Category Archives: Stress Solutions

APA Speaks Out About Stress

Nearly every year in recent history, the APA has taken the “Stress-Temperature” of this country on at least an annual basis. The most recent article is called Stress in America 2023/A nation recovering from collective trauma. However, even though the title of the article is about a nation recovering from the collective trauma of Covid-19, the news is not good, and recovery is not the topic of the paper. No one can argue that Covid-19 was a traumatic time and it is mostly over. But the stress of so many other crises and problems is building. The APA article points out how much higher the percentage of stress-related chronic illnesses are being seen today. To add to the growing concern about professional stress, the Louisiana Psychological Association Fall/Winter Workshop hosted Dr. Leisl Bryant, a Professional Consultant with The Trust, who spent almost the last hour of her Ethics, Risk Management and Vulnerabilities: Yours, Mine, and Ours presentation talking about stress and the need to manage it in order to remain effective therapists.

I must admit that I was getting tired of writing about stress and stress management every month and I figured the readers are getting tired of it too. However, my thoughts as I read the APA paper and then listened to Dr. Bryant were different. I realized how important it is for us all to take stress management more seriously. In other words, stop putting it off and start doing something on a regular scheduled basis. That was Dr. Bryant’s basic message.

The message of the APA article was full of data about increased and increasing numbers of people who are reporting chronic stress-related illness but denying that they are all that stressed. It is as if people do not want to admit that they are stressed.

According to the APA, adults between the ages of 35 and 44 are showing an increase in chronic illness from 48% in 2019 to 58% in 2023. The article made an important point that we all know but put it in everyday language so that it is more digestible: “Long-term stress puts the body on high alert and as stress accumulates, leads to inflammation, wearing on the immune system, and increasing the risks of a host of ailments, including digestive issues, heart disease, weight gain, and stroke.”

The APA’s yearly survey concluded that many people (81%) felt that their physical health was good even when they also reported (66%) being diagnosed with a chronic illness (high blood pressure (28%), high cholesterol (24%), or arthritis (17%). That is as close to being a river in Egypt as you can get. They also reported an anxiety disorder (24%) or depression (23%). At the same time, the data indicated that people are playing down stress. The reasons given for not
seeking treatment were: therapy doesn’t work (40%), lack of time (39%), or lack of insurance (37%). While we cannot do much about insurance costs and lack of coverage, but our field needs to get busy to change the beliefs that therapy doesn’t work and that people do not have enough time to go to therapy. We need more information into the public.

Then there is the Elephant in the room: Stress Management and how many of us really do it. There are so many ways to reduce stress. Each of us needs to spend a good half hour thinking about all the things we do to reduce stress on a DAILY basis. Make a list and really try to put it into a regular schedule. You can set your iPhone or smart watch to remind you when it is time to take a break.

I went back over the columns posted in the Psychology Times since I started writing them around 2014 and came up with so many possible ways we can pay attention to how stressed we feel at the end of the day and what we can do about it. But, as the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the originator of Transcendental Meditation ™ once said, “If you can’t do anything else, Breathe!” Breathing is automatic. Maharishi was not talking about mindless breathing; he was talking about breathing with intention and focus, with mindfulness.

Maybe spend 2-3 minutes every few hours to Pause, and take some slow, deep inhalations.

Foods that can help fight off Everyday Stress

Any acute stressor triggers the same physical reaction to stress, like nerves before a presentation or finishing an article on a schedule. We all are subject to stresses in ordinary life. Concepts such as Acute vs Chronic Stress have been frequently discussed. The many and varied ways to reduce stress and the importance of reducing it have often been a subject of this column. Many people don’t know, however, that a varied and balanced diet can really help you deal with the physical responses your body automatically produces to daily acute stress. We all recognize the hormone, Serotonin, which is linked to our mood. But, did you know that 90 percent of Serotonin is produced in the gut – not in the brain? And, if the cells in the GI tract have access to the correct nutrients, they can produce more Serotonin. Apparently, it comes down to eating foods that contain an essential amino acid known as Tryptophan, which then produces Serotonin. We cannot make tryptophan naturally so we must ingest foods that contain it. Tryptophan can be found in food; Serotonin cannot.

The answer is not foods high in refined sugar. Such foods can actually impair brain function. Research on nutrition says that our bodies crave variety, a mix of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, protein, and carbohydrates in order to boost levels of balancing hormones, like Serotonin.

Some foods help reduce Cortisol, which is another well-known hormone linked to stress. Cortisol increases inflammation. Fruits like blueberries are full of antioxidants and vitamin C, which reduce levels of Cortisol in the body. Avoid inflammation-increasing foods such as refined sugar, alcohol, refined grains, trans fat, and saturated fat. Some dietary experts recommend use of 100% maple syrup and coconut sugar as substitutes.

