3. Techniques for managing breathlessness

Here are some breathing techniques that can help you to manage your breathlessness. Try all of them and see which one works best for you.

First we are going to talk about the Rectangle breathing technique.

So wherever you are, whether that's at home or you're outdoors, you'll always see something that is shaped like a rectangle.

This may be a book, a TV, a window or a picture on a wall.

If you follow the sides of the rectangle with your eyes you can gradually slow down your breathing rate and improve your breathlessness.

The short side of the rectangle is your in breath and the long side is your out breath.

So next I'm going to show you how you can use a wall or an object to help you recover your breathlessness.

If you are outdoors and you become breathless and there isn't anywhere to sit around, you can lean onto a wall or you can lean sideways onto a wall and if you just relax your shoulder muscles and focus back onto the rectangle breathing technique, this can help you to recover your breathlessness.

Next I'm going to tell you how you can recover your breathlessness using a chair.

So to help ease your breathlessness you can lean onto the back of a chair.

If you haven't got a chair to hand, you can use the kitchen worktop or the bathroom sink or it might be a low wall if you're outdoors.

This will help you to use your diaphragm better and help reduce your breathlessness.

If you prefer to sit down, you can do this by sitting in a chair.

Perch towards the edge of the chair and lean your forearms onto your legs and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.

So another position you can try to help your breathlessness is sitting on a chair and have a small pillow placed on a table in front of you.

Just rest your hands on it and bring your forehead gently down towards your hands and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.

In the next video, we're going to show you some breathing exercises that you can use when you are moving around, lifting something or exercising.