THE CHEMISTRY OF BREATHING
PRESENTERS: Peter M. Litchfield, Ph.D. and Sandra Reamer, MFA 2004 DATES: 18 Jan, 22 Feb, 21 Mar, 25 April, 23 May, 27 June, 15 Aug, 19 Sept, 24 Oct, 12 Dec LOCATION: 1942 Broadway, Suite 314, Boulder, Colorado TIME: 8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. RESERVATIONS: (720) 565-6097, or mindbody@bp.eduFEE: $100.00
Overbreathing (CO2 deficit) is undoubtedly one of the most insidious and dangerous physiological responses to stress, emotional distress, difficult and/or complex tasks, and unfortunately to the way in which we often meet professional and relationship challenges in our daily lives.Herbert Fensterheim makes this point clearly when he says: “Given the high frequency of incorrect breathing patterns in the adult population, attention to the symptoms of hyperventilation [overbreathing] should be a routine part of every psychological evaluation, regardless of the specific presenting complaints.”Surveys show that suggest that 10 to 25 percent of the US population suffers from chronic overbreathing and that up to 60 percent of all ambulance calls in major US cities are the result of overbreathing! Regardless of “state”(fight, flight, alert, relaxed, or elated) breathing chemistry needs to be in order! Overbreathing is a dangerous behavior immediately triggering or exacerbating a wide variety of serious emotional, perceptual, cognitive, attention, behavioral, and physical deficits in human performance and health.Overbreathing means bringing about carbon dioxide (CO2) deficit in the blood (i.e., hypocapnia) through excessive ventilation (increased "minute volume") during rapid, deep, and/or dysrhythmic breathing, a condition that may result in debilitating short-term and long-term complaints and symptoms.Slight shifts in CO2 chemistry associated with overbreathing may cause physiological changes such as hypoxia (oxygen deficit), cerebral vasoconstriction, coronary constriction, blood and extracellular alkalosis (increased pH), cerebral glucose deficit, ischemia (localized anemia), buffer depletion (bicarbonates), bronchial constriction, gut constriction, calcium imbalance, antioxidant depletion, platelet aggregation, magnesium deficiency, and muscle fatigue, spasm (tetany), and pain. The chemistry of breathing is a fundamental and system-wide physiological context that sets the stage for neurobehavioral competence, or its compromise.The potentially debilitating combination of cerebral hypoxia and cerebral hypoglycemia, resulting directly from deregulated breathing chemistry, may lead to serious deficits in ability to attend, focus, concentrate, imagine, rehearse the details of an action (e.g., golf swing), initiate challenging performance, engage in complex tasks (e.g., public speaking), sleep, make decisions, perform perceptual motor-skills, parallel-process information, problem solve, access relevant memory (e.g., test performance), think, and communicate effectively. Overbreathing, as a response to challenging and adverse circumstances, can result in loss of emotional control, intensification of emotional states, and exacerbation of debilitating stressful states of consciousness, e.g., apprehension, anxiety, anger, frustration, fear, panic, stress, vulnerability, and feelings of low self-esteem.Overbreathing sets the stage for defensive posturing and disconnection.These considerations, for example, have serious practical implications for the assessment and management of attention deficit disorder, and deserve to be seriously incorporated into the work of neurofeedback practitioners. The workshop will present principles and applications of monitoring
and evaluating the chemistry and mechanics of breathing, in the context
of live demonstrations of the effects of overbreathing on health and performance.Profile
assessments and techniques for restoring adaptive breathing and parasympathetic
regulation based on breathing chemistry (CO2) will be demonstrated, and
resulting data interpreted and discussed.The role of the mechanics of breathing
in respiration will also be demonstrated, including breathing rhythmicity
(e.g., gasping and breath holding), breathing resistance (nose vs. mouth),
breaths per minute (faulty assumptions), breathing depth, locus of breathing
(diaphragm and chest), and collateral muscle activity (EMG measurement).Breathing
training for achieving relaxation, an objective independent of improved
respiration, will be demonstrated in the context of heart rate variability
(HRV) training.
