Fear of flying is a growing problem, that currently affects about 25 Million Americans.

Behavior therapy programs for the treatment of Flight Anxiety using biofeedback and virtual reality therapy have been proven to be the most effective.

The VRBP (Virtual Reality Biofeedback Program ) is based largely on psychological principals of Exposure therapy and Desensitization.  Exposure is delivered through the virtual reality simulator and  relaxation training occurs using state of the art biofeedback. Using biofeedback allows you to develop the proper neurological relaxation response and ensures you are you doing it correctly. The change in your system occurs when  you are  locked into the “relaxation response” using biofeedback while  simultaneously being exposed to the flight situations- this  reprograms the nervous system to associate new emotions with flying and release anxious feelings.

Dr. Jayme Albin is an expert in treating phobias using Virtual Reality, Biofeedback and other exposure methods. For more information or to inquire about scheduling an appointment please contact
212-631-1133 or DrJayme@asktheCBT.com

The situations can range from personal conversations, to eating food in a restaurant, to giving a presentation at the office.

It’s helpful to break the cycle (see above) by reducing the frequency of escape and avoidance while challenging faulty thoughts and reducing or managing physiological symptoms (heart racing, sweaty palms, short breathing). For more information please contact Dr Albin at DrJayme@AsktheCBT.com or 212-631-1133

Fear of flying is a growing problem, that currently affects about 25 Million Americans.

The study featured in this book compared two behavior therapy programs for the treatment of Flight Anxiety.  Both treatments used virtual reality and biofeedback therapy but in 2 different treatment models.

The study was conducted on a total of 40 participants who had a fear of flying: 20 patients were treated using the experimental model known as the “Competing Response Method” and 20 with the existing standard of treatment, known as the “Strict Exposure Method”.

Both groups received Virtual Reality (VR) as the method exposure to the stimulus and biofeedback on autonomic functioning (heart rate, breathing rate, and skin response).

“Strict Exposure Method” or the control group was treated with graded exposure, where the participants were repeatedly exposed to flight situations through use of the Virtual Reality Therapy (VR) while receiving continuous biofeedback on physiological sensations.

The experimental group was treated using a “Competing Response Method” based on systematic desensitization. With this method participants were repeatedly exposed to flight situations through Virtual Reality (VR) while engaging in relaxation techniques to counter the anxiety response. They were taught to alter their breathing through the continuous feedback provided by the biofeedback on physiological sensations (Heart rate, breathing and skin response).

Outcome measures on flight and general anxiety focusing on both thoughts and physical symptoms of anxiety revealed that while both treatment models were effective at reducing or eliminating flight anxiety, the experimental treatment (as developed by Dr. Albin) relying on the “Competing Response Method’ was significantly better.

See Dr. Jayme Albin in action working with a patient with Phobias YouTube

Dr. Jayme Albin is an expert in treating phobias using Virtual Reality, Biofeedback and other exposure methods. For more information or to inquire about scheduling an appointment please contact
212-631-1133 or DrJayme@asktheCBT.com

Motivation is not about desire it’s about effort. The more effort, the more motivated!
Fight off Learned Helplessness & Depression by enlisting Motivation through Challenge and Reward.

If you are feeling bland about life, then stop to take an inventory of your environment for the necessary challenges and rewards needed to feel motivated.

In addition to clinically depressed people (as defined by the DSM IV, American Psychiatric Association), I see many clients in my practice who discuss feeling “off”, irritable or just plain dissatisfied with life.  They may or not necessarily feel “sad”.

They complain they lack motivation and interest in doing anything, perhaps blaming feeling tired, easily distracted or disengaged. They will commonly describe themselves as being lazy and a chronic procrastinator. Like clinically depressed people they may find that their sleep and appetite patterns are disrupted and they have an overly emotionally reaction.  However, their main focus is on their lack of inertia and motivation, and the strong impact it is having on their performance and expectations about reaching life long objectives.

These states are largely caused and maintained by lack of challenges and rewards in the environments we operate (e.g. work, home, social, gym, etc.). Rewards need to be obtainable and perceived as attainable.

Why? Well if we don’t think there is an obtainable reward we stop exerting effort and if we stop exerting effort its unlikely we will succeed.  On top of that if we do something continuously that’s not challenging, for the sake of the reward, we are likely to reduce our value for the reward and begin to dislike the activity.

Forrest Gump

This is why motivation is a direct function of effort not interest.

