Essay on Minds Are Open Only When Hearts Are Open

"Healthy Mind is in a Healthy Body"
Persian Proverb
Holistic Organic Healthy Foods
There is nothing more important than learning about what we eat, drink and breathe. One of the most vital life sustaining action we must take, everyday, is to ensure a good balance of good organic foods and moderate exercise in our lives, and to become aware of content and quality of what we eat, drink and breathe, in order to achieve optimum health.
There are many holistic foods that contain high amounts of highly beneficial substances, antioxidant, vitamins, minerals and beta-carotene that can help eliminate toxins, boost the immune system and help protect against illnesses.

Cosmetic Products: of any kind, including hair dyes, perfumes, lipsticks, nail polish, nail polish removers, lotions, creams and the rest, are all highly carcinogenic and will cause in time variety of different cancers in our body, lets stay beautiful and sexy naturally. - Must read - Beauty To Die For: health hazards of cosmetics and skin care products revealed -
* There is only one safe Cosmetic Product Company: The Body Shop, founded by Anita Roddick in 1976. Read the - Dame Anita Roddick Founder of The Body Shop who brought informality to company management and was a pioneer of green issues. -

(PF) stands for Processed Foods, which includes beverages as well, tainted and contaminated with all kinds of deadly chemicals, such as artificial preservatives, artificial coloring, artificial taste additives, artificial sweeteners, genetically modified (GM) crops, like corn syrup, corn starch and much more.

Due to popular demands, I have decided to post my favorite milkshake recipe, great for a nutritious breakfast. Here it goes, wash with warm water, peel, chop and put in the glass container of your blender: 1 apple, 1 carrots, 1 banana, 1 lime, 4 garlic cloves, 1 inch ginger, 1 jalapeño pepper, 1 cup of organic whole milk and 1 table spoon of organic sugar. - Blend to a smooth liquid mixture, then stop the blender and add 2 organic, or cage free raw eggs, put the blender cover back on and pulse it a couple of times to mix the eggs. -- Obviously one could add, or substitute the apple with seasonal fruits and berries.
Please make sure to never keep the shake mixture in the blender. Immediately after you are finish, pour the shake mixture into ceramic mugs, or glass container for drinking and properly wash your blender right away. - Read you blenders manual for proper cleaning and safe keep of your blender.
Since I posted my shake’s recipe I have gotten a few comments and questions about -- what would be the difference between juicing and making shakes, and why not just juice instead --? The reason for making shakes is more beneficial for the body is as follows; our digestive system works best passing through roughage and liquid mixture, which will keep us satisfied with no desire to eat again shortly after having our shake.
The best remedy for flu / cold, fever, cancer and many other illnesses is the following simple and incredibly effective recipe of raw fresh garlic, jalapeño pepper and green, or Persian lime. Eating local and seasonal is another simple preventive measure.
Get yourself some fresh garlic, fresh jalapeño pepper and green, or Persian lime. Squeeze half of lime in, or on top of your dinner / meal / food. Chop up a few fresh raw garlic cloves and one jalapeño pepper and spread them on top of your dinner dish and enjoy. A mixture of organic honey and yogurt is a very effective remedy for jalapeño’s hotness, until you get use to it. If you keep these three wonderful elements: garlic, jalapeño pepper and green, or Persian lime part of your day-to-day diet to avoid getting sick.
Lastly, we must not forget that life is about family, wholesome loving environment in which to raise children and congregate, cook together, share life experiences and truly enjoy the most important gift of all, a loving family. Learn how to cook, trust me it is very easy and fulfilling to provide homemade good foods for your children thus guarantee their healthy mental and physical growth, development and prospers future.

Death, divorce, job loss, chronic illness — these situations can bring both tremendous stress and distress into your life.
But even daily stressors — the kind you think you can handle — can eventually overwhelm you, throwing your life out of balance and affecting both your psychological and your physical health.
Your job
Fewer people doing the same amount of work. Late hours, demanding bosses. Disharmony among co-workers.
Your family
Trying to make a marriage work. Making ends meet. Troubled teenagers. Caring for young children and aging parents. Challenges of dual careers.
Your physical health
Headaches. Getting sick from being stressed out. Recovering from a life-threatening illness. Learning how to live with a chronic disease.
Psychological studies show that your mind and your body are strongly linked. As your mental health declines, your physical health can worsen. And if your physical health declines, you can feel mentally "down." A positive outlook can help keep you healthy.
You can improve the quality of your everyday life by building resilience, which will help you adapt to stress and bounce back from life's most difficult times. Resilience isn't something you're born with — it's something you can learn over time. Resilient people have strong emotional well-being, healthy relationships and an optimistic outlook. Optimism and good relationships have been shown to improve health and longevity.
Pay attention to what your body is telling you about the state of your mind. If you're getting tension headaches, for example, your body may be telling you that you need help dealing with whatever's on your mind.
A psychologist can help with everyday life
A psychologist can help you meet the challenges and stress you face every day by working with you to create strategies that build resilience. Talking to a psychologist can help you deal with difficult thoughts and feelings that can affect your day-to-day functioning.
Psychological well-being and learning resilience go hand-in-hand and provide: * The capacity to make realistic plans to deal with stressors in your life and carry them out * A positive view of yourself and confidence in your strength and ability to confront life's challenges * Skills in communication and problem solving * The capacity to manage strong feelings, negative thinking and unhealthy behaviors that may arise when you’re under stress * Ways to avoid illness brought on by stress and anxiety
Sometimes you may face overwhelming feelings or serious illness. A psychologist can help.
Psychotherapy has been shown to be effective in treating depression, anxiety and other behavioral health issues. Heart patients have been shown to live longer when their treatment included psychotherapy.
When you reach a point in your life when you want professional help, you want to talk to someone with whom you feel comfortable and whom you can trust. A good friend can listen, but a psychologist has the skills and professional training to help you learn to manage your stress and emotions when you're feeling overwhelmed. * Psychologists have doctoral degrees and are licensed by the state in which they practice. * Psychologists receive one of the highest levels of education of all health care professionals — in fact, psychologists spend an average of seven years in education and training after they receive their undergraduate degree. * Psychologists are experts in human experience and behavior.
Psychologists are trained to help people cope more effectively with life problems, using techniques based on best available research and their clinical skills an

