High Levels of Maternal Care Yield Life-Long Benefits Against Stress Vulnerability

Can the way a mother cares for her offspring influence vulnerability to stress of those offspring during their adult years? If the results of recent research into the effects a mother rat has on her progeny when she exhibits high levels of maternal care has application to humans, the answer is yes.

In a study led by Tallie Baram, MD, PhD, University of California at Irvine, intense maternal care of rat pups resulted in brain chemistry and gene expression changes yielding lowered vulnerability to stress events by those pups. Those beneficial changes continued throughout the adult life of the experimental cohort of rat pups compared to the control group cohort in the study.

Study Findings:

Dr. Baram, quoted in the December 12, 2013 edition of, "Science Daily", comments:

"The findings show a direct casual effect of sensory input from the mother on the function of stress handling throughout life, and pinpoint the molecular changes involved. They also show plasticity of the wiring on the infant brain."

Applications to Us:

In humans, there is abundant research showing that children raised in a loving and supportive two-parent family are on average happier, healthier, and emotionally better adjusted compared to children raised in single parent families.

One possible contributor to this disparity could be that time and energy are often in short supply in single parent families. Single parents often experience higher levels of stress due to financial and other pressures compared to two-parent families.

What's the lesson? When we take charge of our own stress and give children as much love and attention as we can, we're giving a gift that truly keeps on giving throughout our children's lives.

Click HERE to read the "Science Daily" report on Dr. Baram's research.


Stephen Carter

Stress Solutions, LLC
www.EFT-MD.com | www.EasyStressCures.com
804-677-6772

Important Note: This and all other postings to this blog are for informational purposes only. This and all other posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, or otherwise recommend any treatment for any medical or psychological condition. Anyone using any of the information contained in this or any other posting on this website does so at his or her own risk. You are urged to seek competent medical consultations with appropriate licensed medical professionals for any and all medical or physical conditions.

Meditation and Inflammatory Genes Expression

Earlier this year an international team of researchers from the United States, France and Spain conducted research to determine what effects mindfulness meditation has on inflammation, circadian, and chromatin modulatory genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).

What does all that mean? Simply stated, the purpose of this research was to identify the effects mindfulness meditation has on specific families of genes.

Study Approach:

Researchers divided study participants into two groups: Nineteen experienced meditators were compared to a control group of 21 people. The experienced meditators spent eight-hours in meditative behaviors while the control group spent the same amount of time in leisure non-meditative activity in the same environment.

Researchers found decreased expression of a family of pro-inflammatory genes in meditators compared to control group members.

Bottom Line for Health:

While this is obviously a small study, these findings are in line with a growing body of research showing meditative practices can have demonstrated beneficial effects on gene expression. Likewise, in other studies stress has been shown to negatively influence physical and emotional health.

While meditators in this study were experienced mindfulness practitioners, there is an abundance of research to support the health benefits of other regularly applied meditative practices as well.

Study summary: Click HERE

Stephen Carter

Stress Solutions, LLC
www.EFT-MD.com| www.EasyStressCures.com
804-677-6772

Important Note: This and all other postings to this blog are for informational purposes only. This and all other posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, or otherwise recommend any treatment for any medical or psychological condition. Anyone using any of the information contained in this or any other posting on this website does so at his or her own risk. You are urged to seek competent medical consultations with appropriate licensed medical professionals for any and all medical or physical conditions.

Train the Brain to Master Stress and Enhance Health

The brain and the brain-mind-body connection is one of the most important areas of scientific exploration for a host of reasons. In April, 2013 President Obama announced a $100 million project to map the human brain. This project named Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN), is designed to be an extended effort similar to the Human Genome Mapping project.

The BRAIN project has an impressive array of players to include the National Institutes of Health DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and the National Science Foundation plus four private plus four private research institutes. While advances in neuro science have been extraordinary over the past few years, we are still decades - if not centuries - away from understanding how the brain really works. This project is a noble attempt to jump start research that ultimately may bring more effective treatments for conditions such as Parkinson's, epilepsy, and brain injuries.

One might wonder why DARPA has an interest in brain research. Recall DARPA is about identifying ways of achieving military advantages on the battle field and beyond. I don't believe it's a stretch to suggest we'll see weapons that disorient and otherwise disable a hostile opponent's ability to perform. DARPA is also likely interested in how to "train the brain" of future soldiers to enhance their fighting effectiveness.

There are already weapons and tactics today in our military and law enforcement agencies arsenals that affect a person's brain and central nervous system's ability to function. Having detailed knowledge of brain functions beyond what is known today will allow development of weapons that work directly on the physical brain, mind, and body in ways we can't yet imagine.

