tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50703065426988360552024-02-19T08:46:03.181-08:00A little R&R: Read & RelaxAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12906241422883734047noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5070306542698836055.post-82405822132525757482013-04-22T18:44:00.002-07:002013-04-22T18:44:40.669-07:00Stress, Sweets, & Syndromes
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<b>How stress can drive insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, & diabetes</b></div>
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We know psychosocial stress can set one at risk for all
sorts of disease. To add one more to the list - risk for developing type 2
diabetes has its correlations with the body’s stress response as well,
specifically, a chronic stress response. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Individuals living with type-2 diabetes are often warned
that stress can acerbate their conditions, putting their health at risk. In
humans’ hunting and foraging days, our stress response helped us get out of
trouble quick. And by trouble I mean, that hog we just tried to spear and
missed is looking pretty angry, charging at our gut with six-inch tusks. Our
stress response would be triggered, seconds later releasing more glucose into
our bloodstream, to provide our bodies an energy boost to scramble up a tree to
safety. We rarely suffer these same problems anymore, but our bodies wouldn’t
know the difference. </div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsPHmzGrd9qzcqov6ObJuzes9c3Z2vO068Tameg_j9wwfLlqDPUs5tkO2hNpsQcdGnsqZ8blXe-eI2pHdPhLt1x7_GyCgs97z5Z7Ux5dhyphenhyphenm9jgjiySznScbanKNRAqqYlESvXilgbto8/s1600/candy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsPHmzGrd9qzcqov6ObJuzes9c3Z2vO068Tameg_j9wwfLlqDPUs5tkO2hNpsQcdGnsqZ8blXe-eI2pHdPhLt1x7_GyCgs97z5Z7Ux5dhyphenhyphenm9jgjiySznScbanKNRAqqYlESvXilgbto8/s320/candy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo courtesy of Sidereal<br />{http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidereal/}</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In a diabetic individual (type-2) with insulin resistance,
glucose cannot adequately be taken up into storage and accumulates in the
bloodstream. You may have already seen the connections; the glucose that gets
unpacked and moved into the blood under stressful circumstance can unnecessarily
add dangerous amounts to the diabetic’s blood supply. These elevated levels can
lead to all sorts of another serious problems then. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>But how can stress lead to diabetic, pre-diabetic or
dysglycemic conditions? </b></div>
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<br /></div>
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There is a complex path on the way to</div>
diabetes that stress can lead a
primary role in, holding your hand the whole way. It starts with a sugar
craving. If you’re anything like me, you – well, first, have quite the sweet
tooth to start out with – but also, grab for anything sugary when feeling
stressed out. <br />
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<br /></div>
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Many people cope with their stress by overeating or pursuing
incentives. So, if your vice has always been sugar, you’re going to crave it
when you’re stressed. Our brains release dopamine - that works on the
pleasure-pathways (mentioned in my depression post) - at the beginning of a
stressful event if there is a high probability of reward at the end of it
(Sapolsky, 2004). Additionally, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) –
experienced by us when we’re under stress – exaggerates cravings for a reward
(Serwach, 2006). Humans have had a long and loving relationship with sugar;
unsurprisingly, it is definitely reward enough for most of us. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Additionally, our bodies utilize increased levels of
cortisol to mobilize glucose into the bloodstream when stressed. This is
quickly followed by a rise in insulin levels, re-storing the glucose, to
rebalance those circulating glucose levels. This quick rise and subsequent drop
in blood sugar can leave us craving another quick form of relief from a quickly-metabolized sugar source. </div>
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<br /></div>
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As I’m sure you are exceedingly aware by now, psychosocial
stress throws our bodies into a biological stress response a great many times
in our modern era - most often without a physical means of energy expenditure
to match. When work has us mentally running rampant and time is not on our
side, we may find that a quick snack loaded with sugar holds us over just enough
to make it through the day. Our brains employ a large amount of glucose to
operate, but do not directly store it itself, so it must have a consistent supply
from the blood. Heavy mental work can prompt a craving for sugar; that spike
of energy may get the job done. However, continuing this pattern can lead to
serious dysglycemic conditions, defined as a imbalance in sugar metabolism and
energy production, characterized my abnormal blood glucose levels and
associated with related diseases. </div>
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<br /></div>
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If this glucose yo-yoing keeps up a number of conditions can
ensue. The first of which is hypoglycemia, literally referring to decreased
amounts of glucose in the bloodstream. This is commonly associated with
individual with diabetes but can be caused by a number of other reasons,
including drug-related side effects and fasting. What we are concerned with here though is hypoglycemia in reaction to eating, specifically refined sugars. After
a spike in glucose from a refined sugar, insulin takes effect, moving the
glucose out of the bloodstream. In many cases, this results in an abnormally
low level in blood sugar. If this effect is frequently occurring, we’ve got a
hypoglycemic condition. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Hypoglycemia is often associated with insulin resistance in
which beta-cells overproduce insulin and cause hypoglycemic conditions. Though
insulin resistance syndrome is thought to involve a variety of genetic,
lifestyle and dietary factors, psychosocial stress seems to play an important
role in its emergence. Human clinical studies have linked chronic stress to
enhanced sympathoadrenal reactivity, which increases fasting levels of glucose,
insulin and lipids. Chronic stress has also been connected with a reduction in
insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), the reduction of which is linked to glucose
intolerance. Additionally, chronic stress has shown numerously to have a
relationship with insulin resistance. The underlying mechanism between
psychosocial stress and insulin resistance may include stress-related
elevations in proinflammatory cytokines, which have been related to symptoms of
depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment and traits such as anger, hostility
and aggression which have been touched upon in previous posts. (Innes, Vincent
& Taylor, 2007)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Insulin resistance syndrome is sometimes used synonymously
with metabolic syndrome, previously known as syndrome x, but this condition
actually describes multiple factors beyond just insulin resistance. Both,
however, are used as indicators for risk of diabetes mellitus (type-2).
Metabolic syndrome involves a group of risk factors for cardiovascular disease
and stroke as well, including abdominal/visceral fat deposition, high
triglyceride levels, low HDL cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and high
blood sugar levels. </div>
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<br /></div>
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And guess what? The body’s stress response, characterized by
the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and hormonal release of
glucocorticoids, further stress these factors because they are causally linked.
Psychosocial stress is significantly correlated with high blood pressure,
atherosclerosis, increased levels of circulating cholesterol and triglycerides,
increased blood sugar and fat deposition in the abdominal area. </div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>References:</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Innes, K. E., Vincent, H.K., & Taylor, A. G. (2007).
