August 2022

50-70 million US adults have a sleep disorder. Driving tired is responsible for 1,550 fatalities and 40,000 nonfatal injuries yearly.1 Could something as simple as breathing help with sleeping? Yes! A big reason why people are tired is due to a lack of oxygen in the brain.

Deep diaphragmatic breathing using various forms of mindfulness practices helps to calm our nervous system down and reduce stress. Since stress is being reduced we can also find great benefit in doing Qigong to help our sleep.2

A very simple way to do this would be when you’re laying down on your back in bed for the night, place your hands gently on your lower abdomen. While breathing in and out through your nose gently and slowly, feel your lower abdomen with your hands rise as you inhale and lower as you exhale. Once you get the feel for how to breathe with your lower abdomen, place your arms and hands to your sides on the be. While still breathing slowly, imagine all the muscles in your body relaxing starting from your scalp and go all the down your face to your neck and chest. Then move to your arms and fingers. Continue on to your back and abdomen and to your legs and feet/toes. Take a deep breath in again with your belly and exhale while relaxing 10x as much everything in your body.

References:

1. https://www.sleepassociation.org/about-sleep/sleep-statistics/

2. Zou, L., SasaKi, J. E., Wang, H., Xiao, Z., Fang, Q., & Zhang, M. (2017). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Baduanjin Qigong for Health Benefits: Randomized Controlled Trials. Evidence- based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2017, 4548706

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

There are so many digestive problems going on right now; cortisol levels are through the roof; high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes are rampant, and people are having a hard time calming down. Through it all, the vagus nerve, our parasympathetic nervous system, is being inhibited and, as a society, we are in a chronic state of the Fight or Flight plague.

The heart and brain have more neuronal connections to each other than any other systems in the body!1 From this we can know that the vagus nerve plays a major role in the communication between the two. Whether we choose to be in fight or flight mode, or calm and relaxed makes the difference between health and illness.

When we breath deep and then actually sigh out the breath from our mouth, we further stimulate the vagus nerve as it is vibrating from the vocal cords. The Vagus nerve follows the esophagus down to the stomach, diaphragm and all the digestive organs! As we do this we further relax the body and all systems within.

References:

1. R. McCraty, M. Atkinson, D. Tomasino, et al., “The Coherent Heart: Heart-Brain Interactions, Psychophysiological Coherence, and the Emergence of System-Wide Order,” Integral Review, vol. 5, no. 2: pp.10-115 (2009).

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

The vagus nerve (cranial nerve X) has two components to it linking to both of our autonomic nervous systems; the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. When we are under stress, we are in a state called Fight or Flight which is where our sympathetic nervous system comes in. The nerves impacting the sympathetic nervous system come primarily from the thoracic vertebral column or the mid back.

When we are calm and relaxed we fall into what’s called the parasympathetic nervous system; which nerves come primarily from the head and neck and sacral regions. In this state our body is able to heal and digest our food. Also, we can think clearly and not be as reactive to stimuli as blood leaves the amygdala (fear center of the brain) and goes back to the frontal lobe of the brain.

When we take deep breaths cortisol levels (stress hormone) decrease, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure is improved along with stress.1

Even though this systematic review along with a host of other studies showing the benefit of deep diaphragmatic breathing doesn’t specifically talk about the vagus nerve, we can know that the vagus nerve is involved as it controls these two sides of our autonomic nervous system. When the vagus nerve is stimulated our body calms down and allows for healing to occur. Which is what we all want I think. Although, stress inhibits vagus nerve stimulation which makes it near impossible to heal and be well.

Reference:

1. Hopper, S. I., Murray, S. L., Ferrara, L. R., & Singleton, J. K. (2019). Effectiveness of diaphragmatic breathing for reducing physiological and psychological stress in adults: a quantitative systematic review. JBI database of systematic reviews and implementation reports, 17(9), 1855–1876.

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

Depression affects 19% of the US population each year, and anxiety affects about 3% of the US population. Panic disorder affects close to 3%, social anxiety disorder affects about 7% and specific phobias affects about 9% of the U.S. population.1

There seems to be a great need for help in this arena especially since not even half of most people with these mental imbalances receive treatment! I don’t think that anything can compare to cost effectiveness than can something as simple as deep diaphragmatic breathing associated mindfulness practices such as Qigong and Tai Chi.

Many mood and mental illnesses are shown to be significantly helped and improved by various mindfulness practices such as deep breathing. One empirical review showed great results with depression and anxiety.2

Qigong and tai chi shows great promise in the alleviation of and in reversing psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety. A systematic review compiled many different studies including 6410 participants measuring a large variety of benefits with Qigong and Tai Chi.3 From this study, 163 different physiological and psychological health outcomes were found. 28 of the studies observed showed psychological factors of anxiety, depression, stress, mood, fear of falling, and self-esteem to be significantly improved.

If you or someone you know has depression and anxiety, tell them about trying Qigong or Tai Chi! You can only help them improve. What do you have to lose?

