CHAPTER 27

Focused Breathing

The Immediate ADD Salve

Temper problems, anxiety, impulsivity, restlessness, insomnia, and lack of focus are very common problems in people with ADD. I have found that a very simple biofeedback breathing technique helps to combat these problems. It is so simple, in fact, that many of you will be skeptical in how helpful it could be and not use it. Big mistake. Let me tell you why.

Like brain activity, breathing is also involved in everything you do. Breathing is essential to life. The purpose of breathing is to get oxygen from the air into your body and to blow off waste products such as carbon dioxide. Every cell in your body needs oxygen in order to function properly. Brain cells are particularly sensitive to oxygen, as they start to die within four minutes when they are deprived of oxygen. Slight changes in oxygen content in the brain can alter the way a person feels and behaves. When a person gets angry, his or her breathing pattern changes almost immediately. His or her breathing becomes more shallow and the rate increases significantly (see diagram below). This breathing pattern is inefficient and the oxygen content in the angry person’s blood is lowered. Subsequently, there is less oxygen available to a person’s brain and they may become more irritable, impulsive, and confused, causing him or her to make bad decisions, such as to yell, threaten, or hit another person.

To correct this negative breathing pattern, I teach my patients to become experts at breathing slowly and deeply, mostly with their bellies. In my office I have some very sophisticated biofeedback equipment that uses strain gauges to measure breathing activity. I place one gauge around a person’s chest and a second one around her belly. The biofeedback equipment then measures the movement of the chest and belly as the person breathes in and out. Many people, especially men, breathe exclusively with their chests, which is an inefficient way to breathe. If you watch a baby or a puppy breathe, you notice that they breathe almost solely with their bellies. That is the most efficient way to breathe. If you expand your belly when you breathe in, it allows room for your lungs to inflate downward, increasing the amount of air available to your body. I teach patients to breathe with their bellies by watching their pattern on the computer screen. In twenty to thirty minutes, most people can learn how to change their breathing patterns, which relaxes them and gives them better control over how they feel and behave.

Breathing Diagram: The large waveform is a measurement by a gauge attached around the belly during abdominal or belly breathing; the smaller waveform is a measurement by a gauge attached around the upper chest during chest breathing. At rest, this person breathes mostly with his belly (a good pattern), but when he thinks about an angry situation his breathing pattern deteriorates, markedly decreasing the oxygen to his brain (common to anger outbursts). No wonder people who have anger outbursts often seem irrational!

To do this at home, lie on your back and place a small book on your belly. When you breathe in, make the book go up, and when you breathe out, make the book go down. Shifting the energy of breathing lower in your body will help you feel more relaxed and in better control of yourself.

You can use this breathing technique to help you be more focused and less anxious and have better control over your temper. It is easy to learn and it can also be applied to help with the sleep problems so common in ADD.

Here’s an example of how helpful this technique can be. Twenty-two-year-old Bart came to see me for ADD symptoms and problems with anxiety and temper. During my first session with him, I noticed that he talked fast and breathed in a shallow, quick manner. One of my recommendations was for Bart to do three sessions of breathing biofeedback. He was amazed at how easy this form of breathing was and how relaxed he could make himself in a short period of time. He noted that his level of anxiety improved and he had better control of his temper.

Ever since I learned this technique fifteen years ago, I have used it personally. I use it when I feel anxious, angry, or stressed. It sounds so simple, but breathing is essential to life and when we slow down and become more efficient at it most things seem better.