Anyone familiar with the Harry Potter books will recall that Professor Lupin gave Harry Dark Chocolate whenever he was stressed. Dark chocolate also reduces Cortisol. Dark chocolate also has compounds called flavanols which are thought to relax blood vessels, improve blood flow, and decrease blood pressure. Milk chocolate and white chocolate do not do nearly as good a job as dark chocolate.

Fruits and vegetables boost Serotonin. Bananas in particular, boost Serotonin. Spinach, Swiss Chard, pumpkin seeds, edamame, avocado and potatoes are all good sources of magnesium, which reduces Cortisol and promotes good sleep. Oranges, broccoli, sweet potatoes, peas and cucumbers are rich in Potassium. Veggie sticks with hummus work as well.

Fish, particularly oily fish as we noted last month, can reduce anxiety and increase brain function. It is the Omega-3 fatty acid that works.

In summary, this is a list of the top Serotonin boosters. Remember any food that contains the essential amino acid, tryptophan will produce Serotonin. But the other top foods are: Salmon gets top marks for boosting Serotonin. Spinach is second (that includes Swiss Chard and probably most all of the leafy greens, including Kale). Seeds and nuts and soy products are also top on the list of Serotonin boosters.

When it comes to reducing Cortisol, the list is different. Dark Chocolate stays at the top and is probably the easiest to sell. But, don’t forget seeds (pumpkin, chia, flax, and hemp), avocados, bananas, spinach, broccoli, nutritional yeast and probiotics. Many of these are high in magnesium, even dark chocolate. Oh, and nuts (walnuts and almonds) help reduce high cortisol levels.

As much fun as it is to read about good foods to help manage stress, please don’t forget that practicing meditation or mindfulness, getting good sleep and moderate exercise are essential to keep your mind and body in balance during these chaotic times.

Stress Solutions

Salmon and Sardines for Stress Reduction

Benefits attributed to eating oily fish are mounting. Eating fish is now credited  with combating depression, reducing the symptoms of arthritis, reducing the risk of heart disease, protecting vision, and most recently with reducing stress and  improving working memory. Of course, this is due to oily fish, like salmon and  mackerel, being very rich in omega-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids and protein.  White fish have fatty acids too but not as much.

A study published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative,  and Comparative Physiology shows that fatty fish oils can “counteract the  detrimental effects of mental stress (read that: the fight or flight reaction) on your  heart.” The study, led by Jason Carter of Michigan Technological University,  revealed that people who took 9 grams of fish oil supplements a day for over a  month experienced less mental stress in measurements of cardiovascular health,  including heart rate and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) compared to  those who took 9 grams a day of olive oil instead.

Oily fish are species of fish that contain significant amounts of oil throughout their body tissues and in their belly cavity. In contrast, whitefish only contain oil in their liver – and much less of it than oily fish. Other examples of oily fish include trout,  sardines, kipper, eel, and herring.

The American Heart Association recommends that people eat at least two servings of fish every week. The National Health Service of the United Kingdom also advises people to eat at least two portions of fish a week, including one of oily fish.

It has been known since the famous Avon, England study of all the pregnant  women in that city during one year in the 90’s that women who do not eat fish  during pregnancy are more likely to experience high levels of anxiety at that time.  The University of Bristol longitudinal study suggested that eating fish during pregnancy could help reduce stress levels, which – in turn – has the effect of  reducing behavioral and attention problems in the offspring of oily fish eating mums.

My favorite study involved London cabbies, a stressed group who can always use  some working memory improvement. The BBC reported on a small group of 10  cabbies who agreed to eat 4 portions of oily fish a week for 12 weeks. They were  tested before and after the 12 weeks to see what affect the increased intake of  oily fish had on their stress levels and memory.

At the end of the 12 weeks it was found that cabbies were better able to deal with  stressful situations and their visualization-based memory had also improved significantly, something Omega 3 is believed to help with. As a group, their stress  hormone as a whole was down by 22% and their anti-stress hormone up by 12%.

Since the study included only ten participants and had no control group, the  results are only suggestive. However, the cabbies could be heard to exclaim: “So long and thanks for all the fish…”

Can Stress Cause Dementia?

The relationship between stress and dementia is actually a fairly new  research topic and one that is important the longer people live and  the more complex, demanding, and chaotic our lives are becoming.  Most of us find it difficult to avoid the chaos and conflicting demands  on our time and resources. Given the circumstances, it is only natural to ask if stress can cause dementia. The short answer is: Yes! Early studies are at least linking stress with an increased risk of dementia.  Here are some of the recent findings.

1. A longitudinal study of 2 ½ years, involving 62 participants, with an  average age of 78 years, who were diagnosed as either mild cognitive  impairment or cognitively normal, were followed for cortisol levels, ratings of the amount of stress of lifetime events, and changes in  independent psychiatric diagnoses. The authors concluded that  prolonged highly stressful experiences can accelerate cognitive  decline in people with aging, already susceptible brains. However,  cortisol measures were not associated with decline or change in diagnosis. (Peavy, Jacobson, et al. 2012.)

