Mental Healthcare and Holistic Healthcare

Experts say wonder is an essential human emotion and a salve for a turbulent mind.

Awe can mean ‘many things. ‘And while many of us know it when we feel it, awe is not easy to define.

Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world” said Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

It’s vast, yes. But awe is also simpler than we think — and accessible to everyone, he writes in his book “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life”.

Experiencing awe comes from what Dr. Keltner has called a “perceived vastness,” as well as something that challenges us to rethink our previously held ideas. Awe can come from moments like seeing the Grand Canyon or witnessing an act of kindness.

In his book, Dr, Keltner writes that awe is critical to our well-being. His research suggests it has tremendous health benefits that “include calming down our nervous system and triggering the release of oxytocin, the “love” hormone that one as and bonding.

“Awe is on the cutting edge,” emotion research said. Judith T. Moskowitz, a professor of medical social sciences at North Western University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Moskowitz who has studied how positive emotions help people cope with stress wrote in an email that “intentional awe experiences like walks in nature, collective movement, like dance or ceremony, even use of psychedelics improve psychological well-being.”

So, what is it biologically? Awe wasn’t one of the six basic emotions – anger, surprise, disgust, enjoyment, fear, and sadness – identified back in 1972, Dr. Keltner said. But new research shows that awe “is its own thing,” he said.

Dr. Keltner found that awe activates the vagal nerves, clusters of neurons in the spinal cord that regulate various bodily functions, and slows our heart rate, relieves digestion, and deepens breathing.

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As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found it harder and harder to fall and stay asleep. Why is that?

Dr. Abhinav Singh, medical director of the Indiana Sleep Center and a sleep professor at Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine, likes to answer this question with an analogy. Think of your ability to sleep as though it were a car, he said. As it ages and clocks more miles, it begins to fall apart; it needs more repairs, and its ride becomes less smooth.

The same thing happens with your sleep, Dr. Singh said. Researchers have found that sleep quality gets a little rusty with age: Older adults are more likely to take longer to fall asleep and wake up more frequently throughout. the night and spend more time napping during the day compared with younger. adults. They also spend less time in deep, restorative. sleep, which helps: with bone and muscle growth and repair, strengthens the immune system, and helps the brain reorganize and consolidate memories, Dr. Singh said. Your melatonin levels, which play an important role in sleep and wake cycles, also go awry with age, he said.

It is no surprise, then, that when researchers surveyed more than 9,000 people ages 65 and older in a landmark study published in 1995, they found that 57 percent of them reported at least one sleep complaint over three years. These included trouble falling or staying asleep, waking up too early, feeling unrested, and napping during the day. In a different study, published in 2014, scientists found that a little more than half of the 6,050 older adults surveyed had either one or two insomnia symptoms over the past month.

Research suggests that women are more likely than men to report poorer sleep quality in general.

As for what causes these changes, no one knows for sure. “We’re only just starting to understand why all of this happens, said Luis de Lecea, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.

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Biofeedback Therapy Near Me | Counseling And Neurofeedback Center

It’s often the case that we experience an event, later, to recall it only vaguely, or partially, or as a distortion of the facts. With the so-called illusory truth effect, what we assume we take in, or think we hear, may form in us false assumptions, attitudes, beliefs.

‘You don’t remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened.’ – John Green, author.

Memory involves a process of encoding – how we take in – storing, then later retrieving data and information, as needed. It takes place in the electrochemical actions at synapses – tiny gaps between brain cells – creating neuronal connections, important for retaining new information, making decisions, solving problems.

Sensory memory can be brief, especially in taking in visual information, such as light, as well as auditory, smell and touch. When focused on, it passes into short term memory, generally around 18-30 seconds, then afterwards into long term memory. The hippocampus and amygdale in the limbic system are involved in consolidation of short term memory into long term memory; spatial memory, with neuronal connections in the neocortex.

In explicit memory, a conscious, intentional recollection occurs in the retrieval of contextual information from specific experiences and events, and formation of new episodic memories – things that happen to us – via the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. Damage or atrophy in the hippocampus can be seen in the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.

‘For all of us, explicit memory makes it possible to pass, to leap across space and time and conjure up events and emotional states that have vanished into the past, yet somehow, continue to live in our minds.’ – Eric Kandel, psychiatrist, neuroscientist.

Implicit memory is motor memory, retained in the body, effortlessly, used in automatic tasks, such as riding a bike or tying one’s shoelaces, and many other unconscious patterns governing daily functions.

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Your Weight and Your Brain

Your Weight and Your Brain When it comes to brain health, keeping your weight stable may be the most important task of all.

