Posts filed under 'Stress'
According to one biological theory that is gaining more and more acceptance,
you have an extra brain.
It’s called the enteric nervous system, and is a collection of neural tissue that wraps in sheaths around your digestive tract, from esophagus to colon. It is fairly well separated from the cranial brain, growing independently during fetal development, and only later being joined by the Vagus nerve.
It is speculated that “nervous stomach” conditions such as colitis and irritable bowel syndrome may be caused the enteric nervous system. The discipline of neurogastroenterology is studying the connection between these (and other) disorders and the “belly brain”.
For more information:
Complex and Hidden Brain in Gut Makes Stomachaches and Butterflies [NYTimes]
March 12th, 2007
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Wendy at Lifehacker.com points to this Steven Gillman article on managing worry effectively. It fits in with the GTD theme I’ve had running through my mind this week, so I am glad to reproduce the original article in full (with permission from ezinearticles.com):
We all worry at times, and there is probably no way to stop worrying forever. There are some specific ways to stop right now, however. The following tips on how to stop worrying come from experience, because I’ve always been a bit of a worrier, and I had to learn some good techniques for stopping this energy-sucking habit. Here are five of the best.
1. Take action now. Any action towards a goal tends to diminish worry. Thinking too much about your goals or plans, especially if you dwell on the hurdles, will cause you worry and stress. Of course you should plan well, but when planning drifts towards worrying, it’s time to start doing something positive. Take action!
2. Make decisive decisions. When you want to stop worrying too much about an unresolved issues, you need to make decisive decisions, and even bad decisions may be better than doing nothing. Often you will immediately resolve the stress when you, for example, finally decide to quit that job, buy that house, or make that phone call. Nothing crowds and clouds your mind with worry as much as decisions waiting to be made. Make them now, or at least start gathering the information you need to make them. If they prove to be bad decisions, just make new ones.
3. Use mental categories. Too many things going on in your head? Put them on lists and you may feel better. It works well for many of us worriers. When you are dwelling too much on something, and you stop to schedule a time to work on it, or just put it on a list, it is easier to let go of it for now. Jot down that phone call you have to make on tomorrow’s list, and you’ll feel less worried now. You’re basically creating “mental categories.” In fact, just saying to yourself, “There’s nothing I can do about this until Monday,” can put a worry into a category of “nothing to worry about right now.”
4. Deal with problems directly and quickly. To eliminate worry when there are real problems, try to confront them head-on, and resolve them quickly. I once had to sue someone over a business matter, and I was worrying about it for weeks. When I finally just filed the papers, got on the phone, and came to an agreement, my stress was gone. Actually, my worrying began to dissipated as soon as I started acting, BEFORE the resolution (See #1).
There is more mental pain and worry in anticipating problems than in the problems themselves. If you lost a thousand dollars in the stock market last year, you probably suffer less from that today than you would from wondering if you’ll make it on time to a concert you paid $50 for. The anticipation of problems is what causes the most worry. Just deal with them head on as soon as is possible, and resolve them to the extent possible.
5. Meditate to eliminate worry. Meditating is a great way to relax and to stop worrying, but what if you don’t have the time for more involved meditative practices? Don’t worry. Just try this: close your eyes, let the tension out of your body and take several deep breaths through your nose. That’s it. Want even easier meditation? Try brain wave entrainment CDs that do all the work for you. Just pop on the headphones and they’ll relax you by slowing your brain waves.
Try the above techniques. Make habits out of whichever ones work best to stop your worries. They need to be habits because nothing works if you forget to use it. In fact, until they become habitual, you may want to carry a list of your favorite techniques for eliminating worry.
Steve Gillman has been studying brainpower and related topics for years. For more on How To Increase Brain Power, and to get the Brain Power Newsletter and other free gifts, visit http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Gillman
August 10th, 2006
Usually when we discuss the iPod here it’s all about hearing loss, but ForeverGeek.com has an article worth reading on using your personal music player to enhance your brain power.