2. In another study with mice, it was found that high levels of stress  hormones are linked to higher levels of tau and amyloid precursor  protein, which is linked to Alzheimer’s.

3. The importance of highly stressful experiences and prolonged  highly stressful experiences seem to be a repeating finding. One thing is well known: highly stressful experiences can age the brain more  quickly than is typical in the passage of the same amount of time.  Defining a “highly stressful experience” are things such as being fired after age 50 when it is much harder to find another job. Another  experience that rates as highly stressful would be a financial crisis.  One study of over a thousand participants found that each stressful  experience aged the brain by 4 years. One implication from this  finding is that there is most likely a cumulative effect of stress and each stressful event could increase the risk of dementia. The study’s  authors argued that this cumulative hypothesis may help explain why  African-Americans, who tend to face higher rates of stress, have  higher rates of dementia.

The risk of chronic stress increasing one’s risk of dementia becomes a greater concern for people for whom dementia runs in their family. It  is important for all of us to help pass the message that stress is  something you can have significant control over. If people will wake  up to the importance of reducing stress on a regular basis and become more aware of their states of mind, they should be able to  reduce the risk of dementia by regularly reducing their stress.

Tapping Reduces Cortisol by 43%

That is what Dr. Peta Stapleton on Bond University in Australia found1 when she replicated  Dawson Church’s 2012 cortisol study.1 In the original study, Church et al examined salivary  cortisol levels in 83 subjects who were randomly assigned to either an emotional freedom  technique (EFT) group, a psychotherapy group (SL for Sympathetic Listening) or a no  treatment group (NT). The EFT group had a 50-minute session of tapping with a certified EFT coach. The NT group waited 50 minutes in the waiting room and the SL group had a 50-minute session with a licensed therapist. Cortisol was assayed just before and 30 minutes after an intervention. Emotional distress was assessed using the Symptom Assessment-45 to measure  the subject’s level of anxiety and depression. The EFT group measured a significant decrease  (p<0.03) in mean cortisol level (-24.39%) compared to a decrease of -14.25% in the SI group and  -14.44% in the NT group.

Dr. Stapleton replicated the original Church study almost exactly. However, her results were  even more dramatic. The EFT group reduced cortisol after 1 hour of EFT by 43%. There were 53  subjects in this study randomly assigned to one of the three groups. The Symptom Assessment-45 was again used to assess psychological distress. Salivary cortisol assessment  was performed 30 minutes before the intervention and 30 minutes after.

Cortisol is considered to be an important biological marker of stress. EFT or acupoint  stimulation is shown to be an effective method to reduce stressrelated cortisol in a person. In  an experimental situation, this is “interesting” and often that is all that happens with a reader  who has an interest in stress reduction. In a real life situation, however, where someone has a  history of not dealing well with stress, finding a short, easy to apply method that reliably  reduces the amount of cortisol circulating in their body, the importance cannot be over-stated.

Creating a list of people who have a history of “not dealing well with stress” is an important  first step. These are people who for some reason tend to hold the stress producing situation in their minds and continue to think about it, such as people who are more likely to have anxiety  disorders like GAD or PTSD. The list should also include people who because of their physical  condition, such as being pregnant, do not want to maintain high levels of cortisol in their  blood.

An important second step as clinicians is for us to introduce them to various techniques to  help them reduce their stress related cortisol. The Tapping Solution is possibly NOT the best  technique. That remains to be seen. However, it is surely experimentally proven to reliably reduce cortisol and it is easy to do.

It might make a good tool for your therapy box if you see and treat people with anxiety.

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1. Stapleton, P., Crighton, G., Sabot, D., and O’Neill, H.M. (2020). Reexamining the effect of   motional freedom techniques on stress biochemistry: A randomized controlled trial. Psychol  Trauma.doi: 10.1037/tra0000563 (epub ahead of print.)
2. Church, Dawson, Yount, G., and Brooks, A.J. (2012). The effect of emotional freedom  techniques on stress biochemistry: A randomized controlled trial. J Nerv Ment Dis., 10, 891-6.

Stress Solutions

Test Your Stress IQ

There is a reason we talk about stress. And, we all do talk about stress. Lately, it has become  a major topic. There is so much change in the world around us – everything from the  weather to our daily schedules to our bodies as we get older every day. So, we should all  know how stress affects us. Each of us is affected in unique combinations of ways by stress. And, each of us would define different things as being “stressful.” For example, one person  might find loud noises very stressful. Another could be totally unaffected by loud sounds or  noises. I imagine that many of you try to help colleagues, friends, family, or clients with their stress. So, why not test your stress IQ.

