Calming the Mind During Critical Incidents

During critical incidents such as active threats the body’s sympathetic nervous system is activated causing the “fight or flight” response. When the body is stressed, several things occur. Your heart rate increases, breathing becomes shallow and rapid, your adrenaline levels spike and you experience tunnel vision. These are natural reactions to any threat. However, operating in this state during a critical incident can hamper your response to a threat.

One way to counter the activation of the sympathetic nervous system is through box breathing. This form of breath work which is used by athletes and tactical units such as the Navy Seals helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This system helps to counter the stress response activated by a critical incident. When someone becomes stressed during an incident box breathing can help to slow down their heart rate, control their breathing from rapid to deep breaths and help calm their mind. This allows for the person under stress to make calm rational decisions versus making panicked irrational decisions which could do more harm than good.

Box breathing is very simple to do. You start by breathing out to let all of the air out of your lungs. Then you slowly breathe in through your nose for a count of 4 seconds, breathing into your diaphragm versus through your chest. You then hold your breath for 4 seconds, slowly exhale out of your nose for 4 seconds and then hold your breath for 4 seconds before repeating the cycle again. By breathing in this manner, you can activate the parasympathetic nervous system in around 30 seconds to a minute. If you have time it takes 3 to 5 minutes to fully activate the parasympathetic system.

There may be times when you cannot implement box breathing because a threat is imminent. One of the ways to help counter the stress response is through prior training and stress inoculation through active threat drills. Also, if you practice the habit of box breathing daily for 5 to 10 minutes it can help to control the stress response during a critical incident. Box breathing is not a cure all for optimal response during a stressful situation. However, it is another tool that can be used to calm the mind and make rational decisions during a critical moment.