Learn to breathe easier with Resperate

When we are stressed, anxious, frightened or angry, our breathing pattern speeds up and becomes quite shallow, using only the upper part of our lungs. In the short term, it's a useful part of our 'fight or flight' response, helping us deal with whatever it is that's disturbing us. In the longer term, it can become an habitual but unhelpful way of breathing, because instead of our mind telling our body that we need to cope with an emergency, the way we are breathing actually conveys to the mind that we have a continuous reason to feel anxious, panicked, etc.

Understanding this can be a useful first step toward using the way we breathe to consciously help regulate how we feel - both emotionally and physically. But it's not always easy to learn to do this, which is where Resperate can help.

Designed primarily to help those with high blood pressure to lower it, the Resperate device works by providing feedback on how you are breathing. It measures your breath rate while playing classical music, then slows it down to encourage a slower pace. It acts as a breathing coach, and used several times a day can help restore a calmer way of breathing. You can actually see how well you are doing, even before you begin to feel it.

With regard to the lowering of blood pressure, nine peer-reviewed medical publications listed on the Resperate site, along with more anecdotal reviews from doctors and users, provide testament to its effectiveness.

I was told about Resperate by a uniquely qualified Ericksonian psychotherapist, Annette Poizner (www.annettepoizner.com), who was telling me how I could improve my lung energy - and why it was important!

For me, if you are (as one professional once put it) a 'managed type A personality' it can be very useful to have some physical evidence that your mindfulness, meditation or other practice, is effective. Like anything else, it demands some commitment, but it's really no hardship to sit quietly and take some time out - whether the result you want is to lower your blood pressure or calm your thoughts.

www.resperate.co.uk

Foods for concentration

I'm often asked what foods help improve concentration and what 'superfoods' should we be eating and what supplements should we be taking...

So here goes.

Basically your brain needs glucose as fuel to function, which the body sources from carbohydrate, and doesn't much care what sort except that it be regular and continuous.

However, if you rely on simple carbohydrates like a bar of chocolate or a packet of crisps, to the exclusion of much else, then you get a carbohydrate surge which induces an insulin surge, which can then cause the sort of mood swings that make concentration difficult. Or you get a headache. Or an energy slump. All of which is much more noticeable in children. Complex carbohydrates - oatmeal, wholegrains, bananas, pulses and beans, nuts, brown rice - are a better option, as they also contains lots of other beneficial nutrients.

So to keep the brain concentrating, complex carbohydrates and adequate hydration (because the brain is 90% water and is happiest well-watered) is a good place to start.

After complex carbohydrates and water, here are my other recommendations.

Protein

Eggs, for example, which contain the micronutrient choline (an essential precursor for acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter in the brain) in the yolks, and also found in soybeans, lentils, oats, sesame seeds and other sources. One of the benefits of combining protein like an egg, with complex carbohydrate like wholegrain bread, is that this also helps manage insulin surges.

Antioxidants

You've heard it before, but antioxidants help mop up free radicals, the damaging by-product of cellular activity in our bodies. Fresh fruit and vegetables - lots of them, the more brightly coloured the higher they are in antioxidants. So this is why blueberries, pomegranates, sweet potato, beetroot, spinach, etc. sometimes get dubbed 'superfoods' because they are high in antioxidants. Aim for a rainbow diet. And green tea, also high in antioxidants - my daily favourite is Mighty Leaf's green tea with jasmine.

And because I also believe in a little of what you fancy doing you good... I'm pleased to report that dark chocolate is high in antioxidants. My treat is Green & Blacks organic dark chocolate with ginger... who knew something so delicious could also be good for you.

Essential fatty acids

From oily fish, with the recommendation that you eat at least two portions a week. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are just that, essential and you can't manufacture them yourself. What you're aiming for is omega-3 EPA and omega-3 DHA. Forget omega-6, from vegetable sources, the majority of Western diets are supersaturated with omega-6 already, and it competes with omega-3 for absorption.