Obesity, particularly when there’s lots of visceral fat present, is a risk factor for faster brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease, says Howard Fillit, M.D., co-founder and chief science officer at the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. Belly fat has been shown to:

• Reduce blood flow to your brain, according to a 2020 study involving brain scans of more than 17,000 people. Researchers found that as weight went up, blood flow in the brain went down, including to areas vulnerable to developing Alzheimer’s.
• Shrink your brain. Using MR1s, researchers from UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh who were obese had 8 percent less brain volume and brains that appeared 16 years older.
• Reduce your cognitive abilities. An elevated body mass index (BMI) is directly associated with decreased attention, processing speed, and fine motor speed, according to a 2013 study. And in a 2016 study of 171 people with severe obesity, more than half met the criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), even though their median age was only 43. At a follow-up 12 months later, the prevalence of MCI was reduced by nearly 49 percent in those who had undergone weight-loss surgery in the previous year.

Protecting your brain means getting your weight under control. The MIND Diet, a mash-up of the heart-healthy Mediterranean and DASH diets, features lots of fruits and vegetables, plus lean protein and good fats like olive oil. You can still eat red meat, fast food and sweets, just limit your intake. People who most closely adhered to this eating pattern had a 53 percent lower rate of Alzheimer’s.

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Scientists make waves in awake brains

Controlling spinal fluid might help treat neurological diseases.

Waves of cerebrospinal fluid that normally wash over brains during sleep can be made to pulse in the brains of people who are wide awake, a new study finds.

Previous research has suggested that the clear fluid may flush out harmful waste, such as the sticky proteins that accumulate in Alzheimer’s disease (SN: 7/21/18, p. 22). So being able to control the fluid flow in the brain might have implications for treating certain brain disorders. I think this [finding] will help with many neurological disorders,” says Jonathan Kipnis, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the work. “Think of Formula One. You can have the best car and driver, but without a great maintenance crew, that driver will not win the race:’ Spinal fluid flow in the brain is a major part of that maintenance crew, Kipnis says. But he and other researchers, including the study’s authors, caution that any potential therapeutic applications are still far off.

I think this [finding] will help with many neurological disorders,” says Jonathan Kipnis, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the work. “Think of Formula One. You can have the best car and driver, but without a great maintenance crew, that driver will not win the race:’ Spinal fluid flow in the brain is a major part of that maintenance crew, Kipnis says. But he and other researchers, including the study’s authors, caution that any potential therapeutic applications are still far off. In 2019, neuroscientist Laura Lewis of Boston University and colleagues reported that strong waves of cerebrospinal fluid wash through our brains while we slumber, suggesting that sleep may give the brain a deep clean (SN: 11/23/19, p.11). The slow neural oscillations that characterize deep, non-REM sleep occur in lockstep with the waves of spinal fluid, the team showed. These flows are far larger than the rhythmic influences that breathing and heartbeat have on spinal fluid.

As brain activity during sleep causes blood to flow through the brain, spinal fluid flows in behind the blood. Such fluid infusions clear out toxic proteins and maintain constant pressure in the skull, experiments in mice have shown.

In the new study, “the first question we wanted to answer is, can you manipulate [blood flow] enough to also drive [fluid] flow when someone’s awake?” says Stephanie Williams, a neuroscientist also at Boston University.

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The Stress Hormone That Worries So Many | Biofeedback Treatments Sleepy Hollow, Ny

It’s popular on social apps to blame cortisol for myriad ills. But its role isn’t so clear-cut.

Maybe you can’t sleep. Or you sleep too much. Maybe you keep breaking out or getting sick. Perhaps your stomach bloats, your skin sags, you feel shaky, Maybe you can’t focus, eat or get rid of the tension in your spine.

If you’ve scrolled through TikTok lately, you might be inclined to blame one or all of these things on your cortisol levels. Over the last year or. so, users have flooded the app with stories about how their supposed cortisol imbalances have led to a variety of health concerns.

Cortisol, sometimes known as the stress hormone, is a chemical that helps regulate the way our bodies react to stress. “It’s a hormone that connects the mind and the body together,” said Martin Picard, an associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University. Nearly every organ has a receptor that responds to cortisol. It is crucial in helping us function throughout the day, whether by regulating blood pressure or combating inflammation.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that cortisol imbalances are responsible for the various ailments that people are sharing on TikTok said Nia Fogelman, an associate research scientist at the Yale Process Center.” I think it’s completely natural and understandable why people want to A, figure out what’s going on with their bodies, and B, to want some one thing that we can fix,” she said. But it’s not that simple.

When we experience stress, the pea-size pituitary gland in the brain — sometimes called the master gland — signals to the adrenal glands perched atop the kidneys, prompting them to secrete and deliver cortisol into our bloodstream.

