How the Physical Body Holds Mental Tension

Tension 

 

The connection between mind, body, posture, and stress

Tami Bulmash

 

 Photo by Dylan Sauerwein on Unsplash

 

If you’ve ever endured a nerve-racking situation followed by a throbbing noggin, it wouldn’t seem far-fetched to connect one with the other. Nearly one in four adults reports experiencing multiple headaches every year in the United States. The World Health Organization estimates 50% of all adults have at least one headache annually. Though there are over 150 types of headaches, tension headaches are the most common and often triggered by stress. Yet while doctors might agree the two can be linked, they still don’t understand exactly how.

Brian Cole, MD, an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush and a professor of orthopedics, anatomy, and cell biology at Rush University Medical Center, agrees with this sentiment. “The exact reason why stress creates headaches is still unclear. One theory is that muscle tightness in the neck and head, which can reflexively increase with stress, results in dull tension headaches.”

It’s reasonable to presume a relationship between a headache and stressful thought exists because of where the brain is located. Since thoughts tend to be associated with the mind — which is often synonymous with the brain — they all appear to reside in the same place. However, the farther down pain travels in the body — further distancing itself from the head — the murkier the relationship between thoughts and tension becomes.

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When pain is felt, it’s usually assigned to a specific body part. Localizing pain to a certain region inadvertently disconnects it from the rest of the body, thus making its origin harder to pinpoint. For instance, there is a low likelihood a medical doctor would suggest the onset of torticollis, a form of neck strain, is the result of ruminating thoughts. Linking kyphosis, or hunchback, with depression sounds even less plausible. But are connections like these really so hard to believe? Not according to Erik Peper, PhD, a professor of holistic health studies at San Francisco State University.

The manifestation of thoughts in the body

In his study, “How Posture Affects Memory Recall and Mood,” Peper illustrates how thoughts and body tension are interrelated. Participants were asked to recall negative memories while sitting in slouched and upright positions. They were told to do this again, but this time to think of positive memories. Peper’s research found that 86% of participants reported it was easier to access negative memories when collapsed than upright, and 87% of participants said it was easier to access positive images while erect than hunched over.

Peper explains, “If you are in a collapsed position, I think almost everybody finds it harder to access or be really involved in a positive memory and vice versa. When you’re in the upright position, it doesn’t mean you can’t have negative or hopeless thoughts. However, if you keep that opposition — as if you’re slightly removed from the emotional impact, once you’re in the upright position, it’s easier to access the more empowering and positive thoughts. Because thoughts and body are not separate.”

The evolutionary patterns of posture are described in Peper’s book, Tech Stress, where he examines the prevalent symbols of power throughout evolution. “A depressed or collapsed posture is a universal symbol of constricted posture in both humans and animals. In nature, throughout the animal kingdom, collapsed posture indicates submission. On the other hand, erect posture universally indicates leadership.”

But don’t get too excited about straightening your back just yet. There is a difference between sitting tall — which connotes length — and sitting straight. The latter has become a well-known way to command sitting correctly. Thoughts evoked by picturing a “straight” back might resemble a soldier pose, the most common depiction of what “standing up straight” looks like. Yet, if the images associated with a straight back were truly congruent with alignment — or balance for that matter — good posture would not be analogous to a fixed and tense figure.

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The power of habit

The desire to perform activities successfully is a deep-seated norm. “Sitting up straight” is the perfect example of how people may unwittingly arch backs, lift chests, pull back shoulders, and tighten necks — namely contort their bodies — in a strained attempt to do it the “right” way. Because the alternative — collapse — represents defeat.

A century-old method known as the Alexander technique was developed upon the principle of unknown habits. The founder of the technique, F.M. Alexander, was a Shakespearean actor who repeatedly lost his voice during performances. He thought he was doing everything right, yet his problem only worsened.

Alexander sought the aid of medical professionals to fix his problem but to no avail. He came to wonder if perhaps it was something he was doing to himself that caused his laryngitis. He learned that once he stopped repeating certain habits — such as standing soldier-like while performing — his voice returned. More importantly, he discovered the self-imposed pressure to perform successfully resulted in tense and tight positioning that constricted his breathing and voice.

The next time you sense the slightest tinge of stress — whether you’re running late or feeling angry, frustrated, or generally inadequate — just pause. Take note of what is happening in your body. Catching that moment is key.

Common contributing stressors

Wanting to succeed in life is part of human nature. Social comparison theory tells us that individuals determine their own worth based on thoughts of how they stack up against others. Yet, comparison doesn’t always lead to self-improvement. For example, social media has made measuring up seem impossible as it takes a considerable toll on self-esteem and can lead to depression.

In addition to the pressure of achieving or maintaining success, Americans are notorious workaholics. They work long hours, take few vacations, are more likely to work at night or on weekends, and feel pressured for time. It’s no wonder Americans are among the most stressed people in the world.

Beret Arcaya, a master Alexander technique teacher and the founding member of the American Society for the Alexander Technique, describes this as a “habit of thoughts.” She says this is something we do with our brain and we don’t have to. “You don’t have to be on that rat race. You really don’t. But you’ve got to get conscious of when you’re doing it.”

The way you react to each situation is a choice, though until that choice is realized, the reaction remains a habit. When it comes to lack of time, Arcaya explains, “You have to say, ‘Ah, I was just thinking that way again — I don’t have any time, I don’t have any time, I don’t have any time!’ Wait a minute. Stop and feel what happens to your breath.”

Arcaya tells her students there may never be enough time, but that’s fine. There might even be a way out of the rat race if you don’t react to it. She says, “Don’t even argue with the habit. Don’t even argue with ‘I don’t have enough time, or I didn’t have time today.’ It will make you stay in the moment, and that will elongate the time.” In other words, wait before responding to a stressful thought because that delay keeps you in the present.

