Breathing Rates

[Faithless]

i have only recently realised that i have terrible breathing habits, in particular i habitually breath way too fast and tend to hold my breath alot of the time without realising it, until i run out of oxygen. consequently i have hellish anxiety most of the time. sleep is my one break from it. so, i'm trying to train myself to breath slowly whilst awake, and since sleep gets me relief, i am going to try to train myself to breath like one does when one is asleep. i have no idea if this is a good idea, but it seems worth a try. the question is, what is a normal breathing rate whilst asleep? REM and NREM? does anyone have any numbers? cheers

[Faithless]

after a bit of webstigation i found some info here: http://www.sierrabiotech.com/bt_gen_info.htm which inspired me to write a quick and dirty program to help my with breath rate training. in the spirit of possible assistance for other anxiety sufferers, find attached screenshot and python program (rename breathless.txt to breathless.py, this board won't let me attach a .py file) [attachmentid=39] [attachmentid=40] you'll need python and wxPython installed to run it (GIYF).

[PenguinLord13]

Sounds cool, but before I use it I am wondering how does it work? Also, did you mean inhalation when you said inspiration? Might as well check it out though. ---- UPDATE: I downloaded the program but when I tried running it it didn't load, so I loaded the script and ran it from the editor and got this error: Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Documents and Settings\(my useername)\Desktop\breathless.py", line 6, in -toplevel- from wxPython.wx import * ImportError: No module named wxPython.wx

[Faithless]

Sounds cool, but before I use it I am wondering how does it work? Also, did you mean inhalation when you said inspiration? Might as well check it out though. [/b] its just a guage thing that slides left to right and back at whatever timing is selected. its just a guide to be able to help keep a constant and known breathing rate, hopefully if i breath at a correct rate long enough, it will become habit. yes, inspiration==inhalation judging from that error message you haven't got wxPython installed: http://www.wxpython.org/download.php

[PenguinLord13]

Thanks, it works now. I haven't really tested it yet, but cool idea all the same.

[tiddlywink101]

I hate trying to sleep with a blocked nose

[Naturally Lucid]

Try meditation/breathing/relaxation(of muscles) techniques (if you can get a blue square book, called Deep Sleep, with a CD with 4 tracks on it -- that has helped me beyond what i thought i needed&#33 You can 're-wire' yourself by doing these techniques by changing your response to stress and other things. Bascially, for the deep breathing...count your breaths, relax all or your muscles while in the seated meditation posture...make sure your in and out breaths are even 'without hitches' and breath - slowly but surely until you can breath really slow - you can expand your lung capacity by doing this, but don't go farther than you are able to...work up to breathing as far in and then as far out as you can, slowly, consciously remembering to continue it - it's very easy to fall back onto regular breathing... close your eyes while you do this, if you want to add the meditation part, just simply let any thoughts go so they don't take you over - for example, if you see a ballon out your window, the simple act of seeing it will cause you to daydream about a person you might hate or love because you associate them with the ballon, involving an aproximate daydream of 10minutes, one thought leading to maybe even revenge or marriage of the person - then that thought trails you off.... - what meditation teaches you to do is to ignore and recognize thoughts as thoughts and not to let them 'take you away'... if you ever think of accoplishing something, getting somewhere, thoughts, emotions, anything! - just lable it as an emotion, memory, etc. and focus on the counting of the breaths... thoughts (stressful ones, for example) can cause irregular/fast breathing, peaceful thoughts, for example can cause restful/slow breathing....SO if you voluntarily breath slowly you will become peaceful and might even - eventually after practice - ignore the stressful thought completely and not get 'carried away with it' In my yoga book it says that body follows mind, and mind follows breath...SO if you slow down your breath you can control your mind to not be 'racing!' with thoughts, and your body to be calm too You can also force yourself into sleep faster if you do deep breaths because your body usually does it.....if you help it along it usually happens faster -- and i would even say without as many nightmares caused by the 'worry thoughts' that we usually have seconds before we fall asleep...which usually what you think about is what you dream about.... I hope this helps and isn't too much information...I just love this topic

[tiddlywink101]

But how do you sleep with a blocked nose?

[PenguinLord13]

Any chance you could post the CD on the internet, Naturally Lucid? Anyways that was good info. I understand where you are coming from, and maybe you've inspired me to start meditating, which i keep planning on doing, but never do. We'll see.

[Naturally Lucid]

I cannot for obvious copywrite reasons, but before that CD and actually listening the 4tracks while doing what he said, I had no idea how tense my muscles were, i felt like jelly the next moring at 7am and i'm not a morning person! - i just had a smile on my face! --- also i think he is the best person to start out learning to meditate because i don't think i could listen to any other person's voice and it's so simple and not annoying how he does it -- i was the kind of person who was always thinking of at least 50 things a minute, I started this and saw/HEARD how ANNOYING THOUGHTS CAN BE...now - while still meditating daily, i can ignore them, you have to atleast try it once adn do everything the person teaching you to meditate tells you to...before you do, have a peice of paper and 'empty your thoughts' onto the paper - and keep it in front of you while meditating to write down 'necessary' thoughts as they come, by the time i was done, I asked WHY THE H.E. double hockekysticks was i worrying about that?! - and i could have basically ignored the whole list except for teh to-dos i couldn't forget... If you can buy it, do it...if not, i can try to tell you the basics w/o copyrighting laws... these things can also help LDs in teh sense that they calm you so you can focus....become aware of your mental chatter which helps you do so in dreams and 'observe' your thoughts in dreams...

[PenguinLord13]

Well, copyright laws were never a problem for me, but if that is a problem for you, then that's fine. Anyways I did a search and found a audiobook called Deep Sleep by Glenn Harrold. It has a light blue to purple cover. Is this the right book? If not can you at least give me the author, because deep sleep is a rather broad term.

[Naturally Lucid]

It's a blue book with a CD with it. the cd has 4 tracks. There is a moon on the cover, just like above with the dream views 'logo' - I believe his name is steve harvey, md or something like that....if you find something like it, let me know and then i'll check to make sure that THAT is the correct author adn book...

[PenguinLord13]

It's a blue book with a CD with it. the cd has 4 tracks. There is a moon on the cover, just like above with the dream views 'logo' - I believe his name is steve harvey, md or something like that....if you find something like it, let me know and then i'll check to make sure that THAT is the correct author adn book... [/b] I think you have the name wrong, I don't seem to find any steve harvey deep sleep audiobook on the internet.

[Naturally Lucid]

Deep Sleep: Complete Rest for Health, Vitality and Longevity (Paperback) by John Harvey

[PenguinLord13]

Deep Sleep: Complete Rest for Health, Vitality and Longevity (Paperback) by John Harvey [/b] Thanks I'll definitely consider getting it, as it is only 2 bucks on amazon new (under a dollar used).