Why Not To Be a Shallow Breather!

When you take a deep breath, the accessory muscles of respiration are brought into action. These are the scalenes, sternocleidomastoids and trapezius. The scalenes are the first muscle to start contracting and gradually the other two muscles are brought into action. These muscles should not contract during regular "belly" breathing. The scalenes are the narrow band of contracting muscle on either side of the neck when lifting the chin slightly to the opposite side.

So what causes shallow breathing?

(1) The shortening of any of the accessory muscles of respiration. Sitting in positions where the chin is close to the chest, watching TV with the head propped up and even sleeping on a pillow with too much loft can cause a shortening of these muscles. The shortening of these same muscles can also cause headaches.

(2) Loss of deep breathing skills

(3) Anxiety

(4) Chronic pain

(5) Restrictive clothing, particularly in the abdominal area

Does anxiety cause shallow breathing, or does shallow breathing cause anxiety? The answer may be both. We may have a chicken-or-egg situation here. Not getting enough oxygen, as in a shallow breath, signals a problem to your brain. You go into a fight-or-flight reaction. More shallow breathing. And anxiety, caused by life's stresses, causes a flight-or-flight reaction, shallow breath. Then shallow breathing can shorten the accessory muscles of respiration, which can then cause more shallow breathing. And so on. See the problem?

How do you breathe? Take one hand and place it on your chest. Place the other hand on your belly. Breathe. Notice which hand is moving as you inhale and exhale. Is it the top hand or the bottom hand? If it’s only the top hand, it’s likely you are a shallow breather who can greatly benefit from a switch to deep breathing.

If you have become a habitual shallow breather, you need to practice deep breathing. Take a few minutes before you start your day and a few minutes at the end of your day to practice. Place your hands on your belly and force your hands up and down with your breathe. Practicing deep breathing will relax you, loosen your shoulders and neck and lessen your feelings of anxiety.

Creating a Corporate Culture of Wellness- How to Develop a Wellness Program

Getting buy in for a wellness program is crucial. This needs to occur from the top down as well as from the bottom up. Leaders in the organization must be role models for the new behaviors that are promoted. This means they need to “walk the talk.” Buy in is achieved from the bottom up by surveying employees to capture their opinions about the health of the workplace, identify behaviors they would be motivated to change, determine what incentives are meaningful to them and outline the supports they believe would be most helpful.

These actions provide a base for creating a culture of wellness. The Wellness Council of West Virginia has developed a Health Culture Audit which is available at http://www.wcwv.org. Their audit instrument is a good descriptor of the areas included in a culture of wellness. This tool is also a potential resource for assessing the current level of wellness in your organization. It may also be used annually to assess the progress made toward developing a culture of wellness.

Culture change requires involvement throughout all levels of the organization. This is typically accomplished by developing a wellness committee. Participation should be voluntary. However, it is also important to identify “wellness champions” within the organization and invite these employees to volunteer for the wellness committee. Wellness champions are employees who “walk the talk.” They are role models for others due to their enthusiasm for an active, healthy lifestyle. Employees who have lost significant amounts of weight or given up a sedentary lifestyle often have a commitment to assist others. The wellness committee will also have ideas for making participation in your program fun by including team challenges and contests. Committee members may also contribute ideas for incentives to include at various levels of the wellness program.

Incentives are important. When employees are expected to change behavior, they are tuned into WIIFM (what’s in it for me). Even though we would like for everyone to view their healthcare benefit as a privilege and not as an entitlement, this is typically not the case. Therefore, employees may not be committed to saving money for their employer. They also may not be motivated to change behavior to avoid future medical conditions. Denial is a common human trait and long held habits are difficult to change, but change is more likely to occur in a supportive environment. Employers can provide a supportive environment that encourages positive lifestyle changes.

Some incentives that produce results include the following:
• Time off work—even if it is just getting to leave early one day.
• Monetary reward—this works well for survey, HRA or bio-metric screening completion.
• Athletic equipment—a gift certificate to put toward walking shoes, pedometer, etc.
• Personal training session gift certificate
• Massage gift certificate
• Healthcare discount for those who complete various levels of the wellness programs.