1. Name four symptoms that stress is affecting your brain.

2. Stress is the body’s reaction to harmful situation. Do the harmful situations have to be real?

3. Can plants reduce stress?

4. Can a mother’s uncontrolled stress affect her unborn child?

5. Can stress trigger an autoimmune disease in humans?

6. How does a sleep-deprived bee show stress?

7. It is just a fanciful belief that seeing birds can reduce your stress. True or False.

8. What is the first thing that is lost when your schedule gets too busy?

9. Growing up in poverty can have a lasting impact on a child’s brain. True or False.

10. Chronic stress can harm a lot of things but one thing it doesn’t do is age you prematurely. True or False.

Answers to Stress IQ Test – Each correct answer earns 10 points. A perfect score is 100.

1. If you listed 4 of the following 6 general symptoms indicating that stress is affecting your brain, give yourself 1 point. a. Constant worrying; b. Racing thoughts; c. Forgetfulness and disorganization; d. Inability to focus; e. Poor judgment; f. Being pessimistic or seeing only the negative side

2. No, whether the harmful situations is real or perceived or even “just” imagined, if you feel threatened, a chemical reaction occurs in the body to help you deal with the situation. That chemical reaction or the stress response is known as “fight or flight.”

3. Yes, some indoor plants can reduce stress. Of course, a walk in nature and the beauty of nature have long been known to make people feel better. Science backs up more benefits to keeping indoor plants around you. Indoor plants improve our mental health. A study at the University of Vermont showed that visual just seeing plants in the space around you helps reduce stress in only five minutes. Another study showed that plants in the same room while working increases a person’s ability to pay attention and stay focused (J. Environmental Psychology). Flowers are even more impressive. Research at Rutgers showed an immediate  impact on happiness. One hundred percent of the people in the study immediately responded with a smile.

4. Definitely. A pregnant woman’s chronic stress during pregnancy can cause behavioral and emotional problems of childhood that last into adulthood. The fetal brain responds to maternal chronic stress by making subtle changes in the development of the brain. These subtle changes lead to behavioral issues as the baby grows, such as ADD/ADHD, high levels of anxiety, learning differences, and even autism.

5. Yes. Almost all research papers on the topic of autoimmune disease start by saying that there is a multifactorial group of causes, including genetic, hormonal, some environmental and immunological factors. Despite the known causes, at least 50% of autoimmune diseases can be attributed to “unknown trigger factors.” And, that is where stress as a trigger fits in. Subjects of retrospective studies on autoimmune disease have identified that they experienced an unusual amount of emotional stress prior to onset of an autoimmune disease.

6. Some bee species who are sleep deprived perform their waggle dances with less  precision. The “waggle dance” of a bee is their equivalent of a GPS. So, a sleep deprived bee who is supposed to be communicating with the rest of the hive as to the direction of food could be off in the directions they are giving the others.

7. False. A study done at King’s College London examined the immediate effects on well- being when the 1,292 study subjects were in green spaces of nature and seeing/hearing birds at the same time. After statistical analysis the data showed that people rated their well-being in the moment highest when birds were present. The analysis eliminated the presence of nature (trees, plants, and water) thus isolating the positive effects of birds on
human emotions. The positive effects were found regardless of whether the participant had a prior diagnosis of depression/anxiety or no mental health issues.

8. The first thing that drops out of your schedule when work bears down is exercise. Aerobic exercise can reduce stress but if done in sufficient amounts, aerobic exercise can increase the length of “telomeres.” An important study done at U. of California proved that exercising at least 3 times a week for about ½ hour over a 6-month period can slow down cellular aging, which is measured by telomere length.

9. True. In general, people know many of the negative effects of poverty. What has not been well known is how childhood poverty coupled with stress might affect brain function, particularly the brain’s function of regulating emotions. One longitudinal study found that the amount of chronic stress from childhood through adolescence, including substandard housing, crowding, noise, family violence and separation, determined the relationship between childhood poverty and prefrontal brain function when the participant was trying to suppress negative emotions.

10. False. Chronic stress can cause premature aging and illness because the constant overproduction of cortisol reduces the supply of telomerase and that prevents the cell from reversing the effects of stress. In other words, your telomeres get shorter because of the stress and cannot be lengthened when the stress is too great.

Stress Solutions

How Wild Animals Cope with Stress

Humans are not the only animals that suffer from an overload of stress. Animals from our pets to lizards and songbirds to wild beasts can experience stressful and challenging situations that actually can have long-lasting impacts of them. Just as young children can have lifelong consequences from Early Life Stress (ELS), so can a rare Colorado checkered whiptail lizard stress eat in response to noise. In fact, the similarities to humans includes passing on  trauma to the next generation. Just as pregnant mothers who are super- stressed and anxious during pregnancy can affect the performance of their offspring (generational trauma), the same passing of the trauma has been identified in some species, like small fresh water fish.

