July 1, 2007

Managing Stress–The First Defense to Manage Stress–Breathing

The first defense against
unhealthy responses to stress is not Tylenol, Motrin…, but instead
deep breathing. Caution, if you suffer from panic/anxiety
and or agoraphobia, this technique is not recommended until after the symptoms
are history. This is because breathing techniques require internal focusing
which is not recommended for anxiety sufferers. For them
external relaxation techniques are recommended–see the resource
box.
In response to stress, it
is normal that our breathing is immediately affected. It becomes shallow and
upper chest which is actually part of the defense mechanism.
Even that a sigh is usually a tense upper chest unhealthy breadth.
We generally make three
basic mistakes in breathing:
1. Were so consumed with
our appearance that we learn to hold in our stomachs which greatly limits our
breathing to the upper chest.
2. Then when we do take a
deep breadth, we force our lungs to expand against our chest putting chest
muscles in spasm. This can create chest and back pain.
3. Some of us lift our
shoulders to take in that deep breadth. It’s called “clavicle
breathing” and it contributes to neck and headache.
Life is about stress
and as we adapt to higher and higher levels of stress from one year to the next,
our normal breathing becomes tense. Even as we sleep, we may breathe in a tense
manner. The tense breathing […]