If you are feeling nervous or stressed , a simple thing can help . Deep breathing can calm your nerves and lower the chemicals in your body that can lead to stress . If one of your friends is stressed , you can calmly tell them , “Try to take a deep breath .” We sometimes describe these as deep cleansing breaths . A long , deep breath feels as if it is cleaning out your body . American English has some expressions that use breath or breathing in them . One expression is breathing room . This may sound like a room used especially for breathing . But it is not . “Breathing room ” gives you time or space to do something , finish something or get relief from something . So , time , space and money can all give us breathing room . First , here is an example related to time . If you have a big work project or school project that is due in one month , you should start immediately if you can . This will give you some breathing room . If something goes wrong , you will have time to deal with it . Or if something fun comes up , like a party , you will have enough breathing room to be able to enjoy yourself . If you wait until the very last minute to start your project , you have no breathing room . And that can cause you to feel very stressed . Now , let's talk about how money can give you breathing room . When a country experiences a recession or depression , people who live paycheck-to-paycheck may find themselves in a tough situation . Living paycheck-to-paycheck means you have little money in savings . You need your next paycheck to pay your bills . However , if you have some money put aside , you might feel less stressed . Sometimes breathing room refers to actual space around you . For example , let's say you witness a car crash . The driver struggles to get out of the car as people gather around to see if he is okay . You step in to make sure there is enough space between the injured driver and the crowd of people . Give him some breathing room !” you shout . Here is another example . You may find that after a few days -- or even weeks -- you need more breathing room . In other words , you feel like you need more space -- away from those you live with . So , you can think of it this way : Breathing room reduces stress . It gives you the time , money or space to get something done or to just feel relaxed .