Chronic Stress and Insulin </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Resistance-Related
Indices of Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Part 1:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neurophysiological
Responses and Pathological Sequelae. Alternative </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therapeutic
Health Medicine. 13(4) pp 46-52. Retrieved from </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
http://www.alternative-therapies.com/at/web_pdfs/innes.pdf</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sapolsky, Robert M. (2004). Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The
Acclaimed Guide to </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stress,
Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Press.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Serwach, Joe (2006). Bitter Truth: Stress Drives Sweet
Craving. The University </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Record
Online: The Regents of the University of Michigan. Retrieved </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From
http://www.ur.umich.edu/0506/Apr17_06/04.shtml</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12906241422883734047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5070306542698836055.post-56134509147316799712013-04-05T17:38:00.000-07:002013-04-05T17:38:22.846-07:00Chronic Stress on Cognitive Functioning <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36JwHvZpcwulmUvvj5bzPF5Hm5rcXIZvlyYAzqS5B7miFagJ_9KmZ01wPdJtaFE2M27N7arbro_wqzk3P0kucLpAMYW1EMnnz4BLCyagyM9AYXvCo_B_dKmfMNPl0Bg8SW45QOAkPvF4/s1600/cognition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36JwHvZpcwulmUvvj5bzPF5Hm5rcXIZvlyYAzqS5B7miFagJ_9KmZ01wPdJtaFE2M27N7arbro_wqzk3P0kucLpAMYW1EMnnz4BLCyagyM9AYXvCo_B_dKmfMNPl0Bg8SW45QOAkPvF4/s320/cognition.jpg" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image by Slowgogostock;<br />{http://www.flickr.com/photos/45250623@N03/}</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
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I’m going to take a step back from focusing on the traits of
my family to discuss what effects stress can have on our mental capacity. If
you’re like me, you have surely had many nights, studying and stressing for
hours on end, preparing for a class, a presentation or an exam. But, when the
time comes to showcase what you’ve learned, mentally you feel worse off than before
you started. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Our lives are inevitably riddled with stressful events that
require our optimum alertness and insight to handle. Once again, our biology in
that face of chronic stress seems to be more harmful than helpful. Long-term stress
can have evitable effects on our cognition and memory in negative ways. </div>
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<br /></div>
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It is helpful to understand a little background information
about how our brains allot effort in storing different kinds of memory. There
are two important regions in the brain that work in memory storage and
retrieval: the cortex and the hippocampus. Without any elaboration, the cortex
specializes in storing memories, while the hippocampus places and accesses
memories in the cortex. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Memories are stored in patterned displays of excited
neurons, called neural networks. This is why all sorts of approximate
contextual information, such as a certain smell, can trigger memory recollection.
Multiple routes of exciting a certain neural network can extract memory and
information. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The cortex and hippocampus make use of a neurotransmitter
called glutamate that is critical in creating memory. Glutamate is a uniquely
acting neurotransmitter. In glutamatergic synapses, a small amount of glutamate
released activates no response. A bit more is released and still nothing
happens. It is not until a threshold of glutamate is passed along to the second
neuron that an extensive wave of excitation is triggered. This is when we ‘learn’
something. This is when something ‘clicks.’ </div>
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<br /></div>
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Once a synapse has experienced a certain number of
glutamate-driven excitations, the synapse is strengthened. It becomes
persistently more excitable and takes less of a signal the next time to reach
that excited state. The strengthened synapse has just been ‘potentiated.’ </div>
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<br /></div>
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Time to fit chronic stress back into the picture. </div>
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<br /></div>
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As we move along the stress scale, from no stress, to mild
stress, to temporary moderate stress – memory improves. As we continue along to
severe and chronic stress, we see a decline in memory. High stress and
glucocorticoid levels are certainly the culprits. It could be that these things
make for a generally compromised brain altogether, affecting other areas as
well, but memory recollection is the most notable. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Interestingly, these conditions seem to more greatly disrupt
eliciting prior explicit memory rather than the formation of new memory.
Correspondingly however, stress does disrupt what’s called the ‘executive
function’ in forming and storing and retrieving new and old memory (Sapolsky,
2004). This concerns what is done with the information, whether it’s organized
strategically and how it guides judgments and decisions. </div>
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<br /></div>
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There are several ways that stress evidentially damages the
neural networks of the hippocampus. First, the hippocampus neurons do not
perform as well. Even in the absence of glucocorticoids, an overactive
sympathetic nervous system can disrupt long-term potentiation of the
hippocampus; the neurons are not firing as effectively. High and chronic levels
of glucocorticoids only elevate the problem. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The hippocampus has two types of receptors for
glucocorticoids, one of which is ten times better at accepting the hormone than
the other. The low-affinity receptors are only activated by major or
long-standing stress, while the high-affinity receptors are activated all the
time. These high-affinity receptors enhance potentiation of neural networks;
the low-affinity receptors do the opposite. (Sapolsky, 2004)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Second, long-term stress disconnects neural networks. Under
prolonged stress and excessive exposure to glucocorticoids, the neural branches
– axons and dendrites – begin to atrophy and retract. The good news: it appears
that once the stressor is over with these neurons can re-grow or re-strengthen
their connections. The memory is still there, you just have to draw from more
associative cues to extract it because the neural network is less efficient
than before. (Sapolsky, 2004)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another happy fact: contrary to what you have probably been
told, as I was, certain areas in the brain <i>do</i>
make new neurons. There are two main areas of the brain that do this - one of
them being the hippocampus! And now for the bad news: the third way in which
stress detrimentally affects cognition is in inhibiting the creation of new
neurons in the hippocampus. Once again the underpinning bullies are
glucocorticoids and an overactive sympathetic nervous system. (Sapolsky, 2004)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fourthly, the neurons in the hippocampus become more
susceptible to damage under chronic stress conditions. During a continuous
stressor, glucose levels eventually even out to their normal resting levels. As
the stressor continues, glucose to the brain is inhibited, specifically to the
hippocampus, by about 25 percent less than normal levels due to high
glucocorticoids. This would be tolerable for healthy neurons. However, in weak
neurons, like those experiencing a severe neurological stressor, the neuron is
far liker to just die off. (Sapolsky, 2004)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Moreover, stress can burden cognition simply by allocating
more energy to stress-related intrusive thoughts and avoidance behavior, which
can furthermore be exacerbated by the perception of stress. In fact, high
levels of perceived stress and diagnosed PTSD both equally elicit high
occurrences of cognitive failure – meaning forgetfulness and/or lack of
attentiveness. There is much
growing research surrounding PTSD and the notion of whether it is the traumatic
event or the subjective response to the event that more heavily tips the scale
to induce chronic stress and complications with cognition. (Boals & Banks,
2012)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Conclusively, stress isn’t just a pain in your side
(sometimes, literally), it’s a pain in your head. We often think of stress as
an abstract concept or state of being that comes and goes. In reality, stress
is rooted deeply in our biology and can leave its trace (in chronic conditions)
even when the stressor has passed. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Reference:</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Boals, Adriel & Banks, Jonathan B. (2012): Effects of
traumatic stress and perceived</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stress
on everyday cognitive functioning, Cognition & Emotion, 26:7, 1335</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-1343.
Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2011.651100.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Sapolsky, Robert M. (2004). Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers:
The Acclaimed Guide to<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">
Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">
Press.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12906241422883734047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5070306542698836055.post-33594459315813160752013-03-27T15:03:00.003-07:002013-03-27T15:03:51.451-07:00Family Profile C: A Family Trait - Personality, Temperament & Proneness to Stress
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stress is such a variable experience for each of us. The
interpersonal interactions we experience each day out in world can be a
pleasant interlude for some of us or evoke a cascade of stress-triggered
hormones for others. So what makes one person activate a stress-response and
the other maintain without a single jump in heart rate? Are some people more
prone to stressors? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The obvious answer is yes, but there is a deeper interplay
acting out here. Stress is a curious thing, specifically in how we physiologically
react to it. It must be one of the only mechanisms that exchange stimuli
between our thoughts and our biology in a certain way that can psych our health
out of allostatic balance. What I mean to say is our perception of reality has
much to do with our proneness to stress. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The stress-response can be altered or even caused by
psychological factors, like a loss of outlets for frustration and social
support, a perspective of things worsening, lack of control and lack of
predictability. To many extents, certain stressors do not vary in the factors
just mentioned. However, we differ in how we psychological perceive stressors
in our lives. And some of these filters can create a far more stressful looking
world than others. For instance, a depressed person will tend to perceive low
control around stressors in their lives and their general state of being. This
can cause each new stressor to be perceived as more stressful than necessary
with a physiological response to match. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many times there is a harmful affiliation between how
stressful a person sees the world and how stressful it actually is. Your
temperament, personality, attitude and perspective can greatly vary your perception
of opportunities of control when faced with a stressor. It can alter your view
of a situation as having mostly outcomes of good news or bad news. It can also
modulate your willingness to take advantage of social support. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are several ways these factors, unique to each of us,
can set a person up for more stressors and a higher risk of stress-related
diseases. When there is mismatch between the degree of perceived stress/stress-response
and the degree of actual stress, a person may respond either in a hostile
manner or an anxious withdrawal. The individual may make matters worse for
themselves as well when they do not seek coping methods that are available to
them, as in some sort of perceived control or help in the form of social
support. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anxiety disorders are a perfect example of this. They seem
to biologically involve the initial response in coping with stress, with high
levels or epinephrine and norepinephrine but not glucocorticoids (signaling
giving up coping) (Sapolsky, 2004). But most things that give us anxiety are
learned. This falls back on our perception of the world. This condition is
further instilled with time. The amygdala, that controls anxiety and fear, respond
readily to stress and glucocorticoids, creating more synapses and making them
more excitable. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is another quality of personality that has gain popular
heights among stress-health fields that make one much more susceptible to
certain stress-related diseases. This personality type, and a specific
expressions of it, are common in my family so much so that it has developed
somewhat of a hackneyed term used to describe it: the ‘Stout trait’ or
sometimes the ‘Stout temper.’ </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is certainly not to say that each member of my family
has the same personality or is dominated by the insinuated characteristics of
the Stout trait. But to give you a rough idea of what I’m talking about, let me
briefly explain. The Stout trait tends to describe a personality of high energy
and a constant sense of urgency, governed by the second hand of the clock. This
leads to impatience and multitasking. Stouts exhibit a high work involvement in
their undertakings but all as a means to get things finished. They may then
tend to not enjoy their accomplishments because they are preoccupied with the
next goal to finish. They often are very overachieving in there undertakings
that they usually carry out solely. Stouts can be quite competitive. They can
many times have a tendency to overreact or anger easily. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This may sound familiar to some of you. It describes one
part of an over-generalized dualism is personalities: type A and type B. I have
just described type A. This personality type just so happens to predispose
individuals to heart disease. In fact, Type A carries as much a cardiac risk as
does smoking or high levels of cholesterol. Evidently enough, cardiovascular
ailments claim the health of many in my family. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although, it isn’t just being type A that predispose someone
to cardiac risk though. It is specifically having that time-pressured, hostile
tendency that does. Intuitively, a full expression of anger triggers a powerful
cardiovascular response. Furthermore, repressing the expression of strong
emotions generates an even more intense physiological reaction of the
cardiovascular system (Sapolsky, 2004). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of the cardiac risk is likely exacerbated in some type
A, hostile-prone individuals’ by behavioral factors, in which they’re more
likely to smoke, eat poorly or drink excessively. Plus, it makes sense that
hostile people lack the social support to cope with stress more than most
because they drive people away. Certainly, these other factors are not the sole
source of the risk though. Its interesting to know that the type A proneness to
stress may be moderated with therapy to reduce the hostility aspect and in so
reducing health risks (Sapolsky, 2004). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Supplementary studies have shown that personality and coping
behaviors correspond greatly. Among the Big Five personality dimensions -
extraversion (E), openness to experience (O), conscientiousness (C),
agreeableness (A), and neuroticism (N) – the first four are positively related
to coping with interpersonal, anger-eliciting stressful situations. Coping
methods that correlate with neuroticism often include disengagement,
withdrawal, wishful thinking, and focusing of negative emotions. (Geisler,
Wiedig-Allison, & Weber, 2009)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore, highly functional coping methods towards
interpersonal stressors predict a positively perceived personality (Geisler,
Wiedig-Allison, & Weber, 2009). This complements the notion stated earlier,
that hostile personalities would have a more difficult time dealing with stress
because of lack of social support. Other people would not perceive these type
A’s as having a positive personality. It makes sense that a hostile-type
personality would tend to score lower in openness and agreeableness in relation
to this study. This personality type views life as full of ominous stressors
that require overly attentive coping methods that necessitate a hostile nature.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So having a higher cardiac risk because of personality is
not deterministic, as with many things. Dealing with everyday situations in a
hostile manner is. This behavior is learned and can be unlearned. It makes me
wonder if the ‘Stout temper’ is exaggerated in members of my family because it
is learned as a method of coping with stressful situations. Perhaps the ‘Stout
temper’ is prominent among my family not only because of type A personalities
but because hostile behavior is learned through dealing with some hostile
behavior (hint: the ‘Stout temper’). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though some of us can experience stress where others do not,
our perception and attitude have the largest influence on that. Psychiatric
disorders and certain personalities do indeed involve dealing poorly with
stress. However, our personality and experiences can prompt us to behavior or view
the world in a certain way that alleviate the strenuousness of stress. Those
behaviors, perspectives, and coping methods that help one deal successfully or
unsuccessfully with stress are learned. So poor coping methods, regardless of
personality, can be upgraded to better handle the stress-provoking lifestyles