Confusing motivation with interest is a common mistake made by those who complain about lack of motivation; they blame their mood or not being into something as the cause of their diminished motivation rather than accurately accessing how much direct effort they are investing based on the likelihood of obtaining a valuable reward.

What effects how obtainable rewards actually are? Well 3 basic things:

* Availability- If the resources are available. Your organization has the funds or there are available single men or woman at the party.
* Deliverable- Is your  boss WILLING to give you the raise or the guy noticing you from across the room is confident enough to approach you to tell you how pretty you look.
* Achievable- is the task within a reasonable performance range?  If the expectation is perfection when you are a novice its unlikely you will obtain the reward, so it’s just as well not be available at all.

What effects our perception of attainability?

Uncontrollability and Learned helplessness:
Learned helplessness as its been studied in animals has shown that when dogs were first exposed to inescapable shocks they later failed to try to escape even when it was possible. This behavior, which has been attributed to perception of uncontrollability, has been demonstrated with people. For example studies have shown when people are exposed to inescapable noise and insoluble problems they later gave up trying in similar situations (See Seligman research for more)

Uncontrollability results in motivational, cognitive and emotional downsizing – we don’t try to find solutions or apply them fully since we don’t really believe anything will work.

What to do to:

1. Poor attitude-First develop an understanding of your own self-defeating attitudes.

For example: if you give up easily because you are not good at something then recognize you are depriving yourself of a motivating reward and perpetuating a bad cycle.

Homer

Originally uploaded by alana_hodgson

2. Gain Control-Make a list of areas where you largely feel you have no control and then brainstorm to figure out where you have control.

In most situations whether we readily see it or not there is some element of control. When we are victims of chronic learned helplessness seeing where just gets harder.

3.Find Value in Old Rewards- Review and record the reward areas in your life that are no longer meaningful to you.

* For example if you get a weekly pay check for the same job you may find yourself in need of a reward boost at work. Find a way to add a new challenge and reward to the situation.

4. Excuse tracking- Track where and when you make excuses for not doing something or giving more effort. Do this for 1 week and at the end of the week decide where you are going to apply more energy.

5. Challenges-Start with something intrinsically rewarding. This way it will be self-reinforcing and not dependent on someone else. For example, if you jog 1 mile a day;set a challenge to achieve 3 miles by the end of the month.

6. More exposure -Then up the anti by setting performance challenges that are more visible. Ask to take on new project at work even if it will not result necessarily in a raise or performance bonus. The public recognition will be rewarding enough and possibly set you up to get a raise.

Be proud of yourself and not just because I told you to. You are controlling your own motivation by putting effort in and that should feel good since it implies you have more control of your life then you probably think.

Challenging ourselves brings more than just shaking things up; it provides us opportunity for REWARD! Reward is not only necessary but without challenges we tend to ignore our NEED for reward altogether.

Too see this theory applied directly to your heath visit www.SculptNYC.com http://sculptnyc.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/got-rewards-stay-motivated/

For more information on consulting, coaching or clinical psychological services in New York or Los Angeles please contact DrJayme@askthecbt.com or 212-631-1133.
Dr. Albin works with groups and individuals providing cognitive behavior therapy and biofeedback.

If you are looking to work towards overcoming these habits the first place to start is by UNDERSTANDING your mental rules and automatic thoughts that overlay your behavior and then DECIDING FIRMLY to do something about it.

Dr. Albin: I use bio-feedback and meditation to help reduce stress and performance anxiety directly. Then I work on the cognitive patterns that are part of the procrastination trap — the “I’ll start when I’m ready” self-talk, or “it’s hopeless now”, or whatever it is.

For some helpful tips listen to the interview I gave on the Procrastination Special Show that broadcasted live on Sept 21, 2009 on the Tom on Leadership Blog Radio Show.

Click Here Dr Jayme Albin’s Speaks on Procrastination92109

Or if you don’t have the time to listen to the 15 minute interview then take a few minutes to look over the main take away points as Tom so nicely summed them up.

Procrastinators struggle with self-control behaviors. It often consists of:

* Self Defeating Thoughts, that lead to
* Anxiety, that triggers
* Avoidance Behaviors, which feed
* Self Defeating Thoughts, etc.

Often my clients don’t realize that performance comes from two things – Ability and Motivation. They focus on Ability, and when performance lags, they see it as reflecting on Ability, which saps their confidence.

Once they undermine their own self-confidence, they continue to lose Motivation. This self-perpetuates.

