Archive for the ‘Brain Works’ Category
Message: Emotional eating, or stress-eating, can be due to several reasons calling for different ways to fight it.
1. If you crave sweets, go on a low carb diet. Research and anecdotal evidence show that on a low carb diet, the ‘sugargolics’ stop eating sweets during stress or boredom
2. If you are reaching for any piece of food, ask yourself: is it really food that you want? Can a hug or a phone call do the trick?
Take a warm aromatic bath, watch your favorite movie, go shopping for pleasant things like perfume or flowers.
3. If you MUST eat, have healthy snacks read: baby carrots, string cheese, celery sticks, sliced apples with a pinch of cinnamon and vanilla, plain yogurt or even sugar-free dark chocolate.
Message: A simple exercise based on the ideas of the Alexander Technique helps to reduce stress, look confident and relaxed, and feel better about yourself. Read about the technique first, then try the exercise below.*
Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869-1955), an actor, the founder of the Alexander system, investigated human unconscious habits and how they interfere with learning, performance, and physical functioning. The total system has been established in 1880’s and has been very popular ever since. Among it’s early proponents were celebrities albert Einshtein and Gorge Bernard Shaw.
Two Nobel Prize-winnerss for Medicine and Physiology, Sir Charles Sherrington and Sir Nikolaas Tinbergen, mentioned the technique in their Nobel Prize acceptance speeches. Here is what they said: “Mr. Alexander has done a service to the subject by insistently treating each act as involving the whole integrated individual, the whole psychophysical man.” (Dr. Sherrington). “I noticed with growing amazement, very striking improvements in such diverse things as high blood pressure, breathing, depth of sleep, overall cheerfulness, mental alertness, resilience against outside pressures and also in such refined skills as the playing of a stringed musical instrument.” (Dr. Tinbergen)
Recently, studies showed that Alexander Technique’s efficiency in reducing pain and stress was higher than massage therapy’s efficiency (1). Alexander Technique lessons also helped individuals with Parkinson’s disease (2)
Sources
- Br J Sports Med 2008;42:965-968
- Int J Clin Pract, January 2012, 66, 1, 98–112
Exercise
- Standing in front of a mirror, lift up your shoulders, rotate them back and press them down
- Keep your shoulders as far back and down as you can for the count of 16.
- Relax your arms. Make your neck long and straight, do not tilt your head.
- Flatten the lower part of your back and contract your abdominal muscles to flatten your stomach.
- Take a minute or two to ‘memorize’ how your body feels while in this position.
Remember this feeling every time you are under stress
———
* This exercise is a part of the Therapeutic Movement classes taught by T. Zilberter at the MetroSport Athletic club, Durham NC in 1992-1995
Message: Meditation can prevent brain cortex loss
Magnetic resonance imaging to assess cortical thickness revealed that brain areas—such as the prefrontal cortex involved with memory, attention, and sensory processing—were approximately 5 percent thicker in the subjects who meditated compared with those who did not. This difference was most pronounced in older participants, suggesting that meditation might offset agerelated cortical thinning.
Source: Neuroreport 2005;16:1893–1897
Try the bed of nail to reduce stress
The bed of nails is rooted in ancient Indian mysticism. In Russia in 1980s, a wellness tool was created by Ivan Kuznetsov, consisting of fabric with several thousands plastic nails glued to it. Although this technique was investigated in 5 Moscow clinics (1), it’s been only in 1999 this devise has been researched in USA and pain relief, relaxation, improved sleep, and subjectively increased energy level has been reported (1). In 2011 in Sweden (2), in the Institute of Psychophysiological Behavioral Medicine, Department of Public Health, and School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, the researchers focused on stress response, and its regulation by the sympathetic parasympathetic nervous systems. The bed of nails treatment was compared with instructed relaxation. Pain perception and heart rate were fond to be lower while the anti-stress parasympathetic activity were higher in the treatment group than in control (instructed relaxation with music) group.
References
- Reflexo-therapy From Kuznetsov’s Applicator to Shakti Mat: Forty year-long success story
- Zilberter T, Roman J. Reflexo-Therapy with Mechanical Skin Stimulation: Pilot Study. International Symposium on Integrative Medicine. New York: Omega Institute, 1999.