It is important to be clear about incentives that are being offered. Focus on the behaviors do you want to reward. If cost is an issue, consider entering participants in a lottery for an incentive. The following levels should have incentives attached to them:
• Health Risk Assessment
• Bio-metric screening
• Weight loss contest
• Program completion
• Team challenges
• Unused sick days

Low cost wellness activities can also reinforce a culture of wellness. These include healthy potlucks or healthy recipe contests, walking programs, biggest loser contests and newsletters/wellness tips. Once you start focusing on creating a culture of wellness, you will be surprised at the ideas that are generated by your wellness committee.

Employees want to feel valued and wellness programs send a clear message in that regard. An investment in wellness pays dividends in all aspects of your business!


Our guest blogger this week is Patsy Deerhake, M.ED, Wellness Educator/Coach. She owns Wellness Within Reach. You can reach her at patsy@wwrcoach.com or 614-880-2639.

Creating a Corporate Culture of Wellness - Why We Need Corporate Wellness Programs

It is critical that our nation as a whole move from a focus on illness to a focus on wellness. This is not just the responsibility of employers. A change needs to take place on many levels. Individuals must be held accountable for behaviors that contribute to medical conditions. Families need to work together to address lifestyle issues. Communities should explore ways to reinforce healthy choices. Our entire country will benefit from making a culture shift.

Why a change is necessary:
• More than half of all Americans live with at least one chronic medical condition, accounting for 75% of all health care spending each year.
• Five chronic diseases--heart disease, cancer, stroke, COPD and diabetes--are responsible for 2/3 of all deaths in the U.S.
• We spend more than $2 trillion on health care each year but only 4 cents of every dollar is invested in prevention and public health.

Unfortunately, given our system of health insurance, most of us receive our medical benefits from our employers. It makes sense, then, that employers must take the lead in a change effort. The majority of employers, large and small, have implemented some level of wellness initiative in the past few years. Depending upon how these programs are developed and introduced in the workplace, they may be welcomed as a helpful tool for improvement or resisted as a type of “big brother” invasion of privacy.

The purpose for creating a culture of wellness is to improve the chances of wellness initiatives being successful with careful planning and expectations. One of the biggest complaints I’m currently hearing from employers is that they are not getting employee participation. Many organizations view this as a motivation issue. Other businesses operate from the belief that they don’t have the budget for a “state of the art” wellness program and therefore can only expect limited results. Creating a culture of wellness addresses these issues.

Here are some key areas that must be addressed by a successful wellness program:
• Smoking/tobacco cessation & prevention
• Regular physical activity
• Stress management/reduction
• Early detection/screening
• Nutrition education & promotion
• Weight management
• Work environment changes that encourage healthy behaviors

Most of us are familiar with these areas. My contention is that not enough attention has been paid to the last key area and this area needs to be addressed prior to outlining the features of a workplace wellness program.

It is more important that wellness programs be well-planned than well-funded. A study by the Trust for America’s Health found that by investing $10 a person per year in programs that increase physical activity, improve nutrition and prevent smoking and other tobacco use, we could save more than $16 billion annually within five years. Anyone who deals with employer sponsored benefits knows that this is a very small investment.

Successful wellness initiatives address three critical areas. The initiatives must follow a long-term plan, reinforce healthy behaviors and be phased in gradually. The long-term plan starts with a vision. How do you envision your healthy workforce? What is your long-range goal? Do you want a percentage of employees within a healthy weight range? Would you like to have a tobacco-free workforce? Define your key long-term goals and break them down into steps. Each step is an objective.

Since it takes 3-5 years to realize a return on your investment with wellness measures, it is helpful to develop a five year plan. Develop objectives for the first year that you can build upon in consecutive years. All behavior change occurs via small steps forward. It is important to focus on education and communication at each step. Avoid trying to accomplish too much, too quickly. People need time to adapt to changing expectations.

Next week: Creating a Corporate Culture of Wellness- How to Develop a Wellness Program

Our guest blogger this week is Patsy Deerhake, M.ED, Wellness Educator/Coach. She owns Wellness Within Reach. You can reach her at patsy@wwrcoach.com or 614-880-2639.

