Every Breath You Take

Living With Anxiety Newsletter Published 11/19/2006

Hello,

I hope all is well and my words find you doing great. Last month I had the pleasure of sharing my first LWA newsletter with you. I'm very excited writing my November newsletter and getting it mailed out for all to enjoy and learn from.

I would like to thank all of you who emailed me since the release of my first newsletter last month. Your inspirational stories were wonderful to read. I'm making great strides with livingwithanxiety.com and I anticipate that all who read and use the resources that I provide will be successful with finding ways to get help and become knowledgeable about anxiety disorders.

With the diagnosis of anxiety disorder on the rise, bringing attention to these disorders will help sufferers and their families get through. It is my hope that livingwithanxiety's success will serve as a source of encouragement for others with an anxiety disorder.

In this newsletter I will be focusing on breathing, and how you could be breathing all wrong. Are you ready to find out if you are breathing wrong?

Every breath you take -

Take a deep breath. Did your chest rise? If it did, like most people, you are breathing all wrong. And it is taking a toll on your body and on your health.

Very few people other than some athletes and singers know that it's the abdomen that should expand every time you inhale. People who breathe incorrectly cause stress to themselves and by learning proper breathing techniques, it can be a simple stress antidote.

If you take a belly breath, the diaphragm drops down allowing the lungs to fill completely and provide the body's cells with the proper amount of oxygen.

On the downside, the shallow chest breaths that most people take fill only the top of the lungs, straining them and also straining the heart, which has to speed up.

Improper breathing can cause chronic pain, and can make any stress related medical condition or anxiety worse.

Breathing the correct way, along with other relaxation techniques, reduces anxiety symptoms. And for women alone, it will reduce PMS symptoms including the frequency and intensity of hot-flashes.

I know changing one's breathing habits is tough, but it's really just re-learning the way we come into the world breathing. If you watch a baby breathe, you will see the infant's belly move up and down.

The key is to slow your breathing and concentrate on using your stomach muscles to draw air up into the lungs.

You will have to make a conscious effort at first, but soon it should come naturally.

Did you know?

There's a reason that you turn to soaks to soothe your soul. Experts believe that elevating the body temperature gives you an instant mood boost and relieves muscle tension.

If you have an idea or topic you would like to see appear in the December LWA Newsletter, please drop me an email at nashell at livingwithanxiety dot com

I would love to hear from you, whether you want to complain, praise livingwithanxiety.com, or just let me know what's on your mind. Email me also at nashell at livingwithanxiety dot com

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. God Bless.

God Bless,

Nashell Barnes