How we deal with stress

When it comes to matters of the mind and our physical health the medical industry was slow to accept that how we think could influence our physical health. Mainstream medicine didn’t really like the idea that emotions could affect health directly and it wasn’t until Hungarian doctor Hans Selye built on the earlier work of Walter Cannon and Claude Bernard that things started to change. Selye’s discovery in the 1930’s of the harmful effects of stress was though more a consequence of his ineptitude at handling small furry rodents than it was a carefully designed plan. While running experiments that involved injecting rats with ovarian extract, Selye noticed that they were developing a host of maladies that seemed inconsistent with the effects of the hormone. Later he was to discover that the responses to the stress of the experiment itself was causing these negative health effects and the first modern theory on the human stress response was born. Since then many scientists have gone on to look deeper at how the human body responds to stress and why. Research has enabled us to better understand the chemical and nervous pathways in the body that communicate our stress responses as well as the structures that drive it and feed it.

Of course, we need our stress responses. Without them even getting out of bed in the morning would be impossible and indeed for the chronically stressed it often is. It’s those unrelenting or repeated stresses that are causing the damage as the systems designed for short-term survival flood the body with powerful hormones that over time can make us fat, depressed, lethargic, forgetful, uninterested in sex, constantly sick, and at greater risk of serious illness like diabetes, heart disease, peptic ulcers, and many more. In the right amounts our stress hormones can help us survive a dangerous situation or perform better on the sports stage, but on a chronic basis they may just be slowly killing us.

Eliminating stress from our clients lives is a Sisyphean task as so many modern stressors are either related to the environment we live and work in, or worse still are simply products of our own minds. Montaigne said “my life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which have never happened” reflecting on how our brains are able to create future events often with negative outcomes. Psychologist Daniel Gilbert links our desire to think ahead to the feeling of being able to in some way control or influence our futures. However it is the lack of control that often causes us great angst and in turn has our stress hormones pumping on a daily basis. Research has shown that the effects of stress are greater in those with no perceived control over their situation, and even worse in those who previously had control only to have had it suddenly removed. Similarly, while we often think of the stressed executive as the prime candidate for stress, the effects are often a lot more pronounced in those lower in the socioeconomic strata and workplace.

We are better off trying to steer our clients down the path of positive coping strategies to help them manage their stress. Short-term strategies such as alcohol, smoking, drug use, and of course reaching for the Dairy Milk, all provide us with an immediate escape from the travails of our mind. But these easy-outs ultimately lead us deeper into the well of despair as they suck up valuable chemicals in our brain like dopamine and serotonin, which are already depleted under chronic stress.

Instead as is often the case, the advice for our clients has changed little from that which our grandparents knew intuitively many years before the mechanisms were known. Take some regular exercise (the actual mode of this is less critical than many make out), go for a walk, eat good quality unrefined foods, get a good nights sleep (easier said than done in some cases but often the first thing that goes awry under stress), take time out for yourself, enjoy positive relationships with those you work, live, and socialise with, and get some happiness into life. It can seem trite and for many it won’t be that simple, but these methods may offer an alternative or at least an adjunct to the Prozac solution that so many find themselves on now.

Diagnosis of medical illness is a complex science best left to the professionals, but advising and supporting our clients to be healthier and happier isn’t something we should hand over control of so readily, particularly to a system already buckling under the load. As complementary therapists we can, with simple, easy to follow advice and a positive outlook, help educate, inspire, and protect our clients from the damaging effects of chronic stress.

 

For further reading on this topic Graeme recommends:

  • The End of Stress As We Know It: Bruce McEwan
  • Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: Robert Sapolsky
  • Stumbling On Happiness: Daniel Gilbert

You can hear Graeme speak more on this topic this weekend at the B-Fit Expo and at the Complementary Therapists Association in Putney.

 

 

 

Ten Tips of Christmas: Tip 10

How to hit the spot with…a tennis ball

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A trigger point is a hyperirritable spot within a taut band of soft tissue. It is called a Trigger Point because it ‘triggers’ a painful response. Trigger points develop when the area is stressed repetitively and chronically, there is postural imbalance, overuse or compensatory movements.

