Week 6 - Stress Management: “Imagine Feelings of Well-being”

Listen to CD #4 Stress Solutions

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!
May we all embrace our freedom! 

Welcome to our discussion on stress.  Sorry I missed you last week,  baseball playoffs and birthday parties occupied my time!

Please remember how much I love to hear your feedback! Let me know if there is something you want to talk about!  

"Don't forget that little emotions are the great captains of our lives."   --Vincent Van Gogh 

Let's discuss stress and a fairly common response to it, panic attacks? If you have never experienced a panic attack, good for you.  Chances are if you haven't, you know someone who has or will suffer this unpleasant experience.

A good old fashioned panic attack is caused by over breathing. It is the natural physiological response when the flight/ fight syndrome is activated. We naturally over breathe to run from that saber-toothed tiger.

Here are the symptoms of hyperventilation, over breathing, or panic attack (all descriptors of the same physiological event):

- Light headiness
- Heart palpitation/accelerated heart rate
- Numbness
- Chest pains
- Dizziness
- Shortness of breath
- Dry mouth
- Clammy hands
- Nausea or abdominal distress
- Difficulty swallowing
- Tremors
- Fear of going crazy or losing control
- Fear of Dying
- Sweating
- Weakness
- Fatigue

Please call your physician if you experience any symptoms of a magnitude and duration that cause you concern. These tips are not intended to ever replace the wise counsel of a doctor. 

In my biofeedback practice I use capnometry, the measurement of end tidal Carbon Dioxide CO2, which correlates to blood gas levels. The capnometer measures the CO2 in your breath and then displays the level of CO2 in your blood. 

This proves to me what is suspected and often indicated by the endorsement of four of the symptoms above, that there is not enough carbon dioxide in the bloodstream.  This is caused by over breathing, or breathing off too much CO2. When this happens, we feel like we need more oxygen (O2), but the reverse is true. 

"Insight occurs when, and to the degree that, one knows oneself." -- Andrew Schneider 

SOLUTIONS: 

1. Breathe in a paper bag. This may sound counter intuitive, but it is exactly what is needed to restore the body’s Ph. You can find this information in any medical book or look in the Merck manual. The body works to maintain the Ph balance which is vital for proper health and physiological processes. Ph is affected by the balance of O2 and CO2. 

2. EXERCISE!!!  That is what we were created to do to restore balance when the stress response is activated, but in our modern culture we often do the opposite or are not in a position to get up and flee (like during an important business meeting or driving in traffic).  Need I say how important exercise is to manage  stress? Ok, So I won’t.

That leads me to #3 

3. Learn deep diaphragmatic breathing, or belly breathing. (belly dancing would be great too if you are so inclined). The easiest technique to master is learning to breathe out twice as long as you breathe in.  It is also known as Yogic Breathing.  For instructions on yogic breathing, listen to CD #4 Stress Solutions.

I don’t mean to sound like your grandmother, but this really works and can correct the habit of improper breathing, which is the true physiological cause of panic attack/panic disorder/hyperventilation. 

"The quieter you become, the more you’re able to hear."
-- Zen saying

OK, yes your thoughts have a lot to do with how your body responds, but we'll discuss that another time.... So now you're armed with information and solutions, and you can be helpful to yourself or others who experience the very uncomfortable phenomenon of panic attacks.

So go forth, spread your joy and peace and inner light!

I wish you the best of everything.  May you be blessed with peace, joy, health, laughter, and mostly love.