Weight Reduction

Once people become obese, losing weight is hard to do. Most can only lose about 10% to 15% of their body weight, and even these individuals usually regain this weight after their strict program of diet, exercise and behaviour modifications is withdrawn.
Once people with Spina Bifida have become obese, it is even harder for them to lose weight than it is for others. It is not impossible, however! If an individual is motivated to lose weight and limits caloric intake while also increasing exercise, weight can be reduced. The assistance of a nutrition consultant may help in such cases, since a very low calorie diet -1,000 calories per day or even less--may be needed. It can be difficult to create an interesting, enjoyable and nutritionally sound diet using so few calories. Weight reduction strategies should be started one by one, so the individual and family can become used to new patterns of living. Trying to do too much at once is often overwhelming and self-defeating. Most importantly, the individual should recognize that any weight reduction contributes to good health, and that losing weight should be don e in small measures and will take a long time. Small weight losses should be celebrated, (but not with food!) because they really are important!
In summary, individuals who have Spina Bifida are very likely to become obese unless they, with the help of their families and friends, prevent gaining too much weight during their childhood and adolescence. Obesity has many negative consequences, so it needs to be prevented or managed to achieve optimum health and quality of life. The benefits of healthy eating and sufficient exercise for individuals who have Spina Bifida are numerous and important, and last throughout life. Perhaps no other single intervention will make such a positive contribution to long-term good health and quality of life.

DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY
Feelings and Disability This page is available in a printable PDF format for your convenience.
Many people with long-term physical difficulties don’t like using the word ‘disabled’ about themselves but it is the word that the government uses to talk about people who have a long-term health problem. If you need to claim social welfare payments then it may be a ‘Disability’ Allowance or if an employer or a college treat you unfairly then it will ‘Disability’ law that is being broken. So we will carry on using this word here.
Everybody, disabled or not, goes through times when they feel ‘down’ or low in mood, sometimes for days or weeks at a time. Sometimes we know why we feel this way - losing somebody close, or having other things go on in our lives which we don’t want, for instance.
Because we can’t control everything that happens in our lives, bad things are bound to happen from time to time. What this means is that feeling down is ‘normal’. If someone close to you dies it can take many months to get over it but during this time your mind is working hard at getting used to the loss. At first, you may be sad all the time; gradually you are sad for less time and eventually you may be able to remember the person with fondness and even smile at good memories. We call this feeling ‘grief’ and the process ‘grieving’. But other changes in our lives can make us feel the same way. Breaking up with a close friend, losing a job we like, and so on. While we are getting used to the changes, we will feel low.
Sometimes we don’t know why we are feeling this way but there is always a reason. Sometimes we are so used to trying to deal with what is making us feel low that we stop noticing it. When the feelings go on for a long time this can be puzzling for us, and for those around us who can see that there is something wrong.
Living with any type of disability is difficult. It can often seem that other people around you get what they want more easily. It may seem to you that there are things you would like to do that you will never be able to. Other people are not always kind if they know you are disabled. But because disabled people have to cope with these things every day, they sometimes stop realising how hard it is, begin to feel very down and sometimes don’t know why. If you get down sometimes, try to think how someone who is not disabled would feel if they suddenly became disabled and had to cope with all the problems you have to cope with all the time. You are probably doing very well to cope with all your problems.
Actually, a lot of people who become disabled, as a result of accidents for instance, do find it very hard to cope and get very down before they learn how to cope.
Even when we know why we are feeling low it is often helpful to talk about it to somebody else. Sharing problems with somebody you trust is usually a good idea, especially if they have experienced the same difficulties themselves. If that isn’t possible then you can sometimes find people who are trained to help. So, if you feel down for a week or so, try:
To talk to someone else you trust about how you feel

To remember that what you are having to cope with is difficult

Not to get angry with yourself –remember that you are coping with something that some people couldn’t cope with at all

To treat yourself as sympathetically as you would want to treat somebody else who was going through the same thing.

To keep on meeting friends and doing the things you know you enjoy- even if you don’t really feel like it you will probably feel better afterwards.
Depression
If you feel low for more than a few weeks and you don’t know why; if you can’t tell yourself to ‘snap out of it’ or if the things that usually interest you don’t cheer you up then you may be experiencing what is often called ‘depression’ and you may need special help to start feeling better.
Most disabled people are not depressed and disabled people who become depressed do not stay depressed. This is another way of saying that it may not be the disability itself which causes depression but how people cope with it. If you become depressed it may be that you have to cope with change or something new.
The difference between feeling ‘down’ and feeling depressed is that when you are depressed, the feelings are deeper and last for longer. If you are down, you can often tell yourself to do things to make you feel better; that doesn’t work when people are depressed because they lose interest totally.
What might happen if you or someone you know gets depressed? * Feeling sad nearly all the time * Feeling hopeless about your future * Feeling like a failure or feeling worthless * Not enjoying things you used to enjoy, losing interest in things you used to be interested in, losing interest in sex * Feeling that you are to blame for a lot of what goes wrong * Losing confidence in yourself * Wanting to harm or kill yourself * Crying or feeling like crying although you didn’t cry easily before * Being restless a lot of the time * Lack of energy and feeling tired a lot of the time * Sleeping much more than usual or having trouble getting off to sleep * Feeling bad tempered a lot of the time * Wanting to eat a lot more or a lot less than usual * Not being able to concentrate as well as before, finding it very difficult to make decisions * Smoking or drinking too much. Relying on social drugs.
If you have had a number of these problems for more than a couple of weeks, or if you know someone who seems to have these problems, then getting help from someone else is important.
Remember, becoming depressed is not being “silly” or a sign of weakness. There are always real reasons for becoming depressed and help is available.
You may be a part of a support group or be part of an organisation (such as SBHI) which can help, so try this first.
Most people who become depressed go to their own doctor, who can make a further referral if specialist treatment is required.
Dealing with Depression