Caffeine

This is the most widely consumed pharmacologically active substance in the world - trimethylxanthine, to give it its chemical name - but in small doses can give you a short-term kick helping your brain to focus. However, it will also stimulate your central nervous system and in excess will affect your sleep patterns, give you a racing heart and possibly palpitations, and it's addictive. Make caffeine your friend and not your enemy. Drink freshly brewed coffee and limit it to a couple of cups a day at the most, and avoid drinks like Red Bull like the plague.

Supplements

I'm not big on supplements, which should always be used to supplement a good diet rather than compensate for a poor one. Eating a balanced and varied diet, with lots of the above, should help ensure all the nutrients and micronutrients you ordinarily need, and forestall the necessity for masses of supplements. However, there are times when supplementation might be a useful option. Omega-3 EFAs are one nutrient that can be hard to get enough of even from a good diet, but choose your omega-3 supplements with care because there are lots out there that actually deliver very little active ingredient. Vitamin B can sometimes be a little deficient, especially as we age and our ability to absorb it from our diet deteriorates. Dietary iron is sometimes deficient in women of reproductive age, giving rise to sub-clinical iron deficiency anaemia which can cause symptoms of fatigue, muddled thinking and forgetfulness - and short-term supplementation to improve haemoglobin levels can be helpful.

And your most important meal of the day? Breakfast. You've heard that before, too - but there's no doubt about it, you'll concentrate better if you eat breakfast.

Rediscover your inner sloth

Back in 1931, economist John Maynard Keynes looked past the economic pessimism of the day to a time of abundance, when we would be freed from the relentless demands of work, and able to "pluck the hour virtuously and well". And in 1966, Japanese sociologist Ikutaro Shimizu talked about the "coming of the leisure age".

What happened?

Instead of finding time to stand and stare, in spite of all our labour-saving devices, we have created ways to become busier and busier with less and less leisure time. Now, on top of work, there is no reason to ever stop... No reason not to shop online at midnight, answer emails in the bath, text as we watch a movie, upload our Facebook status when at dinner with friends...

Instead of creating time for leisure, we are abusing time. When you find yourself booking a "speed yoga" session, it's time to pause for thought.

Last week someone told me that if he turns off his email alert/phone/computer in order to concentrate, he feels disconnected (literally) and vulnerable. It no longer feels normal to him to focus unimpeded on one piece of work at a time. What could he do?

If this is how you feel, it's time to take some time to stand and stare. You know no one ever died wishing they'd spent more time at the office.

Embrace life in the slow lane: how to take your foot off the gas

* leave holes in your diary rather than filling every moment with activity, easing the pressure on your time

* set aside some time every day when you turn OFF all electronic connectivity - it's amazing how much more you can get done without interruptions, creating more time to...

* find one activity that is difficult to hurry - t'ai chi, doing the crossword or sudoku, gardening, listening to a whole album of music while doing nothing else - and do it regularly

* eat your meals sitting down at a table at least once a day, without TV, radio or other interruptions

* monitor the speed at which you are doing something - typing, driving, reading, talking - and slow it down

"When it comes to slowing down, it is best to start small," says Carl Honore , author of In Praise of Slow. "Cook a meal from scratch. Take a walk with a friend. Read the newspaper without switching on the TV. Add massage to your lovemaking. Or simply take a few minutes to sit still in a quiet place."

You can't hurry marmalade...

You can't hurry marmalade... like love, mama said, you just have to wait... (it don't come easy, it's a game of give and take) and like the song says, you have to trust the process. The same goes for marmalade...

First, you have to wait for the briefest of seasons - from mid to late January - when the Seville oranges are available, and if you miss it you have to wait another year... it's about the only fruit that can't be found all year round.

I particularly like the ritual of making marmalade when the days are bleak and spring still feels unlikely, a gap between Christmas excess and January abstemiousness, filling my home with the scent of warm citrus and evoking summer when outside the skies are the colour of old saucepans.

I make my marmalade by boiling the oranges whole for a couple of hours. Then when they're cool they are much easier to handle - scooping out the flesh and pips, finely cutting the softened peel, reserving the original water in which to add all the ingredients and bring it to the boil.