Many of us overeat to  stress. Or, we drink too much coffee. Or, maybe we drink too much of other substances that are bad for our health. Some of us have developed life threatening habits, like smoking, and the response to increase stress is to light up.

A new study involving the rare Colorado checkered whiptail lizard discovered that part of their habitat is an army base. Low flying aircraft regularly fly in and out of the base producing sounds that are much louder than the lizards experience naturally and the result is almost continuing stress for the species.  The study took blood from some of the lizards and found that during flyovers they released more cortisol – yes, our old friend, Cortisol – and they ate more and moved less.

Sleep is important for all animals, human and non-human. Sleep deprivation is a definite form of stress. The effects of sleep deprivation on animals is actually studied even in fruit flies and bees. Fruit flies, for instance, sleep less and eat more when subjected to social isolation. Sleep deprived mice eat more.  Butterflies who don’t get enough rest/sleep have been known to even lay their eggs on the wrong types of plants. And, some bee species who are sleep deprived perform their waggle dances with less precision. The “waggle dance” of a bee is their equivalent of a GPS. So a sleep deprived bee who is supposed to be communicating with the rest of the hive as to the direction of food could be off in the directions they are giving the others.

It is not just sleep deprivation or too much noise or too much heat or rain that can cause stress in animals. The presence of predators obviously makes animals nervous. And, that goes for most humans, too.

Stress Solutions

10 Stress-Free Minutes a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

It is true that most of us cannot avoid stress, especially if we want to continue to be an active participant in the world. Stress goes with the territory of juggling a career, a family, and a social life. Most of us understand only too well the dangers of continuing to schedule full days, of adding new projects to an already overlong list, and still trying to find some time for ourselves at the end of the day. We routinely overbook ourselves. Some of us have the grace to promise to do better next week and might even believe that we can make it up later. But, can we?

Chronic stress is now linked to so many problems related to illness, chronic health problems, anxiety, loss of memory, and reduced longevity that it would take the rest of this column to simply list all the ways it affects our lives.

We know, for example, that the things we think about and dwell on can have a direct effect on how much cortisol, or stress hormone, is produced in our body. Keeping the cortisol down has become a new goal for the health conscious. Researchers from the University of California, Davis have published findings from a long-term study, called the Shamatha Project, that studied how meditation influences the brain and mental health. The article, published in the journal Health Psychology, reports that meditation, and particularly mindfulness training, helps lower stress and cortisol levels, which in turn can help you lose excess weight and avoid developing “cortisol belly.”

It’s time to draw a line in the sand and start reducing stress and cortisol. What I am proposing is not perfect, but it is a start that you can build on. If you keep waiting until you have the time, or until you can do it “right,” it could be too late. Stop letting your calendar manage you. Don’t try” to do better. As Yoda says, “Do or Do Not!”

Begin Your 10 Stress-Free Minutes Today

You might think that 10 minutes a day is not much help. But it is. A few minutes goes a long way toward recharging your energy and breaking up your resistance to taking breaks. You can gradually add more mental “down time” and physical relaxation to each day.

Get started by making yourself push away from your desk or daily routine for 10 minutes. Take this break with the intention of taking a brief mental holiday; give your mind a rest. Why not begin with 10 minutes of Mindfulness? Or, spend 10 minutes in focused breathing (with longer  exhale). Add some music or put your feet up, close your eyes and direct your favorite piece of music.

Remind yourself to do this daily by putting the reminder into your smart phone.

And, by the way, those of you who work with stressed-out clients, I have found that many seriously stressed patients are so overwhelmed that they cannot even begin to think about how they can reduce their stress.

The above suggestion that they start with just 10 minutes a day has helped many people start adding relief to their day. Once they begin, the time can be gradually increased.

Psychology tells us that making a conscious choice with commitment is a powerful tool.

Do as I say AND as I do.

Stress Solutions

Early Life Stress Can Affect Brain Development and Mental Health

Early Life Stress (ELS) is defined as the exposure to a single or to multiple events during childhood that exceed the child’s coping mechanisms and leads to extended periods of stress,  such that the child’s innate ability to recover from the body’s response to the stress is  overwhelmed. Childhood stressors include abuses of all kinds, neglect, hunger, witnessing  violence and other household dysfunction. Unfortunately, poverty, parent divorce, illness,  death, and substance abuse are counted as ELS and so many children are subjected to those. A clear estimate of how many children experience ELS has been hard to gather. One study in 2007 estimated that 3.5 million or 22.5% of all children in this country came to the attention of  child protection services. And we all know how low the true rate of disclosure is.

ELS is a devastating fact of life and one that can have long-term consequences. Little has been  done to fashion early intervention programs that can be helpful in preventing and treating ELS.  One of the most helpful ways to begin to develop such treatments is to more fully understand  what Early Life Stress can do to children as they grow into adults.

