Take a Deep Breath for Mental Health

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Take a Deep Breath for Mental Health
• Why is Deep Breathing Good for Mental Health?
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Take a Deep Breath for Mental Health

Breathing, something every person does automatically, can improve mental health. It's the advice heard around the world: take a deep breath. (A Simple Breathing Exercise Creates Serenity) We hear about deep breathing so frequently that we have quite nearly become deaf to it, our selective hearing tuning it out. Because deep breathing is so important to our mental health, we thought we'd provide a gentle reminder.

Why is Deep Breathing Good for Mental Health?

Intentional deep breathing improves mental health by relaxing both the body and the mind. Taking slow, deep breaths increases oxygen in our bloodstream and thus in our brain. Deep breathing signals the parasympathetic nervous system to activate and thus induce relaxation throughout the body. When we pause to breathe deeply, our heart rate slows and our blood pressure decreases. All of this positive activity increases our wellbeing.

When our body relaxes as we breathe deeply, our sense of stress is diminished. We feel fewer negative emotions, and our mind becomes quieter, our thoughts stiller. Breathing deeply reduces feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. Deep breathing calms people frustrated by the challenges of any mental illness. While deep breathing doesn't cure mental illness, it calms people and in so doing increases mental health.

Related Articles on Breathing and Mental Health

• Breathing Exercises to Reduce Stress
• Breathing Techniques to Calm Anxiety and Panic
• Blow Anxiety Away on a Bubble
• Diaphragmatic Breathing for Anxiety Sufferers

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: Today’s Question: Do you find deep breaths or other breathing exercises helps your mental health? We invite you to participate by commenting and sharing your feelings, experiences and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page.

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. In Crisis? Here Are 3 Crisis Chat Lines to Try
2. How to Talk to Your Family About Your Mental Illness
3. Making a Relationship Work When You Have Mental Illness

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Does Light Therapy for Depression, Bipolar Depression Work?
• When Grief Becomes a Mental Health Issue
• How to Trust Yourself and Feel Confident Making Decisions
• Using A 12-Step Approach for PTSD Recovery
• Self-Care in Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder Is Hard
• Binge Eating Disorder and Self-Harm
• What to Do When Old, Addictive Behavior is Leading to Relapse
• Can Anxiety Disorders Come from a Traumatic Brain Injury?
• A Simple Mantra for Eating Disorder Recovery
• How to Stay Positive in a Negative World
• The Struggle of The Perfect Body Image
• The Good and Bad of Mental Health Self-Diagnosis
• Teen Mental Health Stigma vs Fact
• Mental Illness and Marriage: The Cost of Making It Work
• The Anxious Empath: Anxiety And Other People’s Feelings

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this on to them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week:

• follow HealthyPlace on Twitter
• like HealthyPlace on Facebook.