References:

1. 
   https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/facts-statistics
   
2. 
   Baer RA. Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review.
   
   Clinical Psychology: Science & Practice. 2003;10:125–143.
   
3. 
   Jahnke, R., Larkey, L., Rogers, C., Etnier, J., & Lin, F. (2010). A comprehensive review of health
   
   benefits of qigong and tai chi. American journal of health promotion : AJHP, 24(6), e1–e25.
   

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

Deep breathing associated with mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase gray matter in the brain. Especially the areas of the hippocampus, the posterior cingulate cortex, the temporoparietal junction, and the cerebellum. These regions of the brain regulate memory, learning, emotional intelligence, social cognition, perspective taking, and self referential processing. Major depression, and post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) have been linked with a decrease in volume or density of the hippocampus.1,2,3 We will discuss more about major depression and PTSD the next couple of times you receive our emails.

Isn’t it neat?! That we can, through our breath and our mind, increase the density and capacity of our brain! The more we use our brain to meditate on positive things and to be more present the more we literally form new neurons and make new connections with other neurons. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do better in school with learning and memory recall? Or become aware of the emotions and language of others to be sensitive and non-judgemental as we try to serve them?

I know that meditating while deep breathing helps us to become more aware, receive more energy, healing, and the ability to help others more effectively.

References:

1. 
   Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S. M., Gard, T., & Lazar, S. W. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry research, 191(1), 36–43.
   
2. 
   Sheline YI. 3D MRI studies of neuroanatomic changes in unipolar major depression: the role of stress and medical comorbidity. Biological Psychiatry. 2000;48:791–800.
   
3. 
   Kasai K, Yamasue H, Gilbertson MW, Shenton ME, Rauch SL, Pitman RK. Evidence for acquired pregenual anterior cingulate gray matter loss from a twin study of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry. 2008;63:550–556.
   

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson…

Neurons in the human brain begin to die in less than 3 minutes when deprived of oxygen. Once 3 minutes has passed, permanent brain damage occurs.

Have you ever noticed students at school, slouching in their chairs? Sometimes you may even see them start yawning or lay their head down to fall asleep. A couple things may be at play here. First, they may have just not received enough sleep. The second possibility is the fact that when anyone slouches or hunches forward, they cut off about two-thirds of their oxygen transfer to their blood from their lungs. This in turn deprives the brain of sufficient oxygen to think straight and function properly. So then, the student becomes more tired and may eventually fall asleep.

As spoken about in our previous blog post, our nervous system, especially our brain, vitally needs oxygen for our cells to produce energy. Without the energy to send direct signals, or action potentials, in the brain, our brains become sluggish and our mental capacities decline.

Anybody who finds themselves slouching or having poor posture, who feels tired, can greatly help themselves by sitting up straighter and taking a few deep breaths in through the nose and out the mouth.

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

We breathe a little over 400 liters of oxygen per day and it’s needed to provide nutrients to every cell within our body. Without oxygen, the mitochondria within each cell of our being, is unable to produce enough ATP (or energy) for us to use. These are the molecules that give us the electrons for us to have muscle contractions, action potentials (nerve signals), etc. Every time we do anything, including sleeping, we use ATP; we use energy. ATP is what causes us to have body heat as well.

It’s almost more accurate to say that we breath oxygen to feed the mitochondria which in turn keeps us alive. The mitochondria isn’t even human in nature; it has it’s own set of DNA (not our human DNA), and resembles and acts more like a glorified bacterium! Isn’t that nuts? We will most likely talk about the mitochondria more in-depth in a another blog post.

Enzymatic processes within the Mitochondria require the use of oxygen in order for them to work. So, again, without oxygen, we cannot produce the energy sufficiently to perform. We may feel more tired and not have as much energy throughout the day. Over time, this can develop and get worse to the

point where we may receive a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, orthostatic intolerance, or some (albeit rare) may have an actual mitochondrial disease which is inherited.

Taking time each day to make conscious deep breaths can really boosts your energy levels and help you to feel better.

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

During the next 30 days we will be exploring the health topic: BREATHING. There have been so many testimonials, seemingly outlandish claims of being healed, as well as a large body of scientific evidence showing the benefits of deep, conscious breathing associated with movements, meditation, or both!

As a society, with our modernized-overbooked agendas, have lost one of the most fundamental aspects to our health. That is oxygen! The world is literally full of it! Technically speaking, only about 21% of the world’s air consists of oxygen, and most of the rest is nitrogen.

Nitrogen is vital for our body’s ability to produce DNA and proteins. Although, unfortunately the nitrogen that we need cannot come from the air around us as it is, since it’s not bioavailable for us to use. It needs to be in a “fixed” form such as it is in plants and animals who eat the plants. Without our DNA we wouldn’t be alive. Without nitrogen our body wouldn’t be able to repair itself while we sleep. Oxygen is also needed in each cell of our body.

Coming up next, we will dive into what it is within our cells that requires oxygen for the survival of our whole body.

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…