Another way to describe this is, once you feel high levels of anxiety, your body wants to reduce that and reduce the stress hormones associated with it. One way to get a very small and temporary reduction in the stress is to make an empty promise. The empty promise then kicks real work further into the future and guarantees a return to even higher levels of anxiety. Then the brain wants that small reduction even more, and you’re even more strongly tempted to make the empty promise.

There are five main themes that follow procrastinators:
-Over-estimating how much time is left
-Under-estimating how much time the task takes
-Later I’ll feel better (fooling themselves about future motivation levels)
-Later I’ll feel “right” (belief that emotion must be congruent with the task)
-Perfectionists (belief that everything must be perfect before they can start)

I work with the client to identify the pattern then they work to find different patterns that can combat the dysfunctional pattern. This involves challenging their beliefs and giving them multiple alternative self-talk options and behavior targets.

Try this:
One of my clients who complains that she gets lost in mundane activity such as internet surfing now has the assignment of starting each new task at the quarter-hour mark. If she finishes one task at 9:07, she has to start the next one at 9:15. This gives the client practice at time estimating (an opportunity to challenge her cognitive distortion of underestimating time) and lets her exercise her self-control against impulsiveness.

By working on a system where the person chooses from a menu of options and is partially aware of her self-control problems can help alleviate the behavior pattern. Activating one’s choice and helping one adapt better to situations as they change rather than fall rigidly into black and white patterns of behaviors can have a positive impact on productivity and motivation and reduce procrastination behaviors.

Self-control can definitely be strengthened. You have to want to!!! Many folks believe that “one day” they will suddenly achieve self-control without work.

I (Dr. Albin) counter this by looking to their mission and vision for themselves. Who do they want to be? What sort of aspirations do they have? This provides the impetus for additional change.

I (Dr. Albin) believe very strongly in working outside your comfort zone, so you always grow and change and lead an every greater and richer and more fulfilling life.

For more information:

Listen to entire broadcast that featured 3 other experts including:
Dr. Toni Galardi, Ph.D. of LifeQuake Enterprises
DeAnna Radaj of Bante Design LLC
Rita Emmett of Emmett Enterprises, Inc.
Dr. Jayme Albin, MA, Ph.D www.AsktheCognitiveBehaviorTherapist.com
Or read more of the expert advice on comments here on

For more information on consulting, coaching or clinical psychological services in New York or Los Angeles please contact DrJayme@askthecbt.com or 212-631-1133.
Dr. Albin works with groups and individuals providing cognitive behavior therapy and biofeedback.

Phobia I

Originally uploaded by Daffnet

If you frequently feel intense irrational amounts of panic or anxiety in “seemingly harmless situations” and the need to escape to alleviate the physical symptoms you may be developing a phobia. Usually this leads to a strong desire to avoid these situations and a laundry list of behaviors that may look something like any combination of these:

• You may find yourself making excuses to skip out on taking the elevator or subway. You may suddenly find you prefer to take the local bus rather than the express train.

• You may find yourself preferring not to fly on long flights or during the evening. You may start avoiding visiting friends who live on high floors or work above a certain level.

• You may find yourself feeling angrier in traffic, even avoiding tunnel or bridge routes or particular highways.

• You may find that you don’t enjoy sporting events or music concerts as you once did. Or now when you attend the theater, your first job is to notice all of the exit signs. You may opt to sit in the aisle or purposely arrive late at meetings so you can sit close to the door.

• You may avoid one-on-one meetings or limit dates to specific situations or places where you feel comfortable. You may find yourself “feeling unsafe” outside of your home or neighborhood.

• You may find yourself leaving parties early or being able to cope with making small talk only after consuming a few alcoholic beverages. You may find yourself becoming less verbal in group-settings where you know a smaller percentage of the people, or making fewer requests for simple things as your anxiety worsens.

Your Body Has Memory!
Phobias can develop for a number of reasons such as modeled behavior from a parent, the result of a traumatic event or a biological predisposition, but commonly it is a conditioned response that maintains and worsens the problem.

A conditioned response is a learned automatic (physiological) response that is connected to the situation. So your body activates a knee jerk reaction ticking off an automatic nervous system response, which acts as an alarm warning you of danger.

The alarm response is neurological sympathetic arousal and looks something like this: increased heart rate, constriction of muscles, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, pins and needs in the fingers or toes, butterflies in the stomach, headache or clenched jaws or fists.

FALSE ALARM!
Only, in the phobic scenario, the danger is not real so the alarm is a false alarm and one THAT YOU SHOULD COME TO EXPECT.

