I’ve been on more than 400 flights – here’s why ‘box-breathing’ will change the way you travel

A FREQUENT flyer has revealed how he keeps himself calm during bad plane journeys.

Flying can be very stressful, with everything from queueing to turbulence giving passengers plenty to worry about.

However, Andrew Herr, who has flown more than 400 times, has revealed some of his methods for keeping a cool head while on flights.

The businessman runs a health and performance advising company based in Los Angeles and frequently has to fly for work.

Although he isn’t the biggest fan of plane journeys, he has picked up several tips to make them more bearable.

One of the ones he swears by is a technique called box-breathing.

As he explains, it requires you to breathe slowly in through the nose for four seconds, hold your breath for four seconds, breathe out slowly through your mouth — and hold again for four seconds.

It’s a technique well-known to be used by military personnel in difficult situations to calm them down.

Andrew told Fox News: “This can help regulate your central nervous system and decrease stress.”;

He also noted that if four seconds is on the easier side, try upping the time to six of eight seconds for each step.

Andrew also recommends getting in a quick workout before your travel day begins.

He said: “Exercise increases circulation, joint mobility and endorphins, so you’ll feel better — body and mind.”;

Breathing is something a lot of people swear by when it comes to preparing for flights.

Transformational wellness coach Aysha Bell has put together a selection of calming techniques, which allows her to travel peacefully, with less fear, including regulated breathing.

She said: “Unfortunately our natural reaction to stress is to hold our breath and take shallow breaths, but if you can work on long slow deep intakes into the belly, you will feel an almost instant
sense of calm.

“The aim is to breathe into the lower part of the lungs, which will fill up the diaphragm.”;

Elsewhere, Travel and Leisure reports that breath lengthening is one of the simplest yet most effective breathing techniques and will help to calm you down if you are panicked.

Sit up straight, and inhale deeply through your nose, before exhaling again through your nose (not your mouth).

When exhaling, aim to take two or three seconds longer than you did when you breathed in.

Repeat for 60 seconds, when you should feel noticeably calmer.

Meanwhile, this is how Ryanair calm passengers down during their flights.

And these scary myths about flying aren’t true.