To relieve a Trigger Point apply pressure directly to the sore spot. This temporarily starves the area of oxygen and applies a localised stretch to the spasm. This is where a tennis ball comes in so handy as it can be difficult to palpate and apply pressure to yourself.

Common trigger points are found in the upper trapezius, Quadratus Lumborum, the Piriformis and there are a great number in each calf.

To release these points of pain, lay down on your back, place the tennis ball under the trigger point and RELAX.

Keep the pressure on until the pain decreases. It is perfectly normal to feel like the pain is spreading or to feel a referred pain somewhere seemingly unconnected.

Take just 5 minutes out every day to enjoy some much needed pain relief!

Sarah Franklin, Sports Massage Therapist @ Victory Health and Performance

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Sports Massage 3 Pack with Sarah Franklin for £200. This includes a full postural assessment and Post Care Advice including further hints and tips that you can perform at home to maximise the benefits from your treatments. Email Sarah to book your first session sarahf@victoryhealthandperformance.com.

Merry Christmas and here’s to a pain free 2012!

Ten Tips of Christmas: Tip 9

Get Some Good Quality Sleep This Xmas!

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So you’ve survived this year, congratulations! How many nights per week have you slept 8 hours or more? Not many I bet. If you somehow managed to get more than four 8-hour-sleeps per week, well done – you’re in the top 10% of healthy sleepers in London.

But if not, your body’s levels of cortisol – its main stress hormone – have been consistently elevated, lowering your testosterone, your growth hormone and massively increasing your likelihood of gaining body fat and suffering various other stress-related damages!

My challenge for you this Christmas is to commit to getting between 8 and 9 hours sleep for as many nights as possible and drop those cortisol levels for a continuous period. If you start remembering dreams upon waking, you’re doing well.

And for next year, download a cool little (free) iPhone app I found called “Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock.” It listens in when you’re asleep (creepy, I know), records your sleep phases, and adjusts the time of your alarm to wake you when you’re in the lightest phase nearest to your alarm time. It will wake you up feeling much more refreshed, un-stressed and ready for the day.

Sweet dreams!

Richard Thompson, Foundry trainer

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Ten Tips of Christmas: Tip 7

Being a Bah Humbug isn’t good for the waistline

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It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
Abraham Lincoln

Some of you may know I used to smoke. Tsk, naughty Dave, go stand in the corner! I can only tell you that despite hating the feeling of waking up with a mouth like an ash tray it filled a psychological need at that time in my life so I don’t beat myself up about it. I simply asked for help from people close to me, changed the reason for that behaviour and have never looked back.

Smoking was not good for me; but equally I don’t believe being obsessively pious is particularly healthy either. Getting stressed out about our occasional self destructive urges doesn’t help with the behaviour we want to change. Instead we just feel self loathing, elevated stress levels and in my case a healthy dollop of Catholic guilt.

Another perfect example is alcohol. Whilst it’s true that no study has ever proved a causal relationship between moderate drinking and lower risk of death, we do know the two often go together, probably because moderate drinking is something healthy people tend to do, rather than something that makes people healthy. A few drinks can relax us physically and mentally and help with social situations.

“The moderate drinkers tend to do everything right — they exercise, they don’t smoke, they eat right and they drink moderately”

Kaye Middleton Fillmore, a retired sociologist from the University of California, San Francisco.

Foundry director Graeme Marsh delivers a very popular executive seminar entitled “The executive athlete.” It used to be called “Why stress is making you fat, sick and miserable” but we figured that was a bit too blunt. That said, the previous title does get to the crux of the issue. Stress can cause, or is linked to, the following conditions…take a deep breath…abdominal fat, cardiovascular disease, adrenal fatigue, metabolic syndrome, digestive problems, skin problems and rashes, memory loss and poor concentration, hypertension, speeding the progression of HIV/Aids, varicose veins, haemorrhoids and even the dreaded gingivitis. Stress and anxiety and the resulting lack of sleep are far more damaging than the odd glass of wine and mince pie and then feeling guilty about it for days.