Psycho-physical pain

Having taught the Alexander technique for over 40 years, Arcaya is no stranger to human behavior and how habits present themselves as tension. A renowned teacher, people come to her when they have exhausted all other options to ameliorate their pain.

One such woman came to her after suffering for years with terrible neck pain. Doctors couldn’t find a way to help her. They didn’t consider her stress level even though thoughts of neglect, abandonment, betrayal, and loss consumed the woman’s life. She developed a wrenching spasm of the neck called torticollis shortly after the passing of someone beloved to her.

Arcaya recalls it was way beyond a stiff neck, the woman was essentially trapped in her pain. The pain made it impossible to eat or walk properly, forcing her to walk sideways. It seemed the woman couldn’t face the events of her life. Her head was turned away, and the tension locked it there. It was as if it was all too much; she couldn’t even look at it.

When asked if she believed thoughts could directly impact the body, Arcaya responded, “Thoughts and the way you think — and the whole way you are when you are thinking — is your body tension. It doesn’t impact it; it is it.”

See it to believe it

As past president of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, Peper is an established biofeedback expert. His work focuses on training individuals to learn awareness and gain control of body functions through the aid of electromyography (EMG). During a treatment, biofeedback sensors are attached to the skin to measure the body’s biological signals that are shown as feedback that informs and assists in health improvement.

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The psycho-physiological principle asserts that “every change in the physiological state is accompanied by an appropriate change in the mental-emotional state, conscious or unconscious, and conversely, every change in the mental-emotional state, conscious or unconscious, is accompanied by an appropriate change in the physiological state.”

Another study led by Peper, who was instrumental in establishing the first holistic health program at a public university in the United States, recorded physiological signals demonstrating the mind-body connection.

A 25-year-old participant who had been playing the piano for 16 years was asked to relax and then imagine playing a musical piece in a series of intervals. Muscle activity was recorded from her right forearm extensor muscles and displayed on a large screen so that other group participants could observe. Each time she imagined playing the piano, the forearm extensor muscle tension increased, even though there was no observed finger and forearm movements. The physiological monitoring showed how her body responded to “playing” only in her thoughts. When recordings of her movement were shown later, she reported being completely unaware of activating her muscles — especially since her forearm appeared to stay in a relaxed position.

If the mere conscious thought of performing an activity (such as playing the piano) can evince body tension, what can be said about the impact of unconscious thinking? This begs the question of what might happen to the body with repeated thoughts of anger, resentment, and hopelessness — or with thoughts of kindness and love.

What you can do (or not do) about your thoughts

According to Arcaya, thoughts don’t have to become tension. She says, “We’re always directing ourselves. We don’t realize it a lot because it is subconscious.” She notes that direction provides a purpose toward a goal that serves to guide or motivate. “To have conscious direction is to take agency over your life. It’s to have self-possession. To take your energy and decide what you will and what you will not do.”

When thought is attached to an expectation and the outcome is unmet, the reaction will translate into tension. That is unless the habitual response is recognized first. The next time you sense the slightest tinge of stress — whether you’re running late or feeling angry, frustrated, or generally inadequate — just pause. Take note of what is happening in your body. Catching that moment is key. Pay attention to your thoughts. Giving yourself even 10 seconds to pause might allow you to substantially calm your nerves and prevent you from going down a familiar spiral that could lead to stress and pain.

Albert Einstein famously said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” A habit can only be changed if it is recognized. Then it’s up to you to make the choice of which direction you choose to take. You could repeat the same habit and get the same outcome or pause and see if a new path presents itself. Who knows, you might even bypass a headache (or two or three or 20) along the way.

Tami Bulmash

I write and teach about the mind-body connection and its relationship to health and well-being. More at https://www.bodyandposture.com/

Some Things That Have Helped Me Worry Less

Worry 

 

Don’t ask yourself if your worries are rational, focus on what actions you can take.

Scott Young

 

Photo by:  Fernando @cferdo 

I worry about things more than I’d like to.

I worry about making mistakes, getting criticized, having my business fail, being awkward or rude in social situations and lots of other things.

Most of the time my worries just stay in my head. They’re there, but I ignore them well enough to get on with my day and keep working.

Other times, those worries grip me and derail my progress. I struggled immensely with big parts of writing my upcoming book. My own expectations (and imagined attacks) made starting the writing portion of each chapter a strenuous chore.

I don’t think my level of anxiety is unusual or extreme. I don’t get panic attacks, and I haven’t had anxiety debilitate my life the way it does for many. That said, I’ve tried a lot of things to make it easier. Here’s what’s worked for me.

Things I’ve Done to Worry Less

Most problems in life are stubborn, rather than complicated. Thus we tend to spend our lives fighting against the same problems over and over. Progress is possible, but at the same time, our old foes are rarely completely vanquished.

Overcoming worrying isn’t a trivial issue. But it there are strategies you can use to lessen the impact.

1. Don’t Own Your Thoughts

I’ve found meditation helpful, not so much for the actual meditation itself, but for the idea of what meditation tries to accomplish and to apply the same abstract principles to my ordinary life.

One of the core ideas of Buddhist philosophy is anatman, or not-self. The idea essentially boils down to reviewing everything in your conscious experience and recognizing that you don’t have control over it.

It’s easy to see your thoughts as part of yourself. Something you create and control. It can therefore be frustrating when you can’t help yourself from worrying.

Another way of looking at it, however, is that thoughts just happen. They are a sensory experience, not part of you. Thoughts comes from inside your head, but otherwise they’re as much under your control as what you see, hear or feel from the outside world.

Denying ownership of a thought gives you a choice not to grab onto it. Just like how you might have an annoying sound in the background and choose to ignore it because there’s nothing you can do, you can similarly have a distracting, negative thought and choose to do nothing about it.