There are two main ways of dealing with depression: * Talking about problems to a trained person * Taking drugs called ‘anti-depressants’ which are prescribed by a doctor.
Your doctor should be able to refer you to a counsellor or another suitable therapist who will be able to find out why you are depressed and help you to deal with it. When this is available, this is first thing to try.
You will probably need to see your counsellor every one or two weeks to begin with and you should expect to be seeing them for at least 6 months – feelings of depression tend to get better quite slowly but you can expect to get back to normal eventually.
Anti-Depressants
If counselling is not available or if you are really depressed, your doctor might suggest you take anti-depressants.

It is true that taking pills will not solve problems but sometimes people are so depressed that they lack the mental energy to sort things out. Anti-depressants will sometimes help by making you feel more like tackling problems. Sometimes you can take anti-depressants and have counselling at the same time but the type of anti-depressant needs to be carefully chosen by your doctor for this to happen.
Most anti-depressants are not addictive and you can come off them quite easily when the time comes. You need to be taking them for 3 to 4 weeks before they start to work and you need to take them for at least 3 months before you can tell whether they are working for you. Doctors prefer depressed patients to keep taking them for 6 months.
Anti-depressants can make you feel peculiar or a bit poorly when you first start taking them but most people manage to cope. If you get severe problems you should tell your doctor. Do not increase or reduce the amount you take without discussing it with your doctor. Drinking alcohol or taking other drugs while you are taking anti-depressants can be dangerous – again, discuss this with your doctor.
When you feel the time has come to stop taking anti-depressants, discuss this with your doctor. You will usually need to reduce the amount you take gradually.
How to help other people who become depressed
People who become badly depressed can lose interest in helping themselves and they may have started to shut themselves away from other people. It may seem to you that they are not interested in being with you.
Underneath the depression though, there is usually a strong need to be close to others.
If they don’t seem interested in seeing you, try to show that you still want to see them. Listen to them if they want to talk about problems.
Being with a depressed person is often no fun – be prepared for their gloomy thoughts and lack of interest.
Don’t tell them to “pull themselves together”. Being badly depressed means that they can’t do this.
Most important, accept that you may not be able bring them out of depression yourself and try not to feel responsible if you seem to be failing.
If you are worried, suggest that they go to see their doctor if they haven’t already been. If they won’t, don’t be afraid to tell someone else who can help, even if the depressed person seems not to want you to. It is important that they get to see someone who can help without becoming too emotionally involved. The person’s doctor, a teacher or a parent are people you could tell.
A depressed person may not want you to do this at the time, but may well thank you later when they can understand that you needed to help.
Supports

