Hey there, my friends!! I hope that this past week has been kind to you and has treated you well. Today I wanted to tell you about the number one tool that I use to help me cope with my fibromyalgia and that is breathing. I know that it sounds pretty silly and that some of you might be thinking that this is easy to do. I can tell you from personal experience that it is not always so simple.
Breathing deeply can help calm the central nervous system. You do this by breathing fully into your chest. You’d be surprised how many people struggle to do this. I suffer from asthma once in a while, and when those attacks happen, it is scary because I get short of breath. Trying to calm down during and after an asthma attack can be quite a task. As of late, with the colder days being here, my pain is often at an 8 on the pain scale most of the time. When the pain gets really intense, it can be very difficult to breathe through, and try to not get anxious as well. Below is some information that I had come across while I was researching for this post.
Benefits of Breathing Well
- Saves energy
- Improves energy
- Reduces pain and tension
- Helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system (This system controls bodily functions when someone is at rest. Activities include stimulating digestion, activating metabolism, and helping the body relax.)
- Improves digestion
- Lowers blood pressure
- Reduces heart rate
- Decreases stress
- Improves cognitive function
What does this mean when dealing with fibromyalgia?
- Need to save energy
- Getting more energy
- Reduces pain and tension
- Activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
I know that I have mentioned in previous posts how much deep breathing has helped me. I can’t stress it enough. Out of all of the coping mechanisms that I use to help me deal with my chronic illness, breathing deeply helps the most and the most frequently.
Thank you so very much for taking the time to read my blog!! I’m going to keep this week’s post short and sweet (sorry ya’ll — I’ve been dealing with a flare the last few days). If you want to learn more about deep breathing, I highly suggest that you continue reading and go to the links that are attached below. As a part of the research that I do for this blog, to help me figure out what exactly to talk about and what to share, I look up other bloggers who have fibromyalgia (or other chronic illnesses) and read their blogs to see what they are sharing with the world. This week, I stumbled across Melissa Reynold’s blog at https://www.melissavsfibromyalgia.com/. She wrote a post titled “Breathing, the Nervous System and Fibromyalgia. I loved reading her blog post on this topic and it was a great reminder of some of the information that I had learned a year ago at a pain management group when I was a patient at Kaiser. A huge thank you to Melissa for writing this amazing and very informative post! Please feel free to applaud this blog post (where the hands clap together) and comment down below. I’d love to hear from you. I hope that you will have a great week! Stay safe out there! Until next week, my friends! :-) ❤
— Moriah
Resources:
- PNG Image “Girl Looking At The Sky Breathing Fresh Air” <a href=’https://pngtree.com/so/lookout'>lookout png from pngtree.com</a>
- “Breathing, the Nervous System and Fibromyalgia” by Melissa Reynolds https://www.melissavsfibromyalgia.com/2020/05/06/breathing-the-nervous-system-and-fibromyalgia/
- “Breathing well with Fibromyalgia” video by Melissa Reynolds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_AUMn8Cnrg&feature=youtu.be
