My Blog
Welcome to the DOCwellness blog, where I share evidence-based insights on anxiety, stress, confidence, sleep and mental wellbeing – drawing on hypnotherapy, CBT, neuroscience and psychology. Whether you’re looking for practical tools or deeper understanding, I hope you find something here that helps. Do get in touch if you’d like a chat about any of the issues raised or would like more detailed help.
How Practising Gratitude Can Transform Your Mental Health
When it comes to mental health issues we’re living through unprecedented times. Anxiety, depression, and burnout have reached levels unseen in modern surveys, affecting workplaces, schools, and homes across the country. But research has found that people who regularly express thankfulness are physically healthier, more optimistic and better at …
Bad Thinking, Illusions and Leaves on a Stream
How much of what you think is true? Have a think. How much has any basis in reality or fact?
It takes self-reflection and a certain distancing to really determine how much of our thinking is bad thinking – whether it’s true or useful. Because our thoughts are a curious mix of hypotheses, musings and what ifs. Yet we take them as real …
Bedtime Breathing Exercises for Better Sleep
We spend a third of our lives asleep. Or at least that’s the aim. For many these days it’s not as easy as it should be. Our busy western lives, stresses and worries can cause racing thoughts and untold struggles when in bed trying to drift off. If you suffer too, here’s where your breathing could be your life saver. Below are some simple bedtime breathing exercises …
Positive Upward Spiralling towards Happiness
We’ve all been trapped in a negative thought spiral, where one negative thing happens and we start heading down a rabbit hole with it – overthinking it all. What we need is some positive upward
spiralling instead. One of the obvious examples of a negative thought spiral is when a friend doesn’t reply immediately to a message …
5 Steps to Overcoming Anxiety and Stress – by Accepting it
Anxiety seems to lurk behind every corner we turn. We worry about our identity, the environment, economic uncertainty, conflict, our own expectations and those of others on us. But there’s a well-known secret in third wave therapy and cognitive therapy that helps us in overcoming anxiety – stop fighting. The question is how. (And indeed why, when fighting is what we’re taught to do.) …
Why Does Deep Breathing Help Anxiety? The Science Explained
It seems the vagus nerve acts a bit like an information superhighway running from your brain to your lungs, heart and digestive system. When you take slow, deep breaths, most particularly focusing on long exhales, you are stimulating this nerve. It sends a comforting message to your brain: “We’re safe. All is OK.” …