There are a many supports available to help you if you are feeling depressed or to help someone you know who may be feeling depressed. * d experience, and taking into account the person's unique values, goals and circumstances.
A psychologist can help you identify your problems and figure out ways to best cope with them; change unhealthy behaviors and habits; and find constructive ways to deal with a situation that is beyond your control. In other words, a psychologist can improve both your physical and mental well-being | CREATIVE EMOTION | | | "The greatest of things are achieved in a light heart."Emotional health is vital to a creative mind. No one need be a slave to errant or unresolved emotions. There are a number of techniques that allow you to release and resolve emotional issues that impede your personal growth. | | | | To achieve emotional well being it is important to understand where feelings come from and how they relate to the body and mind. With this knowledge you can engender emotional health in the body/mind complex.I recently had the privilege of spending two evenings at a lecture by Dr. Candace Pert. She has written the intriguing book titled Molecules of Emotion. In her book she documents her work in the discovery that peptides are the biochemical basis for emotion in the body. Peptides are chains of amino acids. These chains can be as small as three amino acids in length, or as long as 100, wherein they become polypeptides. A peptide chain longer than 200 is a protein. Protein is the basis for all life.In her research at the NIH, Dr. Pert discovered that peptides reside not only in the brain, but all over the body. They are the informational substances that allow the brain to communicate with the body in the effort to maintain homeostasis. The ability of peptides to bind with the different receptor sites on each cell determines the health of that cell.Dr. Pert gives the following example in her book, "The same principle functions in the psychosomatic network, which is analogous to a boat sailing along as the result of a series of feedback loops. Cells are constantly signaling other cells through the release of neuropeptides, which bind with receptors. The signaled cells, like the helmsman or the sail trimmer, respond by making physiologic changes. These changes then feed back information to the peptide-secreting cells, telling them how much less or how much more of a peptide to produce. This is how both the body and the sailboat move forward, through a series of rapid feedback loops. A system is healthy - or 'whole', a word that shares its origins with the word 'health' - when these feedback loops are rapid and unimpeded, whether they are occurring between peptides and receptors or between the helmsman and his tiller. | | " What is also evident is that the mind is in control of the body. When we speak of mind we are also including emotions, as the feeling expression of the mind. Everyone has had the experience of feeling embarrassment and consequently blushing. Or, feeling intense fear and the heart begins to pound, the stomach tightens and the bladder becomes excited. Sexual arousal in the mind results in marked changes to the body. These are all common knowledge and experience. Therefore, the question of whether the mind is the precursor to the health of the body has long been obvious to anyone paying attention. This is our first clue that the body is not only controlled by the mind, but is also heavily influenced by the emotions.Emotions are important because it is how we feel about who we are and what we are doing that determines the success or failure of our efforts. The emotions are the bridge between the mind and the body. If you have little confidence in your problem solving abilities, your attempts to find the solution to even the simplest puzzles will be thwarted. If you are impulsive and don't have the patience, an emotional attitude, to apply prolonged concentration to an idea or project, your results will be as shallow as your focus.We all have the ability to enhance our emotional self-image and well being. Dr. Pert's book not only reveals the scientific basis for how emotions are created and distributed throughout the body, but she gives a number of ways that old emotional baggage from the past can be released from the body/mind network. Emotions that have been suppressed do not just disappear into the ethers. They collect in the body. When emotions of fear, anger, lack or pain are held in the body they impede the ability for the affected organs to do their job efficiently. Science now knows that the receptors sites on the cells for particular peptides are disrupted or close down altogether. Since the body is a network of interconnected physical expression, any organ system that has been compromised will weaken the entire system, and reduce mental clarity.Fear or anger actually creates certain peptide chains that are reintroduced into the living cells of the body through repeated DNA replication. Allopathic medicine is finally conceding that there are particular diseases that may be created through stress. Stress of certain organs, i.e. the stomach subjected to constant anxiety, fear or anger will impair the stomach lining creating an environment conducive to ulcers. There is a good deal of empirical evidence now that many cancers are stress related and the emotions that constrict the effected organs have weakened and deteriorated the bodily tissue, resulting in mutated cellular growth. Some prestigious hospitals are adding yoga, meditation and specific emotional release therapies to their cancer patient's survival regimes, with great success.For the creative mind any emotional residues from the past need to be released from the body. There are a number of very good techniques for doing this. The following are all methods that I use to accomplish this. One or several could be right for you, it is your decision which works best for you. * Yoga is one of the best, for it stretches all the body structures, relaxes the internal organs and releases stress, while allowing for focused concentration on the well being of the body. Circulation is increased, tension released and the entire organism relaxed and balanced. * Wilhem Reich pioneered the idea that emotions were held in the body and with the help of Alexander Lowen developed the method called Bioenergetics. This consists of certain exercises in combination with vocalizations that release trapped emotions in the body thus, relieving organic stress. * Keeping a dream journal is another excellent way to see what emotional residues are being held in your body that have been locked away in the subconscious. I have always been a lucid dreamer and remember my dreams every morning. Spending a small amount of time each morning when dreams are fresh will give you great insight into what emotional attitudes are still held in the subconscious mind, therefore having an impact on the physical body. Dreams are also a wonderful way reenact situations that are fearful, painful or demoralizing, allowing the mind to respond in a new way. Anyone can be taught to dream lucidly. This means becoming conscious during the dreaming process and making decisions about the outcome of dreaming scenarios. Once this is learned you can bring new responses to old habit patterns as played out in the dream. * Meditation is a time honored method of learning to recognize emotional weaknesses in the body and release them. Whatever method you chose allows you to still the babbling personality and listen to the deeper self. Becoming conscious of your emotions in a detached way allows you to release them and adopt new emotional patterns of behavior. * Humor is an excellent tool for reducing stress and negative emotions, adding clarity to the mind. Norman Cousins documented the healing effects of humor in his book Anatomy of an Illness. Very good book to read for understanding how potent humor can be in the healing of the mind and body. Laughter truly is the best medicine. * Detachment is the result of meditation and humor. The eastern philosophies have long promoted detachment as a method of observing our world and ourselves. Cultivating the ability to become a neutral observer of your own feelings, how they effect the body, how they effect your moods, and how they benefit or harm you, will eventually give rise to releasing them as addictive behaviors. Observing your daily thought patterns for repeated attitudes in a nonjudgmental approach can show you what angers, lacks and fears you are holding that have no real basis in your current daily experience.When emotions are negative or suppressed, the creative urge is either quelled or distorted. If you choose to express your full creative potential, learning to effectively release trapped emotional stress is imperative. The joy that results in unimpeded creative expression or creative problem solving is worth the effort expended to create emotional well being in the body and mind. The body and mind aren't separate, they are extensions of one another, interconnected and interdependent. Emotions are the bridge that weaves the energetic forces together, and the resulting pattern can be one of joy and appreciation for life. Clarity of mind, perfect health, and freedom of spirit is the pristine reward of emotional well being. | |
