“Take a deep breath,” it seems, is a common piece of advice. Most of the time, a long, slow inhale-exhale is thought of as a tool for relaxation, a simple way to relax physically and psychologically. Researchers now believe the way you inhale and exhale may also influence the way you react to danger.
Source: Science of Us, December 7, 2016.
Together, the researchers argued, the results suggest that one of the key elements of the fight-or-flight response — the rapid breathing that allows us to supply our bodies with extra oxygen — may also have a mental benefit, helping us both to spot threats quickly and to effectively file them away for later recall.