It takes time, methodical time, and it's a process that can't be hurried. From sourcing the seasonal oranges, to checking the recipe, bringing out my preserving pan, boiling the fruit, sharpening my knife, working my way through each of the oranges... Then bringing it all gently to its boiling point - 220 degrees F, 105 degrees C - and maintaining that fast, rolling boil until it works its alchemy and reaches the point at which it sets.

I only make marmalade once a year, so the process hasn't become routine and I have to remind myself of each step, especially what it looks like when it reaches that setting point. I like the way I have to concentrate, watching as the syrup in which the now translucent slices of rind are bubbling, until it changes colour and tempo and shows me it's done.

You can't hurry it, that moment of magic when the combination of oranges, water and sugar becomes marmalade. Just give it time, no matter how long it takes...

Just like love.

How better posture improves concentration

What your posture has to do with your ability to concentrate may not be immediately obvious, but if you have a sedentary job, you may want to consider how you sit when you work.

You may also want to think about sitting on an exercise ball, or add a wobble cushion to your chair, while you work. Experts think that the micro-movements your body needs to make to adjust will do more than just improve your core muscles and posture, it can also make you concentrate better.

Why?

When you sit on an exercise ball, you are constantly making tiny, subconscious physical movements to maintain your balance. “Movement awakens and activates many of our mental capacities,” says neurophysiologist Carla Hannaford, who has studied the relationship between movement and learning. “Movement integrates and anchors new information and experience into our neural networks.”

It’s this subconscious mental activity that lies at the core of the science behind the benefit of the exercise balls, which has seen some schools in America replace their hard chairs with them. “The tiny movements kids make while balancing stimulates their brains and helps them focus,” says Dr. John Ratey, a Harvard University professor and author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Apparently some children with attention disorders have a ‘sleepy cortex’, and exercise combats that mental disengagement. “Just by using their core muscles more, they’re flipping (their cortex) on,” says Ratey. “This causes the prefrontal cortex to get turned on, which does a lot of things, including inhibiting impulses.”

So if you thought that sitting in front of a desk for any length of time just caused poor breathing patterns, restricted circulation, muscular strain and repetitive strain injuries (RSI) – think again. Swapping your chair for a posture ball, or sitting on a wobble cushion, could make all the difference to your concentration levels as well as your aching back.

Plato's concern

‎When was the last time you heard a parent complain about their child reading too much?

400 years BC, this was a concern for Plato. He was as worried about the impact of reading and writing on the brain as we are now about digital technologies.

"For this invention of yours will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn it, by causing them to neglect their memory, inasmuch as, from their confidence in writing, they will recollect by the external aid of foreign symbols, and not by the internal use of their own faculties..."

There is no halting progress but all these new-fangled inventions, from the printed book to the iPhone have their up and down sides. The key is making the most of them without losing sight of the necessity for balance.

Any new technology is a good servant but a bad master, so it's worth teaching ourselves and our children the use of the metaphorical "off" button, too and the benefits of concentrating on one thing at a time rather than perpetual multi-tasking.

A little something I concentrated on earlier...

Ruby the Musical Star, seen here on display at the Royal Opera House shop, London is the follow-up book to Ruby the Ballet Star both written by me, and illustrated by Anne Holt.

Both books tell the story of an indomitable guinea pig called Ruby who refuses to be put off from her aim and who learns that if at first you want to succeed, you have to concentrate on what you what to achieve, and find a way to do it...

Ruby is neither physically nor constitutionally blessed to immediately excel at either ballet dancing, or playing in the orchestra.

In the former she finds practice (10,000 hours anyone?) the route to success. In the latter, she finds that perseverance in finding the right instrument leads her to the triangle, an essential instrument for the playing of Liszt's Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major - otherwise known as the Triangle Concerto. Such an instrument suits her perfectly, in spite of her short arms and long whiskers, and all is well. Ruby achieves her aim of playing in an orchestra and is a lesson to us all...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ruby-Musical-Star-Ting---ling/dp/1857075218/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1294065760&sr=8-5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ruby-Ballet-Star-Twirly-whirly-Pop-up/dp/1857074653/ref=pd_sim_b_1