Make your Next Massage Twice the Relaxation!

You may already know the wonderful benefits of massage. It improves circulation, reduces pain, provides a calming effect on your nervous system, enhances your immune system, and just make you feel good!

So why not share the experience with someone else?

Scheduling a Couples Massage is a great way to share a relaxing massage experience. A Couples Massage takes place in a large massage room with two tables. Each client has their own therapist, and receives a full body massage at the same time. The room has a quiet ambience, with soft lighting, and music that lets your mind slow down and your thoughts to drift away.

A Couples Massage is a great way to introduce one or both of you to your first professional massage experience. You can be comfortable with asking questions, and talk to your partner in the room during the session. Or you can both close your eyes and silently enjoy the session.

A couple may not be just romantic partners. We have had mother-daughter sessions, sisters, or best friends. We have even had a father and son who just want to spend time together while relaxing.

Consider a "gift of massage" by inviting someone to a Couples Massage session. Or get that special couple a gift certificate that they can use to celebrate their wedding anniversary, new addition to the family or other shared event.

And with Valentine's Day coming this weekend, call today to be sure you get on our schedule!

Love and Health

Can love really keep you healthy?

Social relationships were studied in research by Dr. Lisa Berkman. In this study, Dr. Berkman found that people lacking in social and community support were more than three times more likely to die compared to others which strong social connections.

The relationship between social and community ties and mortality was assessed using a survey of 6928 adults in Alameda County, California and a subsequent nine-year mortality follow-up. The findings showed that people who lacked social and community ties were more likely to die in the follow-up period than those with more extensive contacts. She found this to be true even for subjects with unhealthy lifestyles. Those who lived the longest had both a healthy lifestyle and social connections.

From the Dr. Oz Website: Curing Your Back Pain

Treating Headaches with Massage Therapy

Headaches come in many forms. Three common types are migraines, tension-type headaches and chronic daily headaches. Migraines often involve recurrent attacks of moderate to severe pain that is throbbing or pulsing and often strikes one side of the head, can come on with or without an aura, and occur frequently in the morning, especially upon waking. Some people have migraines at predictable times, such as before menstruation or on weekends following a stressful week of work. Many people feel exhausted or weak following a migraine but are usually symptom-free between attacks. Tension-type headache, previously called muscle contraction headache, is the most common type of headache. Its name indicates the role of stress and mental or emotional conflict in triggering the pain and contracting muscles in the neck, face, scalp, and jaw. Tension-type headaches may also be caused by jaw clenching, intense work, missed meals, depression, anxiety, or too little sleep. Chronic daily headache refers to a group of headache disorders that occur at least 15 days a month during a 3-month period. Individuals feel constant, mostly moderate pain throughout the day on the sides or top of the head. These types of headaches can occur in teenagers and children and may be linked to stress from school and family activities.

Of the 45 million Americans who suffer from chronic headaches, more than 60 percent suffer from migraines. For many, it’s a distressing disorder that is triggered by stress and poor sleep. In a recent study, massage therapy recipients exhibited fewer migraines and better sleep quality during the weeks they received massage, and the three weeks following, than did participants that did not receive massage therapy. Another study found that in adults with migraine headaches massage therapy decreased the occurrence of headaches, sleep disturbances and distress symptoms. It also increased serotonin levels, believed to play an important role in the regulation of mood, sleep and appetite. Another study examined the effects of massage therapy on chronic, nonmigraine headaches. Sufferers of chronic tension headaches between the ages of 18-55 yrs received structured massage therapy treatment directed toward the neck and shoulder muscles during a 4-wk period. The results showed that the massage therapy reduced the number of weekly headaches. Headache frequency was significantly reduced within the initial week of massage treatment, and continued for the remainder of the study. A trend toward reduction in average duration of each headache event between the baseline period and the treatment period was also observed.

Sources: Annals of Behavioral Medicine, August 2006, International Journal of Neuroscience, 1998, American Journal of Public Health, 2002