This approach is different because most of us spend our time trying to “stop” ourselves from worrying (which makes it worse), or try to “solve” the worry by imagining a way to avoid the threat. It’s easy to forget that there’s a third option: do nothing.

2. Get Off Social Media.

Facing down your fears is good. But there’s a difference between healthy exposure to things that give you anxiety, and indulging in a non-stop download of algorithmically-optimized information designed to trigger your threat response.

Twitter is my vice of choice. I love being able to engage with smart people from around the world on interesting topics. More than once I’ve learned fascinating new things. But the platform is also a nightmare for throwing up things that make you feel angry or anxious.

I now believe that resiliency must be matched with choosing appropriate environments. Mute the people and sources that make you feel worried. Especially if those are the people on “your side.”

3. Identify Your Acute Anxieties, Face Them Head-On.

Not all anxieties are recurring. You may worry that you said something weird to that person one time, and forget about it a few days later. Others, however, have consistent themes and show up again and again.

One of mine is definitely being criticized for my work or projects. Over the last thirteen years I’ve said and done a lot. A lot of the things I’ve said or decisions I made have probably been wrong. Thus, anyone with an axe to grind against me would have plenty of material to make an attack.

This worry has often been stoked by seeing highly-public cases of someone having their career ruined because of a relatively innocent mistake. I remember puzzling over the downfall of Jonah Lehrer, whose sky-rocketing writing career was torn down over misquoting Bob Dylan. I agree he made some mistakes, but the punishment didn’t match the crime.

Although I can’t simulate a career-ending mistake without making one, I’ve tried to attenuate my own fears of criticism by going out and reading it. When I do, the attacks are rarely as bad as the ones I imagine. Even from people who hate me (one guy even created a website saying why he hated me), the reality is usually easier than my imagination.

Your fears may be different. It might be failing a big test, getting fired or being humiliated. Seeking mild exposure to those things you fear is often the only way to diminish their intensity.

4. Stop Trying to Solve It.

My friend, a clinical psychologist, told me that one of the big mistakes people make to deal with anxiety is seeking reassurance. You worry, so naturally you want to talk to someone who will tell you everything will be okay.

While this does make you feel better for a short time, it actually makes it worse later. By “rewarding” your anxious mental patterns with reassurance, you strengthen this pattern of behavior through negative reinforcement.

Similarly, you can have the same issue when trying to “solve” your worries. If you’re have anxious thoughts about someone humiliating you at work, you might fantasize your comeback.

The alternative approach, suggested by my friend, was to resist the temptation to find a way out of your problem. It will make your anxiety worse, but because there’s no “resolution”, the pattern that led to your anxiety is reduced.

This model suggests that anxiety is a motivation with a clear purpose. That purpose is to identify threats and formulate solutions to them. When the goal of this feeling is frustrated, the response is weakened for the next time.

Ask if a Worry is Actionable, Not Rational

I got an email from a reader who also struggles with anxiety, and said that although he can see from a distant perspective that many of his anxieties are irrational, he can’t so easily separate the legitimate worries from the ridiculous ones when they’re afflicting him.

A behavior that is bad 100% of the time is much easier to break off as a habit than one which is beneficial some of the time. When you quit smoking, you can go cold turkey. When you want to quit overeating, you can’t stop eating food. Similarly, some anxiety is probably a good thing. But too much can be crippling.

What this reader wanted to be able to do was to figure out which fears were rational and which were not, in the moment, so as to ignore the irrational ones.

You can’t separate out the “rational” worries from the irrational ones.

Most of your anxieties, even the ones you should have less of, do have a rational basis. The things I fear are not things that are totally without merit, although I should probably worry about them less than I do typically.

Instead of asking whether something is irrational, ask if you should change your behavior. When a worry can’t change your response, it’s not helpful, even if it might be rational.

Scott Young

 

Six Ways to Stay Healthy When You’re Stressed

Stay Healthy 

 

 

Keeping on top of your mental health in today’s taxing world can be tough. But a few changes can help lift the burden.

The Guardian

• Sirin Kale

 Give a shoutout to Emma Simpson on social or copy the text below to attribute.

 

Human beings are not built to endure prolonged periods of stress. If you want to see an extreme example of what it can do to a person, observe prime ministers as they enter and exit Downing Street. Before, fresh-faced, they simper for the cameras. Afterwards, they are gaunt, grey and lined. It is like watching an accelerated version of ageing, and a reminder of how stress corrodes the human body.

We live in stressful times, though. As of September 2019, more people are scratching a living in the gig economy, without paid leave or long-term job security. Austerity has ripped through communities like bullets through plasterboard, destroying the mental health of those forced into dehumanising encounters with the machinery of the welfare state. The Amazon is burning, a no-deal Brexit is looming and we are hurtling headfirst towards climate catastrophe. It is no wonder that our mental health services are in crisis, more young people are seeking help for anxiety and schoolchildren are being taught mindfulness to cope with the stresses of social media. According to a 2018 study, 75 percent of Britons experienced such profound stress in the previous year that they felt unable to cope.

The fact is, stress kills. Prolonged stress has been linked to heart disease, depression and diabetes. But how can you stay healthy when you are stressed? We asked some experts.

Eat Well

The salty-sweet smack of snack foods is often the only thing that gets many of us through stressful times. But the crisps you inhale as a deadline looms will make you feel rotten in the long term.

“When we’re overwhelmed, it’s easy to reach for a quick fix in the form of sugar-rich food and drink,” says Azmina Govindji, a registered dietitian and a member of the British Dietetic Association. “This gives you an instant spike in serotonin, the body’s feelgood chemical, but it won’t last – and neither will the fast rise in your blood glucose levels, which also gives you a temporary high.” Instead, opt for complex carbohydrates such as porridge or wholegrain bread, which will give you the energy you need to face a difficult day.