we’re accustom to and create. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Reference:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Geisler, Fay C. M., Wiedig-Allison, Monika, & Weber,
Hannelore (2009). What Coping</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tells
about Personality. European Journal of Personality. 23: 289-306. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
doi:
10.1002/per.709.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sapolsky, Robert M. (2004). Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The
Acclaimed Guide to </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stress,
Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Press.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12906241422883734047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5070306542698836055.post-39746039771374059322013-03-27T14:49:00.000-07:002013-04-05T17:25:50.428-07:00Family Profile B: Stress & Depression<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Depression may be one of the most misperceived of disease;
it certainly is approached in many different ways. Take into concentration the
variation in neurotransmitters, hormone ratios and genetics in depressive
individuals and you might be in accord with the biologist. Deem the cognitive
attributes of the depressive, a pessimistic and hopeless attitude about their
own skill and life, and you might side with the psychologists. Or, as many
undoubtedly wonder if depressed people simply experience the same hum-drumness
as the rest of us but simply overindulge in it, you might fall into another
perspective category altogether. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Depression</i> is
quite a commonly used word and its clinical meaning can sink into the
over-usage of it. Life can deliver upsetting or disappointing events that make
us depressed feeling, however this is different than a major depressive state,
as it would be diagnosed. There
are in fact parameters that have distinct biological signifiers of depression.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The concentration of this blog is on stress and its effects
on health and disease. Depression is a peculiar disease in this case, though
powerfully correlated to the stress response, whether causally or
consequentially, it is less often viewed in this way. Before, however, I get
into that correlation, I’ll reference a bit of the diagnostic factors that
distinguish a major depressive state from the absence of one. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do the symptoms of depression look like?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The foremost distinguishing factor of depression is an
inability to feel pleasure. Whether from food, humor, sex, achievement, hobbies
or friendships, the feeling towards these things are typically as inert as any unmemorable
moment would deliver. The depressed person will often feel nothing. In some
cases something, but a negative something - that it doesn’t count, or that the
thing or event is undeserved. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, these repercussions compare to what is called
vegetative symptoms, in which eating and appetite decline, as well as sleep and
sleeping patterns. A depressed individual will typically have no trouble
falling asleep, but for short spurts of time and with disturbed sleeping cycles
between deep, shallow, and dream sleep states. Similarly, depressed people
commonly feature what is called psychomotor retardation, in which the person
has to exert immense effort and concentration in the littlest things. The
person may speak slower because simply adding to a conversation is arduous. Or
they may take twice the amount of time putting on their socks in the morning,
because lifting their leg to their hands requires exhaustive amounts of energy.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are defining parallels between cognitive patterns and
depressive states quite naturally. For the majority of non-depressed people,
there is a complex array of emotion. Strongly positive emotion and strongly
negative emotion are not inversely related; they can be felt simultaneously to
different degrees. As in a depressed state, this emotional relationship
collapses inversely, often characterized by few positive emotions and many
negative emotions, though not felt simultaneously. Depression is also
characterized by a distorted view of facts, over- or under- analyzed to the
extent that conclusions are drawn that things are awful, getting worse and with
a loss of agency to do anything about it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Family Profile B: Stress and Depression</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before I begin to annotate the stress-depression
relationship, let me present Family Profile B, a young adult female family
member of mine who has experience depression for much of her life adolescent
and adult years. She does not believe in taking medication for her depression.
Her symptoms seem to come and go regularly in waves. ‘B’ would describe herself
as being prone to depression because she stresses easily. To cushion this
proneness she finds, eating well, exercising, thinking positively and working
incessantly on stress-management benefits her the most. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She also considers this proneness due to hereditary, because
she handles stress similarly to the rest of the family. She has always been a
very emotionally responsive person, which ‘B’ believes has to do with
initiating depressive moods. Similarly, she finds herself sometimes wallowing
in despairing thoughts – about her abilities, about her emotions, about her
relationships, about her prospects. She explains that she is an overly analytical
person as well, basically picking herself apart and arriving at negative
conclusions. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘B’ describes that she experiences physical symptoms often
times. She fits well into the depressed-person’s sleeping patterns: falling
asleep quick, waking up often and tired. Many times she feels general muscle
achiness all over. This may be related to psychomotor retardation, which she
agrees that she experiences exhaustiveness in small, easy tasks. She explains
how she is always hungry but never for anything in particular. And food does
not taste that good when she is eating. This corresponds with a lack of feeling
pleasure in any and everything that is characteristic of depressive people. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In describing the stress-depression correlation, she agrees
that this is accurately fits her general idea of her depression. ‘B’ even says,
quite understandably, that her depressive symptoms seem to spiral out of
control when she is stressed. She even explains that high-strung, jittery yet
exhausted feeling inside, as she says, it’s like “too much energy and no
outlet.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What causes depression?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You likely have heard that depression is related to imbalances
in neurotransmitters – the most probable focus being on dopamine,
norepinephrine, and serotonin. These imbalances are not easily understood.
Basically, these neurotransmitters have been held responsible because drugs
that increase the level of signaling by these neurotransmitters seem to assist
in treating depression. Though surely, other neurotransmitters and factors are at
work here. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are two theories involved here in how drugs treat
depression. The first states that its too high levels of neurotransmitters,
which generate depressive symptoms. So when these drugs, that increase these
levels of neurotransmitters, are given, one would think the depressive symptoms
would increase. And they do, at first. After a certain amount of time, the
receptor cells to these neurotransmitters decrease, or down-regulate,
decreasing excessive signaling and balance the recognized levels. And the
person feels better. (Sapolsky, 2004)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second theory states that its really too little
neurotransmitters communicating between neuron A and neuron B. Not only does
neuron B have receptor sites for neurotransmitters, but neuron A has them as
well as a means of regulating the amount of neurotransmitters it releases. If
it recognizes too much, it will produce less. If it recognizes too many, it
will produce more. But what happens when neuron A decrease or down-regulates
its receptor sites or autoreceptors? It would recognize too low amounts of
neurotransmitters released and accordingly, release more. (Sapolsky, 2004)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though the problem gets increasingly more complicated. If
neuron A starts synthesizing more amounts of neurotransmitters, then neuron B
may down-regulate its receptor sites. We’re now back close to the first theory.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why do these neurotransmitters cause depression?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It helps to know what function these neurotransmitters help
to regulate. Serotonin is thought to relate to incessant ideation in
depression, the looped thought patterns of failure, doom and despair.