Positive coping strategies:

  1. Exercise Regularly.
    This is a bit of a gimme as everyone who comes through our doors will understand to some degree that exercise releases endorphins, the mind-body’s natural painkiller and mood calmer. However even if we can’t make the gym or stick to our exercise programmes over the holiday brisk walking is an excellent alternative. A vigorous 2-3 miles allows us to experience a tangible sense of accomplishment and control and some time out.
  2. Deep Belly Breathing.
    This is easy to do and very relaxing. Try this basic exercise anytime you need to relax or relieve stress.
  • Sit in a comfortable position.
  • Put one hand on your belly just below your ribs and the other hand on your chest.
  • Take a deep breath in through your nose, and let your belly push your hand out. Your chest should not move.
  • Breathe out through pursed lips as if you were whistling. Feel the hand on your belly go in, and use it to push all the air out.
  • Do this breathing 3 to 10 times. Take your time with each breath.
  1. A Gratitude Journal.
    Whilst this might sound a bit New Agey you’d be surprised how effective these can be. Everyone has lain in bed with thoughts racing and felt the panic of being unable to sleep only add to the anxiety. A great strategy is to keep a book by your bedside and just write a few down a few simple things you’re really happy about it life. No matter how bad things get there will always be something positive so set it down, in concrete…or even paper. It can be a very helpful way of reflecting on the positives in life or even to identify the positives in a bad situation.

Damn it, they’re so bloody good I reckon even Chuck Norris has a Gratitude Journal (with one entry repeated on every day: “I am thankful for being Chuck Norris”)

  1. Holy Basil (tulsi).
    Whilst it has demonstrated anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, science is taking a huge interest in a supplement called Holy Basil for its compelling effects on stress. Multiple studies have found that supplementation with various extracts of holy basil decreases stress hormone levels, corticosterone in particular. It’s not recommended for those who are pregnant, nursing or trying to conceive.

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Ten Tips of Christmas: Tip 5

Supplement The Winter for a Healthy Festive Season

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It’s easy to think of this time of year as the season of excess…. drinking, eating, partying and late nights. However it can still prove difficult when it comes to winter health, stress management and general sanity. Before spending your money on well-advertised “remedies” for anything, we like to demand evidence of efficacy via replicable, double-blind, randomized trials of sufficient size to produce statistically significant results. Since you’ll be too busy drinking mulled wine to do that we’ve done it for you…

So, to help beat the winter blues, boost your immune system and get a good night’s sleep, here are our Top 5 supplements for the Christmas season (all of which have a strong evidence base behind them).

1. Echinacea, nature’s booster for your immune system

Nature's immune system booster

Whilst the exact mechanism and results for Echinacea are still up for debate, we know that it stimulates and boosts the immune system and is a natural antibiotic.  This is why many people use to treat infections, to combat low resistance to sickness and to enhance the immune system. Research suggests that you bombard your system with Echinacea at the first sign of infection until it’s gone to stand the best chance of reducing your illness.

2. Vitamin D, to beat the winter blues

A large number of studies link low vitamin D levels and influenza, as well as respiratory infections more generally. Alongside its many health benefits, research into vitamin D has also shown that it has the potential to combat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) sometimes referred to as the ‘winter blues’ or ‘winter depression’.  In one study, just five days of treatment with vitamin D (at a dose of 400 or 800 IU per day) was found to improve winter mood.

3. Zinc, your personal guardian vs the common cold

Many studies suggest that zinc may have antiviral properties, and can prevent the formation of certain proteins that cold viruses use to reproduce themselves. The NHS says taking zinc syrup, tablets or lozenges may be an effective treatment for the common cold. A 2011 Cochrane review suggests that taking zinc supplements within a day of the symptoms starting will speed up recovery and lessen the severity of symptoms.

4. Magnesium, for an improved night’s sleep

Want to make the most of a good night’s sleep? Not only will a good night’s sleep enable you to wake rejuvenated and fresh, your body will also have had time to repair and reset your systems. Our bodies use magnesium in more than 300 metabolic reactions. Magnesium helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, steadies heart rhythms, and supports our immune systems. Additionally magnesium regulates blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and enhances metabolism.

Studies suggest that if magnesium deficient people simply add a magnesium supplement to their diet, many health problems, including sleep disorders, could be resolved.  Many people are deficient in magnesium these days, which is exacerbated by alcohol (at the Christmas party), caffeine (for the next day), and sugar (erm…pretty much everything).

