Professor: This post will finish the proposed six (6) stages for handling breathing discomfort. So far, we have completed a tour through the first five (5) stages:
1. CONTACT! A breathing alarm signal just arrived at posterior insula!
2. SEND OUT ALERT! Anterior insula and the rest of saliency network (SN) received the alarm, too!
3. FULL ATTENTION! The SN puts the Central Executive Network on the lookout & quiets down the Default Mode Network!
4. GET READY TO ACT! Task: Breathing 'tubes' want medication via inhaler!
5. ACT! Action: Go get inhaler and use it!
Professor: We will add a final, sixth stage for communication to Menon & Uddin’s model of five perceptual processing stages (2010) that has been our guide for the first two parts. (Here are links to Part 1 and to Part 2.)
6. COMMUNICATE! Let others know how well the medication is working!
Professor: This sixth stage includes listening for the meaning of a question and then answering it. For us, the answer will estimate a subjective rating of shortness of breath. For example, “Easy breathing” or “It’s moderately hard to breathe!”
Student: Some people ask me about my breathing. And I really don’t know what to say!
Professor: Asking questions is great tool for opening our ability to connect to our self. Already our mind has shifted its attention and is taking actions. Talking about symptoms, while experiencing them, is in the details for the upcoming Stage 6: Communicate!