Norepinephrine plays a role in alerting other areas of the brain – activating
them or lowering their threshold for response. This is thought to perhaps
explain how psychomotor retardation in depressed people makes small daily tasks
exhaustive. Dopamine is related to the ‘pleasure pathway.’ Robert Sapolsky sums
up this stimulate pathway quite well:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Something along the lines of “Aaaaah, boy, that feels good.
It’s kind of like getting your back rubbed but also sort of like sex or playing
in the backyard in the leaves when you’re a kid and Mom calling you in for hot
chocolate and then you get into your pajamas with the feet…”” (Sapolsky, 2004)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course the complication with treating depression arises
since there are many other factors that can contribute to it. Things like the
body inducing a stress response over a sad abstract thought (Sapolsky, 2004).
Genetics are also heavily at play in the manifestation of depression. However,
genetics rarely destine the health of an individual, it depends on the
environment in how they are expressed. Certain hormones often go hand in hand
with depression. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps most interestingly, depression and stress are
closely linked. In some instances, people who are prone to depression
experience stressors at a higher rate. On the other hand, people who are
enduring many stressors are more likely to give way to depressive states. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is common to find elevated levels of glucocorticoid (one
of those stress hormones) in depressed individuals (Sapolsky, 2004). Often, people
with depression are viewed as lethargic, mopey and perhaps even lazy. In fact,
it is more accurate to see them as high-strung, strenuous, alert and on edge,
but all internally. This creates a dynamic and overwhelming battle within a
person where they feel exhausted and drained with every little task but at the
same time, overflowing with panicky apprehension.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what does the stress-depression relationship look like?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Typically, clinically depressed people have abnormal levels
of glucocorticoids, whether abnormally low or high. It is more often the case
that these levels are too high, coupling an overactive stress-response and an
overactive sympathetic nervous system. That ‘jittery yet exhausted’ feeling
fits like a glove over the chronic stress-response profile. These elevated
levels of glucocorticoid found in depressives appear to arise from too much of
a stress signaling in the brain. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The brain is less effective at shutting off the
glucocorticoid-secreting stress response, activated by the sympathetic nervous
system. Glucocorticoids have a strong influence of those neurotransmitters
described earlier – serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine – namely in the
amount of each synthesized, how fast they are broken down, how many receptors
there are for the neurotransmitters and how well the receptors work. It is easy
to see, in this case, how chronically high levels of glucocorticoid in a
depressed person’s system would throw this delicate chemical balance off. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A sustained stress response depletes dopamine from that
‘pleasure pathway’ and norepinephrine from alerting other areas of the brain.
Furthermore, stress modifies all sorts of areas of synthesis, release, efficacy
and recycling of serotonin. Sustained high levels of glucocorticoids can alter
manifold of other mechanisms in the body, but specifically in relation to
depression, it has been found to damage the hippocampus, which deals with,
among other things, memory – specifically, declarative memory. The frontal
cortex of the brain seems to be markedly sensitive to glucocorticoids as well.
Decreased volume of the frontal cortex and the hippocampus is commonly found in
depressed individuals and may have a detrimental correlation with glucocorticoids.
(Sapolsky, 2004)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All of these aspects and more make depression so sufferable
and tricky to climb out of. This is why it is all to commonly heard of that
depression reaches a vicious cyclical nature in which individuals will
continually fall back into depression soon after relief of it. Similarly, being
in a depression is enormously stressful in and of itself, stimulating more
glucocorticoid secretion and deepening that chaotic cycle. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On a lighter note though, it may be hopeful to consider that
depression can often be triggered by stress and not just a mysterious imbalance
in brain chemicals. Although this imbalance ensues with the stress response, it
may be easier and less detrimental to practice better methods of
stress-management rather than find the right antidepressant that best represents
your body’s optimal levels of neurotransmitters. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Reference:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sapolsky, Robert M. (2004). Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The
Acclaimed Guide to </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stress,
Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Press.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12906241422883734047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5070306542698836055.post-70288416587514974242013-03-18T16:12:00.002-07:002013-04-05T17:26:04.022-07:00Family Profile A: Stress & Cardiovascular HealthAlso see my Family Profile project <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5070306542698836055#editor/target=post;postID=8867262206811498419" target="_blank">mission statement</a> to get some background info.<br />
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvsvL2-E5ELxSOo2RRWWNpWhxTUctVZTi4XeZG6AT8hdjq29mzpr5yBBM4_w8RogN4xlLazNvEclhYxWkFTnFjnXW-ti-TuM5ybzpd-3DnClwrm9qdX1RCiksL6e5oT2wJ1IblSsQChhY/s1600/heart1+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvsvL2-E5ELxSOo2RRWWNpWhxTUctVZTi4XeZG6AT8hdjq29mzpr5yBBM4_w8RogN4xlLazNvEclhYxWkFTnFjnXW-ti-TuM5ybzpd-3DnClwrm9qdX1RCiksL6e5oT2wJ1IblSsQChhY/s320/heart1+pic.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image by Daniel Newcombe; found<br />at {http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcombe/}</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my last year of high school, I got a call late one night.