Taking 10 minutes to eat lunch away from your desk will reduce stress levels and prevent unhealthy snacking. “Eat mindfully,” Govindji urges. “Get away from your desk, chew your food slowly and savour the flavours.”

According to research from the American Psychological Association, a third of Americans reach for high-fat, high-calorie foods when stressed. “To avoid this, plan your meals to give you structure and control.” It is unrealistic to expect people to meal-prep during periods of high stress, but a very easy meal plan of porridge and berries for breakfast, a wholegrain sandwich for lunch and vegetable pasta or fish with potatoes and broccoli for dinner is achievable and healthy.

Exercise Helps

Many of us are guilty of an all-or-nothing mentality when it comes to fitness. We hammer the gym hard before a holiday, but when life gets in the way, our fitness goes out of the window. However, exercise is a powerful natural stress-reliever that will flood your body with feelgood endorphins.

To motivate yourself, the personal trainer Maiken Skoie Brustad advises you to “remember how good you feel after you train. After exercise, you’ll always feel better.”

If you can’t afford to visit a gym, or have responsibilities that keep you at home, there are plenty of free home-based workouts that can be squeezed into a few minutes. “Write down a cardio circuit of five exercises – three high-intensity exercises, such as running on the spot or squat jumps, and then two ab exercises such as planks or crunches – stick a timer on for 45 seconds and do each exercise for two rounds.”

Don’t feel guilty about taking time out to exercise. “You have to be strict with yourself,” Brustad says. “Say: ‘OK, on Tuesday I will clear an hour out of my schedule,’ and train no matter what. When you’re training, focus on why you’re there. It shouldn’t be a treat to give yourself time to train. It should be a necessary thing for healthy human beings.”

Don’t Be Afraid to Seek Professional Help

It is not normal to exist in a state of perpetual stress. If you feel you are approaching burnout, your first port of call should be your GP. “We all have stress in our lives,” says Dr Zoe Norris, a GP, “but the definition of anxiety as a disease is different from stress.” If patients come to her complaining of stress, she will ask them whether they have been having palpitations, panic attacks or long-term sleep disturbances. These could all indicatebe indicators that they were struggling with an anxiety disorder.

Even if your stress does not meet the clinical threshold for an anxiety disorder, it is a good idea to be mindful of your stress levels. “Almost every part of the body is affected by experiencing constant stress,” Norris warns. “We are not designed for it as humans.”

Develop coping mechanisms. “Put into place protective factors to reduce the impact stress is having on you,” Norris says. Exercise, reading or socialising with friends are all levellers. “If you don’t have these coping mechanisms, what happens is that you develop bad coping mechanisms, such as drinking coffee to stay awake, then wine to help you sleep.”

Some stress is unavoidable: a relative dying, for instance. But if your stress is work-related, Norris encourages her patients to speak to their boss. “If their employers aren’t accommodating, they may come to the conclusion they need to find somewhere else to work.”

Stress is a trigger for self-destructive behaviour, such as smoking or drinking too much. “Lots of patients are keen on detoxes or Dry January, but sustained lifestyle changes are better in the long term.”

Try to Get Enough Sleep

When you are stressed, your sleep often suffers. But staying up late in order to tackle a growing to-do list is counterproductive. “If you are suffering from poor sleep, that will make your stress levels higher,” says Dr Guy Leschziner, a neurologist and the author of The Nocturnal Brain. “Getting as much sleep as possible when you’re feeling overwhelmed will help to manage your stress.”

What about sleeping pills? “They’re a double-edged sword,” Leschziner says. He explains that they can be helpful as a short-term solution, when someone is under acute stress. “If your GP prescribes you a short course of sleeping tablets, for a maximum of two weeks, they can be helpful. People can get to a crunch point where they don’t sleep at all and they can end up in a nervous breakdown situation.” But you can’t rely on pills as a long-term solution to stress. “It’s easy to get on a slippery slope. It’s better to resolve your sleep issues by dealing with the underlying source of stress.” Cognitive behavioural therapy can also help address your anxiety and improve the quality of your sleep.

Get Smart About How You Cope

“If you feel overwhelmed, it’s usually a combination of work and home-life factors,” says Andrew Kinder, an occupational psychologist and a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Develop your support structures. “Look at your relationships,” says Kinder. “Who are your potential allies? It may be family or friends. When people open up, they’re often overwhelmed by how much support is available to them.”

Problem-solving approaches will mitigate extreme stress. If you are worried about debt, for example, tackle it head-on. “Get out the brown envelopes, open them up, start talking with your creditor and negotiate. That will give you more hope than just sitting on it and knowing that it’s festering in the background.”

e Sabotage

An exercise to clear your anxious mind

Anxiety 

 

 

 

Cari Nazeer

Sep 26·1 min read

 

 

Thanks to Norbert Kundrak for sharing their work on Unsplash.

 

🤔 Today’s tip: To stop overthinking, focus your gaze on one tiny detail.

The French psychoanalyst François Roustang devised a series of techniques to help his patients break their bouts of overthinking. The easiest of these is one you can do anywhere, at any time: Zoom in on a single small detail of a nearby object, like the pattern on a throw rug or the design on your notebook. Allow everything else in your field of vision to fade away. “The aim is to isolate what you’re looking at from its context,” Ollivier Pourriol explains on Forge, “banishing everything else into the background haze.”

You can use this mind-clearing exercise to stop anxious thinking in its tracks. The moment of clarity you create will give you the space you need to make your next move. “When your mind gets stuck in a ruminative loop,” Pourriol writes, “the solution, counterintuitively, is to think less.”

