Question: Problem: Article: Sometimes, you can use visualization during a moment of anxiety to calm down. This usually means going on a mental vacation. You think of a calming place or scenario, close your eyes, and imagine being there. To start, brainstorm some places you find calming.  Think about your past and present. What memories do you find the most calming? Is there a special place or moment that brings you feelings of happiness? Make a list of your most calming places. These will vary from person to person and can be vague or specific. For example, you can picture yourself by an unnamed body of water. However, you may also remember a specific room in your grandmother's house where you used to nap as a child. Before you can visualize in moments of stress, you need to practice at home. This will help you get the hang of the visualization process.  Find a comfortable place in your home that's free of outside distractions. Lie down or sit in a position that's comfortable for you. If it helps, play soft music or light candles. Anything that makes the experience more relaxing.  Close your eyes. This makes it easier to focus on the mental image over your physical surroundings. If you're having trouble relaxing and getting started, try taking a few deep breaths. Breathe in through your nose and then out through your mouth, channeling the air towards your lower abdomen. This can help quiet your mind and allow you to focus on your imagination. Visualization is most powerful when you engage with all your senses. When you go on your mental vacation, pay attention to sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste.  Say a relaxing spot for you would be a spring day near a lake watching a group of ducks swimming. First, what does this image look like? What color is the water? What colors are the ducks? What kind of foliage surrounds you? Where are you in this scenario? Are you sitting on a nearby bench? Standing over a bridge running across the creek?  Engage with your other senses. What does it sound like? Imagine hearing the gentle flow of running water. Think about the quacking noises the ducks would make. What might this area smell like? Are there lilac trees blooming nearby, for example? Can you smell the wet dirt near the lake?  Can you taste the air in your mouth? Do you taste a small hint of dirt and water with each breath? How do you feel physically in this moment? Are you pleasantly warm with only a light spring jacket? Is there a gently breeze blowing on your face? When you find yourself in a stressful situation, close your eyes and take a mental vacation. If you can successfully imagine yourself somewhere calm and relaxing, this can help initiate the body's calming response. By doing this regularly, you can train yourself to respond calmly to stressful or frightening situations.  When you experience fear, your body enters fight-or-flight mode, which means it's pumping you full of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol (known as the "stress hormone") and your blood pressure and heart rate become elevated. Relaxing your body and mind through visualization will help activate the relaxation response, which will trigger your brain to release signals and hormones that calm your body and mind.  Many people find visualization very effective for combating fear in the moment. If you're scared of flying, try visualization during take off. If you're unable to sleep due to stressful thoughts, try visualizing before bed each night.
Summary: Make a list of places you find calming. Visualize in a comfortable environment at first. Use all your senses. Practice visualization during fearful moment.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: If you are worried that you may have scurvy, it is important to see your physician for definitive diagnosis and treatment. Your physician will start by asking you detailed questions about your dietary habits, to assess how much vitamin C you are getting. He or she will also perform a physical exam, looking for the signs and symptoms of scurvy. If your physician is concerned that you may have scurvy, the next step is to go for blood tests to have your vitamin C and iron levels measured. The reason that iron is measured as well is that your body's ability to absorb iron from your diet depends on the presence of vitamin C; therefore, if you have a shortage of vitamin C, you are prone to being iron deficient as well. Both of these are able to be measured in simple blood tests, and there are treatment options available should you prove to be deficient in vitamin C and/or iron. Since scurvy can negatively affect the joints (particularly in young children where it can lead to a growth arrest), your doctor will likely order x-rays of your knees, your wrists, and your ribs as a starting point. This can give him or her an indication of the health of your joints and bones, and provide insight as to whether or not they have been negatively impacted by a potential scurvy diagnosis.

SUMMARY: See your physician. Ask for blood tests. Obtain x-rays of your joints.

In one sentence, describe what the following article is about: Your child’s arms should be held out in front of them, then moved slowly backward. Ask your child to repeat this motion (front to back, back to front) the whole time. Demonstrate this movement, and encourage your child to try.  It may feel more natural to your child to move their arms up and down, but this is not an effective way to tread water and will tire them out quickly. Try pretending you and your child are in the jungle, using your arms to part the vines. The palms of your child’s hands should be facing in the direction their arms are moving. When their arms go as far as they can comfortably go toward your kid’s back, they should rotate their hands so that the palms face forward while moving their arms toward the front.  Ask them to pretend they are parting grass or vines and pushing them to the sides so they can get through. These motions should be done slowly and evenly to conserve energy. Once your kid has mastered the proper arm motions, you can move on to teaching the proper leg motions. Although breathing and arm-only exercises can be practiced standing up, in order to do leg exercises your child will need to sit, lie down, or try other positions.  Practicing at a playground is ideal because your kid can be helped into a position where their feet are not on the ground. You can help your kid hang from a horizontal bar or suspended rings on the climbing tower. To demonstrate these motions, suspend your own body off the ground. You may need to maneuver your child’s legs for them until they can do the motions on their own. One of the easier leg motions to learn is known as the "scissor kick."  To do this, ask your child to move their legs apart (one toward the front and one toward the back) then reverses them. Demonstrate this move for your child. Then ask them to pretend their legs are scissors cutting through a piece of paper. The "frog kick" is a move where your child will bend both legs, with the knees pointed outward. Then they will extend both legs at the same time. Demonstrate this for your child, then ask them to pretend like they are a jumping frog. The most efficient leg motion for treading water is called "the rotary" or "eggbeater." Unfortunately, this move can be difficult. For this one, one of child’s legs will make slow clockwise circular motions, while the other leg makes slow counterclockwise motions. Demonstrate this for your kid, then ask them to imagine they are mixing eggs with each foot. Have them try to do each leg independently, and work up to doing both at the same time.
Summary:
Answer: Emphasize a front-to-back arm motion. Pay attention to your child’s palms. Get your child into a position with their feet off the ground. Try a scissor kick. Do a frog kick. Work up to the eggbeater.