Cognitive or brain-related consequence of such stress need to be better known. One report  indicated that nearly 32 percent of adult psychiatric disorders are due to Early Life Stress.  Various forms of early adversity account for about 67 percent of risk for suicide. Exposure to  multiple episodes of ESs can significantly increase the risk of mental illness and disease. Sexual abuse between the ages of 9 and 14 has been linked to smaller hippocampal volumes and  prefrontal cortex dysfunction.

Since the early 1990s, a large body of work has focused on the impact of chronic stress in  pregnant women on the developing child’s brain. A strong relationship has been identified  showing that chronic stress during pregnancy can lead to an inability for the child and later  adult to cope with even normal stressors. Many children come into the world at risk of learning  disabilities, attention problems and high levels of anxiety because their mothers were super-stressed and did not recognize how their stress levels might change the way their baby’s brain developed. Exactly how chronic stress during pregnancy affects cognitive functioning and  emotional well-being in the developing child through specific neurobiological pathways is still poorly understood.

However, the importance of the connection between ELS and chronic stress in pregnant women and the subsequent impact on their children in the form of a life-long impact on their  intelligence, memory, executive function, and emotional IQ needs to be broadly disseminated in the hope of future prevention through education.

Stress Solutions

 How to Be Happier and Live Longer

After nearly 80 years of longitudinal study, the Harvard-Grant Study has proved that embracing one’s community helps us live longer with less stress and be happier. This study began in 1938 tracking the health and long-term success and happiness of 268 Harvard sophomores (all white males at the start, in the classes of 1942, 1943, & 1944). The study was funded to answer the question of what makes us happy and to identify predictors of healthy aging. Recognizing the limitations of the initial cohort, a second cohort of 456 disadvantaged, non-delinquent, inner-city male youths in Boston was started and termed, the Glueck Study. Today, the men continue to be evaluated every two years using questionnaires, information from their physicians, and personal interviews. Several books have been written with the findings. Among the most notable Grant Study participants is former President John F. Kennedy.

The main conclusion of this 80-year study is that the warmth of relationships throughout life has the greatest impact on life satisfaction. The team psychiatrist of the study was Dr.  George Vaillant. Dr. Vaillant framed the main conclusion this way: “Happiness is love. Full stop.” He pointed out that when the study began in 1938 no one cared about empathy or attachment. Now, “the key to healthy aging and life happiness is relationships, relationships, relationships.” Good relationships protect our bodies and our brains. The current principal investigator, Robert Waldinger, said, “Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.” Good marital partners help each other reduce stress. Good relationships, the data indicate, are what keep people happy throughout their lives and are correlated with longevity.

Along the same point of the power of relationships is the finding that financial success also depends on the warmth of a person’s relationships – not on intelligence or hard work.  People who are able to generate good relationships are people with strong emotional intelligence. It turns out that emotional intelligence is much more highly correlated with personal and professional success than IQ. Further, emotional intelligence skills are learnable and measurable. Empathy, self-awareness, and impulse control are relationship skills, and the people who have them tend to form strong bonds with others.

It was also found by analyzing the masses of data collected over the years that alcoholism is a disorder of great destructive power and it is the main cause of divorce between the Grant Study men and their wives. Further, it is possible to say that alcoholism plus cigarette smoking is the single greatest contributor to early death of the study participants.

Waldinger says that these findings have changed his own behavior: “it’s easy to get isolated, to get caught up in work and not remembering, ‘Oh, I haven’t seen these friends in a long time.’” So, Waldinger said, “I try to pay more attention to my relationships than I used to.”

Stress Solutions

What happens to your Brain When you see a bird in Nature?

This was the title of a recent leading article in the National Geographic virtual magazine.  Obviously, it captured my attention and the more I read the more I realized that there is a  definite connection to stress reduction. A study done at King’s College London and published in  scientific reports (August 2022) examined the immediate effects on well-being when the study  subjects were in green spaces of nature and seeing/hearing birds at the same time. After  statistical analysis the data showed that people rated their well-being in the moment highest  when birds were present. The analysis eliminated the presence of nature (trees, plants, and water) thus isolating the positive effects of birds on human emotions. The positive effects were  found regardless of whether the participant had a prior diagnosis of depression/anxiety or no  mental health issues.

The 1,292 participants were volunteers who agreed to use a smartphone app to fill out a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree) questionnaire when randomly pinged 3 times  a day for 2 weeks asking their current location (seeing plants or trees or water) and if they were seeing/hearing birds at that moment. They also completed 10 questions about their mental  well-being at that moment. Five questions asked about positive well-being (I am feeling  confident, relaxed, happy, connected to other people, and energetic). Five questions asked  about negative well-being (I am feeling anxious, stressed, down, lonely, and tired).

As this was the first such study, more data is required to make generalized statements. The  King’s College study participants were mostly white, middle-aged, college-educated, and  employed women. The findings raise questions about what is happening in our brains when we see birds or hear  bird song? Would a functional MRI pick that up? Can the same effects be found across cultures?  How long does the effect last?

