fibromyalgia Archives

Bonnie’s Sleep Improves with Breathing Practices

Posted by Ellen Sichel on July 18, 2012

Bonnie’s Challenges

Bonnie had cancer and suffers with Fibromyalgia. She is active, but struggles with chronic pain and sleep disturbance. When I worked with Bonnie, we focused on a variety of breathing practices to help lesson her symptoms and improve her sleep.

What Worked

Bonnie states:

"As someone who has dealt with cancer, I am always looking for ways to minimize my stress level and to try to stay in a more relaxed state of mind. My times with Ellen have been very beneficial for me. The power of breath is something I knew little about, and through her instruction, I have learned what a valuable tool it is during times of stress. I have found myself doing the breathing techniques while waiting in a doctor's office. When I used to wake up during the night and couldn't get back to sleep, it meant being exhausted the next day. Now, I simply do a couple of breathing exercises and am able to go right back to sleep. Ellen's expertise and soothing manner enabled her to help me find a sense of inner calm that I had been missing in recent years."

What you can learn from Bonnie's Experience

There are simple techniques that sustain you in times of stress and discomfort. Much of our problems with sleep stem from the busy mind and when you can effectively quite your thoughts, you will enhance your ability to sleep. Custom Calm techniques work and are accessible to everyone.

Fibromyalgia Symptoms Improve with Breathing Practices

Posted by Ellen Sichel on August 31, 2011

Article: Slow Breathing May Soothe Pain: February 08, 2010 Pain journal

Authors: Reuters interview with Dr. Alex J. Zautra: Psychology professor at Arizona State University

Fibromyalgia patients need help dealing with the physical and emotional reactions to chronic pain.

Objective: The study gauged pain responses among 27 women with the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia and 25 healthy women the same age. The study looked at the effects of becoming more aware of your breathing.

Results: Researchers found that when they had the women perform slow breathing; it dampened their reactions to a moderately painful stimulus.

Overall, the women rated the pain intensity as lower and reported less emotional discomfort when they slowed their normal breathing rate down by half.

Conclusions: How we breathe" does alter perceptions of and responses to pain. The findings suggest that breathing techniques could offer an additional way to deal with fibromyalgia or other types of chronic pain.

"It is not 'all in your head, but it may be in your brain."

Custom Calm founder, Ellen Sichel has trained with the originators of evidenced based programs for Mindful Based Stress Reduction and Yoga of Awareness for Fibromyalgia and incorporates many of the techniques used into Custom Calm programs. The practices are non-invasive and easy to learn, offering lifelong support for both patients and their loved ones.

Tags: Breathing, chronic pain, emotional reaction, fibromyalgia, study on fibromyalgia

Posted in: This Stuff Works