Psychological health, which encompasses both our emotional and mental health, is instrumental in determining physical health. Emotional health relates to the ability to understand your feelings and achieve emotional balance. Mental health is a state in which your mind is engaged in lively, healthy interaction both internally and with the world around you. Psychologically healthy people develop awareness and control of their thoughts and feelings. The outcome is a healthy, fulfilling, satisfying life.
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? You see your body, your hair, your skin, your muscles, your face. You can see and you can understand how your body works. We can measure blood pressure and hormones and heart rate, but what about your mind? Can you measure an emotion? Can yo The Role of Stress in Disease
Have you ever heard someone say, “She’s not really sick. It is all in her head?” For years the common perception of psychosomatic illness was that it was not real. That somehow the person just imagined that they were sick or didn’t feel well. Illness was caused by things like germs, radiation, tobacco, or diet. There was simply no way that our mind or our thinking could actually be the cause of our ill-health.
Thankfully, we have come a long way in our understanding of psychosomatic conditions. Psychosomatic originates from the core words psyche, meaning the mind, and soma, meaning the body. So, conditions that have a mind and body component are often called psychosomatic. Today psychosomatic conditions may also be called psychophysiological to avoid some of the negative connotation that it is somehow imagined.
Hundreds of studies over the last 20 years have shown that stress contributes to a significant percent of all major illness, including the number one cause of death in America, cardiovascular disease. Cancer, endocrine disease, emotional disorders, and a vast array of other stress related diseases and disorders account for many visits each year to health care providers. See the FYI -The Impact of Stress for some powerful statistics.
FYI – The Impact of Stress
According to Healthy People 2000, a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, stress has a great impact on our health. Did you know that: * 70-80% of all visits to the doctor are for stress-related and stress-induced illnesses * Stress contributes to 50% of all illness in the United States * The cost of job stress in the U.S. is estimated at $200 billion annually, including costs of absenteeism, lost productivity, and insurance claims
Chronic Stress and Disease What feedback might your mind and body send indicating continued activation of the stress response? In chapter three, you learned that chronic stress can result in exhaustion, the final stage of the general adaptation syndrome. If the fight or flight response remains activated for an extended period of time, we start to experience certain physical and emotional effects.
Chronic stress can be the result of many repeated rounds of acute stress (episodic acute stress) or a life condition, such as a difficult job situation or chronic disease. In either case, the stress response remains activated as if we are thinking we should be running from the big bear. The thought of threat, on a continual basis, sends the message to our systems that our survival mechanisms of fight-or-flight need to be continually activated. As a result, the normally functioning systems of the body cease to function so perfectly.
Awareness of both the medium-term and long-term effects of chronic stress can help you understand why preventing and managing stress is essential for your good health.
Medium-term Effects of Chronic Stress
Medium-term effects of chronic stress can include unpleasant signs and symptoms such as: * Tension, or migraine, headaches * Difficult time going to sleep * Upset stomach, problems retaining food * Change in appetite * Tightness in chest, back, shoulders * Aching jaw, tight forehead u see a thought? Can you prove that your outlook changes your level of stress? For decades scientists have studied how stress affects the body. As you learned in previous chapters, the body of knowledge explaining the physiology of stress is substantial. More recently researchers have been studying the mind-body connection to understand how thoughts and emotions relate to our experience with stress.
We know today beyond question that the mind and emotions have a powerful and very real impact on the body. “The mind clearly can have a profound effect on every aspect of physiologic functioning,” says James Gordon, M.D., Director of the Center for Mind-Body Studies in Washington, DC. “Individuals who are chronically pessimistic, angry, anxious or depressed are clearly more susceptible to stress and illness, including heart disease and cancer.” Similarly, almost every medical illness affects people psychologically as well as physically (Hales, 2003).
It is clear that stress affects your body, your physiology. In chapter three you learned about how the stress response activates a specific physiological process in your body. But what part does your mind play in your experience with stress? How amazing it is that the complex physiological process, the stress response, starts with a single thought. Your thoughts, your feelings, and your emotions have a profound impact on the quality of your life. If we consider what is happening during the stress response, we can understand why these maladies happen. When the big bear shows up, we want and need to run or fight. Many functions in the body turn off because they are not needed to get away from the big bear. Other functions in the body are activated to higher than normal levels. However, when we are not in danger, continued activation of the stress response is not necessary. Remember, you only need to think you are in danger for the stress response to activate.
Following are examples of how continued activation of the stress response results in decreased wellbeing.
Muscle Tension and Pain: Do you ever feel like your muscles are so tight that your shoulders are pulled up around your ears? Do you ever experience pain and stiffness from tight neck muscles? A muscle is not normally in the contracted state for prolonged periods of time. A muscle is supposed to contract only when it receives a message to contract. When a muscle is told to fight or run for prolonged periods of time, it will remain in the contracted state longer than necessary. When this happens, we notice two obvious results. One of these is pain and the other is fatigue. When a muscle stays contracted, it activates nervous system pain receptors that deliver the message of pain.
Headaches: A headache may result from muscles that tighten in response to a threat. If those continually contracting muscles are on our head, the result is a headache. This explains why people take muscle relaxants to help them ease the pain of the headache. A headache can provide important feedback that the way we are thinking about what is happening in our environment is causing tension.
Fatigue: The other effect of continued contraction of muscles is fatigue. Have you ever come home from a rough day at work or school and you find yourself totally exhausted, yet, you have exerted little physical effort? When a muscle is continually receiving the message to be ready for action, fatigue will result. It requires considerable energy for muscles to stay active.
Upset Stomach: We do not need the digestive system when we are running from the big bear. The digestive system ceases to effectively coordinate all of the processes necessary to break food down. It won’t transport the food from the digestive system to the bloodstream as effectively when the stress response is continually activated.