📚 More from Forge on getting out of your own way:

A Better Way to Pay Attention
Read more >>

How to Stop Overthinking
Read more >>

Four Mindset Traps Holding You Back at Work
Read more >>

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“Stress Hormone” Cortisol Linked to Early Toll on Thinking Ability

Stress 

The stresses of everyday life may start taking a toll on the brain in relatively early middle age, new research shows.

Scientific American

• Karen Weintraub

 Thanks to Christian Erfurt for sharing their work on Unsplash.

The stresses of everyday life may start taking a toll on the brain in relatively early middle age, research shows. The study of more than 2,000 people, most of them in their 40s, found those with the highest levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol performed worse on tests of memory, organization, visual perception and attention.

Higher cortisol levels, measured in subjects’ blood, were also found to be associated with physical changes in the brain that are often seen as precursors to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, according to the study published in October 2018 in Neurology.

The link between high cortisol levels and low performance was particularly strong for women, the study found. But it remains unclear whether women in midlife are under more stress than men or simply more likely to have their stress manifested in higher cortisol levels, says lead researcher Sudha Seshadri. A professor of neurology, she splits her time between Boston University and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where she is the founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's & Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Working on the study “made me more stressed about not being less stressed,” Seshadri says, laughing. But, she adds, the bottom line is serious: “An important message to myself and others is that when challenges come our way, getting frustrated is very counterproductive—not just to achieving our aims but perhaps to our capacity to be productive.”

The study is the largest of its kind to look at these factors and tightens the link between cortisol, midlife stress and brain changes, says Pierre Fayad, medical director of the Nebraska Stroke Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, who was not involved in the new research. “It confirms some of the previous suspicions,” he says. “Because of its quality, it gives a lot more credibility.”

Bruce McEwen, a neuroscientist and cortisol expert at The Rockefeller University who also was not part of the study, says he found it “frankly remarkable.” Cortisol, he notes, is necessary for life—so it is obviously not all bad. But stress can lead people to potentially problematic behaviors such as smoking, drinking and eating unhealthy food. “Cortisol is itself the tip of the iceberg of things that are going on in a person’s life and a person’s body,” he says.

The new research included volunteers from the Framingham Heart Study, a 70-year-old study of residents from a Boston suburb. Researchers are now studying the grandchildren of the original participants, most of whom were white, middle class and suburban, Seshadri says. Although the scientists did not ask participants what kinds of specific stresses they were under on the day their blood was drawn, she says the volunteers were able to come in for a three-to-four-hour examination—so “you would say they were at a reasonably stable point in their life.”

Yet even these relatively young and apparently well-off people showed signs of brain changes, both in brain scans and in their performance. “This is the range of stress that a group of average Americans would experience,” Seshadri says. The highest cortisol levels were associated with changes that could be seen on an MRI scan of the brain, the study found.

Cortisol does not distinguish between physical and mental stress, so some of the people with high levels might have had physical illnesses such as diabetes that drove up their cortisol levels, Seshadri says. It is also possible levels of the hormone might spike in people’s blood if they are already undergoing brain changes—that is, the elevated cortisol could be the result of the changes rather than their cause—she says. But she thinks this is unlikely because the trial participants were so young. Each subject’s cortisol level was measured only once (in the morning), so the measurements do not reflect changes over time or variations throughout the day, she notes.

The volunteers were given tasks such as copying a shape they were shown, or being asked to repeat a story they had been told 20 minutes earlier. The differences in performance were subtle, Seshadri says. She could not immediately tell whether subjects had higher or lower cortisol levels based on how well they carried out the tasks. “It was more that in terms of group averages there was a real difference,” she explains.

Earlier research has shown weaker-than-average performances on tests like these are associated with a higher risk of dementia decades later, and Seshadri says high stress levels in midlife might be one of many factors that contribute to dementia. Understanding that link might offer a potential opportunity to reduce risk—but she cautions research has not yet shown conclusively that lowering cortisol levels will reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Other research has shown cortisol levels can be reduced with adequate sleep, exercise, socializing and relaxing mental activities such as meditation. “There are a number of intriguing, fairly simple things that have been shown to change these levels,” Seshadri says. “But whether they will in turn translate into better preservation of the brain is something that can only be determined in a clinical trial.”

Rockefeller University’s McEwen says other research suggests it is never too late to adopt a healthier lifestyle by taking steps like reducing stress, exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, getting enough good-quality sleep and finding meaning in one’s life. “The life course is a one-way street,” he says. But “the brain does have the capacity for repairing.”

Karen Weintraub is a freelance health and science journalist who writes regularly for the New York Times, STAT and USA Today, among others.

Study finds link between burnout and weight gain

Study finds link between burnout and weight gain

 Feeling overworked contributes to a variety of unhealthy behaviors.

 4-Jun-2019 10:50 AM EDT
University of Georgia
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  Credit: UGA
  Heather Padilla

Newswise — A new study from the University of Georgia has found that feeling overworked contributes to a variety of unhealthy behaviors that can cause weight gain
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Results from the study published in the Journal of Health Psychology point to the role work stress can play in our ability to adopt the necessary strategies to maintain a healthy weight.
“We have so many things coming at us every day, and we only have so much energy,” said lead author Heather Padilla, faculty member and researcher in the Workplace Health Group at UGA’s College of Public Health.

“When our energy gets used up, we don’t have the energy to make ideal decisions about what we eat.
”
When work gets in the way of wellness
Despite the growing presence of workplace-based wellness and weight management programs, over two-thirds of working adults are overweight or obese.

Most worksite programs focus on things like nutrition education, access to healthy foods or access to a gym.
Job demands are rarely, if ever, incorporated into weight loss interventions
.
Padilla and her colleagues began to wonder if work stresses might be depleting the mental and physical energy employees needed make changes to their diets or fit in a workout.
So, she decided to look at how workload and burnout impact a person’s nutrition and physical activity choices.

