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Healthy Mind Psychology, 100 Drake Way, Reading (2025)

24/11/2025

Do you breathe through your nose or your mouth - and does it really matter? 👃😮

In our latest blog, “Mouth vs Nose: What Your Breathing Habits Reveal About Your Mental Health,” inspired by our Book of the Month 'Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art' by James Nestor, we explore how something as simple as how you breathe can shape the way you think, feel, and function.

🧠 Research shows that mouth breathing doesn’t just affect oxygen levels - it can heighten stress, disrupt sleep, and even influence mood and focus.

🌬️ Nasal breathing, on the other hand, activates the parasympathetic nervous system - the body’s natural “rest and restore” mode - helping to calm the mind and regulate emotions.

This blog dives into the fascinating science behind your breath and offers simple, practical ways to retrain your body (and brain) to breathe better.

✨ Read the full post here 👉 https://lnkd.in/edKuv4r6

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21/11/2025

Have you ever noticed yourself holding your breath when you’re anxious? 😮‍💨💭

Many people with anxiety unknowingly do this throughout the day. When carbon dioxide levels drop too low, the body panics, triggering sudden breathlessness, racing thoughts, or even a sense of danger. ⚡

Over time, the body adapts by over-breathing, staying in a state of constant alert.

It’s a cycle that begins in the body but feels like it’s all in the mind - proof of how tightly woven the two really are.

Anxiety isn’t just mental; it’s physiological too. Learning to breathe consciously can help bring the nervous system - and the mind - back into balance.💫

19/11/2025

Did you know your breath can influence how much you sweat when you’re stressed? 🌿🫁

Sweating is one of the body’s earliest stress responses - a signal that the sympathetic nervous system (our built-in “fight or flight” system) has switched on. While we can’t consciously decide to stop sweating, we can calm the systems that control it.

Slow, steady breathing activates the vagus nerve, stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system - the body’s natural “rest and restore” mode. This helps lower heart rate, reduce the release of stress hormones, and ease physical symptoms like clammy palms or tension. 😌

It’s not about controlling every reaction, but about regulating them - teaching the body that it’s safe. Over time, this awareness can make stress responses shorter, gentler, and less consuming.

💛 Our breath is the most accessible tool we have to bridge the body and mind - every slow inhale and exhale reminds the nervous system that calm is possible.

17/11/2025

Could the way we eat be shaping more than just our health - but our faces too? 🍞🍭

When processed foods became common, meals grew softer, sweeter, and less nutrient-dense. This not only changed our digestion and overall well-being but also our physical structure. With less need to chew, our jaws weakened, our mouths shrank, and dental problems soared. 🦷

In the space of a century, human faces literally changed shape - a striking example of how quickly environment and behaviour can sculpt biology. 🧬

🍽️ Our bodies are always adapting to what we feed them - not just in the gut, but in the bones, muscles, and even our breath.🌍

14/11/2025

Did you know that which nostril you breathe through can influence your state of mind? 🌿🧘‍♂️

James Nestor references both ancient pranayama practices and modern scientific studies in his book 'Breath - The New Science of a Lost Art'. Breathing through the left nostril connects us to the parasympathetic nervous system - the “rest and relax” response. It lowers blood pressure, cools the body, and calms the mind🩵 It even shifts blood flow to areas of the brain linked with creativity and emotional processing.🎨🧠

In contrast, right nostril breathing activates the “accelerator” - energising, stimulating, and warming the body.🔥

Our breath, it seems, is one of the few tools that lets us consciously communicate with the nervous system - a built-in way to balance both body and mind.

💭 Which side of your breath feels most natural to you today - calm or energised? 🌗

12/11/2025

👋 Meet the Team 👋

Dr Kim Kemp specialises in Clinical Psychology. She has 12 years’ experience in the management of clinical, health and pain management, blood borne virus, plastic surgery and burns, renal, cancer, dental, diabetes and injury rehabilitation services. Kim draws on a range of therapeutic approaches, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing.

She enjoys integrating the above approaches flexibly, depending on the nature of issues that a person presents with and their treatment goals and needs. Kim is committed to providing timely and useful interventions to the people she treats.

Kim completed both her undergraduate Psychology and Clinical Psychology Doctorate degrees with the University of Edinburgh. She spent 8 years working as a Clinical Psychologist in the NHS before spending almost 5 years living and working in New Zealand for the public health service and a private injury rehabilitation company.

10/11/2025

Do you breathe through your nose or your mouth most of the time? 👃😮

It might sound like a small detail, but the difference is profound. In James Nestor's book 'Breath - The New Science of a Lost Art', he explores how mouth breathing actually changes the shape of our airways - loosening tissues, narrowing passages, and making it harder to breathe over time. Nasal breathing, on the other hand, tones and opens those same muscles, making each breath smoother and more efficient💨

Put simply: mouth breathing begets more mouth breathing, while nasal breathing begets more nasal breathing.