Difficult time going to sleep: It should not take more than a few minutes to fall asleep. We should also sleep comfortably through the entire night without waking up several times. Sleeping is a natural experience. If we are having a hard time falling asleep, it may be because our minds are thinking too much of other things. One physiological response of fight-or-flight is increased or altered brainwave activity. When we go to sleep, we want to decrease brainwave activity. That can only happen as we are able to turn off the stress response.
Research Highlight – Sweet Dreams Researchers report some interesting findings associated with sleep and our natural need to dream. A study was set up with college students as the subjects. Each of the volunteers was asked to participate in normal activities during the day. Rather than going to their homes to sleep at night, they agreed to come to the “sleep lab” to participate in the experiment. As the students slept, the researchers monitored brainwave activity and visually watched for Rapid Eye Movement (REM) which would indicate that the subjects had begun dreaming. As soon as the subjects started into a dreaming pattern, the researchers would immediately awaken them in order to interrupt their sleep patterns. The researchers continued these interruptions throughout the night for several weeks. During this period, the students were monitored to see what affect this dreamless sleeping would have on them. The students became sick more frequently, they struggled in their ability to concentrate, and they were more fatigued and more easily agitated. What is most interesting is that some students reported seeing hallucinations while wide awake. They saw things that weren’t there. Apparently, the body and mind have a natural need to sleep a specified amount of time each night and they react adversely if this sleeping and dreaming are disrupted on a regular basis.
It is like a two-edged sword: Stress can affect the ability to sleep and lack of sleep can affect the ability to cope with stress and anxiety.
Cold or sore throat: Another system that is turned down during the stress response is the immune system. The immune system is our internal defense mechanism that keeps us from contracting the cold or latest flu that is going around. Without a strong immune system, the virus can get the upper hand and we are in bed for a week recovering. We do not need the immune system to run from the big bear so it turns down its high functioning protection. Have you ever noticed that you tend to get sick more frequently after you go through a stressful experience? Since the immune system is unable to work as effectively when you are stressed, you are more susceptible to every disease and illness that crosses your path.
Research Highlight – The Cold, Hard Facts
The common cold is not an equal-opportunity attacker, according to recent research from psychologist Sheldon Cohen. Why is it that some people seem to rarely catch a cold in spite of being exposed to hoards of sneezing, sniffling cold-sufferers, while others seem to catch every bug that comes along? There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that factors such as personality, stress, and social life can all affect our vulnerability to the common cold. Cohen’s research at Carnegie-Mellon University involves exposing volunteers to colds by dropping rhinoviruses into their noses. Following five days of quarantine, medical exams and questionnaires reveal the following:
*Happy, relaxed people are more resistant to illness than those who tend to be unhappy or tense. Adults with the worst scores for calmness and positive mood are about three times more likely to get colds than the more relaxed and contented adults. When happy people do get sick, their symptoms are milder.
*Serious work-related or personal stress for at least a month increases the chances of catching a cold. The longer people live with bad stress, the more likely they were to catch cold in the lab.
Looks like you can add “ less colds” to your list of stress management benefits (Elias, 2003). This list of annoying maladies is the result of the stress response causing imbalances throughout normally functioning systems in the body. Again, these provide feedback to us that we should make some changes. It is important to keep in mind that whatever system turns on or off is in direct response to what we would need in order to run from or fight the big bear. When this happens for an extended period, our health suffers.
Long Term Chronic Stress
While the medium-term effects of chronic stress are unpleasant and annoying, the long-term effects are dangerous and contribute to disease, suffering and even death.
Stress and the Heart
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. One of the most devastating results of long-term chronic stress may very well turn out to be its impact on cardiovascular disease. What is the relationship between cardiovascular disease and stress?
Increasingly evidence suggests a relationship between the risk of cardiovascular disease and environmental and psychosocial factors. These factors include job strain, social isolation and personality traits. More research is needed to fully understand how stress contributes to heart disease risk and whether or not stress acts as an "independent" risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Acute and chronic stress may affect other risk factors and behaviors, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, smoking, physical inactivity and overeating (American Heart Association).
While the research continues, researchers have made some important advances in understanding how stress affects cardiovascular disease. Here are some of the findings: * Mental stress increases oxygen demand because blood pressure and heart rate are elevated. * Vascular resistance and coronary artery constriction during mental stress also decrease the blood supply. This results in decreased blood flow to the heart muscle. * Blood tends to clot more easily. This is an important and potentially life-saving function if you cut yourself on a rosebush while running from the big bear. Your body is designed so you won't bleed to death. However, increased blood clotting in the blood vessels that surround the heart, or in the brain, can increase the chances that one of those clots may lodge itself on the wall of a blood vessel. If a clot is too big and the diameter of the blood vessel is too small, and if we add to that an increase in blood pressure which weakens the blood vessels, the result may be a heart attack or a stroke.
Stress and the Immune System
Stress also has a profound impact on the immune system, the network of organs, tissues, and white blood cells that is responsible for defending the body against disease. The powerful stress hormones suppress the immune system making the body less capable of fighting disease and infection. Simply stated, stress suppresses the immune system’s ability to produce and maintain lymphocytes (the white blood cells necessary for killing infection) and natural killer cells (the specialized cells that seek out and destroy foreign invaders), both crucial in the fight against disease and infection (Hoeger, 2002). Impaired immunity makes the body more susceptible to many diseases, including infections and disorders of the immune system itself such as the autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis.
Psychoneuroimmunology
We now have entire areas of science that study the relationship between the body and mind. One interesting field of scientific inquiry studies the chemical basis of communication between the body and mind as it relates to the nervous system and the immune system. This area of study is called psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). Psychoneuroimmunology seeks to understand the complex communications between the nervous system, the psyche, and the immune system, and their implications for health.
Research Highlight – Psychoneuroimmunology Finds Acceptance As Science Adds Evidence
According to Margaret Kemeny, an associate professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral science at the University of California, LA, psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) research has exploded in the last decade. Recent work has demonstrated that hormones and neurotransmitters released under stress can change immune cell behavior. These various cells actually have receptors to “hear” the signals, allowing the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems to “talk”.
