Ever been unable to breathe? Perhaps it was that time when you had to give a speech. Your mind streamed images of worst case scenarios. It summoned possibilities of moments like this: falling off the stage, forgetting your lines, faces of laughter from a mocking audience. Or, maybe it was the time a job interview took a wrong turn. The voice in your head pointed out that, without a job, you would end up dead - the victim of a street fight from lack of food, lack of money and the defenselessness of being homeless. If your answer is yes, you may have had, along with lots of us, a momentary bout of anxiety.
Our time has been called the age of anxiety. A culture-time characterized by the combined demand of staying ahead and keeping up with information circulating at lightning speed. To keep relevant or risk being left in the dust by seemingly progressive peers. The result has been a class of coffee fueled everyday people obsessed with a need to be productive.
So being in situations where stopping to take a breath feels like an unwelcome luxury is common. We all have moments when we grapple with that feeling that sets our solar plexus, a region just below our ribcage, on fire. Locking in our diaphragm and making breathing a painful difficulty. The problem with prolonged anxiety is that it is unhealthy. It can kill you. Anxiety, left unchecked, causes debilitating states of well-being. Nepon J. Belik a Professor of Psychiatry in the University of Manitoba, Canada, points to anxiety, as a leading psychological cause of suicides.
With this in mind, you may find it helpful to be equipped with an arsenal of behaviours to tame this unkind beast. In this post, I will introduce you to two specific actions that combat anxiety and improve your well-being. Good thing is you do them already, though you could be doing them all wrong. You have to breathe (properly) and drink water (religiously).
Breathe Like a baby.
Ever watch a baby breathe? How his abdomen rises and falls in each breathing cycle? Once upon a time you and I had this breathing style. Then, as we grew older, we got introduced to the interactions of life: the calling of a parent, the honking of a car, the ringing of a phone. The interactions created interruptions to our out-breath, led us to cut it short to restart our in-breath. The result is we developed a habit of shallow breathing and an inefficiency in flushing carbon dioxide from our systems. So our cells, as a result of this habit, never get to have as much pure oxygen as they could.
Take a moment to do this exercise: shift your focus to your breathing. Where does it fall? Does your chest rise with each inhalation? Or do you barely notice any movement? Once you have a mental piece of your breathing style, continue reading. Chances are the breathing style you have adopted to cope with the demands of life has you inhaling into the upper section of your lungs, tapping only a small of fraction of your lung's respiratory function.
With improper breathing you become susceptible to anxiety and other psychological ailments.
William Chen, a world class Tai Chi master whose practice revolves around the art of proper breathing, is of the opinion that a large obstacle to a healthy existence results from the constant interruption of our natural breathing pattern. And breathing should be a return to what was natural before we got stressed out by years of running around a hectic world and internalizing bad habits. To get a glimpse of this natural breathing style, do this exercise:
Place your right palm on the lower region of your abdomen, just below your navel. Now breathe in (through your nose or mouth), pulling air to fill your pelvic flour. Feel how the lower sides your ribcage expands and how your abdomen swells. Pretend you just woke up from a restful sleep. Once your inhalation is complete, let go. Your exhalation should be effortless. Repeat this 5, 10, 20 times. If you do it correct, you will feel a tingly feeling over your face and the rest of your skin. That's a sign that your body is being flooded with much needed oxygen.
Oxygen interacts with free radicals in the body. Along with healthy eating, proper oxygenation leads to the stabilization and eradication of - cancer causing, anxiety inducing - free radicals from the body. You often hear health practitioners advice you exercise to improve the circulation of blood in your body. What they leave out is that it is the oxygen in the blood that needs to be circulated to cells in the body. If you happen to be the among those with periods too busy to invest in an exercise plan, you may find it helpful to allocate 0.5 to 5 minutes to remind yourself of the proper way to breathe.
Now, on to the next indispensable body fluid. Water.
Drink a lot.
When asked how he maintains his level of energy to perform at peak level to train and coach world elite performers, including Oprah Winfrey, President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Tony Robbins responded by saying I just drink lots of water. It turns out the old saying that a hungry man is an angry man is true. I will explain with some science.
New findings, as reported by a UCLA study, reveal that the mass of grey matter that makes up the brain isn't just confined to the skull. It is distributed all over the body. And a dense concentration of this distribution interacts with cells located around the walls of the stomach and intestinal tract. This results in the nature of your stomach to influence your moods. Expressions like having a gut-wrenching experience, feeling nauseous, and feeling butterflies in the stomach exist as a result of this gut-brain connection. Your gut is sensitive to emotion. Anger, sadness, anxiety and a host of other feelings can trigger symptoms in the stomach and the stomach can trigger these feelings as well.
It makes sense to avoid feelings of hunger. But to do so with food alone may be an unhealthy choice on your time. Your best bet, besides eating fruits, is drinking healthy amounts of water.
Do this exercise: In your next water drinking session, drink double the amount of water you take. Drink two glasses if your per session intake is one. Or fill you stomach until you are a tad bit uncomfortable (but be careful, too much of anything has the opposite effect). Watch what happens to your mood in the following minutes. You will feel more alert, you will feel more energized and hunger induced cravings will be diminished.
Water does more than alter your mood by filling your stomach. It is a key ingredient in transforming food you eat into energy through the ATP cycle. An insufficient consumption of water makes your body draw the water it needs to function from cells in the body. This can induce dehydration. To stay hydrated and function at optimal condition with alertness, energy and vitality, drink lots of water.
Resolve To Live Healthy
There you have it. Two simple everyday actions that anchor your well-being. Keep these in mind in this new year and the years to come. When you think about it, the best things in life are free - your mind, air, family, friends, your body, water. It's always a good idea to cherish these things and draw from them nuggets that make life a lot richer. Living healthy, in mind, body and spirit, demands that you do.
Have a Remarkable New Year.
Update (16 APR 2016): A case for drinking water properly:
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Post Author: P. W. Uduk
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Photo Source: www.wellbeingatwork.com.au
Question of the week: What activities would you say anchor healthy states of well-being?
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