Lacking the energy to make healthy choices
The researchers recruited 1,000 men and women working in full-time jobs to answer questions about their workloads and exhaustion or burnout. They were also asked to report their eating and exercise habits.
The results of their analysis showed that employees with heavier workloads were more likely to emotionally eat, eat without stopping, and reach for fattier foods, and those who were burned out tended to do the same and exercise less.

“Anecdotally, the findings aren’t shocking,” said Padilla, but she said they do point to a greater need to understand how job demands affect issues like obesity.

“We spend so many of our waking hours at work,” she said. “These findings require us to think about how our work affects our health behaviors and self-care.”

Co-authors include Mark Wilson, Robert Vandenberg, Marsha Davis and Malissa Clark.
Read the full journal article here.

Stress, A Dangerous Killer

Stress is detrimental to your health

Story at-a-glance

• Research has linked chronic stress with brain shrinkage, working memory impairment and an increased risk for early onset of Alzheimer’s disease
• Having elevated blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol can impair your thinking skills and memory over time. A previous study suggests elevated cortisol affects your memory by causing a gradual loss of synapses in your prefrontal cortex
• Research suggests you can slow down the rate of cognitive decline by 75 percent by restoring your hearing with hearing aids, and by 50 percent by restoring vision through cataract surgery
• Among the most valuable dementia prevention strategies is a cyclical ketogenic diet, as it optimizes mitochondrial function and supports healthy brain function
• Other important lifestyle factors that influence your dementia risk include sleep, physical fitness and exposure to electromagnetic fields
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• Studies have found strong links between acute and/or chronic stress and a wide variety of health issues, including your brain function and risk for dementia. For example, animal research¹ published in 2014 reported that elevated levels of stress hormones can speed up short-term memory loss in older adults by inducing structural changes in the brain.
  The findings indicate that how your body responds to stress may be a factor that influences how your brain ages over time. Previous research has also linked chronic stress with working memory impairment² and an increased risk for early onset of Alzheimer's disease.³
  Fortunately, there's compelling research showing your brain has great plasticity and capacity for regeneration, which you control through your diet and lifestyle.
  Based on the findings linking dementia with chronic stress, having effective tools to address stress can be an important part of Alzheimer's prevention, not to mention achieving and maintaining optimal health in general.
  

  Stress Impairs Cognition and Memory, Recent Research Shows

  Most recently, researchers warn that having elevated blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol can impair your thinking skills and memory over time.^4,5,6,7 The researchers used the government-sponsored Framingham Heart Study database to identify more than 2,200 people who did not have any signs of dementia, and followed them for eight years. As reported by The New York Times:⁸
  

  "Researchers gave tests for memory, abstract reasoning, visual perception and attention to 2,231 people, average age 49 and free of dementia. They recorded blood levels of cortisol and did MRI examinations to assess brain volume.

  The study,⁹ in Neurology, controlled for age, sex, education, body mass index, blood pressure and many other variables, and found that compared with people with average levels of cortisol, those with the highest levels had lower scores on the cognitive tests.

  In women, but not in men, higher cortisol was also associated with reduced brain volume. There was no association of the lowest cortisol levels with either cognitive test scores or brain size."

  A significant limitation of the study is the fact that blood levels of cortisol were only checked once, at the end of the study, and may therefore not be representative of people's long-term exposure to this stress chemical.
  Still, a number of other studies have reported similar findings, so the link between stress and cognitive decline certainly appears to be real. Lead author Dr. Justin Echouffo-Tcheugui, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, commented on the findings:¹⁰
  

  "Our research detected memory loss and brain shrinkage in middle-aged people before symptoms started to show in ordinary, daily activities.

  So, it's important for people to find ways to reduce stress, such as getting enough sleep, engaging in moderate exercise, incorporating relaxation techniques into their daily lives, or asking their doctor about their cortisol levels and taking a cortisol-reducing medication if needed. It's important for physicians to counsel all people with higher cortisol levels."

  Stress Hormones Have a Corrosive Effect in Your Brain

  When you're stressed, your cortisol rises and, together with adrenaline, triggers your body's fight-or-flight response. Cortisol also increases the glucose level in your bloodstream and temporarily enhances your brain's use of that glucose, while simultaneously suppressing bodily functions deemed irrelevant during an emergency, such as digestion.
  While this cascade of biochemical effects is beneficial when you're in immediate physical danger, cortisol has a corrosive effect that, over time, actually wears down the synapses responsible for memory storage and processing. This was demonstrated in the 2014 animal study¹¹ mentioned earlier.
  According to that study,¹² elevated levels of cortisol affect your memory by causing a gradual loss of synapses in your prefrontal cortex, the brain region associated with short-term memory. As noted by the authors:
  

  "Short-term increases in cortisol are critical for survival. They promote coping and help us respond to life's challenges by making us more alert and able to think on our feet.

  But abnormally high or prolonged spikes in cortisol — like what happens when we are dealing with long-term stress — can lead to negative consequences that numerous bodies of research have shown to include digestion problems, anxiety, weight gain and high blood pressure."

  While the authors of the Neurology study state that it is "premature to consider intervention" based on their findings,¹³ they suggest that lowering your cortisol may be a beneficial first step. The 2014 study authors also suggested you may be able to protect your future memory function by normalizing your cortisol levels.
  Such intervention would be particularly beneficial for those who are at high risk for elevated cortisol, such as those who are depressed or are dealing with long-term stress following a traumatic event.
  