This study has also prompted the exploration of theories as to why nature is so powerful at  reducing stress and improving present time wellbeing. One theory is that homosapiens evolved in nature and living in urban environments creates a constant background of stress. Thus, we can best recover in nature because that is where we evolved and were meant to be. A second  theory is called an attention restoration theory. It proposes that the constant strain of daily life- stressful commutes and constant Zoom calls-requires intense focus. Being in nature allows us  to disengage from such an intense focus. Of course (as you might have already thought),  neither theory accounts for the birds! Still, explore this for yourself. For example, do you agree  that seeing a hummingbird sends an immediate burst of joy.

Stress Solutions

10 Stress-Free Minutes a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

It is true that most of us cannot avoid stress, especially if we want to continue to be an active  participant in the world. Stress goes with the territory of juggling a career, a family, and a social  life. Most of us understand only too well the dangers of continuing to schedule full days, of  adding new projects to an already overlong list, and still trying to find some time for ourselves  at the end of the day. We routinely overbook ourselves. Some of us have the grace to promise  to do better next week and might even believe that we can make it up later. But, can we?  Chronic stress is now linked to so many problems related to illness, chronic health problems,  anxiety, loss of memory, and reduced longevity that it would take the rest of this column to simply list all the ways it affects our lives. We know, for example, that the things we think about  and dwell on can have a direct effect on how much cortisol, or stress hormone, is produced in  our body. Keeping the cortisol down has become a new goal for the health conscious.

Researchers from the University of California, Davis have published findings from a long-term  study, called the Shamatha Project, that studied how meditation influences the brain and  mental health. The article published in the journal Health Psychology reports that meditation,  and particularly mindfulness training, helps lower stress and cortisol levels, which in turn can  help you lose excess weight and avoid developing “cortisol belly.”

Manage Your Stress…Not the Other Way Around

It’s time to draw a line in the sand and start reducing stress and cortisol. What I am proposing is not perfect, but it is a start that you can build on. If you keep waiting until you have the time, or  until you can do it “right,” it could be too late. Stop letting your calendar manage you. Don’t “try”  to do better. As Yoda says, “Do or Do Not!”

Begin Your 10 Stress-Free Minutes Today

You might think that 10 minutes a day is not much help. But it is. A few minutes goes a long way toward recharging your energy and breaking up your resistance to taking breaks. You can  gradually add more mental “down time” and physical relaxation to each day. Get started by  making yourself push away from your desk or daily routine for 10 minutes. Take this break with  the intention of taking a brief mental holiday; give your mind a rest. Why not begin with 10  minutes of Mindfulness? Or, spend 10 minutes in focused breathing (with longer exhale). Add some music or put your feet up, close your eyes and direct your favorite piece of music. Remind yourself to do this daily by putting the reminder into your smart phone.

And, by the way, those of you who work with stressed-out clients, I have found that many  seriously stressed patients are so overwhelmed that they cannot even begin to think about how they can reduce their stress. The above suggestion that they start with just 10 minutes a day  has helped many people start adding relief to their day. Once they begin, the time can be  gradually increased. Psychology tells us that making a conscious choice with commitment is a  powerful tool. Do as I say AND as I do.

Stress Solutions

Children Suffer from Stress, Too

Just like all adults, children suffer from stress, too. Often it happens that the stresses  experienced by children seem insignificant to adults. Or, worse, the parent may completely miss the fact that the child is stressed. Childhood stress can be caused by any situation that requires  the child to adapt or change to a new situation. Change often produces anxiety because we don’t always know what to expect in the changed situation. You don’t have to be grown up to  fear the unknown.

Stress can even be caused by positive changes, such as starting a new activity, but it is most  commonly linked with negative changes such as divorce, illness or death in the family. But,  because children have few previous experiences from which to learn, even situations that  require small changes can have an enormous impact on a child’s feelings of safety and security.

Some parenting styles and parent expectations can be very stressful. Children want to please  their parents. I know that seems like a “no-brainer.” However, those among you who treat  children might now think that that everyone knows that. I have heard parents complain about  their children in terms that make it sound like they believe the child is going out of his or her way to upset or defy them. And, before you object, of course some children can reach a point  where they become oppositional. Usually that happens only after the child becomes resistant to being over-controlled.

Children with learning problems are often seriously stressed. They know they are not meeting  their parents’ or teachers’ expectations for school success. They feel stupid and like a failure.  Unfortunately, the main “job” that our children have is to succeed in school. Children learn how  to respond to stress by what they have seen and experienced in the past. If the adults in their  social environment are not good at dealing with stress, they are not likely to be either. Another  major factor to consider is that a poor ability to deal with stress can be passed from the mother  to the child during the prenatal months if the mother is very anxious or chronically stressed  Andrews, 2012).