This is an important point to grasp, and the essence of the cognitive therapy work I do with clients who experience phobias.

As one of my clients writes me shortly after flying to Africa after 3 weeks of hard work with me:

“While walking down the aisle and entering the plane, I had doubts about being able to do it. But the concept that you told me about it being my body lying to me, kept me going with minimal problems, just a few tears. Once seated the nervousness went away almost entirely, and there was rarely bad feelings. Other than that I was perfectly fine, and about 45 minutes into the flight I slept. When I woke up there was an hour left in the flight.

I now have no worries about making the flight back, worrying about the boat ride, etc. It all seems to have disappeared upon takeoff. I feel (at the moment, like I could fly anywhere).

Thanks a million. You’re a lifesaver.-DR”

RELAXATION

On the behavior side, practice shutting down the alarm response (sympathetic arousal) by practicing getting into the neurologically opposite position- parasympathetic arousal or simply put a true relaxation response.

Some great techniques to practice are deep diaphragmatic breathing, cardiovascular exercise, transcendental meditation, yoga and incorporating biofeedback.

My clinical specialty relies on a combination of breathing and meditation exercises that include biofeedback training to facilitate the clients’ ability to become neurologically and emotionally relaxed in challenging situations.

FACE YOUR FEAR
Then figure out ways to slowly challenge yourself rather than avoiding situations. Start with small incremental exposures. Staying in the situation will not only give your body an opportunity to learn a new response to the situation, but it will also stop validating to your body that the alarm was a real indication of danger.

REWARD  FOR STAYING NOT ESCAPING
If you are used to leaving a situation to obtain symptom termination, you have been rewarding the behavior with the sense of relief. Learn to reward yourself for staying in the situation so that your body learns to relieve itself and you feel good for challenging your self.

YOU ARE NOT SOLO
Although most people don’t generally talk openly about their phobias, the fact is that they are a very common condition.  It is estimated that over 20 million Americans suffer from a Phobia and more than 40 million Americans suffer from an Anxiety disorder.

So the next time you are putting yourself down for having such a condition, calling yourself “weak”, or feeling embarrassed by potential judgments from on-lookers, do your self a favor, pause for a moment to look around the situation

1. Odds are, you are probably NOT alone in your state of anxiety and others are feeling the same way!

2. Realize most people are too busy dealing with their own lives to
pay attention to your anxiety behavior that closely or really care.

3. Remember that Anxiety disorders are the most common mental problems and that your problem doesn’t need to be faced alone.

More Help

If you are feeling overwhelmed by challenging your anxiety elicit the aid of a professional cognitive behavioral specialist such as myself who can help you with the process.

For more information on the treatment, contact me at DrJayme@ASKtheCBT.com or 212-631-1133.

You can also read more about my methods of   treatment for phobias  and about a study I conducted demonstrating the effective use of Biofeedback and Virtual Reality Therapy in helping people overcome their Fear of Flying.

Treating Fear of Flying Using Biofeedback & Virtual Reality

http://tiny.cc/AsktheCBTFOF

The important thing to realize is that you can work against your phobias and live anxiety free!

Best,
Dr. Jayme 

Looking to succeed?

Most of us are, but what happens when the desire to succeed undermines our ability to perform?

Performance situations where we feel the pressure to excel can have a serious impact on how well we accomplish our goals. What’s more, it can leave one questioning their expectations, abilities and methods, as one reader writes, “My situation has left me confused about the best way to do well. I’m not even sure if I’m holding myself to too high or too low a standard anymore”.

Whether we are giving a stage performance, completing an important task at work, interviewing for a new position or preparing for a final exam, most of us respond to intense situations, where we feel judged, with a wave of adrenaline and a mild state of anxiety.

For many of us this simply activates and motivates behaviors directed towards completing the task at hand. We prepare, problem solve and follow through. The adrenaline drives our attention and concentration so we stay focused on what is the most vital: getting the job. Thus, we relieve the anxiety by accomplishing the difficult goal and reward ourselves with the sense of accomplishment, accompanied perhaps with a pat on back and a sigh of relief.

However, on the other hand, for others the anxiety reaction is much stronger. The elicited response is to become self-consumed, rather than task focused. The anxiety seems to derailed our problem solving and task oriented behaviors. Not only do we become self-critical, we spend too much time analyzing the overall situation trying determine if its “fair or not”. This not only diminishes our chances of being successful, but also causes more anxiety. On top of this, it negatively affects our self-esteem, leads us to draw erroneous negative conclusions from flawed evaluations and contributes to an overall defensive tone. In sum, it makes it harder to adapt to the situation.