- Olsson E.M.G. and von Scheele B. Relaxing on a Bed of Nails: An Exploratory Study of the Effects on the Autonomic, Cardiovascular, and Respiratory Systems, and Saliva Cortisol. THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE. Volume 17, Number 1, 2011, pp. 5–12
Message: Mood swings and memory problem? Try calcium and vitamin D
Premenstrual syndrome, PMS is often perceived as a trait of hysterical, hypochondriac women. In fact, it is a serious medical condition with a number of unpleasant symptoms:
• fatigue and trouble sleeping
• upset stomach, bloating, constipation or diarrhea
• headache
• appetite changes or food cravings
• joint or muscle pain
• tension, irritability, mood swings, or crying spells
• anxiety or depression
• trouble concentrating or remembering
• breast swelling and tenderness
As simple a measure as higher intakes of calcium and vitamin D might be helpful in case of PMS.
Source
Archives of Internal Medicine, June 2005.
Message: Add this exercise to your daily routine
Breathing awareness exercise can be done during the body-centered meditation. However, as an independent exercise, it is usually recommended to perform in the upright position, sitting straight in a comfortable chair, the legs uncrossed.
After mastering the breathing awareness, it can be included into many rhythmic and cyclic exercises, like walking, jogging, swimming (this one is especially suitable because of the forced breathing rhythm, for example, during the breast stroke). Breathing meditation can be the important part of psychological and spiritual impacts of repetitive movements. Because of that, it is probably not a good idea to read, watch a TV or to talk while, say, working out on a stationary bicycle or walking.
This exercise can be performed while sitting on the exercise mat, possible moved to a wall for the better support of the back. It is also possible to use exercise steps. However, the classic posture is while using the chair.
Breathing awareness exercise
1. Sit upright with the legs crossed, if on the floor, and uncrossed if on the chair
2. Uncross the hands in any case
3. Straighten your back. Look straight forward
4. Catch the balance and relax the stomach
5. Close your eyes
6. Do not force or control your breathing
7. Do not try to breathe deeply
8. Do not try to hold the breathing
9. Breathe comfortably and simply watch the breathing
10. Brush away any thoughts and sensation but those of breathing in and out
Homework: repeat this exercise every day at least three times, 5 times every time. Use this technique every time you are under stressor experiencing health problems, like elevated blood pressure, pain, headache, etc.
Why is fat so tasty?
Most animals, including humans, prefer high-fat food to low-fat food. Fatty foods are very palatable though the fatty acids, which make these foods fatty, are tasteless. On the other hand, sweet, sour, salty, or bitter foods are recognized by the corresponding receptors of the taste buds. The receptors then send information to the brain areas responsible for positive or negative sensations called hedonic or aversive. But how the tasteless fatty acids manage to make fatty foods so tasty?
Recently, it was suggested that long-chain fatty acids attaching to their specific transporter in the tongue. These long-chain fatty acids are recognized on the tongue, and then neuropeptides and neurotransmitters such as the famous “reward chemical” beta-endorphin is released in the brain.
Source: J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2007 Feb;53(1):1-4.
Message: Avoid meals that are high in both fats and carbs
Most animals, including humans, prefer high-fat food to low-fat food. Fatty foods are very palatable though the fatty acids, which make these foods fatty, are tasteless. On the other hand, sweet, sour, salty, or bitter foods are recognized by the corresponding receptors of the taste buds. The receptors then send information to the brain areas responsible for positive or negative sensations called hedonic or aversive. But how the tasteless fatty acids manage to make fatty foods so tasty?
Recently, it was suggested that long-chain fatty acids can attache to their specific spots on the tongue and be recognized by specific transporters; the brain receives the signal and releases (along with many neuropeptides and neurotransmitters) the famous “reward chemical” beta-endorphin (1)
Another story is, what metabolic consequences these process have comparing with well known effects of the sweet taste of carbohydrates. Turns out that without carbs, fat fails to be fattening. This is exactly what happens on the ketogenic diet having well known neuro-protective and metabo-protective effects (2).
Sources
- J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2007 Feb;53(1):1-4.
- Frontiers in Neuroenergetics, 2011, 3:8.
There are quite a few axes where the brain is involved. The most studied is hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dealing mostly with stress and the sleep/wake cycle and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis reproduction, life cycle, and sexual dimorphism & behavior. Recently, emerging evidence supports the existence of communication axes between other organs as well, with the central role of the brain remaining. The gut-brain-skin axis is thought to be responsible also for the stress challenge that, if not managed, can cause skin inflammation and the hair growth inhibition. The good news is, there are ways to deal with the challenge by improving of the microflora of the guts by probiotics (Exp Dermatol. 2010 Jan 25).
