A full 43 percent of U.S. adults suffer adverse health effects from stress, according to an American Psychological Association (APA) study.
Dr. Bastomski’s comments:
A good tool to have when you are feeling stressed out and or anxious is to engage in some deep breathing exercises. You can be sitting, standing, lying down, in traffic – whatever. Simply breath in from your nose to a count of 4, hold for a count of 7 and then exhale through the mouth for a count of 8. Do this for 4 rounds of 4/7/8 breathing.
You can if you like, simplify this breathing pattern to a count of 4 for inhale and go straight to a count of 8 for exhalation.
Good yoga protocol has you expanding your abdominal area, like you are filling up a balloon, with your inhalations and contracting your abdominal area, deflating the balloon, on the exhale. Another concept on the exhalation is to pull your belly button backwards. For a more advanced application, when you are exhaling, you can do a Kegel pelvic floor contraction, that same type of contraction that you do when you are trying to stop the flow of urine. Or forget the whole abdominal thing and just do the breathing patterns noted above.
For those who have difficulty falling asleep at night, do 4 cycles of 4/7/8 breathing exercises. The value of the breathing exercise is that it helps take your body out of it’s sympathetic stress mode (fight or flight) and helps move it to your parasympathetic (rest, digestion and healing) calm mode.
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If you would like to discuss this further please email me or contact my office at 805-569-5000 to schedule an appointment.
Sincerely,
Dr. Bastomski
Dr. Jacob Bastomski, a board-certified chiropractic neurologist, has served the Santa Barbara area since 1981. As a Santa Barbara chiropractor, Dr. Bastomski seeks to improve health through functional neurology and clinical nutrition.
Please contact us anytime at (805) 569-5000 if you’re looking for a holistic approach to alleviate a chronic condition, especially if traditional medical approaches have failed. Dr. Bastomski’s Back to Health Wellness Center is located at 1900 State St. Suite H in Santa Barbara
If you would like to discuss this further please email me or contact my office at 805-569-5000 to schedule an appointment.