It was concerning family member ‘A’ – she had just had a heart attack. Before I
go any further, she made it through fine. It was a mild heart attack as far as
heart attacks go. I was and am still very close to this woman, so I know her
habits and lifestyle well. She has the ‘Stout temper’ personality that
seemingly no Stout can escape without. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, what is peculiar about her case is that she lives a
very health-conscious lifestyle. Let me elaborate. ‘A’ has always had a more balanced
diet on her off days than I average at my best. Her meals typically consist of
ample vegetables and some sort of animal protein. Her diet is not unusually
high in lipid or carbohydrate content. And, because of her naturally healthy
appetite, she does not diet, so it stays very consistent. She takes vitamins
every morning and even does regular cleanses that include a nearly
all-vegetable diet and extra amounts of water. She is in tune enough with her
body to know when it is stressed whether by nutritional, physical or
psychological means. She exercises regularly (nearly daily), usually with
balanced cardio and weight lifting. She has used exercise as a method of
stress-management for most of her life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘A’ was fifty-two when she had the heart attack. Her diet
and exercise routines had not changed. She was at a very healthy weight, most
likely around 125 - 135 pounds at five feet four inches. She had a
well-providing, stable job. There was only one thing that was different at this
point in ‘A’s’ life; she was right in the middle of a divorce that was ending
an 18 year marriage, with three children. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you might assume, the doctors could not find a clear
cause of the heart attack. She was perfectly healthy. The best explanation they
could give was an irregular heartbeat. They kept her an extra day just to run
tests because they could not come up with a positive causal problem that had
triggered the attack. ‘A’ had a pretty good idea though. She was
psychologically overwhelmed with the burden of the divorce and her concern with
her kids. She even suggested it to the doctors herself – “it was stress.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So how does stress physiologically strain the cardiovascular
system so much that it can give a perfectly healthy individual a heart attack? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The obvious answer? – Stress. Though, it is far more
complicated than that. From an evolutionary perspective, the stress response of
our cardiovascular system is ideal. Say you are living 100,000 years ago. You
and couple of your tribal peers go out hunting for a boar. You find one, have
it in sight. You begin strategizing your method to catch it. But something
unplanned happens – the boar starts charging you! Stress response activated:
your digestive tract shuts down and your breathing rate surges. Your body
inhibits the release of sex hormones, while others like epinephrine
(adrenaline), norepinephrine and glucocorticoids spill into your bloodstream,
activating the sympathetic nervous system. Heart rate increase to pump oxygen
quicker throughout the body, glucose energy reserves are released, attention
and response centers in the brain are heightened, and blood flow to skeletal
muscles are top priority. With all this in place, you have a pretty good chance
of escaping that charging boar intact.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This heightened blood flow is well and great when we have
the metabolic demand to match. However, like family member ‘A’, if these
physiologic responses are chronic, you are continually diverting as much blood
flow to your limbs, straining the heart and overlooking other areas of the
body. This is when we see damaging effects. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The cardiovascular system was just not made to take the
continual beating that the stress-induced rise in blood pressure generates. So
the first condition in developing stress-related heart disease is hypertension.
The problem becomes more tricky and engrained when high blood pressure occurs
more often. This causes the capillaries (the small ends of the arteries before
they branch back together to form veins), which regulate blood pressure as a
means to optimize the amount of oxygen and nutrients to local sites, to build
up thick layers of muscle to control this blood flow. Consequently, this
thicker muscle makes the vessels more rigid and actually increases
hypertension. At a certain point, it will increase so much that chronic
hypertension has developed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is not great for the heart either as blood is returning
to the heart with greater force. And as a means for the heart to resist and
control this thrashing, it builds up its muscle mass as well. However, it is
just the left ventricle bearing the brunt of this force and so is the quadrant
to develop the most muscle. This condition is called “left ventricular
hypertrophy” and causes the mass of the heart to become lopsided. This in turn
increases the risk of an irregular heartbeat, increasing cardiovascular
risk. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNIklLxB-UyBnCAN5_C_UHHIA1food4PBP6Nz4CNulihpArRcAHLYLeSb9D5X7DL_MisMHXN5kpM5KGkOMIvS1vpxuBKQ1zYAzY7j5DN9MyEn3G9os49X5sznLAYYE-JR0pLdhBzy04LM/s1600/atherosclerotic+plaque+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNIklLxB-UyBnCAN5_C_UHHIA1food4PBP6Nz4CNulihpArRcAHLYLeSb9D5X7DL_MisMHXN5kpM5KGkOMIvS1vpxuBKQ1zYAzY7j5DN9MyEn3G9os49X5sznLAYYE-JR0pLdhBzy04LM/s1600/atherosclerotic+plaque+pic.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A blood vessel with atherosclerotic plaque.<br />Image by The Other Side of Life; found at<br />{http://www.flickr.com/photos/all_around_me/}</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hypertension has its damaging effect on the blood vessels as
well. As the blood whips faster through the vessels, the branching points
suffer much of the force, creating weak spots in the smooth muscular lining.
Eventually, that lining tears and craters begin to form. This injury initiates
an inflammatory response to heal the tears. Cells from the immune system and foam
cells full of fatty nutrients collect there to restore the vessel lining.
However, the hormones involved in the stress response make the blood more
viscous by increasing blood platelets (which help the blood clot with injury)
likelihood of sticking together. What’s more hazardous is that those stress
hormones increase the levels of fat, glucose and cholesterol circulating in the
bloodstream. All sorts of things can then amass at this weak place in the
vessel wall. At this point, we’ve got atherosclerotic plaque formation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And if this plaque is dislodged and starts freely moving
through the bloodstream (as a thrombus), it has a chance of getting caught in
some narrower blood vessel causing all sorts of serious problems. As with ‘A’,
something to this effect may have happened with the thrombus blocking a
coronary artery and causing a myocardial infarct, a heart attack. If the same
thing happens to the arteries leading to the heart, one can develop coronary
heart disease, myocardial ischemia and more awful health risks. Block up a
blood vessel leading to the brain, and a brain infarct ensues, a stroke.