For example, studies with a group of medical students focused on the effects of academic stress and a response to a hepatitis B vaccine, which would mimic response to an infectious agent. These studies showed antibody and immune cell responses were diminished in those with more anxiety, higher stress and less social support.
(The Scientist 10 (16):14, Aug. 19, 1996)
The affects of a compromised immune system are far-reaching including everything from susceptibility to the common cold, to the rate of wound healing, and even a link with breast cancer development. Following is a brief summary of several studies linking stress to its effect on the immune system. * PNI research has shown that traumatic stress, such as the death of a loved one, can impair immunity for as long as a year. * Studies of university students and staff in the United States and Spain have implicated stress and a generally negative outlook as increasing susceptibility to the common cold. * By inflicting small cuts in volunteers who were then subjected to controlled stressful situations, researchers have shown a significant delay in healing among those under stress. * In research on women with metastatic breast cancer, psychiatrist David Spiegel found that stress hormones played a role in the progression of breast cancer. The average survival time of women with normal cortisol patterns was significantly longer than that of women whose cortisol levels remained high throughout the day (an indicator of stress).
Research Highlight - Chronic Stress and Immunity
Researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus, have discovered a link between chronic stress and a body chemical that is associated with the development of serious and even deadly conditions.
Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of psychology and psychiatry, and colleagues studied a group of 119 men and women who were dealing with the stress of caring for a spouse with dementia. These caregivers were compared with a control group of 106 individuals of similar age and health status who did not serve as caregivers. Over the six-year study, blood tests showed that a chemical known as interleukin-6 (IL-6) dramatically increased in the caregivers as compared to the non-caregivers. IL-6 is a chemical known as a cytokine that is involved in the body’s immune system. Overproduction of IL-6 has been associated with the development or progression of a number of medical conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, and functional decline. Even is the spouse of the caregivers died, the increased levels of IL-6 persisted for several years in the group of caregiving spouses.
This research may offer one possible explanation for the link between stress and illness by suggesting that stress may increase the risk of many typical age-associated diseases by altering the immune response. This data underscores the need for stress management and control of chronic stressors.
Other Symptoms of Stress Long term, chronic stress not only increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and compromises the immune system, the American Institute of Stress issued this statement about the long-term effects of stress:
Many of these effects are due to increased sympathetic nervous system activity and an outpouring of adrenaline, cortisol, and other stress-related hormones. Certain types of chronic and more insidious stress due to loneliness, poverty, bereavement, depression and frustration due to discrimination are associated with impaired immune system resistance to viral linked disorders ranging from the common cold and herpes to AIDS and cancer. Stress can have effects on other hormones, brain neurotransmitters, additional small chemical messengers elsewhere, prostaglandins, as well as crucial enzyme systems, and metabolic activities that are still unknown. Research in these areas may help to explain how stress can contribute to depression, anxiety, and its diverse effects on the gastrointestinal tract, skin and other organs. (www.stress.org) Culture Connection – In a Climate of Overwork, Japan Tries to Chill Out.
Karoshi in Japanese means death-by-overwork. Karoshi is a rising social concern that has resulted directly from the well-known Japanese hard-working society that produced the highest productivity for its economy in the late 20th century. In 2001, the government reported a significant increase in fatal heart attacks and strokes due to overwork, with the hardest-hit professions being information technology experts, doctors, teachers, and taxi drivers. They also reported a record high number of suicides, many related to the economic downturn. In its evaluation of working practices in the 6 months before death, the Japanese Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry found that the karoshi victims were working an average of more than 80 hours each week.
The good news is that many Japanese workers and businesses are starting to look for options to help relieve sutoresu – the Japanese word for stress. English gardening, aromatherapy, reflexology, pets, and herbs have joined the traditional leisure pursuit of hot-spring bathing in a boom in iyashi, a word that conveys a mixture of healing, calming, and getting close to nature. Until 10 years ago, the word iyashi was largely unknown outside the psychiatric profession where it was used to denote a form of healing and relaxation for those who were overworked and overstressed. Now, however, many Japanese, especially young women, want to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
The bad news is that the ingrained belief that personal wellbeing should be sacrificed for one’s company means that compromises have to be made even for the most iyashi-conscious consumer. Despite the iyashi boom, Japan seems to be working harder than ever. Labor statistics show that the average worker takes only 49.5% of their 18-day vacation allowance. Interestingly, this hard work is creating economic as well as psychological problems because many of the workforce do not have enough free time to spend their money, which slows economic activity. (Watts, 2002) In his interesting book, Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer, Kenneth Pelletier summed it up when he wrote, “Generalized, and unabated stress places a person in a state of disequilibrium, which increases his susceptibility to a wide range of diseases and disorders.” There is no way to predict which maladies you will experience from too much stress in your life. There are too many factors involved. One thing you can know with certainty, keeping the stress response activated increases your risk for many diseases and decreases the quality of your life.
The Role of Stress In Health
What about stress and health? You now have a good understanding of how stress can result in disease and poor health, but is this an inevitable process? One thing the stress research shows beyond any doubt is that stress alone will not cause illness. How a person reacts to stress is the critical factor on whether the outcome is positive or negative. Personality and an individual’s way of viewing the events in life will determine the impact of stress. While it is interesting and important to explore the role of stress in disease, our focus in Stress Management for Life is on promoting optimal health.
Why is it that in a world full of stressors, some people seem to be immune to the ravages of stress? Why is it that when two people are exposed to identical stressors one will experience stress-induced symptoms while the other will come through in a positive and healthy manner? Too often we ask why someone became ill, when the more profound and important question might be, “How did this person manage to stay healthy?” We know that some individuals come through periods of great chronic stress, not only without disease, but actually with more physical and mental vigor than they had before. What is it about these people that makes then different?
We know that our behaviors influence health. Every day lifestyle choices like what you eat for breakfast, whether you get adequate sleep, how you choose to exercise your body, and whether you smoke and drink have a profound impact on health. But could there be other factors, in addition to our behaviors, that play a role in our ability to withstand stress and stay healthy? Research indicates that personality may be a key determinant in how well we are able to resist the negative influences of stress.