  Stress May Trigger Clinical Onset of Alzheimer's

  Other scientific findings have linked stress and severe dementia. Argentinian research¹⁴ presented at the World Congress of Neurology in 2013 suggests stress may actually act as a trigger for the onset of Alzheimer's disease, as nearly 3 in 4 Alzheimer's patients (72 percent) had experienced severe emotional stress during the two years preceding their diagnosis.
  In the control group, only 26 percent, or 1 in 4, had undergone major stress or grief. Most of the stresses encountered by the Alzheimer's group involved:
  
• Bereavement — death of a spouse, partner, or child
• Violent experiences, such as assault or robbery
• Car accidents
• Financial problems, including "pension shock"
• Diagnosis of a family member's severe illness

According to lead author Dr. Edgardo Reich:¹⁵

"Stress, according to our findings, is probably a trigger for initial symptoms of dementia. Though I rule out stress as monocausal in dementia, research is solidifying the evidence that stress can trigger a degenerative process in the brain and precipitate dysfunction in the neuroendocrine and immune system. It is an observational finding and does not imply direct causality. Further studies are needed to examine these mechanisms in detail."

Vision and Hearing Problems Also Linked to Dementia

Aside from managing daily stresses, protecting your vision and hearing are other important factors that can influence your dementia risk. In fact, recent research¹⁶ suggests you can actually slow down cognitive decline by restoring your hearing and/or vision, and by a significant degree.
Lead author Dr. Asri Maharani, a researcher at the University of Manchester in the division of neuroscience and experimental psychology, told NPR,¹⁷ "We found the rate of cognitive decline was slowed by 75 percent following the adoption of hearing aids. It is a surprising result."
While the researchers were surprised by the findings, it does make sense. As noted by Dina Rollins, an audiologist who was not involved in the study, "Stimulating your ears stimulates the nerves that stimulate your brain," so by restoring hearing, you're "giving your brain what it needs to make sense of what you're hearing."
Another possible reason for this link has to do with the fact that hearing loss leads to social isolation, which has also been shown to speed cognitive decline and raise your risk of dementia. A related study¹⁸ by the same research group shows cognitive decline is also slowed by restoring vision. Here, Maharani's team found that cataract surgery slowed the rate of cognitive decline by 50 percent.

Ketogenic Diet Protects Against Dementia

As mentioned, there's good news in all of this, and it's that your brain has a natural capacity for regeneration and rejuvenation. Among the most valuable dementia prevention strategies is a cyclical ketogenic diet described in my book, "Fat for Fuel" and many other articles. If you're new to this topic, see "Burn Fat for Fuel" or "A Beginner's Guide to the Ketogenic Diet" for an introduction.
In short, a ketogenic diet, being high in healthy fats and low in net carbohydrates, allows your body to start burning fat as its primary fuel and results in the creation of ketones. And, compared to glucose, ketones:

• Burn more efficiently
• Are a superior fuel for your brain
• Generate fewer reactive oxygen species and less free radical damage
• Influence DNA expression to increase detoxification and antioxidant production
• Inhibit inflammation

Recent research^{19,20,21,22,23} shows a ketogenic diet improves neurovascular integrity and function and clearance of amyloid-beta (a main component of the plaque that accumulates in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s disease) — in part by improving the gut microbiome — and neurovascular function plays a major role in cognitive capability.
More specifically, poor neurovascular function is strongly associated with loss of language, memory and attention, while reduced cerebral blood flow raises your risk for depression, anxiety and dementia. Impaired blood-brain barrier function has also been linked to brain inflammation, dysfunction of synapses, impaired clearance of amyloid-beta plaques, psychiatric disorders and dementia.²⁴
According to the authors, "Our findings suggest that ketogenic diet intervention started in the early stage may enhance brain vascular function, increase beneficial gut microbiota, improve metabolic profile, and reduce risk for Alzheimer's disease."

High-Sugar Diet Is a Recipe for Dementia

It's important to realize the adverse impact sugar has on your brain. A high-sugar diet triggers insulin resistance, and there's a very strong link between insulin resistance and Alzheimer's.²⁵ For example, a longitudinal study²⁶ published in the journal Diabetologia in January 2018, found that the higher an individual's blood sugar, the faster their rate of cognitive decline.
Even mild elevation of blood sugar and mild insulin resistance are associated with an elevated risk for dementia.^27,28 Research²⁹ published in 2013 showed that sugar and other carbohydrates disrupt your brain function primarily by shrinking your hippocampus, a brain region involved with the formation, organization and storage of memories.
The authors suggest that “strategies aimed at lowering glucose levels even in the normal range may beneficially influence cognition in the older population.” A similar study³⁰ published in 2014 found that Type 2 diabetics lose more gray matter with age than expected, and this brain atrophy also helps explain why diabetics have a higher risk for dementia, and have earlier onset of dementia than nondiabetics.
As noted by Dr. Sam Gandy, director of the Center for Cognitive Health at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, these findings “suggest that chronic high levels of insulin and sugar may be directly toxic to brain cells” and that “this would definitely be a potential cause of dementia."³¹
Perhaps one of the most striking studies³² on carbohydrates and brain health revealed high-carb diets increase your risk of dementia by 89 percent, while high-fat diets lower it by 44 percent.

Sleep, Exercise and EMF Avoidance Are Other Key Dementia Prevention Strategies

Aside from stress and diet, three other lifestyle areas that play important roles in the development of dementia are sleep, physical fitness and exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs), the influence of which are summarized below.