5. Valerian, helps you drift off into a deep peaceful sleep

Sleep easy with Valerian tea

Valerian Tea has a mild calming effect that does not usually result in sleepiness the next day. As a sleep aid, valerian seems to be most effective for people who have trouble falling asleep and who consider themselves to be poor sleepers. It also has had good results for people who wake up during the night. Studies have also shown it to be an effective remedy for the reduction of anxiety.

Finally, take a deep breath, relax and enjoy the festive season in the best winter health.

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Ten Tips of Christmas: Tip 3

The unmentionable consequences of overindulging

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If you’ve overindulged the night before, you might find that your stomach doesn’t agree with you the morning after: not much fun! You can take refuge in Alka Seltzer and Imodium; but here’s a more natural way to treat your body and help it to recover from the excesses you’ve subjected it to: intestinal massage.

This technique helps to move any deposits around your bowel and colon if you’ve got a runny tummy or a lot of abdominal gas; or it improves your digestive function if you’re a little constipated. I’ve used it successfully in the past to treat patients with IBS and coeliac symptoms.

When you do this, you must have your hips and knees bent as this reduces any stretch on the abdominal muscles (you want to massage the digestive system, not the muscle) – good positions are either sitting down, or lying on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. It’s probably worth doing this in private as you may produce some pretty odd noises!

The intestine is shaped like a horseshoe, starting at the bottom right of your belly, then up to just under your ribs on the right side, across to the left, and then down to the bottom left. And that’s the direction in which you want to massage it.

Staying relaxed, and breathing gently, use your fingertips, fists or palms to work in small circles, massaging gently at first and then gradually more firmly, working your way up the ascending colon, across the transverse colon, and then down the descending colon.

If you find a blockage, a painful spot, or a pocket of gas, linger there for a little while until it starts to move.

You can do this for as short or as long a period as you like, and as often as you need to… but if you’re doing it properly, you’ll find that your stomach responds and you recover from the gastric symptoms of your hangover much more quickly than usual!

Nell Mead, Rehab Director @  The Foundry and Clinical Director @ Victory Health and Performance

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Guest article: Why nutrition is like religion by Zack Cahill

Today’s blog article is from Zack Cahill, Director of Aegis Training Aegis Training, whose passion for the health and fitness industry and the standards to which it should hold itself are extremely high.

Looking specifically at nutrition and supplementation, he discusses the unregulated nature of these industries and why this systematically undermines the science used to underpin the advice provided by health and fitness professionals to the general public.

 

nutrition and religion

Holy Guacamole...or toast

There will be a slew of “don’t get fat at Christmas” articles doing the rounds and I suppose if I wanted to stay topical and get some google hits I should come up with one too. But to be honest I don’t find it very interesting. If you’ve worked hard on your training and nutrition this year, eat whatever the hell you want and then get back on track when it’s done.

That wouldn’t make a very good article though , so maybe I’ll try and come up with something half decent for next week. In the mean time though, I’ve opted to massively offend large sections of both my profession and the population at large.

Here goes…I believe that “nutritionism” has more in common with religion than it does with science, and I don’t believe that this is a good thing. I don’t feel that this engenders reasoned and rational debate and if you give me five minutes I’ll explain why, then if you still disagree you can come to Shoreditch and burn me at the stake.

“Nutritionism” here refers to the largely unregulated industry that has developed around telling us what to eat in order to lose weight, allegedly rid yourself of diseases including cancer , and achieve everything in between.

I believe there are many well meaning people in this industry who do good work and provide value, I also believe there are some dangerous charlatans. Obviously part of my job involves advising clients on nutrition (though I believe in keeping things as simple as possible and focus more on changing behaviours than arguing about how much selenium something contains or trying to diagnose endocrine dysfunctions with a callipers ). My goal is not to malign any one person but to point out some flawed thinking that seems to be very common in the nutrition world and maybe get a few people thinking.

