Currently viewing the category: "stress"

Aging Through Metabolism

By On · Add Comment · In aging, energy expenditure, fight or flight response, health, higher energy states, resting metabolic rate (RMR), stress

Check it out: Higher energy states may lead to quicker aging.  No, no, no…not vibrancy–higher energy as in cost, energy expenditure.

A recent study showed that energy expenditure, measured in a metabolic chamber over 24 hours and during rest, predicted natural mortality.  Researchers looked at 652 non-diabetic, healthy Pima Indian volunteers.  Total energy expenditure was tracked between 1985 and 2006 with a mean follow-up time of 11.1 years, while resting metabolic rate (RMR) was evaluated between 1982 and 2006 with a mean follow-up time of 15.4 years.  During the study period, 27 study participants died of natural causes.

The results were that as energy expenditure increased, so did the risk for natural mortality.  Hmmm…

According to Reiner Jumpertz, M.D., lead author of the study, “We found that a higher endogenous metabolic rate, that is, how much energy the body uses for normal body functions, is a risk factor for earlier mortality.  This increased metabolic rate may lead to earlier organ damage (in effect accelerated aging) possibly by accumulation of toxic substances produced with the increase in energy turnover.”

Before you get all worked up, the data did not apply to exercise-related energy expenditure.  Said Jumpertz, “This activity (exercise) clearly has beneficial effects on human health.”

Here’s the best way to look at this: Energy expenditure increases during fight or flight responses–or during times of stress.  Further, the body will also increase metabolism when it has lots of food to breakdown (another form of stress).  When the energy needs of the body go up during these times of stress–so does natural aging.

The ideal situation is to get your body to the lowest energy state possible.  This means eating smaller meals, getting physically fit, and reducing musculoskeletal stress by bringing your body back into proper function (through things like chiropractic care, massage, and functional rehabilitation).  Fail to do these things and you will increase the rate at which you age.  These results may be preliminary, but I think they’re telling.  May as well start now, before time passes you by.

Let it Out!

By On · Add Comment · In anger, conflict, heart attack, men, resentment, stress, work-related

Men who stifle their anger at work are at a greater risk for heart attack; so says a recent study out of Stockholm, Sweden. Men who consistently failed to express their resentments over conflicts with a fellow worker or supervisor were more than twice as likely to have a heart attack or die of heart disease. And ignoring an ongoing work-related conflict was associated with a tripled risk of heart attack or coronary death, the study of almost 2,800 Swedish working men found.

Coping styles may play a big part in the physiological outcomes, as women did not show a risk of heart related disorders when stressed at work. Maybe men need to consider pedicures. Check it: Women in general appear to handle stressful situations better than men, noted Dr. Bruce S. Rabin, director of the Healthy Lifestyle Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

“Social interaction, having people to talk to, is extremely important,” Rabin said. “If you keep things to yourself, you have high levels of stress hormones. Women are more comfortable in social interactions than men. They talk more, while men tend to keep within themselves.”

So men…let it out! You can’t scream at work, but you can certainly bring your frustrations home with you…and talk about them. Yes, talk…Find a friend, like your pitbull, Killer, maybe, and talk to him. Let him know how you’re feeling. Let him know that you’d love to feed him your boss’ appendages…starting with Mr. Douche’s third leg. You might not be able to actually do it in this lifetime, but just saying it helps. I know, I do it all the time.

How about a punching bag with your asswipe coworker’s headshot on it? I’ve seen video of one friend at the gun range with a picture of a sworn enemy’s face on the target–quite effective, I tell ya. Lastly, you can try a friendly game of Grand Theft Auto. I find the virtual beat-the-crap outta anyone and everyone enormously gratifying. Let it out, man. It’s for your heart health, dammit.

Chocolate Stress Cure

By On · Add Comment · In antioxidants, cacao. chocolate liquor, dark chocolate, female orgasm, flavanols, hormones, phenylethylamine (PEA), stress

Listen up, ladies: Eating chocolate may decrease the stress response. Ooh…got your attention didn’t I? You heard right, a small amount of dark chocolate a day can keep stress at bay.

According to a recent study done at the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced the levels of stress hormones in highly stressed people. Dang! That sounds like the cure for me.