For example, myocardial infarction (heart attack) causes the release of pro-inflammatory substances that may affect the function of other organs including various structures brain where they result in an increase in cell death (J Psychopharmacol 2009, 23, 451–459; Biol Psychiatry 2006, 59, 430–433) while the friendly probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum taken in combination reduced these adverse effects (British Journal of Nutrition (2009), 102:1420-1425).
A spectacular result proving the gut-brain axis influence on the quality of life has been presented in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2007, 61, 355–361). Those participants of the double blind controlled trial who reported themselves to be constipated infrequently were more clearheaded, confident and elated. When the participants prone to be depressed at the onset of the trial where treated with probiotics, they responded by reporting themselves as happy rather than depressed while these changes were not observed in the control group taking milk drinks containing no probiotics.T
Message: For healthier brain, take care of your guts
There are quite a few axes where the brain is involved. The most studied is hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dealing mostly with stress and the sleep/wake cycle and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis reproduction, life cycle, and sexual dimorphism & behavior. Recently, emerging evidence supports the existence of communication axes between other organs as well, with the central role of the brain remaining. The gut-brain-skin axis is thought to be responsible also for the stress challenge that, if not managed, can cause skin inflammation and the hair growth inhibition.
The good news is, there are ways to deal with the challenge by improving of the microflora of the guts by probiotics (1).For example, myocardial infarction (heart attack) causes the release of pro-inflammatory substances that may affect the function of other organs including various structures brain where they result in an increase in cell death (2,3) while the friendly probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum taken in combination reduced these adverse effects (4).A spectacular result proving the gut-brain axis influence on the quality of life has been presented in the (5). Those participants of the double blind controlled trial who reported themselves to be constipated infrequently were more clearheaded, confident and elated. When the participants prone to be depressed at the onset of the trial where treated with probiotics, they responded by reporting themselves as happy rather than depressed while these changes were not observed in the control group taking milk drinks containing no probiotics.
There are quite a few so called “axes” where the brain is involved. The most studied is hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dealing mostly with stress and the sleep/wake cycle and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis reproduction, life cycle, and sexual dimorphism & behavior. Recently, emerging evidence supports the existence of communication axes between other organs as well, with the central role of the brain remaining. The gut-brain-skin axis is thought to be responsible also for the stress challenge that, if not managed, can cause skin inflammation and the hair growth inhibition. The good news is, there are ways to deal with the challenge by improving of the microflora of the guts by probiotics (6).
For example, myocardial infarction (heart attack) causes the release of pro-inflammatory substances that may affect the function of other organs including various structures brain where they result in an increase in cell death (7,8) while the friendly probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum taken in combination reduced these adverse effects (9).
A spectacular result proving the gut-brain axis influence on the quality of life has been presented in (9). Those participants of the double blind controlled trial who reported themselves to be constipated infrequently were more clearheaded, confident and elated. When the participants prone to be depressed at the onset of the trial where treated with probiotics, they responded by reporting themselves as happy rather than depressed while these changes were not observed in the control group taking milk drinks containing no probiotics.
References
- Exp Dermatol. 2010 Jan 25
- J Psychopharmacol 2009, 23, 451–459
- Biol Psychiatry 2006, 59, 430–433
- British Journal of Nutrition 2009, 102:1420-1425
- European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007, 61, 355–361
- Exp Dermatol. 2010 Jan 25
- J Psychopharmacol 2009, 23, 451–459
- Biol Psychiatry 2006, 59, 430–433
- British Journal of Nutrition 2009, 102:1420-1425
- British Journal of Nutrition (2009), 102:1420-1425
Exercise during midlife comparing with exercise during late life
Most of the studies into the protective effects of exercise against cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease, followed the elderly people starting their 65s and watched the results, which were relevant to the beneficial effects in late life. However, there are some results where a large cohort of 65-79-year olds has been followed-up for around 21 years so information about physical activity during midlife was available. Those who who participated in at least “leisure-time physical activity” during midlife had significantly lower risks of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease comparing with those who did not exercise at all [1].
Another study has suggested that physical activity at even earlier ages (physical activity between ages 15 and 25 years was asked retrospectively) can improve or preserve cognitive ability in late life [2]. This cognitive decline risk reduction is at least comparable to the eisks reduction reported in studies of physical activity in older persons. Thus, midlife physical activity might be as important for preventing later cognitive decline as is physical activity at older ages.
