here’s a tip for you.

You don’t even have to wait until you’re stressed or anxious. In the book, they talk about this as a training that you can do daily to simply slow your breathing and boost nitric oxide. Instead of waiting until you’re stressed, you can do this anytime. You’re building your wellbeing long term by practicing.

A personal example.

I personally like to practice this in the car when the kids are riding along and I’m feeling stressed out, or I start to default into thinking about my to-do list, or what must get done, or maybe something I said at a party five years ago.

Instead, I can come back to the present moment and hum a song that brings me back. It’s a way to be more mindful. Also, I love that when I’m humming that song, I’m doing even more than simply paying attention. I’m practicing good breathing by slowing down my pace.

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If you found this beneficial, consider signing up for Take Five. It’s my ongoing newsletter where I send out simple science-based strategies to help you deal with stress and anxiety. If you sign up, I’ll send you my guide that contains five, five-minute practices to get you started.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll give humming a try this week and be on the lookout for my next favorite lesson from the book Breath.

Helpful Links:

The fist video in my series on favorite lessons from James Nestor’s book Breath.

Take Five sign up

For More Information:

James Nestor’s “Breath” Website

[1] Nestor, J. (2020). Breath: The new science of a lost art. New York: Riverhead Books.