What to do:

Lets start with the good news: This is a learned response to your anxiety.  So like many other anxiety reactions overtime, with proper and consistent training it can be unlearned and new habits can be formed.

• Start by practicing and developing techniques to reduce with your anxiety. Practice your breathing and incorporate its use into difficult situations. The calmer your body, the more in control of your thoughts you will be. Practice, practice & practice! This way your skills will be up to speed when a tough situations occurs. (see my post on breathing for more info)

• Inoculate yourself. Learn to accept your anxiety and not fear it. Remember that anxiety is a normal response. Focus on how the anxiety feels physically in alternative situations so you get used to the sensations and therefore, can better control your reactions. Just because you have an itch, doesn’t mean you always have to scratch it.

• Worst Case Scenario-Ask yourself what you are so worried about? Answer this question! Very anxious people usually generate a ton of questions in their head without providing any answers. This maintains the arousal and does nothing to resolve the situation.

Ground yourself by answering your own questions. Write out “What the Worst Case Scenario” would actually be.  Don’t skimp on the process (write it out).

Define all the steps that would have to occur, in sequential order to get you to the place of failure that you fear. Assign each step a probability score based on the chance of it happening.  Multiply those probabilities to determine the overall probability of your worse nightmare occurring. Sit with this realization. Odds are it’s lower than what you might have originally imagined, so let the reality seep in.

• Problem Solve- Just because your head is drawn towards self-evaluation does not mean you have to indulge those thoughts and behaviors.  If you are having a hard time staying focused, work with a partner or take frequent short breaks.

• Create Smaller Goals- Devise an action plan that includes focusing on short manageable behavioral goals rather than the whole project. For example, if you are working on reading a report for work, commit to reading a page in between each break rather than focusing on an entire section. This will at least give you the opportunity to be productive while waiting for your flow to develop or return.

• Use benchmarks to monitor and maintain your pace- For example, if you are giving a speech create mental and behavioral benchmarks in your presentation by breaking your slides into sections and including behavioral markers (such as photo slides). Remember to pause a moment and take 2 -3 deep breaths when you reach the marker.  Smile at your success before moving out to the next benchmark .

• Avoid emotional or abusive language- Words like “disaster”,“stupid”, “idiot”, “horrible” and “complete failure” don’t help they only hinder. Use objective language or rather scores to rate your performance or anxiety level. Reducing it to a number will help you contain the spread of the problem, but it will also help you to become more objective and less emotionally responsive.

• Boost your self esteem by teaching someone else. Build your confidence up by doing something that is challenging but you know you do well.  Consider teaching someone less experienced the skill. Allow yourself to feel a strong sense of pride.  Take a moment to reflect on how you view others around you who are less skilled.  Are you judging them as harshly as you would imagine they would judge you if the situation where reverse? Probably not.

Remember this: successful people are not successful because they are always naturally gifted or the best.  They are successful because failure and mediocrity does not seem to derail their efforts; they are successful because they always come back for more.
Dr. Jayme

:

See Thou Shall Not Avoid for Why .

Some basic ideas on how not to avoid and making approaching anxiety situations easier:

1. Make your own movie with imagery: Play out positive scenarios in your head. Use scenes from films or books to guide you but make sure you are the actor/actress in the film.

2. Role play: practice in front of a mirror or with a friend/therapist. Once you start it can be fun and extremely helpful.

3. Get a job or volunteer. If you see being social as part of your job you may come out of your shell.

4. Go for an hour! Set specific beginning and an end times.

For example, if you are nervous about attending a party. Commit to attending between 9pm and 10pm. Don’t give into to leaving when you feel like leaving. Inform the hostess in advance that you have another engagement or an early morning.

5. Ask one question or state one fact. In a meeting or in a group setting, make a point to say something at the least threatening part of the gathering. Usually this is the beginning or end.

6. Speed date: If dating is not your thing because you shy away from meeting new people or hate the asking out part. Try speed dating. It will help you get used to breaking the ice. Knowing each meeting is only 5 minutes will help you feel in control.

7. Talk to strangers. If you have a hard time meeting new people commit to talking to one new person a week. Start with people engaged in jobs that are designed to share information. For example, go to the local beer brewery and ask the bartender about beer or the person working in the local Barnes and nobles about what books they recommend. Usually people working in these positions are there because are knowledgeable and enjoy something about the topic.