Comparatively, this actually happened twice to ‘A’s’ father, eventually getting
the best of him. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These conditions simply accumulate upon each other, making any
additional stressor that much more detrimental. Under stressful conditions, the
sympathetic system is activated. The sympathetic system and parasympathetic
system have an inverse relationship. So if you’re chronically stressed, then
the sympathetic nervous system is chronically active and the parasympathetic
nervous system is chronically inactive. Under these circumstances, it becomes
harder and harder to switch on the parasympathetic nervous system to diminish
the stress response. So in some cases, the stress response itself ensures that
it continues. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What is interesting is that strong emotions increase cardiac
vulnerability, which is worsened under stressful conditions. A strong, adverse
emotion, like anger, doubles the risk of a heart attack during the succeeding
time period (Sapolsky, 2004). Actual causes are tough to study since you can’t
predict when a traumatizing event is going to happen to someone and interview
them to find out how they were feeling before and afterwards. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In one instance, however, a physician collected newspaper
clippings of sudden cardiac death in individuals. He found a correlation
between certain events associated with the deaths, including: the collapse,
death or threat of loss of a loved one, acute grief, loss of status or
self-esteem, mourning, personal danger, threat of injury, and extreme joy
(Sapolsky, 2004). Cardiologists seem to agree that sudden cardiac death is an
extreme instance of acute stress causing ventricular arrhythmia or ventricular
fibrillation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With relation to my family member - ‘A’, she was certainly
emotionally distressed and chronically stressed. Years of feeling upset, angry,
guilty and defeated certainly fueled the fire that stress was raging. So, as ‘A’s’ case exemplifies, even with
a low-fat diet and plenty of exercise, the repercussions of chronic stress can
stack up against ones health. All things considered however, it could have been
plenty worse. Add in the high-fat diet and sedentism that many post-industrial
people call life, and ‘A’s’ heart attack could have been life threatening. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Reference: <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sapolsky, Robert M. (2004). Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The
Acclaimed Guide to </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stress,
Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Press. </div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12906241422883734047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5070306542698836055.post-88672622068114984192013-03-18T15:13:00.000-07:002013-03-18T15:13:37.800-07:00Family Profile Project: Mission Statement<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbt8QqnqBD1JPwv3brZKRR2_-OHinCQTYT2dJ9vywXU_mTNkc1VjIAhDKjiP-5T9huJy5GxUXEK6B5a7EEOetPigVHrdFnjZ7CUc7E9LEB6cOKMDxodK4HH6uilh94Rj6nWxiYM-EG37o/s1600/familyprofile+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbt8QqnqBD1JPwv3brZKRR2_-OHinCQTYT2dJ9vywXU_mTNkc1VjIAhDKjiP-5T9huJy5GxUXEK6B5a7EEOetPigVHrdFnjZ7CUc7E9LEB6cOKMDxodK4HH6uilh94Rj6nWxiYM-EG37o/s320/familyprofile+pic.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Delsomething's photostream;<br />found at {http://www.flickr.com/photos<br />/32089260@N05/}</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m taking on a project concerning a subject that has long
pulled at my curiosity so consistently that, in the end, I have no choice but
to explore its implications and causes. The subject is stress, particularly
stress as it manifests out of the gene pool of my family.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has always been clear, not only to me and other family
members, but many family acquaintances as well, that the Stout family
temperament and personality is quite peculiar. It took my whole childhood
growing up, hearing of the ‘Stout temper’ and then experiencing it first hand,
to understand how biologically engrained this characteristic is to nearly every
Stout. Though I have many individual instances that exemplify the ‘Stout
temper’ perfectly, I will not, out of respect for my family, get into that.
That is a story unto itself and essentially is not necessary to what I’m trying
to accomplish here.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This subject is really quite personal for me, for in
embarking on this project it is necessary to divulge not just some personal
information concerning myself and Stout members (anonymously of course) but the
ways in which the nature of the beast (stress) is essentially tied to these
individuals in emotional, cognitive and self-identifying ways. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For these reasons, I will not reveal any actual names or
relational ties to myself of the individuals used. My motivation behind this
project is to better understand my own biology through studying my family’s, to
understand how stress’s effects are genetically, environmentally and
temperamentally variable, and to find viable methods of coping with stress
effectively when it is unavoidable in our environment. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hope also that this information is found useful to others.
Stress is unavoidable to everyone and intensified in our modern environments.
It is a silent killer and its tracks are often brushed off on genetic or
behavioral conditions. Though, these have a heavy influence on how stress effects
each of us, we are also in full control of managing stress in a healthy way. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am in school right now, on track to becoming a DO. Though
I am just in the midst of my undergraduate, I have a lot of passion in
understanding health and disease. I have long been an advocate for healthy
lifestyle changes as a way to support a healthy well-being. So, as a way to
build my repertoire of understanding how health is a manifestation of many
factors - genetic, behavioral, environmental, cognitive and emotional – this
will formulate a foundational perspective to build new information on top of.
Similarly, in beginning to talk to family members, whom I am close to, about
health, stress and lifestyle changes, I am building communicative skills that
will be crucial down the road. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I do hope you find this project interesting and hopefully
enlightening. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you for reading. </div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12906241422883734047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5070306542698836055.post-78449647700558568842013-03-15T16:48:00.002-07:002013-03-18T15:41:13.475-07:00Just Breathe: The stress-relieving effects of Sudarshan Kriya Yogic Breathing<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The feeling is
the same for all of us - whether you recognize the symptoms as your hands shake
at the start of a speech or when you lay painfully awake thinking about
tomorrow’s exam trying to sleep. We all recognize the symptoms of stress, but
few understand the bodies underlying mechanisms in dealing with it. Just under
the surface of our anxiety is an elaborate and delicate system working itself
out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stress has its
benefits. Its evolutionary roots were selected to keep our ancestors alive.
While the stress humans experience today is less severe than what our ancestors
put up with, it can still enact equally as taxing a response to our bodies.
Perhaps even more so. The same nerve and chemical stimulation that a forager
would have escaping for their life, we enable stuck in traffic, late for work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It seems fairly
safe to assume that people today experience less life-threatening, but far more
psychosocial stress. So what happens when we’re so continually stressed out our
bodies can’t jump our of ‘adrenalate’ mode (commonly expressed as ‘fight or
flight’)? Stress easily reaches chronic levels that have harmful, deleterious
consequences, ranging anywhere between fatigue and muscle loss to heart disease
and diabetes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">But before that
sentences alone stresses you out, let me present the good news. Slow breathing
techniques, characteristic of yogic breathing, can physiologically reverse the
effects of stress by activating the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), also
known as the ‘vegetative’ or ‘rest and rebuild’ state. So while stress can have
serious consequences to your health, you may be happy to hear you have the
final say in managing it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before I jump
into the findings of Brown and Gerbarg, documenting the effects of Sudarshan
Kriya yoga, let me brush up on a bit of biology. The malaffects found caused by
chronic stress are hormonal in nature, though it all leads back to what is
triggered by our nervous system, through its voluntary and involuntary aspects.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are two
major divisions of the involuntary/autonomic side of that system: the
Sympathetic Nervous system (SNS) or ‘fight or flight’ overdrive mode, and the
Parasympathetic Nervous system (PNS) or the ‘rest and rebuild’ healing mode.
Ideally these two factions have a give and take relationship, trading off the
workload when environment is appropriate for one over the other. So as
parasympathetic tone goes up, sympathetic tone goes down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, its
possible for one to try to trump the other for mechanistic control. This can be
most damaging when it’s the SNS fighting for attention. And I do mean fighting.