Our bodies release the chemical when we are faced with a challenge, whether psychological or physical, real or imagined, said Jeanette M. Benett, a health psychologist who studies the effects of stress on health at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. We release cortisol when we encounter a tangible threat, like coming across a bear on a hike, but also when we receive an ominous work email. The more threatening we perceive an event to be, the more cortisol we typically produce.

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Have chronic pain? What you need to know about your pain management options

Everyone deals with pain at one time or another. Perhaps you’ve temporarily suffered from a cluster or tension headache, or a muscle spasm.

Pain that lasts for two months or longer can be called Chronic Pain. Chronic Pain, often stress-related, can feel like it is bodily pain, localized or generalized, but mostly it’s generated by misfiring pain circuits in the brain. For some, the cause is arthritis or other health condition, such as Fibromyalgia, a muscular-skeletal disorder, often causing pain receptors to go into hyperdrive. Ignoring this kind of pain can have dangerous consequences, and can lead to many other problems, such as:

Impact your daily activities

Sleep disturbance, disruption of regular eating habits

Make it difficult to focus

Can lead to Anxiety and Depression

Detract from quality time with friends and family

Those with Chronic Pain describe symptoms in various ways, as aching, burning, shooting, squeezing, stiffness, stinging, or throbbing. Living with Chronic Pain can be emotionally and physically challenging.

There are various kinds of treatment approaches that can help with pain management:

Prescription drugs are used to treat several kinds of severe pain, but they can be highly addictive. Users tend to replicate with higher doses to obtain the same desired effect.

Corticosteroids work by reducing the immune system’s inflammatory response. But there can be various side effects, such as difficulty sleeping, weight gain, high blood sugar.

Short term counselling may reduce the reaction to chronic pain.

Physical therapy: various meds including antidepressants are used to treat pain

Other methods include Yoga, plus EEG Biofeedback, which, it is suggested, should be performed safely by a professional therapist. EEG Biofeedback – Neurofeedback – can alter control of pain by altering connectivity between brain regions, thus bringing lasting changes in neuronal networks.

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Meditation Reduces the Feeling of Pain

Mindfulness meditation can help ease your pain.

The technique can reduce Dain intensity by as much as 32 percent, a new study has discovered—and even people who haven’t meditated before can quickly achieve these benefits.

The key is in not associating with the pain, but instead observing it as if it was happening to someone else, say researchers from the University of California at San Diego.

They tested the benefits of mindfulness on a group of 40 volunteers, half of whom were taught the technique and the others were told just to relax.

When a painful heat Was applied to the leg, the mindfulness group reported a 32 percent reduction in pain intensity and a 32 percent reduction in unpleasant feelings about the Pain, Compared to the relaxation group.

Brain scans endorsed the findings. Transmissions between different areas of the brain were reduced in the meditators. “For many people struggling with chronic pain, what often affects their quality of life most IS Not the pain itself but the mental suffering and frustration that comes with it,” said lead researcher Fadel Zeidan.

A key feature of mindfulness is that ‘you’ are not your experiences. “You train yourself to experience thoughts and sensations without attaching your ego or sense of Self to them, and we’re now Finally seeing how this plays out in the brain During the experience of acute pain,” he said. 

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The Vast Potential of the Vagus Nerve | Relieving Stress Anxiety Depression

Some say a cure for ailments like anxiety is flowing from the brain. But much is unknown.

By Christina Caron

In recent years, the vagus nerve has become an object of fascination, especially on social media. The vagal nerve fibers, which run from the brain to the abdomen, have been anointed by some influencers as the key to reducing anxiety, regulating the nervous system, and helping the body to relax.

TikTok videos with the hashtag “#vagusnerve” have been viewed more than 64 million times, and there are nearly 70,000 posts with the hashtag on Instagram. Some of the most popular ones feature simple hacks to “tone” or “reset” the vagus nerve, in which people plunge their faces into ice water or lie on their backs with ice packs on their chests.

Now, wellness companies have capitalized on the trend, offering products like vagus massage oil, pillow mists, and vibrating bracelets. These products claim to stimulate the nerve, but they have not been endorsed by the scientific community.

Researchers who study the vagus nerve say that stimulating it with electrodes can potentially help improve mood and alleviate symptoms in those who suffer from treatment-resistant depression, among other ailments. But are there other ways to activate the vagus nerve? Who would benefit most from doing so? And what exactly is the vagus nerve, anyway? Here’s a look at what we know so far.

What is the vagus nerve?

The term “vagus nerve” is actually shorthand for thousands of fibers. They are organized into two bundles that run from the brain stem down through each side of the next and into the torso, branching outward to touch our internal organs, said Dr. Kevin J. Tracey, a neurosurgeon and president of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Northwell Health’s research center in New York.

Imagine something akin to a tree, whose limbs interact with nearly every organ system in the body. (The word “vagus” means “wandering” in Latin.)

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