8. Have someone go with you. Enlist a friend or a therapist. It will make things easier and maybe you can share a laugh.

9. Treat everyone the same for an hour. For an hour make an effort to smile at everyone that comes across your path. Make sure you ride the elevator or walk the halls during this hour.

10. Say good morning to everyone on a Monday. This will break the routine and set a stage for new habits.

By breaking down your behaviors into small, manageable acts you not only get to rid yourself of the anxiety, but your actual performance will improve. Just like when you ran teams drills in high school.

Paced abdominal breathing leads to lower stress levels, fewer incidents of hyperventilation and panic attacks, as well as a reduction in worrisome thoughts and sleepless nights. Not to mention better digestion, lower blood pressure, and a more capable immune system.

On the contrary, holding your breath, hyperventilating and chronic shallow breathing can take its toll directly on your nervous, digestive and immune systems, as well as your body’s ability to relax. Similar effects are seen on the nervous systems after both short and long-term stress reactions, where there is a marked increase in sympathetic activity. This increased sympathetic activity is commonly known as the “fight or flight reaction”.

The fight or flight reaction, causes the liver to sink glucose and cholesterol into our blood stream, compromising our ability to detect hunger properly and interfering with our digestive processes. It also disrupts our body’s balance of oxygen, CO2 and nitric oxide, which are essential to our immune system and are associated with learning, memory, sleeping, pain, inflammation and rheumatism. Furthermore, increased sympathetic arousal is also a strong predictor of cardiac diseased and associated with many anxiety and mood related disorders.

How should you be breathing?

To practice proper abdominal breathing, lay or sit back in a relaxed position with your legs and arms loosely engaged. Rest your fingertips on stomach. As you slowly inhale, allow your stomach to expand into your hands, and as you exhale allow your stomach to flatten out. Try not to force your stomach to flatten out, but rather allow the air to slowly leave your body. Slow your pace to the breathing rate of 5 -7 breaths a minute.

When should you be practicing?/
You should practice abdominal breathing at least three times a week, but ideally for 15 minutes daily, outside of stressful situations.

For daily stress-
If you are person who usually worries throughout the day, set aside time in the morning, before work. Take notice of your mood in general as your day progresses. You are likely to notice that on the days you practice breathing you feel more in control, and less stressed overall.

Evaluate the differences between the days you practice and the days you forgo. Track how good you feel on a scale from 1 to 10 against the days you practice breathing. Overtime, you will notice a general trend towards feeling less stressed. This is because, like the experience of exercising to build muscle mass in order to boost our metabolisms, overtime breathing exercises build tolerance towards stress.

Becoming mindful of your breath throughout the day
Do the breathing as often as you can; however it’s not necessary to do this breathing all day. The idea is to develop better breathing habits, so your not experiencing apnea (holding your breath) in situations that you may not be aware of as stressful. These small situation or “pebble stones” never seem to register as something significant, however, collectively they add up. For example the dangers of email apnea (holding or shallow breathing, while doing email) have been warned against..

The idea is to create more frequent awareness of your breathing, while becoming more mindful of the event as it occurs. As you slow down your breathing, try feel every movement involved, especially the air expanding and retracting in your abdominal area.

To increase attention and mindfulness of your breathing set a reminder on your cell phone or clock to remind you to take 2 deep breathes every hour.

This way you will get in the habit of doing the breathing throughout the day and not just when you are stressed.

Sleep Problems?
If you have trouble falling asleep then practice your breathing in the evenings. The breathing will eventually induce a physical sleep state, usually after about 20 – 30 minutes. However, if you focus too much on the breathing for the sake of falling asleep you are likely to add unnecessary pressure, maintaining your state of arousal. Some people make the mistake of starting the breathing at bedtime. The best time is after work, but about an hour or two before bed. Keep the mindset you are breathing to practice and to unwind and relax, not to fall asleep. As you get into bed, later on, do some more breathing, but with less determined focus.

At this point, all of benefits of regularly practiced breathing are not known, but as the application across disciplines continues to broaden I imagine so will the scientific study. I am sure you realize that similar breathing exercises are taught and practiced in yoga, pilates and martial art classes.

But did you realize that speech pathologists, and voice/acting coaches also practice breathing with their clients. This is because our exhalation carries the sounds of our voices. So the next time you are concerned about speaking in public, practice your breathing.

Dr.Jayme