Dr. endorsed stress-buster! BREATHE!

Well actually we already knew this, but it is good to see it reinforced, and a good reminder...

Dr. Oz this week was answering questions on a talk show regarding health and stress.  He said, what CBT teaches, that you can't avoid stress in life, so you need to learn how to manage it well.

He showed a deep-breathing technique that involved pushing the belly out, to allow the diaphram to drop, leaving more room for oxygen to fill the lungs.  He then instructed viewers to hold the breath for a couple of seconds, and then exhale slowly to a count of four.

It impressed on me the importance of proper breathing!  If a dr. is asked how to relieve stress, and his one answer (albeit has to be quick and easy, this is t.v. afterall) is deep breathing...it must have an impact!

Obvioulsy this is not going to be the end all be all in anxiety cures for everyone.  Some A/Pers are going to need medication, therapy or both to help with their severe  symptoms, but it is something that all of us should be practicing along with the others methods of help!  In other words, it is just one tool, but an important/easy/free/natural place to start!

So start/keep breathing everybody;)

S.C.

Thanks SC !  I use breathing techniques when I am driving and I start to become anxious.  It really helps.  At the same time I repeat, "I am OK". 

I swear by belly breathing. I go to a group once a week about stress reduction and we do meditation that focuses on "soft belly breathing".

You keep your hand on your stomach and make sure it remains soft while breathing in and out, and you make sure you stomach is moving in and out as well. The stomach shouldn't be tight at all.

I've learned a lot of great breathing techniques over the years but my favorite one for slooooowing down anxiety or panic is to breathe in through your nose to the count of 4, hold to the count of four, and breathe out to the count of 4. You can repeat this as many times as you want.

It calms me down pretty well.

Another great stress-relieving technique I learned which doesn't have much to do with breathing is called "tapping" or EFT "Emotional Freedom Techniques". It helps relieve issues that you're having.

http://eft.mercola.com/

This is a FREE site.  I wanted to mention you don't HAVE to do tapping 10 times a day.  I don't.  Sometimes I do it once a week.  Its hard to find time to do tapping TEN times a day in my opinion, but that's just my opinion.  :)

Twiggygal~

Post Edited (Twiggygal) : 5/13/2011 11:51:00 AM (GMT-6)

Scaredy cat- that's the nice thing about tapping... you can do it alone. It's much more effective to say your "set up phrase" out loud and say everything out loud as you tap. I will have to find the actual site that created EFT because it's much more specific and helpful. I learned about it in the partial hospital program.

The method you may be thinking of that you have to do with a therapist is EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing). It's a rapid treatment that you have to do with a therapist. The therapist doesn't really do anything except having you move your eyes in specific directions and try to bring out scary issues or flashbacks or PTSD issues out and try to get past them. It's short term and I have yet to try it. The theory is that once these memories get "unlocked", they're vivid in your mind and then set that part of your brain free from the "locked up" memory, letting you live a more worry-free life as you get through the therapy.

TG~