Effects of Overbreathing on Cerebral O2:
In this image, oxygen availability in the brain is reduced by 40% as
a result of about a minute of overbreathing (hyperventilation). Not
only is oxygen availability reduced, but glucose critical to brain functioning
is also markedly reduced as a result of cerebral vasoconstriction.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Breathing evaluation: 2:00 – 3:30 pm Instrumentation and measurement Questionnaires and checklists Interviewing and self-exploration Evaluating breathing mechanics Evaluating breathing chemistry Brief evaluation techniques Comprehensive evaluation Customizing evaluations Imagination, simulation, direct challenge In the field recording and evaluation Data interpretation: what does it all mean? Lunch: 12:30 – 2:00 Breathing Training: 3:30 – 5:00 pm Training objectives Education Short-term interventions Learning breathing mechanics Linking mechanics with chemistry Sensitivity training Visceral training Chemistry feedback training Breath-catcher bag training Demonstrations The “business” of breathing: 5:00 – 6:00 pm How do I get started? When can I begin? What do I have to know/learn? How much will it cost me? What kind of income can I expect? Inside-out services vs. outside-in services Fee for service model vs. the investment model Home monitoring and training New services for sale Marketing tools Promotional materials
Peter M. Litchfield, Ph.D. Dr. Litchfield has served as a consultant, educator, researcher, lecturer, and entrepreneur in the fields of healthcare and human performance for more than 30 years, including the design, planning, development, production, management, and delivery of academic and professional education curriculum in psychology, behavioral medicine, and health education: workshops, seminars, short-courses, certification programs, competency programs, specialty programs, MS degrees and Ph.D. programs.He is currently President and CEO of Better Physiology Ltd., a Boulder based company that designs, develops, and markets self-management instrumentation, education, and services (2000 – present). Dr. Litchfield has lectured extensively since 1970 throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia to diverse audiences, ranging from medical schools to corporate groups, on a wide range of subjects including psychology, behavioral medicine, behavioral physiology, self-regulation science, biofeedback, professional education, and business planning.Coincident with his entrepreneurial enterprise in education, he has for 18 years been involved in the design and development of self-regulation physiological monitoring instrumentation systems for use by healthcare practitioners, human service professionals, educators, and researchers. Dr. Litchfield served as Executive Director (President) and Chairman of the Executive Board (1997 - 2000) of Behavioral Physiology Institutes in Bainbridge Island, Washington, a private graduate school offering Ph.D. and MS degrees in behavioral medicine.During 1981 - 1996, he served as Executive Director of the Applied Psychophysiology Institutes, a well-recognized school of continuing education in San Francisco and in Bainbridge Island, which during his tenure provided hundreds of workshops and certification programs worldwide in the fields of behavioral medicine and biofeedback for healthcare professionals.During 1976 - 1982, he served as Director of Proseminar Institute (nonprofit) in San Francisco, at the time the largest and best-known provider of continuing education in psychology in the nation that offered more than a 3000 programs during his tenure.He was Assistant Professor of Psychology (1970 - 1974) and Associate Professor of Psychology with tenure (1974 - 1981) at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. Dr. Litchfield also served as Chairman of the Board of Neurodata Systems Inc., 1994-1997, which developed physiological monitoring software applications for both patient and practitioner education.Other positions included Coordinator (and faculty member) of the Behavioral Medicine Specialty of the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology at the Rosebridge Graduate School (1982-1986) in Walnut Creek (CA), Acting Director of Conferences and Institutes at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (1984), and Principal in Physiodata, Inc. and in Inspiration Technologies both of which developed software-management physiological monitoring instrumentation systems. Dr. Litchfield earned his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Portland (1971), his M.A. degree in psychology from San Diego State University (1969), and his B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Michigan (1963).His specialty areas lie within the fields of behavioral medicine, behavioral physiology, behavioral health, applied psychophysiology, behavioral pharmacology, and research design.Specific areas of expertise include placebo effects, conditioning theory, drug addiction, biofeedback, and respiratory behavioral physiology.Other areas of expertise include business planning/development for healthcare professionals, and software design/development of educational, clinical, and research protocols for physiological monitoring and recording. |