The $100 Million Question:

Few of us have access to brain monitoring equipment such as fMRIs, electroencephalograms (EEG), or other equipment that measure aspects of brain function. We do, however, have an array of ways to monitor and self-regulate our brain - mind - body interactions.

Let's begin with a simple truth: Our level of stress directly affects our well being. Low stress promotes optimum health, empowering emotions, and clarity of mind. Chronic high stress promotes problem medical conditions, disempowering emotions, and muddled thinking.

So, can we effectively "train the brain" without a $100 million project team and the latest and greatest neuroscience equipment? Absolutely, yes we can.

Brain Plasticity and Our Ability to Learn Stress Mastery:

One of the surprises that's emerged in neuroscience research over the past decade or so is the discovery that brains have the capacity to change in ways considered impossible a generation ago. Another surprise is that our minds - through patterns of thought and behavior - can creaste physical, structural brain changes. 

The key to training the brain and mastering chronic stress is the frequency and type of activities we engage in over time. I'll have more to say on this in future posts, but let's play with a couple of techniques that will help you lower stress.

The more often we practice self-regulation, the more effective we are in reducing chronic stress. The good news is we can start with techniques that are easy to learn and only take a few seconds to do. Performing these simple techniques throughout the day encourages what's called the Relaxation Response. This is the mindful, relaxed state where we're most comfortable and creative.

Two Simple Techniques:

Technique 1: Close your eyes and follow your breath:

What happens? Closing your eyes increases the percentage of alpha waves in the brain compared to beta waves. It's simple and takes just a few seconds to do. Closing your eyes changes the relative mix of beta and alpha waves in the brain.

Beta waves are associated with our moment to moment eyes open waking activities. They range between 15 - 30 Hz (cycles per second).

As we engage our minds to solve problems, carry on a conversation, or otherwise intently pay conscious attention to our surroundings, we increase beta wave dominance. Generally, as the percentage (compared to other wave ranges) and frequency of beta waves increase, so to does our stress.

Alpha brain waves (8 - 12 Hz) are associated with a reduction in conscious brain activities. Our visual system is a major contributor to increased beta activity. Closing our eyes will typically calm the brain by lowering the concentration of beta waves in the occipital lobe and other brain regions.

Alpha waves, the brain frequency associated with the Relaxation Response, increase when our eyes are closed, but we remain awake. They can also increase when we're feeling a sense of reverie or a calm, relaxed state such as when we're taking a bath or driving in "auto pilot" on a long stretch of a lightly traveled highway.

Tuning into the breath provides a focus awareness point. It helps to quiet the "monkey mind" that diverts our attention (and typically increases the Stress Response) through thought associations.

If, when focusing on the breath, your attention wanders, simply notice and then return attention to your breathing.

This simple exercise helps calm the brain - mind - body after only a few seconds. Taking one to two minute "stress breaks" each hour and doing eyes closed breathing is a great way to promote your emotional and physical well being.

Technique 2: Heart Breathing:

Steps:

1. Place both hands over your heart. Right on left or left on right works equally well.
2. Close your eyes and imagine breathing into your heart with each in breath.
3. Breathe in as deeply as you can with comfort and then gently release the breath without effort. Allow the breathing to be unforced and relaxed.
4. Pace your breathing so that it takes about five to eight seconds for your in-breath and about the same amount of time for your out-breath. 
5. Breathe from the diaphragm in a rhythmic, gentle flow.
6. Bring to mind a person, place or thing that you love or have deep, positive feelings for. As you're breathing, really feel the love or positive feelings in your heart. Breath in the love and allow the good feelings to flow outward from your heart throughout your entire body.
7. Smile and really feel the joy, love, or other positive feelings flowing through your body.

What happens? Heart Breathing brings the same benefits as closing your eyes and following your breath plus many others. Creating the flow of positive feelings can influence your heart, mind, brain, and body in ways that encourage the Relaxation Response, lower average heart rate and increase heart rate variability, lower blood pressure, and provide an overall sense of emotional well being.

I recommend doing Heart Breathing at least three times a day. Optimum duration can vary, but you'll likely notice a significant shift to a sense of positive well being after just one or two minutes. Heart Breathing can also be a wonderful way to enter into longer duration meditation.

Of course, please check with your doctor before engaging in any health related activity and never do any relaxation activity when driving or engaging in any other actions that require your full attention.

If you would like to share your experiences using one or both methods, please comment below.

Blessings,

Stephen Carter

Stress Solutions, LLC
www.EFT-MD.com | www.EasyStressCures.com
804-677-6772

Important Note: This and all other postings to this blog are for informational purposes only. This and all other posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, or otherwise recommend any treatment for any medical or psychological condition. Anyone using any of the information contained in this or any other posting on this website does so at his or her own risk. You are urged to seek competent medical consultations with appropriate licensed medical professionals for any and all medical or physical conditions.