I’m also not trying to upset religious people or argue them out of their position. I just believe there are some interesting parallels between the religious mindset and that of devotees to particular nutritional practices.
1- Reliance On Faith Over Evidence- Religious claims can not be scientifically proven,which is inconvenient if your goal is to convince the world of your point of view. So, if the evidence won’t work for you, one method is to attack the need for evidence itself. Religion does this by using faith as an integral part of religious practice. The act of believing really hard in something in the face of a total lack of evidence is in itself seen as virtuous.

Many nutrition gurus employs the same tricks. Like religious ideas, many of their very specific claims have never been proven scientifically. Instead there is a reliance on testimonials over data, “well all I know is it works for me and my clients” is a common refrain. Highly emotive and personal stories of “triumph” over illness or obesity are highly persuasive, we are wired to respond to them far more than dry statistics. But they are no basis to make an informed decision wether an intervention works or not.

There is also a trend toward portraying science and statistics as incapable of testing certain alternative approaches, and to claim that “anything can be proven”. Evidence that contradicts your claims is dismissed as propaganda from evil pharmaceutical companies. Its not that these companies never use dirty tricks, but this phrase is usually used to shut down debate rather than engage in it, and comes from a position of intellectual laziness.

In the fundamentalist Christian worldview, evolution is portrayed as “merely a theory” (the use of the word “merely” in this instance demonstrating a misunderstanding of the word “theory”) and creationism as a “competing theory”, when it lacks a single shred of evidence to support it.

So this anti-scientific trend is prevalent in both the religious and nutrition worlds, at least when the evidence is not in their favour.

The approach in a nutshell; “science does not support my worldview, so rather than seeking to prove my theory or accepting the evidence and changing my mind, I will seek to undermine science itself”

The need for evidence for the existence of a higher power is possibly another philosophical debate altogether, I realise there is an argument that this question lies beyond the remit of science (I don’t actually agree with that argument, but anyway). But if you are going to make scientific claims, wether they be “the universe is 3000 years old” or “protein will destroy your kidneys” you must back them up with scientific evidence, not blind faith.

2- Overly Defensive Response To Criticism. Science is about coming up with an idea and then trying to disprove it.

Then, if you haven’t been able to disprove it yourself you throw it out there for your peers to rip apart and see if they can disprove it. If they can’t prove you wrong, you may just have something.

Religion and the wackier areas of nutrition and alternative medicine use the exact opposite technique. It is about coming up with an idea, looking for (or making up) evidence to support it, ignoring evidence that contradicts it and reacting defensively to any who challenge your idea.

Religion has been very successful about portraying itself as somehow above debate. We can have a spirited argument about anything from our favourite food or football team to politics but once religion enters the frame its “this is my faith so you’re not allowed to criticise it”. The mantra “everyones entitled to their opinion” is chanted and the subject changed. Why? Are these ideas so fragile that they can’t be questioned?

This attitude exists in the nutrition world also. It is incredible how often I’ve witnessed proponents of one particular school of nutritional dogma become angry to the point of throwing insults simply because I don’t hold with their beliefs. Ive said this before but if you’re getting angry because I disagree with you rather than engaging in a reasoned and rational debate, perhaps you’re simply not that confident in your own beliefs.

An even more common technique is to attempt to label the critic as “closed minded” for not agreeing with the alternative view. I always thought being open minded meant looking at the available evidence and making an informed decision. It seems in the alternative nutrition and religious worlds, closed minded simply means “having views that differ from ours”

Anger, slurs and ad hominem attacks are all indicators that the person arguing has run out of facts.

Is any of this important?

I don’t care if people want believe in God. I don’t even really care if they want to waste their money on supplements that don’t work (which isn’t all of them) or with nutritionists who talk crap (which isn’t all of them).  I’m happy to see these things as a self selecting tax on people who don’t understand statistics.

But I do care about the systematic undermining of science within our little health and fitness bubble and to the general public. Because as it turns out , at the extreme what starts with some wasted money on supplements can end with the death of thousands

I care about holding the personal training and nutrition world to a higher standard of critical thinking.

If you still want to burn me at the stake I can be found at B@1 Spitalfields most Saturdays. Alternatively if you enjoyed this ramble, mines an espresso martini.

Originally written for http://blog.aegistraining.co.uk/2011/11/why-nutrition-is-like-religion-let-hate.html