Sources
- Rovio S, et al. Leisure-time physical activity at midlife and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet Neurol 2005;4:705–11
- Dik M, Deeg DJ, Visser M, Jonker C. Early life physical activity and cognition at old age. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2003;25:643–53
Among those shared with me their weight loss results while on Atkins diet, 347 dieters reported effects beyond weight loss (or its absence):
- Hunger disappearance or appetite decrease – 178
- Diabetes improvement – 169
- Mood improvement, energy level increase – 158
- Absence of cravings – 149
- Physicians approval for the diet – 129
- Joint and muscle improvement – 125
- Headache disappearance – 121
- Exercise improvement – 115
- Muscle gain decrease – 112
- Fungal/yeast infection disappearance – 111
- Heartburn, bloating disappearance – 110
- Thyroid condition improvement – 119
Reported negative results:
- Cravings for high-carb foods increase – 16
- Inability to exercise – 15
- Low-carb foods dissatisfaction – 14
Mood/energy
This particular effect is perhaps the most controversial because it is against the observations, including those conducted in controlled clinical settings, that carbohydrate-rich meals improve mood and energy levels. Apparently, the positive influence reported by the dieters, were due to Atkins diet long-term effects, because during first several days on the diet there were effects consistent with clinical observations on short-term effects of direct intra-gastric infusions of nutrients:
“Hedonic tone was greater and tension lower after the saline and sucrose infusions than after the lipid infusion. From 3 to 3.5 h after ingestion, subjects felt significantly more sleepy after the lipid infusion than they did at these times after the saline infusion, and significantly more dreamy after the lipid infusion than they did after the sucrose infusion. (Physiology & Behavior. 63(4):621-8, 1998)
Another article reporting the influence of nutrients on mood, stress that there were acute and not long term effects:
“Mood improved (a decline in fatigue/dysphoria) following the low-fat/high carb breakfast compared to medium-fat/ medium-carbohydrate or high-fat/low-carbohydrate meals.” (“Acute effects on mood and cognitive performance of breakfasts differing in fat and carbohydrate content. “Appetite. 27(2):151-64, 1996)
The short-term positive effects of high-carb meals can be used, for example, for alleviating the PMS syndrome:
“The experimental carbohydrate intervention significantly decreased self-reported depression, anger, confusion, and carbohydrate craving 90-180 minutes after intake. Memory word recognition was also improved significantly.” (Obstetrics & Gynecology. 86(4 Pt 1):520-8, 1995)
It is interesting that not all of the clinical studies came to the above conclusion. Study conducted by University of Sheffield, demonstrated that meals, particularly when rich in fat, significantly reduced pain perception in healthy human subjects.( Physiology & Behavior. 65(4-5):643-8, 1999)
Carbohydrate craving obese patients do not improve their mood states through ingestion of a carbohydrate-rich snack. (International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders. 21(10):860-4, 1997)
There were no differences in mood between the groups receiving high-carb drink or water during performance of the military tasks. (Aviation Space & Environmental Medicine. 68(5):384-91, 1997)
The ingestion of sucrose failed to have any substantial effect on mood (Physiology & Behavior. 58(3):421-7, 1995)
“The carbohydrate-supplemented group had a greater total energy intake and carbohydrate intake. No significant differences between carbohydrate were observed in remaining psychological, physiological, or performance-related variables.” (International Journal of Sport Nutrition. 5(2):125-35, 1995)
These are rather typical messages:
- I feel great and my energy level has increased. I don’t feel sluggish anymore.
- No more mood swings, brain fog, confusion, or depression.
- I feel healthier, more energy (can keep up with the kids, yeah!) and smarter.
- I have a much higher energy level as well as a much more pleasant disposition.
- I have lots of energy and a lot more self esteem.
- I am sleeping like a teenager, and I had sleep apnea before starting the diet.
- I sleep better and I have more energy than my 16 year old daughter
- I’m so infused with energy that I climb the stairs at work without huffing and puffing.
- My energy had increased! Muscle tone had improved even though I wasn’t going to the gym.
- When I am eating according to program I feel so much better, sleep better and have more energy
- After the first 3 days the increase in energy was unbelievable, the mental fog and Monday morning blues were gone.
- I have more energy, not so tired anymore, and feel like I’m in control of my appetite.
- I have had a sense of inner peace that I simply can’t explain.
- My mood swings have lifted and I’m a much happier person overall.
- I felt better, had more energy, no more brain-fog and I did not feel tired and worn out at the end of the day.