Choosing Emotional Wellbeing: A Solid Foundation

Are we at risk only for longterm mental health problems resulting from major traumatic events or do those day in and day out life stressers cause as much or even more harm? In other words is experiencing a thousand emotional paper cuts equal to or even worse than being hit in the head with life's baseball bats?

Dr. Susan Charles, professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine, and other researchers undertook a study to answer a basic mental health question: Do everyday irritations accumulate in ways that hurt us or do they make us stronger and more resilient over time?

Dr. Charles and team used data from two 10-year studies to help answer the question. Using a survey group of 711 people ranging in age from 25 to 74, they found that participants' negative emotional responses to everyday stressers such as arguments with family members, work conflicts, traffic delays, and so forth predicted psychological distress to include anxiety and mood disorders 10-years later.

"How we manage daily emotions matters to our overall mental health," according to Dr. Charles. "We're so focused on long-term goals that we don't see the importance of regulating our emotions. Changing how how you respond to stress and how you think about stressful situations is as important as maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine."1

Self-Regulating Emotional Response

Many of us assume how we respond to emotional stressers is always outside of conscious control. It's as if some unconscious force or even a force "out there" rises up and takes control. Our reactions seem immediate and uncontrolled. Examples include experiences of road rage, irritations with co-workers or family members, sadness when watching a television news story about abused animals, and a thousand other emotional reactions to events throughout any given day.

So how do we stop being buffeted by the storms of emotions and start asserting control over our reactions and behavior?

A foundation insight for our, "Choosing Emotional Wellbeing" program is to realize one simple truth:

"It's only energy!"

What does that mean? It means the feelings we label as anger, fear, sadness, and so forth are the presentations in our bodies of energy created feelings. We feel emotions and those feeling seem like reality, but they are only blocked energy forms within our energy system.

We create the energy forms through physiological processes that typically involve the amygdala (and other parts of the limbic and reptillian brain segments) and the HPA (hypothalamic - pituitary - adrenal) Axis. Our brains are hardwired for emotional response, but our beliefs play a major role in assessing the meaning of a given perception and our subsequent reactions.

When our energy is flowing freely we feel good; we feel in balance; we smile frequently and we experience a state of body-mind called happiness. When we're in emotional reaction to perceived negative events, happiness leaves the building followed by emotional balance and self-control.

Can we gain greater conscious control over what seems like an automatic immediate emotional response? Yes we can.

De-Stressing Throughout the Day

We begin by choosing to de-stress throughout each and every day. How do we de-stress?

As a minimum, at least once an hour get up from your desk or stop what you're doing for a de-stressing break. Walk around; go outside if possible; look out of a window; close your eyes and breathe deeply for 30 seconds to a minute.

The simple act of closing your eyes increases alpha waves in the brain. Alpha waves are associated with what's called the Relaxation Response, a calm and creative state of mind that promotes physical and mental wellbeing.

If you have time and privacy, there are multiple methods of meditation that, done consistently over time, change the brain in ways that lead to greater mindful awareness and control over emotional reactions.

Meridian Tapping and Other Energy Psychology Methods

One of my favorite methods for general de-stressing and releasing emotional reactions associated with specific events is Meridian Tapping and other Energy Psychology methods. We'll have much more to say about using Meridian Tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques, Thought Field Therapy, Energy EFT, etc.) for emotional and physical wellbeing in future posts.

To learn more about these wonderful methods, please visit my Energy Psychology website at: http://www.EFT-MD.com.

In addition to eyes closed deep breathing and other de-stressing activities, spend time listening to your favorite music and doing other things that create good feelings. Feel good for no reason and decide that the real "You" is much, much bigger than knee-jerk emotional reactions.

I encourage you to make a conscious choice now to begin a de-stressing program. Start your day with a one-minute (or longer) eyes closed deep breathing routine. Repeat periodically throughout the day and evening. Adding in a little Meridian Tapping to neutralize emotional charges associated with specific events that happen during the day can help round out your foundation emotional wellbeing program.

Until next time,

Stephen Carter

Chief Energy Officer, Stress Solutions, LLC
http://www.EFT-MD.com
1-804-677-6772

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1. "Daily stress takes a toll on long-term mental health, UCI-led study finds"; "USIrvine News";
 Link: http://news.uci.edu/press-releases/daily-stress-takes-a-toll-on-long-term-mental-health-uci-led-study-finds/

Important Note: This and all other postings to this blog are for informational purposes only. This and all other posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, or otherwise recommend any treatment for any medical or psychological condition. Anyone using any of the information contained in this or any other posting on this website does so at his or her own risk. You are urged to seek competent medical consultations with appropriate licensed medical professionals for any and all medical or physical conditions.