The tendency of the SNS is to allocate all possible sources of energy to
maximize motor use, leaving less for maintenance and functioning. This means,
the SNS is not utilizing energy to repair tissues (i.e. muscle, brain, ect.),
metabolize nutrients or fortify the immune system. It is meant to activate
quickly and end quickly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOOnH7Lq1eCxoFvIxk6Qyp9-TRiEEKOvffPAhsvLUPQ6qy_kkHp2DVk7vV2UtHn3GIjhH8G6lEIpcFLHr06KCcAi5EvH_bI04Ai2rMUMliIZZmeuhCSRMSmJy2_5SIVl3Emv3dOjmkX8/s1600/breatheyoga+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOOnH7Lq1eCxoFvIxk6Qyp9-TRiEEKOvffPAhsvLUPQ6qy_kkHp2DVk7vV2UtHn3GIjhH8G6lEIpcFLHr06KCcAi5EvH_bI04Ai2rMUMliIZZmeuhCSRMSmJy2_5SIVl3Emv3dOjmkX8/s320/breatheyoga+pic.jpg" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image by lilycafe3's photostream; found<br />at {http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilycafe/}</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, it is
not uncommon in our modern lives to let psychosocial stress take the wheel and
control the allocation of energy resources. This can exacerbate pre-conditions
and lead to many diseases and illnesses, among them: depression, chronic pain,
heart diseases and disorders, immunity disorders, impaired cognition,
pre-aging, diabetes and more. Luckily, Brown and Gerbarg have proposed a viable
alternative to letting stress run your life (2005). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The best part
is, this technique can be used by anyone, anywhere and, aside from learning the
technicalities involved in the practice, all you have to do is breathe! For 8,000+
years the yogic masters have claimed that the art of yoga is an exercise in
strengthening the connection between the mind and the body. Science is finding
more and new ways that our mind affects our brain, which affects our whole body
and well-being and visa versa. Many of these pathways are related to the
stress-response. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brown and
Gerbarg measured the neurophysiological changes in the body when using
mind-body interventions, outlined by Sudarshan Kriya yoga (SKY) techniques,
including different rates of breathing, breath-holding, posture, air resistance
upon others (2005). If you’re interested, these breathing methods are more
detailed and/or efficiently taught by instructors at the Art of Living academy;
a link to their site can be found<b> <a href="http://www.artofliving.org/sudarshan-kriya" target="_blank">here</a></b>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The study
focused on stimulation of the autonomic nervous system functions, measured by
heart rate variability, cardiac <b>vagal
tone</b>, chemoreflex sensitivity (O</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and CO</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> levels in blood), baroreflex (blood
pressure), and central nervous system excitation (Brown & Gerbarg, 2005).
Recent research has even focused on cardiac vagal tone (the PNS is primarily
associated with the vagus nerve) as a marker of emotional regulation,
psychologic adaptation, emotional reactivity/expression, and empathic response
and attachment (Brown & Gerbarg, 2005). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">First off, the
relationship between breathing and emotion are bidirectional. Breathing is one
of the few bodily mechanics under both voluntary and involuntary control
through complex feedback mechanisms involving autonomic visceral networks,
parts of the brain stem, limbic system, cortical areas and the neuroendocrine
system. Breathing that is highly connected to the autonomic nervous system is
also highly influential on emotion and mood (Brown & Gerbarg, 2005). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sudarshan Kriya
yoga involves four different components in breathing techniques. Again, if you
wish to know more, visit there website to get a more detailed account of the
techniques. I’ll refrain from describing them since I’m not a qualified
instructor and many nuances are involved that is best explained in person and
through practice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Slow yogic
breathing decreases chemoreflex sensitivity (mediated by the vagus nerve),
improves cardiovascular and respiratory function and increases arterial
baroreflex sensitivity (Brown & Gerbarg, 2005). In other words, this slow
breathing decreases the involuntary respiratory responses to small changes in O</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and CO</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> levels in the blood, improves
circulation and breathing function and increases the vascular system’s
sensitivity to changes in blood pressure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Reducing the
chemoreflex sensitivity allows the body to tolerate higher levels of carbon
dioxide (which is generated during exercise). In fact, the chemoreflex
sensitive affects of yogic breathing practices mimic those found in elite
athletes, specifically in that the body is able to sustain higher levels of
carbon dioxide, while better utilizing oxygen levels. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Adaptation of
pulmonary stretch receptors to deep breathing and chemoreceptors to chronic
high levels of carbon dioxide retention increases vagal nerve stimulation to
the brain causing physically and emotionally calm effects (Brown & Gerbarg,
2005). And continued yogic breathing practice decreases heart rate, increases
vagal tone and increases aerobic capacity, all of which are influenced more so
by introducing yogic postures and poses (Brown & Gerbarg, 2005).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Resistant or
pressure breathing which is a component of SKY, caused by a slight contraction
of the laryngeal muscles, stimulates the somatosensory vagal afferent nerves
leading to the brain, increasing vagal tone, in so increasing the PNS (Brown
& Gerbarg, 2005). Furthermore, regular slow breathing normalizes baroreflex
sensitivity, which is compromised with aging, cardiac disease and hypertension,
all of which are exacerbated and even caused by stress (Brown & Gerbarg,
2005). Slow yogic breathing not only lessens the response to stress – it
actually reverses it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The SNS and PNS
are constantly dispatching signals to the body with every breath. Normal heart
rate increases during inspiration and decreases during expiration. This
interplay, however, is influenced by sympathetic and vagal/parasympathetic
input and by respiratory rate and volume (Brown & Gerbarg, 2005). Simply
enough, exercising the vagal/parasympathetic tone improves (often by decreasing)
normal heart rate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Furthermore, as
polyvagal theory purposes, vagal activity is linked to attention, emotion and
communication (Brown & Gerbarg, 2005). Slow yoga breathing, stimulating the
PNS along with its varied effects mentioned previously, activates the
hypothalamic vigilance area and induces a calm but alert state, recharges
energy reserves and prepares the body for future stressors. This is the natural
state of the nervous system experienced by our evolutionary ancestors – calm, alert
and maintained during the majority of experience and heightened by stress to
maximum energy output when occasionally needed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This slow and
deep yoga breathing can mechanistically switch off the Sympathetic Nervous
system and shift to the Parasympathetic Nervous system via vagal stimulation
from vagal somatosensory afferents in the glottis, pharynx, lungs and abdomen (Brown
& Gerbarg, 2005). Even without long-term practice, these techniques have
shown to improve all the areas mentioned previously and only grow stronger with
time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Often when
telling the brain what to do - like “go to sleep” – enacts the opposite response. So in times of stress, when
your mental capacities aren’t doing you anymore good, but you simply find it
impossible to escape your thoughts, just breathe… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Reference:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Brown, R. P. &, Gerbarg, P. L. (2005).
<span style="color: #262626;">Sudarshan Kriya Yogic Breathing in the
Treatment <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #262626;"> of
Stress, Anxiety, and Depression: Part I—Neurophysiologic Model</span>. <i><span style="color: #262626;">The <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #262626;"> Journal
of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, </span></i><span style="color: #262626;">11(2),
189- 201. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> doi:10.1089/acm.2005.11.189.</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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