Dark chocolate is rich in bioactive compounds. It contains flavonols–antioxidants found in dark vegetables. Dark chocolate has eight times more antioxidants than do strawberries. Since dark chocolate is only sugar and fat mixed with cacao, or “chocolate liquor“–it’s a purer form than milk chocolate, white chocolate, or sweet chocolate. Some other health benefits of dark chocolate:

Now I know what you’re thinking: If a little dark chocolate is good, then a five pound block is better, right? No, no, no…too much sugar, and remember that the chocolate we eat is also mixed with fat, so the recommendation is an ounce and a half per day (the picture to the right shows a 1.5 oz. bar). That’s it. A little chocolate every day, less stress, more pleasure–what more could you need?

Psychopaths Have Faulty Brain Connections

By On · Add Comment · In amygdala, biological model, emotions, neural, orbitofrontal cortex, perceptions, polarity, potholes, psychopathy, stress

Ever wonder what motivates people to kill, rape, or torture? Ever wonder what differences exist between people who do this and you? Well scientists have found a piece to the puzzle: Psychopathic people have disruptions in their neural connections in parts of the brain that deal with emotions, and handle impulses and decision making.

Recent research published in the latest issue of Molecular Psychiatry shows that the connection between the amygdala, which processes emotions, and the orbitofrontal cortex, which handles impulses and decisions, are dysfunctional. These two brain regions function together to produce actions based on conscious decision. We use emotions to guide these decisions.

Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized by amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, and failure to learn from experience. Psychopaths–people exhibiting psychopathy–have a disruption–researchers called them “potholes” in the neuronal connections (between nerve cells) that allow this function to proceed unimpeded. Normal, non-psychopathic people have no disruptions or potholes.

Although it was only a matter of time before the physiological and structural deformities in psychopathy were uncovered (this is true for all mental disorders, of which depression is not one to my estimation), the pothole findings are not what interest me. For my understanding, a physiological response is a given in any “disorder”. But I always ask the question, “Does the physiological change cause the disorder or is it the other way around?” When it comes to disorders of the mind, I think in general, the physiologic change is a result or manifestation of a faulty or dysfunctional mental process.

Think about this: our bodies are constantly changing, reshaping and reforming all the time, and our brains are no exception. Our nervous systems change and adapt to stimuli and the environment around us. We develop new neural connections and pathways as a response to stress. Stress can be environmental, mental, or simply learning new things. When we are imbalanced in our perceptions, polarized–that is, when we see more of one side than another–we create different pathways (and probably lose some) than when we are seeing both sides of a situation, when we are in balance. Mental polarity causes electrical charges, just like a battery. This electrical polarization in my opinion is what causes the potholes seen in psychopathy–which is an extreme form of charge. Revisit the definition of the disorder above–doesn’t it describe exactly what I am talking about here?

The unfortunate part of this type of finding is that the current paradigm in psychiatry (still the reigning authority on clinical mental health) is the biological model. The belief is that physiology is cause. In other words, it’s the physical dysfunction that leads to disorder. As a result, the typical treatment options are 1) find a drug to combat pothole formation or 2) screen potential pothole developers and catch before psychopathic behavior manifests–both futile in my opinion.

What I believe needs to be done–and we are probably years off–is to work psychologically with these patients, try to regain perceptual balance through mental techniques, and then focus these techniques on all mental and psychological patients, regardless of the issue. But like I said, we are probably way off from that being the treatment method of choice. So until then we will simply have to marvel in discovery; and with regard to these latest findings, I am in awe.

American Kids More Mentally Disturbed Than Euro Kids?

By On · Add Comment · In depression, drugs, medicated, mental health, pharmaceutical, psychotropic, stress

Are Americans more depressed and mentally disturbed than Europeans? How about our kids? Now c’mon…people are people, right? Americans don’t have more stress than Europeans, Asians, or Latin Americans. Everybody has stress. Especially other industrialized countries–we all have to deal with economic issues, crime…traffic! No, no, no…Americans aren’t more mentally disturbed than Euros.

Then why are more American kids being heavily medicated with psychotropic medications than European kids? According to a recent study, children in the U.S. are significantly more likely to be prescribed drugs for mental conditions than their European counterparts. Psychotropic drugs include stimulants (Ritalin), antidepressants (Prozac, Zoloft), and antipsychotics (Risperdal). The research showed that American kids were more than two times as likely as Dutch children and more than three times as likely as German children to be medicated with a psychotropic drugs. American children were also substantially more likely to be on multiple psychotropic drugs. So I ask the question again, are our kids more mentally disturbed?

