What is cardiac coherence and how to apply it

Emotions and reason intertwine on multiple occasions. Who has not felt palpitations when faced with the advent of a job news? How many times have we loosened our legs while waiting for an important person in front of whom we must have an image nice? This shows that we are not fully in control of our emotions.

After all, it is difficult to control the physical manifestations that trigger emotions, for example, the persistent and repetitive heartbeat that occurs when we are nervous. Despite this, there are effective methods to lower cardiac impulses. In this sense, in this Psychology-Online article we will talk about what is cardiac coherence and how to apply it.

Index

1. What is cardiac coherence
2. What is cardiac coherence used for?
3. Benefits of cardiac coherence
4. Cardiac coherence exercises

Cardiac coherence is a form of coordinate breathing with heart rate. In other words, it is a technique that makes it possible to explain the relationship between the body and the mind, since they cannot be conceived separately.

When important events occur in life, they can be translated in various ways. One of them is the way in which these events produce physiological changes in the organism. In this sense, cardiac coherence seeks maintain an emotional and bodily concordance.

Cardiac coherence focuses on harmonizing cardiac impulses as follows:

• Coordinate the breath with the heart: cardiac coherence tries to balance breathing and heartbeat to decrease the intensity of breathing from the decrease in the number of cardiac impulses.
• relax the body: relax the body in situations of stress and/or anxiety. Relaxation promotes physical and emotional well-being.

The effects provided by cardiac coherence are favorable for treating anxiety disorders, learning difficulties, insomnia, stress or grief, among others.

Fortunately, the practice of cardiac coherence provides the following benefits:

• It reduces stress: establishing a parity between the emotions and the heartbeat allows to reduce stress levels. Control of respiration inhibits activation of high cortisol levels, the hormone responsible for stress.
• Optimize sleep quality: the relaxation of the nervous system allows rest and the body to recover.
• Helps process emotions fully: the implementation of cardiac coherence allows the user to better understand what is happening to him. This facilitates the search for alternatives to solve the cause of the discomfort.
• Increased ability to think: Strong emotions can interfere with the decisions we make. However, applying cardiac coherence facilitates decision making that is more consistent with the ideas of each one.

How is cardiac coherence done? There are effective methodologies to apply it, such as the following:

• Meditation: guided body relaxation exercises that allow you to lower your heart rate. In general, it should be done in a quiet environment that is away from external stimuli that can distract the person. The goal is to focus on the present to lower stress levels. In this article, we show you what are the brain medication benefits.
• diaphragmatic breathing: andThis type of approach places special emphasis on the way you breathe, which helps lower the rate of your heartbeat. When this is done, it is possible to achieve adequate cardiac coherence. Like meditation, the ideal is to carry it out in an environment away from outside noise. The person should place their hands on their abdomen and breathe deeply and continuously through their nose. Once the diaphragm has filled with air, it is slowly expelled through the mouth.

The most important aspect that must be taken into account when performing these exercises Cardiac coherence is the repetition of the same, since the more they are practiced, the better the results.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is cardiac coherence and how to apply it, we recommend that you enter our category of Emotions.

• Álvarez Romero, M., Fernández Quirós, J., González Fernández, M., Trompotova, O. (2012). Cardiac coherence and coping with stress: application and psychotherapeutic support. XIII Virtual Congress of Interpsychiatric Psychiatry.
• Diaz-Sanchez, E. (2020). Cardiac coherence as a technique to reduce stress and build resilience. Scientific-Health Magazine SANUM, 4 (3), 76-81.