Relaxing the surgeon

Whether free-diving in arctic waters without a wetsuit or dealing with an unexpected surgical complication, conscious breath control can prevent panic and help ensure a successful outcome, said Stig Severinsen MSc, PhD, at the 37th Congress of the ESCRS in Paris, France. “Instead of saying ‘stop and think’ we should ‘say stop, breathe and think’,” said Dr Severinsen, who is the four-time world free-diving champion and holds several free-diving world records, his most recent being in Greenland where he swam 250 feet under the ice wearing only swimming trunks and goggles. He is also founder of the Breatheology institute and in his work life teaches conscious breathing to people in a broad range of professions. He noted that like the sharpshooters from the Navy SEALs and the Danish Royal Air Force fighter pilots he works with, surgeons are highly trained and highly skilled professionals who have to be very sharp and precise while under extreme pressure. But the most important thing he teaches his students is how to relax through conscious breathing techniques, he said. He pointed out that people breathe 40,000 times a day, yet the importance of how we breathe is one of the most overlooked aspects of dealing with stressful situations. That is because breathing is an unconscious, automatic exercise. Yet breathing is much easier to control than are our conscious thought processes, particularly when under situations where one might panic. Under such circumstances, conscious breathing can reset the mind, allowing a more measured and rational response to the difficulty at hand. Relax On Demand One of the easiest and most useful conscious breathing techniques is called 1:2 breathing, Dr Severinsen said. It involves four separate phases starting with a long inhalation, only through the nose, pausing for a moment and then exhaling slowly through the mouth in a manner akin to a sigh, then pausing again and then repeating the exercise. A variation of the technique called “warrior breath” involves also making a sound by directing air forcefully against the top of the throat while exhaling. Stressful breathing, meanwhile, has only two phases, in and out. In most cases, people breathe through the mouth, which increases the pressure on the chest and heart, raising the blood pressure and heart rate, amplifying the body’s stress response. However, conscious breathing can reverse that cascade, lowering blood pressure and triggering the release of oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine. These changes allow the surgeon to regain control of the situation and take appropriate action, rather than responding on impulse, Dr Severinsen said. www.breatheology.com

Tags: cataract and refractive surgery, stress