You know the real answer: Hell no! Our kids are more medicated for one simple reason–America is a gold mine for pharmaceutical sales. The reason is three-fold:

  1. Americans believe in magic bullets
  2. Americans worship medicine and put their doctors on pedestals
  3. American doctors are given financial incentives (like trips, cruises, and other gifts) to prescribe particular meds

What else would you expect? The current mental health paradigm in this country is that the cause of mental illness (depression?) is biochemical. What a bunch of horseshot. I cover this subject extensively in my book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health; but suffice it to say there isn’t one shred of evidence making this paradigm a fact. It is all theory. And a poor one at that.

All this in light of another recent study that shows psychotherapy to be better than meds in treating complex psychiatric problems. Time to cut the crap and get your kids off the psychotropics.

Pregnancy Stress Linked to Schizophrenia

By On · Add Comment · In babies, epigenetics, gender identity disorder, genetic, gestation, mothers, pregnancy, psychopathy, schizophrenia, stress, war
Severe stress during pregnancy may help cause schizophrenia. So says a study out New York University School of Medicine. According to researchers, severe stress–like wars, natural disasters, terrorism, or sudden bereavement–can lead to epigenetic changes, which are changes in gene expression, not changes to the DNA itself.

The study looked at data from 88,829 people born in Jerusalem from 1964 to 1976. They wanted to see if an increase in schizophrenia occurred in babies born to women during the height of the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War. What they found is astounding: babies born to mothers who were two months pregnant in June of 1967 were significantly more likely to develop schizophrenia. The height of bombing in Jerusalem was a three day period from June 5-7.

Females born during this period (January 1968 to be exact) were 4.2 times more likely to develop schizophrenia than the 1.1 % of the population which is the global norm. Males born during this period were 1.2 times more likely to develop the mental illness. Wow! Although the researchers didn’t rule out a genetic link–that is, the babies had a high family risk for developing schizophrenia–it is unlikely. While schizophrenia in the general population has some family ties, the majority of cases do not. So epigenetics seems to be the logical mechanism.

I find these results fascinating, because I’m a firm believer that we all have every gene, but it’s whether or not it’s expressed that counts. This would explain some seemingly random human variations, like gender identity disorders, psychopathy, and schizophrenia. And it makes complete sense that a strong connection exists between Mom’s experiences during gestation and how baby forms.

In epigenetics, as it is understood and discussed today, we are talking about a narrow form of gene expression, a once in a lifetime event. In other words, humans are not susceptible to environmentally induced genetic changes multiple times in their lifetime; major genetic variations occur during gestational development only. In the case of severe stress, the stress hormones can affect the placenta, ultimately changing the environment of the fetus, which then changes in response.

But wait! Don’t freak out, soon to be mom’s: we’re talking about severe stress here, not simply getting in a fight with baby’s daddy. I reported in an earlier post that this just isn’t the case, so unless you’re involved in a major trauma, you probably have nothing to worry about. But I think we will learn in the near future just how much severe stressors during pregnancy can affect the unborn child. Any thoughts?

Stress in Pregnancy Doesn’t Increase Complications

By On · Add Comment · In fetus, gestational hypertension, high blood pressure (HBP), hypertension, postpartum depression, preeclampsia, pregnancy, proteinuria, stress

Preeclampsia and gestational hypertension are two disorders taken very seriously during pregnancy. Both disorders can lead to and might even cause the death of the unborn fetus. Many women who suffer from these maladies blame themselves and their stress levels; they think that if they just weren’t as stressed-out during their pregnancies, they could have probably prevented the disorders and the subsequent deaths. A recent study, however, shows otherwise.

Dutch researchers have found that a woman’s stress levels during pregnancy do not increase the chance of developing either of the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Although increased psychological stress is not great during pregnancy–it can wear a woman down and lead to postpartum depression–expecting mothers should not fear getting preeclampsia or gestational hypertension.

Preeclampsia is a hypertensive condition with significant protein concentrations found in the urine (proteinuria). Gestational hypertension is preeclampsia without proteinuria. Hypertension is high blood pressure (HBP), and elevated blood pressure can force substances, like protein, through the kidneys and into the urine–not a good situation. Obviously, HBP can be dangerous for a developing fetus. Both hypertensive disorders are asymptomatic–that is, they have no outstanding symptoms leading to their discovery. Therefore, blood pressure must be checked regularly during pregnancy. Both hypertensive disorders can develop after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but preeclampsia is often seen after week 32. The only solution to this dangerous situation is emergency cesarean section, induced labor, or abortion. Because of the high risk to mother and fetus, one of the above options must be exercised.