This quiet habit can influence our sleep, stress, focus, and even facial structure - a reminder that something as simple as how we breathe can shape how we live🧘‍♀️

🌬️ Have you noticed how your breath feels when you slow down and breathe through your nose?

07/11/2025

Have you ever wondered why our faces look the way they do? 🧠👃

In James Nestor's book 'Breath - The New Science of a Lost Art', he explains how, over time, as our brains grew and evolved, they needed more space, and nature made room by reshaping the front of our faces.
The jaw became smaller, the bones thinner, and the mouth shorter, giving rise to one of our most distinctive human features: the protruding nose.

This remarkable adaptation, unique to us, came at a cost. Smaller mouths and weaker jaws have contributed to breathing issues, dental problems, and even changes in how we speak and sleep 😴

It’s a fascinating reminder that our evolution is both ingenious and imperfect - constantly adapting, yet never without trade-offs.

✨ How often do we stop to notice the quiet ways our bodies tell the story of where we’ve come from? 🌍

05/11/2025

Have you ever thought about how you breathe? 🌬️🫁

It’s something we do over 20,000 times a day, yet most of us rarely give it a second thought.

This month’s Book of the Month - “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nestor - dives deep into the simple act that keeps us alive and how we might be doing it all wrong.

Nestor explores the fascinating science of breathing and how our modern habits, from processed foods to constant stress, have literally reshaped our faces, narrowed our airways, and changed the way we take in air 😮

What struck me most is how something so basic can have such profound psychological and physical effects. From anxiety and sleep, to focus and emotional regulation - the way we breathe shapes the way we feel.

Have you ever noticed how your breath changes when you’re anxious, tired, or relaxed?

03/11/2025

Who is ready for some good news!? 👏🏼✨

Here at Healthy Mind Psychology, we love to spread a sprinkling of positivity at the start of each month to balance out all those negative news stories that we're often faced with in today's modern world.

October's joyful headlines include:

→ A new free app called Wildling is helping people reconnect with nature by mapping the UK’s wild spaces - from hidden green spots to remote coastlines🌿 The app aims to boost wellbeing and tackle the mental health crisis by making it easier for people to explore the outdoors and feel part of their local environment.

→ The Maldives has become the first country in the world to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B, according to the WHO - a major global health milestone.

→ A new King’s College London study has found that singing can be more effective than standard treatments for postnatal depression 🎶 Mothers who took part in Breathe Melodies for Mums singing groups experienced faster recovery and more days of full health compared to other activity groups.

And a positive piece from me...

This month I have shared with you some of my photos and insights from an incredible retreat with Richard Schwartz and Jeanne Catanzaro, along with other inspiring colleagues, professionals, and now new friends. I'm taking this moment to reflect on the experience of engaging with an academic hero and to find new focus with how I want my work to enter the world around me. It was a time of personal growth and healing also- something I wasn't expecting to encounter, yet when allowing myself the space and openness, there it was. I'm so grateful for this week, in this month, and I'm grateful for practicing skills that allow me to stop and appreciate!

What went right for you in October? I'd love to hear about your happiest moments or personal wins. Or... what was it like when you met a personal hero?

31/10/2025

❓ Have you ever noticed how getting a diagnosis changes how you see yourself? 🩺🔍

In The Age of Diagnosis, O'Sullivan describes how labels can become self-fulfilling. Once we know what to “watch for,” we start scanning. A headache feels like “another symptom.” Feeling tired? “Yep, that’s part of it.” Suddenly a bad night's sleep is down to the diagnosis rather than the wine and coffee we had with dinner the night before. Without meaning to, we can end up living more inside the diagnosis than inside ourselves.

For some, that diagnosis is a relief, a community, a compass. For others, it can quietly narrow who they believe they are.

It’s not about saying labels are “bad” – they’re often vital. But maybe it’s worth asking: do we hold the label, or does the label start holding us?

Has a diagnosis ever changed the way you related to your own body?

29/10/2025

❓ Are we looking too hard at the brain – and not hard enough at life? 🧬🌍

O'Sullivan argues in The Age of Diagnosis that while biology is key, it’s only part of the story. Trauma, neglect, violence, poverty – these shape brains and behaviour as much as any gene does.

Take ADHD. Yes, biology plays a role. But childhood experiences – abuse, instability, alcohol exposure – all raise risk. The problem? We often focus on what can’t be changed (biology) and overlook what can (social and environmental support).

It’s a call to widen the lens. Brains matter. But so do lives. Lives shape brains.

Do you think mental health care today balances biology and environment well enough?

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