Children probably will not recognize that they are stressed. Parents may suspect stress if the  child has experienced a stressful situation and begins to have physical or emotional symptoms, or both. Some behaviors or symptoms to look for can include, changes in eating habits, new  onset of headaches, changes in sleep pattern (nightmares, bedwetting, middle of the night  wakening, resistance to going to sleep), upset stomach or vague stomach symptoms, anxiety,  worries, inability to relax, fears that are either new or return (of being alone, of the dark, of  strangers or new situations), clinging to you, and easy tears. Aggressive, stubborn or oppositional behaviors are also possible signs of stress in children.

 

Stress Solutions

Stress as a Trigger of Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune diseases are a rare and poorly understood group of diseases, affecting  approximately 5% of Western population. Dr. Betty Diamond defined autoimmune disease in an article in the New England J. of Medicine (2001) as “a clinical syndrome caused by the activation  of T cells or B cells, or both, in the absence of an ongoing infection or other discernible cause.”  Almost all research papers on the topic of etiology start by saying that there is a multifactorial  group of causes, including genetic, hormonal, some environmental and immunological factors.  Despite the known causes, at least 50% of autoimmune diseases can be attributed to “unknown trigger factors.” And, that is where stress as a trigger fits in. Stress can affect immune function  in individual ways. Subjects of many retrospective studies have identified that they experienced  an unusual amount of emotional stress prior to onset of an autoimmune disease.

The bad news is that not only can stress trigger the onset of disease, the autoimmune disease  itself can then cause significant stress in the patient. This sets up a vicious cycle. As the stress  builds up, the major stress hormones are released, in particular, cortisol. The overproduction of cortisol and failure of the nervous system to regularly reduce it leads to immune dysregulation,  which ultimately results in autoimmune disease by the changing of cytokine production.

Cytokines are little proteins that help control the immune system and inflammation response.  Immune dysregulation is when your body can’t tell the difference between healthy cells and the  invaders that should be attacked. In most cases of immune dysregulation, the person is living  with an overactive immune system with joint pain and stiffness.

Since stress is so actively involved as both a trigger and a response to autoimmune disease,  effective treatment of autoimmune disease should thus include stress management and  behavioral intervention to prevent stress-related immune system imbalance. That brings us  back to some thoughts on the role cortisol plays in the autoimmune patient.

Cortisol is essential to the production of steroids. In fact, all steroids are initially derived from cortisol. And, since steroids are often prescribed in the treatment of autoimmune disease, high  levels of cortisol are helpful in reducing the symptoms of autoimmunity. When the levels are  low, however, it is likely to aggravate autoimmune disease symptoms. Addison’s disease is a  rare condition in which your adrenal glands do not produce enough cortisol.

Effective treatment of stress in the case of autoimmune disease requires a serious look at the  patient’s life situation in terms of what kind of stressors (psychological, physical, or emotional  stress), how the stress is affecting the body (overproduction or underproduction of stress  hormones), and how that person best reduces daily stress. Then set up a daily routine and  follow it slavishly.

Stress Solutions

Ever sit beneath a tin roof in the rain?

As I sat here listening to the rain hit the roof and trying to think of what to write about, I realized that I was feeling relaxed and peaceful. I love that sound. It is so calming. It is amazing that even imagining yourself sitting beneath a tin roof in the rain can have the same effect as physically  being there. Our imagination is that strong. It can take us on wonderful experiences. And, of  course, imagination is also largely responsible for our fears and anxiety. Let’s focus today on using imagination to create a relaxed, calm state of mind. Imagination can be the key to  becoming more conscious of when we are stressed and knowing  when and how to consciously change that state of mind.

Using your imagination to create a relaxed and focused state of mind is critical to learning how  to consciously reduce stress. This is also a good place to start if you are new to meditation. Our  imagination is extremely powerful and may be the most important of all our faculties. You can  literally sit in a closet and re-live a wonderful experience or imagine something you want to  create.

Why not gift yourself a few minutes of imagining you are sitting beneath a tin roof in the rain.  Or, choose another favorite experience or place and go there for a few minutes. Start by finding a comfortable seat or lying down. Remove unnecessary sounds or just screen those sounds out. Do something to signal to your subconscious mind that you are going to create a relaxed but  attentive state of mind. Once comfortable, close your eyes and focus on your breathing. It  should become a little slower and even. Notice your heartbeat. Don’t worry about trying to slow  it down if it seems fast. It will quieten down in a few moments.

Next, check your body for places where you feel muscle tension and consciously let that go. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly through pursed lips. Now, you are ready to imagine a  beautiful place in Nature. Maybe imagine one you know well but are not there now. Or let your  imagination make up one you have never seen. Choose a place where you feel safe and comfortable. Slowly add the details of color, time of day, sounds of Nature, the smells; the more detail you imagine, the more real the experience becomes. Remember, once you get there, you  do not have to DO anything. Just BE.