I found this an important piece to do since so many pregnant women in America seem to be stressed out. According to another recent study, 20% of all new mothers in the U.S. suffer from postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is linked to many risk factors including tobacco use late in pregnancy, physical abuse before or during pregnancy, partner-related stress during pregnancy, trauma during pregnancy, and financial stress.

Hey, life can be tough. And it’s hell of a lot harder to deal with when feeling big, bloated, uncomfortable, hormonal and unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in. I get it. I see my wife dealing with it now during our second pregnancy. It ain’t all fun and games. But at least when times get real tough, and the stress seems to know no bounds, please rest assured that you can “feel crazy” and not worry that you’re damaging your baby–at least not as far as it’s blood supply is concerned. Any other hypothesis regarding Mama’s stress stressing baby out is still up for analysis. But for preeclampsia–not a chance.

Expressed Marital Discord is Bliss

By On · Add Comment · In anger, cortisol, couples, feelings, fight, health, heart disease, high blood pressure, mortality rates, premature death, resentment, spouse, stress, suppressed anger

Sleeping on the couch tonight? Not speaking to Mr. Right? Don’t worry: that fight you and your spouse got into last night is actually good for your health. That is, if you don’t hold it in, but instead let your feelings be known. So says a new study tracked 192 couples over a 17 year period.

Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at how suppressed anger and feelings of resentment in a marriage affect overall mortality rates. They found that couples that suppress their anger–that is, neither spouse stood up for themselves during a spat–had twice the mortality rate than couples with at least one partner who let loose. Previous studies have shown that suppressing anger increases stress-related illnesses like heart disease and high blood pressure. Ernest Harburg, lead author of the current study said, “The key matter is, when the conflict happens, how do you resolve it? If you bury your anger, and you brood on it and you resent the other person or the attacker, and you don’t try to resolve the problem, then you’re in trouble.”

Amen Brother! That’s why my wife and I deliberately beat the crap out of each other (verbally, Romans, verbally) every month. Good for the health I tell ya. I’ve always said: Hold on to that anger and you’re just asking for a heart attack, or cancer, or something like that. Pent-up anger and resentment forces one to brood, causing chemical cascades like the over-production of cortisol and other chemicals, which can stress the organs and blood vessels. Over time this can lead to heart or vascular disease, and ultimately, premature death.

There’s this notion in our current society that anger is “bad”. But in truth anger is experienced by every person on the planet at some time or another. When one tries to put forth the illusion that one never gets mad–you know, the classic anger suppressor–then that person is inviting disaster. This doesn’t mean that you have to lose your cool at the drop of a hat–diplomacy and civility still have their place in our world–however, if you gotta get it out, then express yourself; you’ll certainly feel better, and you might just live longer as a result.

Meditation Improves Lives in Five Days

By On · Add Comment · In cortisol, integrative meditation, meditation, relaxation training, stress

We’ve all heard that meditation reduces stress. And who doesn’t know about meditation’s ability to clear the mind? But a new study out of the University of Oregon has found that as little as 20 minutes of meditation over 5 days shows greater improvement in attention and overall mood, as well as lower levels of anxiety, depression, anger and fatigue.

The study looked at 40 Chinese students, half getting instructed in integrative meditation, while the other half taken through relaxation training only. The meditation group showed greater increases when tested for attention, and they also showed improvements in mood, and lower reactions to mental stressors as measured by “stress-related cortisol levels”. According to the authors of the study, integrative meditation incorporates “several key components body and mind techniques including body relaxation, breathing adjustment, mental imagery, and mindfulness training.

Definitely thumbs up to this one, mostly because I’m pleased to see our nation’s universities giving this vital health practice some time and research money. And hats off to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which published the study–it’s high time we look deeper into the incredible power of the mind and investigate what other cultures have simply taken for granted. I speak at length about meditation in my upcoming book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health. I am convinced that everybody should be doing it. And as I tell my patients: even ten minutes a day will have profound effects on your life.

That reminds me…have you heard the one about the Buddhist who went into a Burger King? He said, “Make me one with everything.”

Ommmmmmmmm……

Here are some meditation resources if you’re interested:

The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh (a personal favorite)

Meditations for Manifesting by Dyer, Wayne W.(August 1, 1995) Audio CD by Wayne Dyer (good CD for beginners)

Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life by Shakti Gawain (the first book of this kind I’d ever read)

Seeking The Self Through Meditation (E-book) by Moi (good book for beginners)

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