Breathing is a whole mind-body experience and reflects our physical, cognitive and emotional well-being.  By allowing the breath to occur effortlessly, we provide ourselves the opportunity to regenerate. Although there are many directed breathing practices that specifically directs us to inhale or exhale at specific rhythms or depth to achieve certain goals, healthy breathing is whole body experience.  Many focus on being paced at a specific rhythm such as 5.5 breath per minute; however, effortless breathing is dynamic and constantly changing. It is contstantly adapting to the ..read more

Erik Peper, PhD, Yuval Oded, PhD, and Richard Harvey, PhD Adapted from Peper, E., Oded, Y, & Harvey, R. (2024). Quick somatic rescue techniques when stressed. Biofeedback, 52(1). “If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.” ― Dalai Lama XIV To implement the Dalai Lama’s quote is challenging. When caught up in an argument, being angry, extremely frustrated, or totally stressed, it is easy to ruminate, worry. It is ..read more

What can we do to reduce the risk of catching a cold or the flu?  It is very challenging to make sense out of all the recommendations found on internet and the many different media site such as X(Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.  The following podcasts are great sources that examine different topics that can affect health. They are in-depth presentations with superb scientific reasoning. Huberman Lab podcasts discusses science and science based tools for everyday life. https://www.hubermanlab.com/podcast.  Select your episode and they are great to listen to on your cel ..read more

Adapted from: Peper, E., Harvey, R., & Lin, I-M. (2019).  Mindfulness training has themes common to other technique. Biofeedback. 47(3), 50-57.  https://doi.org/10.5298/1081-5937-47.3.02 This extensive blog discusses the benefits of mindfulness-based meditation (MM) techniques and explores how similar beneficial outcomes occur with other mind-centered practices such as transcendental meditation, and body-centered practices such as progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), autogenic training (AT), and yoga. For example, many standardized mind-body techniques such as mindfulness-based ..read more

Erik Peper, PhD and Richard Harvey, PhD Cancer screening tests are based upon the rational that early detection of fatal cancers enables earlier and more effective treatments (Kowalski, 2021), however there is some controversy.  Early screening may increase the risk of over diagnosis, treating  false positives (people who did not have the cancer but the test indicates they have cancer) and potentially fatal treatment of cancers that would never progress to increase morbidity or mortality (Kowalski, 2021).  Today about $40 billion spent on colon cancer screening, $15 billion spe ..read more

Listen to the podcast, The Digital Detox Blueprint: How To Win The War Against Your Smartphone Today, produced by The Root Cause Medicine Podcast, and dive deeply into the following topics. 1. The role of technology and stress in our lives 2. What is tech stress? 3. Practical strategies for managing tech stress 4. The connection between technology and eye health 5. The negative effects of social media 6. How to use technology for personal health and well-being 7. The importance of sleep for overall well-being To listen: apple.co/46QaoAu The episode is available on all podcast platforms ..read more

Adapted from: Peper, E. & Harvey, R. (2023). Be skeptical: Finding and evaluating online health resources. Townsend Letters. The Examiner of Alternative Medicine, October 21, 2023. https://www.townsendletter.com/e-letter-20-evaluate-sources-to-make-informed-choices/ Erik Peper, PhD, BCB and Richard Harvey, PhD Source: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48445803437_726b61e3d1_b.jpg An unprecedented flood of information is available today at our fingertips in the form of cell phone apps, news stories, blog posts, social media feeds, advertisements, websites, videos, and audio resourc ..read more

August 28, 2023 By Erik Peper, PhD, BCB, Richard Harvey, PhD, and Nancy Faass, MSW, MPH Adapted by the Well Being Journal, 32(4), 30-35. from the book, TechStress: How Technology is Hijacking Our Lives, Strategies for Coping, and Pragmatic Ergonomics by Erik Peper, Richard Harvey, and Nancy Faass. Every year, millions of office workers in the United States develop occupational injuries from poor computer habits—from carpal tunnel syndrome and tension headaches to repetitive strain injury, such as “mouse shoulder.” You’d think that an office job would be safer than factory work, but ..read more

Adapted from Peper, E. & Fuhs, M. (2004). Applied psychophysiology for therapeutic use: Healing a shoulder injury, Biofeedback, 32(2), 11-18.  “It has been an occurrence of the third dimension for me! How come my pain — that lasted for more than 10 days and was still so strong that I really had difficulties in breathing, couldn’t laugh without pain nor move my arm not even to fulfil my daily routines such as dressing and eating — disappeared within one single session of 20 minutes? And not only that, I was able to freely rotate my arm as if it had never been injured before.” —23 year ..read more

Adapted from:  Peper, E. Reflections on the increase in Autism, ADHD, anxiety and depression: Part 1-bonding, screen time, and circadian rhythms. NeuroRegulation,10(2), 134-138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15540/nr.10.2.134 Over the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of autism, Attention-Deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, depression, and pediatric suicidal behavior. Autism rates have risen from 1 in 150 children in 2000 to 1 in 36 children in 2020 (CDC, 2023), while ADHD rates have increased from 6% in 1997 to approximately 10% in 2018 ..read more