Category: Body

Resources for our body

Body, Mental Health, Mind, Yourself

Sleep and Our Feelings

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So often when I read of the importance of sleep, I get frustrated. This is because I want to sleep and sometimes struggle with actually doing it. Have you been there? Does it ever feel like you’re not sure who is in charge in the middle of the night. The you who desperately wants to sleep or the you who is wide awake? For this reason, this post is not going to discuss the importance of sleep and how it impacts many areas of our waking hours including our feelings. It will instead give some real-world practical suggestions for things to do in those wee hours when you want to be sleeping but are not.

Focus more on the now than on the coming day

It is so easy to get into the what if dialog within your brain when you wake repeatedly in the night. Certainly there are effects we feel when we’ve missed sleep, and the reality is, we have gotten through all our prior rough days that followed nights with little to no sleep.

Count breaths backwards

This can be an extension of focusing on the now. As silly as it may seem but counting backwards in weird increments can actually give your brain something to focus on that is not ruminating about things you cannot control. An example can be to count backward starting at 128 in increments of 7. So 128, 121, 114, 107, 100, 93, etc.

Play the alphabet game

This is something I learned from Lynn Lyons, she suggests when we get anxious, it can be a helpful way to get our brains to break focus on what we don’t want to be focusing on and challenge them to focus on something else by playing the alphabet game in any given category. One of my favorite ways to use this is to work through the alphabet praying for people or things I know that start with an A, then a B and so on. Another option I do is work through confessions about myself for each letter. For example: I am appreciative. I am blessed. I am compassionate. Finally another favorite for me is to name off attributes of God. This fits right in with scripture.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3

Body Scan

Deliberately move your awareness around from one body part to another slowly. Right thumb, right index finger, etc.

I pray some of these are helpful if you find yourself wanting to sleep, but your mind not being as cooperative as you would like. Are there any hints you’ve found especially useful? I’d love to hear.

Body, Mind

Peri-menopause and Anxiety

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Today I watched a video (link) titled “How to calm menopause anxiety”. I would suggest it might be better titled as “How to calm peri-menopause anxiety.” I say that because it focuses on a symptom that tends to happen as we transition from “normal” periods to that place where we no longer have periods (after 1 full year of no periods we are then in menopause). Even with this slight tweak to the title, I felt there was many really practical and do-able tips in this video.

Hydration

I had not realized, but apparently dehydration can induce anxiety. Also dehydration can lead to similar symptoms like heart palpation. So, a really simple tip she gives if you find yourself getting anxious or feeling a panic attack coming on is to drink a full glass of water. She especially points out that sometimes if you get first thing in the morning anxiety, it may especially be related to hydration.

Low blood sugar

Low blood sugar levels can actually trigger anxiety symptoms. In the video she recommends eating little and often.

Relaxation / Meditation

She really encourages 30 minutes each day of “me time.”

Deep breathing

Her recommendation is breathing in very slowly to the count of 4, pause, then breath out slowing to the count of 4. I would add, if you are a Christian, you may want to look into breath praying. The basic idea is you breath a scripture phrase, or truth in slowly, pause then breath a scripture phrase, or truth out slowly.

Walk

In the video she suggests even a 10 minute walk, especially outside is great.

Journaling

She suggests that not only should you journal your feelings, but jot down facts about what you observe. She suggests that these may lead you to see patterns, for example does the anxious feeling happen every afternoon around 4. If so, maybe it is blood sugar related. I would caution with this, let this serve you, not the other way around. I say this because the thing with anxiety is sometimes it can lead to over-reaching for control.

I hope you find some of these practical tips helpful.

Body, Resources

Body Resources

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This page will be a compilation of various resources I have come across which I feel are very helpful to our physical bodies.

Chair Yoga (Christ Centered) —

This particular video is one I have shared with my dad, who just turned 80 this year. My dad used to do yoga at a local Y as part of their Senior Sneakers program, he really enjoyed it. However due to schedule changes, this is no longer an option for him. He is not at all technical, he does not have a cell phone – smart or otherwise, he does not use a computer. So I’ve found that I can bring my iPad over to his house and we can do short videos like these together. He really seems to enjoy them and I do as well.

Adrenaline Rushes and/or Hot Flashes —

From time to time I have experienced adrenaline rushes and/or hot flashes. In other words, for me, this means that there are times that seemingly out of nowhere I get this surge of “urgency”. That is how I describe it when it feels like I kind of just need to get out of where ever I am. Here are a few things I tend to do which I’ve found helpful.

  • Get up and walk, even if it is just pacing. This allows the adrenaline kind of outlet.
  • Deep breathing. If you’re like me, you find specifics helpful. Specifically I’ve done metered breathing like this — inhale deeply to the count of 4, and exhale to the count of 4. I also heard a 4-7 breath as being quite helpful. So that looks like inhale deeply to the count of 4, pause, exhale to the count of 7. Here is what an expert has to say, “Some women find deep-breathing exercises helpful. Research suggests that a technique called paced respiration can cut in half the frequency of hot flashes. To perform paced respiration, take slow, deep, full breaths — expanding and contracting the abdomen gently while inhaling and exhaling — at a rate of about six to eight breaths per minute. One of the best ways to learn paced respiration is by taking a yoga class. Practice this technique twice a day for 15 minutes. You can also use paced respiration whenever you feel a hot flash coming on. Stress-relief techniques and biofeedback may also be of some benefit.” Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/dealing-with-the-symptoms-of-menopause
Body, Mind, Resources

A New Category – Resources

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When I created this site, one of my goals was to be a resource to you, the reader. I know in my life often when I’m going through something I look to my computer and search for resources – things that I can practically do that will be helpful to me. I’m guessing you are the same. So with that in mind, I’ve decided to create a category specifically for this. I will be tagging resources that I come across with the “Resource” category to make it super easy for you or me to come back to in order to easily find things that will be useful.

I plan to have sub-categories within this broad category of Resources.

If you have a resource or know of one, I’d love to hear about it, please feel free to comment.