The article discusses a software application called the Brainwave Generator to create MP3s that will have different but specific effects on your state of mind. Apparently the changes can actually be observed via EEG. The Brainwave Generator site has the encoder and several premade files available for download. The sensations stimulated by this set of files includes:
- deep sleep or just relaxation
- had too much coffee,
- generate lost time,
- getting a tooth drilled,
- sexual stimulation,
- sexual simulation, and
- LSD simulation
There is a community of file contributors, sharing tons of free user-developed files with a rating system.
Read More:
The Brain Wave Generator [BWGen]
March 31st, 2006
Jacob at Mind-Energy.net has some great ideas about fast, simple things you can do to bolster your energy levels. The thing is, though, that he has no idea how to properly convey this information to you, the eager reader.
He certainly tries, even going to the effort of making some pitious stick-figure drawings in MS Paint, but to no avail. Finally, one of his readers (Tony) figured out what Jacob was trying to say, and did so, with some clarity, in the comments to the post (comment #3 for those keeping track).
These routines actually work rather well. Give them a try…
Increase your energy levels in 1 minute [Mind-Energy.net]
January 13th, 2006
Have you heard of Fredding? It’s the hot new relaxation technique that everyone is doing.
Well, actually no one is.
At least we hope not.
Fredding is the practice of relieving yourself of pent up frustration and stress by making the lives of your loved ones miserable and minimum-wage service employees hate you.
Quote:
Fredding begins when someone “baits” another person by getting him or her to say a word that rhymes with Fred.
When the target - a waitress in a diner who suggests bread when asked for an alternative to rolls, for example - falls into the trap, the Fredder calls out, “Bread! Fred! Who’s Fred, ha!”
Fredding creator, David Mocknick - who clearly needs a good slapping - is shilling a book on the topic: Who’s Fred, Ha!
. [Amazon]
People can certainly be… odd.
January 11th, 2006
A study by the American Psychological Association (APA) published in the November issue of Health Psychology demonstrates that exposure to stress over a long period of time can raise a person’s serum cholesterol level. These increases were seen in both low-density lipoprotein (LDL- “bad cholesterol“) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL- “good cholesterol“)
In initial testing, some subjects saw little cholesterol level elevation in response to stress stimulus, while others - even in the short term- saw a marked increase. By the end of the three year study, all subjects overall lipid levels were higher but the group who responded the most profoundly to sress stimulus were three times more likely to have a level of ‘bad’ (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol above clinical thresholds. This was demonstrated to be independent of other risk factors.
Researcher Dr. Andrew Steptoe states, “It appears that a person’s reaction to stress is one mechanism through which higher lipid levels may develop.”
Read More:
Stress can raise a person’s lipid levels [News-Medical.Net ]
November 29th, 2005
The Australian National University provides online depression-prevention therapy through a web site called The MoodGYM.
Give this free service a try:
The MoodGYM: cognitive behaviour therapy for preventing depression
November 28th, 2005
According to the Harvard Heart Letter, it is now heart attack season [Open Source Media]. Be a healthy geek and take care of yourself while shoveling snow from your driveway as well as turkey and stuffing from plate to mouth!
Watch out for “Holiday Stress” and “Winter Blues” (Seasonal Affective Disorder) as well.
November 17th, 2005
Does meditation change the brain, or are people who have a thickened cerebral cortex simply more likely to meditate?
NewScientist.com reports on a study finding that people who meditate tend to have a thicker cortex than non-meditators (meditaters? meditatoes?), and in their reporting claim a causal relationship that the study does not seem to assert. The correlation does seem valid, but not necessarily the causality.
In any event, we believe there are many advantages to meditation, whether it changes the size of the cortex or not.
Read more at:
Meditation builds up the brain [NewScientist.com]
Meditation alters brain structure [BoingBoing]
Meditation can alter structure of the brain [Mind Hacks]
November 16th, 2005
As of now, we have no official stance on this issue, but this is certainly worth reading. Research may suggest that repetitive work can cause illness and inflammation prior to the onset of any detectable RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury).
Read More:
Slacker or sick? - [Medical News Today]
Hat Tip:
Repetitive Motion Injury Creates Slacker [LifeHack.org]
October 27th, 2005
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