• Sleep — Wakefulness is associated with mitochondrial stress. Without sufficient sleep, neuron degeneration sets in, which can lead to dementia.^33,34,35 In fact, sleep deprivation is a risk factor for severe dementia, and animal research³⁶ reveals inconsistent, intermittent sleep results in considerable and irreversible brain damage.
Research published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging³⁷ suggests people with chronic sleep problems also develop Alzheimer's disease sooner than those who sleep well.
Your blood-brain barrier becomes more permeable with age, allowing more toxins to enter.³⁸ This, in conjunction with reduced efficiency of the glymphatic system due to lack of sleep, allows for more rapid damage to occur in your brain and this deterioration is thought to play a significant role in the development of Alzheimer's.
• Exercise — Recent research³⁹ found women with the highest cardiovascular fitness had an 88 percent lower risk of dementia than those with moderate fitness. Even maintaining average fitness is worthwhile, as women with the lowest fitness had a 41 percent greater risk of dementia than those of average fitness.
• Electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure — Microwaves emitted from cellphones, Wi-Fi routers, computers and tablets (when not in airplane mode) harm your brain by increasing intracellular calcium through the voltage gated calcium channels (VGCCs) in your cells.
The tissues with the highest density of VGCCs are your brain, the pacemaker in your heart and male testes. Once VGCCs are stimulated, they trigger the release of neurotransmitters, neuroendocrine hormones and highly damaging reactive oxygen species, significantly raising your risk of anxiety, depression and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.⁴⁰
Basic prevention strategies include turning your Wi-Fi off at night, not carrying your cellphone on your body and not keeping portable phones, cellphones and other electric devices in your bedroom. To learn more, see my interview with professor Martin Pall. A more extensive list of prevention strategies to minimize your EMF exposure can be found in "Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist Reveals the Hidden Dangers of Electric Fields."

While I believe these are among the most important prevention strategies, there are of course many other factors that can come into play. To learn more about the prevention and reversal of cognitive decline, see my interview with Dr. Dale Bredesen, director of neurodegenerative disease research at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, whose unique ReCODE (Reversal of Cognitive Decline) program offers hope for many.

Parent-child bond predicts depression, anxiety in teens attending high-achieving schools

Parent-child bond predicts depression, anxiety in teens attending high-achieving schools:

 Researchers in the Arizona State University Department of Psychology have found the quality of the parent-child relationship steadily declined starting in grade 6, and levels of alienation, trust and communication in middle school predicted depressive symptoms and anxiety in grade 12.


By Kimberlee D’Ardenne
What causes some adolescents to thrive while other teenagers struggle with substance abuse and mental health? Through years of research, the scientists who study development and the clinicians who treat troubled teenagers have developed a list of risk factors that predict the problems faced by adolescents.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an influential philanthropic organization that focuses on health, recently published a report on adolescent wellness that prioritized risk factors for adolescents. The top three – poverty, racism and discrimination – have been on the list for many years, but the 2018 report included a new factor: ongoing pressures to excel that occur in high-achieving schools in mostly affluent communities.


Although attending a high-achieving school might not seem as risky as living in poverty or facing racism or discrimination, decades of research has shown that in fact it is.

“Teens in high achieving schools face different kinds of pressure, but it is substantial pressure nonetheless,” said Arizona State University psychology graduate student Ashley Ebbert.

Ebbert has worked with Frank Infurna and Suniya Luthar in the ASU Department of Psychology to examine how the quality of the parent-child relationship influenced the mental health of adolescents who attend high-achieving schools. She is first author on an upcoming paper in Development and Psychopathology that will be published on October 25.

A long-term predictive study of adolescence

The researchers used data from the New England Study of Suburban Youth (NESSY), a long-term study of adolescents led by Luthar, Foundation Professor of Psychology at ASU and co-author on the paper. Participating students came mostly from two-parent families where the parents were white-collar professionals..............................

More Evidence: Untreated Sleep Apnea Shown to Raise Metabolic and Cardiovascular Stress

More Evidence: Untreated Sleep Apnea Shown to Raise Metabolic and Cardiovascular Stress:

 Sleep apnea, left untreated for even a few days, can increase blood sugar and fat levels, stress hormones and blood pressure, according to a new study of sleeping subjects. A report of the study’s findings, published in the August issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, adds further support for the consistent use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a machine that increases air pressure in the throat to keep the airway open during sleep.

Study Reverses Thinking on Genetic Links to Stress, Depression

Study Reverses Thinking on Genetic Links to Stress, Depression

Studies and Research are going on all the time and often they clash over the outcome.  I do believe that stress can lead to depression and if there is a genetic link, this may exacerbate the condition.


Newswise — New research findings often garner great attention. But when other scientists follow up and fail to replicate the findings? Not so much.

In fact, a recent study published in PLOS One indicates that only about half of scientific discoveries will be replicated and stand the test of time. So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that new research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that an influential 2003 study about the interaction of genes, environment and depression may have missed the mark.

How Stress Influences Your Heart Attack And Stroke Risk

How Stress Influences Your Heart Attack And Stroke Risk

Stress is one of the most dangerous conditions for our health but also the one we have the power to control.

• Stress increases your risk of heart attack and stroke by causing overactivity in your amygdala — your brain’s fear center, which is activated in response to both real and perceived threats
• People who are highly stressed have higher activity in the amygdala. This, in turn, triggers arterial inflammation, which is a risk factor for heart disease, including heart attacks
• High stress also raises your level of disease-promoting white blood cells and releases norepinephrine, which can cause dispersal of bacterial biofilms from your arterial walls, thereby triggering a heart attack

Study Reveals Role of Spleen in Prolonged Anxiety After Stress

Study Reveals Role of Spleen in Prolonged Anxiety After Stress

 I thought this study was important to share as it shows the connection between brain and immune system. 


Newswise — SAN DIEGO – Scientists are uncovering clues to what might be unfolding in the relationship between the brain and immune system in those who suffer from long-term repercussions of stress.

New research details those connections, specifically that an abundance of white blood cells in the spleen could be sending messages to the brain that result in behavioral changes long after mice experience repeated stress.

“We found that immune cells in the spleen can contribute to chronic anxiety following psychological stress,” said Daniel McKim, a graduate student at The Ohio State University and the lead author of the study  ........