Stress: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

This is the first post for our Stress Mastery blog. Over the coming posts we'll be exploring the role of stress, what it is, what it isn't, and how to truly master stress in every area of life.

We'll kick off by commenting on an article posted to "Forbes" on May 24, 2013 by Heidi Grant Halvorson. In "How You Can Benefit From All Your Stress", Heidi summarizes research by Yale University's Alia Crume and two others that assert it isn't so much the level of stress that affects us negatively as it is our beliefs about how stress will affect us.

In the "Stress-is-debilitating" mindset, the predominant belief is the effects of stress are bad for us and should be avoided. A more healthy point of view, according to the three researchers, is the "Stress-is-enhancing" mindset. 

Heidi summarizes the main takeaway for this research as, in part:

"Taken together, all this research paints a very clear picture: stress is killing you because you believe that it is."

The Role of Eustress

Certainly our beliefs about how stress will affect us to some extent contribute to how we experience specific stress inducing events and stress in general. The man who brought the modern concept of human stress to science, endocrinologist Hans Selye, coined the term eustress to describe "good stress". 

In his 1975 work, Stress Without Distress, Selye argues that persistent stress not resolved should be known as distress. Distress can lead to mental and emotional conditions to include anxiety and depression. On the other hand if stress enhances functionality, it is eustress.

Yerkes-Dodson Curve

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HebbianYerkesDodson.JPG

The Yerkes-Dodson Law and curve tell us performance of a given task progressively improves with increases in arousal up to an optimum point. Past that point, performance gets worse as arousal, or "stress" increases.

As an example, suppose you're about to give an important presentation to 300 people that could affect your career for years to come. You've crafted the presentation well and rehearsed it multiple times.

As you're sitting on stage waiting your turn to speak, you feel physical sensations you label as "excitement" surging through your body. Like a racehorse about to run the Kentucky Derby, you're sharp, focused, and ready.

As you stride to and then stand confidently at the podium, you look for your PowerPoint presentation on the conference laptop. Your PowerPoint file is vital to the presentation. Not seeing it, you suddenly recall you never gave it to the audio-visual person when you arrived at the conference that morning. The flash drive is in your brief case. You hear that internal critical voice say, "You idiot".

As you attempt to decide what to do, you notice your throat is tightening and your knees are quivering. You look out into the audience and see your boss in the front row. Your heart beats faster and your legs feel as though they are about to give way. As you open your mouth to speak, nothing comes out. Your stress is now so high you can barely breathe.

Clearly, the optimum arousal point was arrival at the podium. The performance curve slid quickly downward as arousal increased. A full on Stress Response (or "Distress Response) took root in a matter of seconds.

The Effects of All Stress - Good and Bad - on the Body

Stress is the physiological experience of the biochemical interactions that create eustress and distress. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus and founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and Center for Mindfullness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the body cannot physically discern between distress and eustress1.

The evidence from multiple studies tells us stress is often cumulative. Unless we're engaging in stress reduction practices that release the physical and emotional residue of chronic stress we're likely to have increasing health and emotional balance problems over time. 

Is the "Stress-Is-Enhancing" All We Need?

While having a positive attitude about dealing with stress may be somewhat better that wringing our hands in despair over every problem event in our lives, based on my work with thousands of clients and the weight of stress research over time, believing that "stress-is-enhancing" in and of itself will do little to promote long-term well being.

The optimum strategy is to neutralize the Stress Response whenever we notice the physical and emotional signals alerting us to its presence. Whether eustress or distress, its still stress. Chronic stress, by whatever name, isn't beneficial.

The Road Ahead

There are thousands of ways to handle chronic stress. In future posts we'll explore the ones I believe are easy to use, effective, and will make a difference in your life. We'll also be tracking stress related research and report on evidence based methods that promote emotional and physical well being.

To ensure you keep up to date with our posts, I suggest you subscribe. We'll be sharing information about once every week or two, so the reading load will be light and quality of information high. 

Stephen Carter

Founder and CEO, Stress Solutions, LLC

Columbia, Maryland

www.EFT-MD.com

1. Full Catastrophe Living - how to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation. (1996)

Important Note: This and all other postings to this blog are for informational purposes only. This and all other posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, or otherwise recommend any treatment for any medical or psychological condition. Anyone using any of the information contained in this or any other posting on this website does so at his or her own risk. You are urged to seek competent medical consultations with appropriate licensed medical professionals for any and all medical or physical conditions.