Personality and Stress
Do you think there is such a thing as a stress-resistant personality or a stress-prone personality? And is this personality a result of heredity or environment? In other words, were you born with a personality that makes you more or less prone to stress? If so, is it really possible to change your personality? You all know that behaviors influence health. Eating a balanced diet, including daily exercise in your schedule, and sharing quality time with your friends are examples of some of the behaviors that clearly relate to better health. But is it possible that something other than behavior could play a role in your ability to manage stress and maintain health? An impressive body of research indicates that personality is a major determinant in how well you deal with stressors in your life.
Understanding the personality traits that contribute to good health will help you determine what works for you in stress management. Our intention is not to open a discussion on the validity of the many personality theories, but rather to get you thinking about your personality traits and how they contribute to your ability to successfully manage stress. The cumulative results of studies conducted over the past few decades show beyond a doubt that certain personality traits keep us well, boost our immunity, and improve our immune system. Dr. Suzanne Kobasa’s research helps us understand why individuals who despite stressful circumstances appeared resistant to the psychophysiological effects of stress. In other words, what prevents stress from leading to illness for some people but not for others? Kobasa, who teaches psychology in the City University of New York’s graduate school, was very familiar with the latest research that drew definite connections between stress and illness. The more she pondered the stress-illness connection, the more engrossed she became with the people who didn’t get sick under stress. She mobilized a group of her colleagues and went to work on a study of what she calls “the walking wounded of the stress war” – a group of high-powered business executives faced with personal and career upheaval (Karren et al., 2002).
Kobasa and her colleagues studied over 700 AT&T executives during the period of federal deregulation when many executives lost their jobs. Study subjects were given a version of the Holmes and Rahe stress inventory along with a checklist of physical symptoms and illnesses. Hundreds of executives showed physical symptoms of stress. But, under the same circumstances, a smaller group of individuals emerged who did not experience symptoms of stress. When this smaller group was studied further, it became clear that what distinguished them from those who succumbed to the stress were specific personality traits enabling them to cope with their perceptions of stress.
Three specific personality traits that collectively acted as a buffer to stress emerged from Kobasa’s study. These three traits, commitment, control, and challenge, describe what has come to be called the hardy personality.
Hardiness
Hardiness is “a set of beliefs about oneself, the world, and how they interact. It takes shape as a sense of personal commitment to what you are doing, a sense of control over your life, and a feeling of challenge.” The personality traits of hardiness are commonly known as the three Cs: * Commitment – Commitment is the tendency to involve oneself in whatever one is doing. This includes a deep and enduring commitment to yourself, your family, your work, your community and other important values. Individuals who are committed to their values believe that their life has meaning and purpose.
An example is Mohandas Gandhi, a man who by all standards was a driven workaholic. He went on countless fasts, depriving himself of nourishment, and spent months in prison – one of the most stressful scenarios possible. Yet he was strong and healthy until his assassination at the age of seventy-seven. Many believe it was because of his unwavering commitment to become one of the world’s great leaders and to win political freedom for his homeland. * Control - Control involves the tendency to believe that and act as if one can influence the course of events. It is a belief that you can change the impact of a situation by the way you view and react to it. This kind of control is the opposite of helplessness. It is a belief that you can control yourself and your reactions to what life hands you. It is the refusal to be victimized.
When faced with difficulties, people with this trait use active strategies to either change the way they think about a problem or attempt to resolve the problem directly. The healthiest students approach problem-solving with a sense of control instead of passivity.
A hardy personality type recognizes that we are neither totally in control nor merely victims of life. The balance lies somewhere between the two. * Challenge – Challenge involves the expectation that it is normal for life to change, and that change will stimulate personal growth. People with this trait embrace change as an exciting opportunity to grow. This excitement is in direct opposition to boredom. Boredom does not facilitate happiness. It is stressful to be stuck in a rut.
Stress Buffers
Other studies similar to Kobasa et al. have yielded remarkably consistent findings. Healthy controversy surrounds some of these studies, but you will learn in future chapters that there are many “stress buffers” or elements that alleviate the negative effects of stress and promote health. Factors such as social support, self-esteem, optimism, a sense of humor, and physical fitness all help to buffer stress.
Lawrence Hinkle and his colleagues at New York Hospital’s Cornell Medical Center conducted a series of studies over a twenty-year period. They found that personality traits had a definite bearing on health. Their conclusion sums it up well. Those people with a good attitude and an ability to get along with other people enjoyed the lowest frequency of illness.
Can hardiness be developed? Researchers believe so. Are we stuck with the personality we were born with? This question is a little trickier. Many experts support the premise that yes, we are born with a personality type, but we can absolutely develop a more disease-resistant, health- promoting personality. You will learn specific skills and techniques in the coming chapters that will guide you in this process.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we explored the fascinating relationship between the mind and the body to better understand the role of stress in both disease and health. Scientific studies provide a solid foundation of undeniable scientific evidence explaining the connection between the body and the mind. You can use this information not only to prevent disease, but also to promote optimal health
Bench 1.5 Times Your Body Weight

Upper-body strength is important for more than bench-press bragging rights. Literally being able to throw your weight around—plus half that of the guy standing next to you—is the ultimate sign that you'll never have a problem hanging drywall, holding your ground in the post...or looking great in a tank top.

The Test: Use a bench-press machine and keep your feet flat on the floor during the entire lift. To get your score, divide the heaviest weight you can lift one time by your body weight.

The Scorecard:
Less than 1.0: Weak
1.0-1.49: Ordinary
1.5 or more: You rule on the bench

Boost Your Bench Press: The key to strengthening any muscle is lifting fast, says Louie Simmons, strength coach to five of the world's top bench-pressers. Follow Simmons's plan for 4 weeks to improve your own bench-press performance:

Using a weight that's about 40 percent of what you can lift one time, do nine sets of three repetitions, with 60 seconds' rest between sets. Lower and raise the bar as fast as possible, and alternate your grip every three sets, so that your hands are 16, then 20, then 24 inches apart.

Three days later, perform three sets of flat, incline, or decline barbell bench presses (alternate varieties each week) with the heaviest weight you can lift six times. Bonus tip: Press your head into the bench as you lift. You'll activate the muscles called neck extensors, which help ensure that your spine is in a straight line. That'll put your body in a stronger position.