LIFE IN FOCUS

TAKE A DEEP BREATH INHALE PEACE EXHALE HAPPINESS - A.D. Posey Our modern world blurs the boundaries between day  and night; between the diurnal and the nocturnal. A staggering and growing number of sleep deprived and caffeine infused individuals is resulting in hormonal imbalances, compromised immune systems, and executive functioning fatigue.  While sleep research continues to expand and attract the attention of neuroscientists, it is still very much in its developing stages.  The research, however, strongly supports that restorative sleep is vital for energy and health.  Complicating the picture and quite concerning is the direct link between restorative sleep and  anxiety .   Going to bed with a head full of mindless mental chatter is not likely to produce a good night's sleep. We've all been there. Shutting off and blocking out the mental noise feel like daunting tasks, making it harder to finally get to sleep, and even harder to remain asleep.  As restorative sleep decre

  A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because its trust is not on the branch but on its own wings.  -Charlie Wardle Panic attacks represent the quintessential experience of extreme overwhelm and terror in which your body, within minutes, autonomically (or automatically) arouses and springs into action, believing all is not well in the world and danger is lurking nearby.  If you've experienced one, then you know exactly what this feels like. If you haven't, then appreciating the experience of "dread" at full throttle in the absence of an  identifiable "threat" will make you scratch your head, wondering how it can be possible for the nervous system to escalate so quickly and go into fear mode when there is no real danger or apparent cause. In contrast to anxiety, or anxious feelings, panic attacks are so insidious in that they can show up, uninvited, and certainly unwelcomed, at any time.   Chronic Stress In a world of constant n