Release tension with yoga stretches

Stress and tension represent trapped energy and yoga is specifically designed to get energy flowing freely through the body. The body stores stress as tension and a great way to release it is with yoga stretches.

This short and simple yoga sequence shouldn’t take you longer than 15 minutes. However, you can stay in any of the positions for as long as you like and repeat them several times if needed. It has been designed so you will need minimal props. A mat is not necessarily important to have as you can lie on a carpet but you will need a belt or rope for the leg stretches and perhaps a cushion and a thick book to support your head in child’s pose.

This yoga stretch sequence is great to do in the morning to energise you, or in the evening to help you unwind.

The sequence is on page 23-27 in this report: Yoga Sequence

Further info

SAD – how to prevent the winter blues

Firstly, we don’t know at what point in the year’s seasons you’ll be reading this so, if mid summer, please store this email so you can get ready for winter, especially if you are prone to lower mood and motivation in the winter.

SAD, which stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder, isn’t just a case of the winter blues. It is a form of major depression and can be seriously debilitating, causing symptoms such as chronic low mood, excessive sleeping, carbohydrate cravings, irritability, poor concentration, low libido and lethargy. SAD occurs most typically throughout the winter months and currently affects around 6% of the UK population, and between 2-8% of people in other countries of higher latitude such as Sweden, Canada and Denmark.

 

Curiously, around 80% of sufferers are women, mostly those in their early adulthood. Scientists such as Dr Robert Levitan, professor at the University of Toronto, have speculated that this may be due to evolutionary purposes, which encourages women of reproductive age to slow down during the winter months to help preserve energy, leading to healthier pregnancies.

Research has yet to come to a definitive conclusion as to what causes SAD, however, there are a number of underlying biochemical triggers that have been identified.

A leading theory looks at serotonin production and how levels of this neurotransmitter in the body are significantly affected by the amount of available sunshine. Research shows that exposure to sunshine has an impact on the binding-capacity of serotonin to receptor sites in the brain, which essentially allows serotonin to work its magic, leading to feelings of contentment and happiness.

Other research also indicates how those suffering with SAD tend to have a dysregulated production of melatonin, the hormone produced in the pineal gland in response to darkness, which induces sleep. Instead of being produced in the evening, helping the body settle for the night, studies in those that suffer with SAD show melatonin being secreted during the day, hence feeling the need to sleep all the time and lack of energy.

There are a few other biochemical underpinnings in the pathogenesis of SAD, however, there are some key nutrition and lifestyle strategies based on these initial findings, which can help support mood throughout the winter months.

Get your body clock in check

Our body’s hormones and biological processes are majorly governed by a natural, internal circadian rhythm, which regulates our sleep-wake cycle and is programmed by daylight and night. A disrupted circadian rhythm can be caused by shift work, not enough exposure to daylight, stress, insomnia and too much exposure to blue light in the evening, which can lead to an imbalance in neurotransmitters such as serotonin and melatonin.

This is why it is incredibly important to try and attune the body to these cycles as much as possible, by doing things like avoiding electronic screens at night and doing relaxing activities to encourage melatonin production, as well as exposing the face to daylight first thing in the morning, or if it’s dark, buying a light therapy lamp. Putting these strategies into place, can help the body recalibrate and realign to a healthy sleep-wake cycle.

Check your vitamin D levels

Research shows that having sub-optimal levels of vitamin D3 can interfere with proper serotonin production. Whilst scientists don’t understand exactly how, there is a significant body of research that demonstrates a strong link between vitamin D3 levels and depression. In one particular study, scientists found that vitamin D3 helps to convert the amino acid, tryptophan, into serotonin.

Check your vitamin D3 levels and make sure that they are above 75 nmol/L, for optimal serotonin production. To be on the safe side we recommend you supplement 3,000ius a day (75mcg) in the winter or seven times this amount (eg seven pills) once a week as it stores.

Here at Food for the Brain, we now offer a vitamin D test: https://foodforthebrain.org/product/vitamin-d-25ohd3/

 

Balance your blood sugar levels

More than any other organ in the body, the brain is dependent on a constant supply of energy, which very much relates to our diet. Eating foods that are high in sugar and simple carbohydrates leads to rapid fluctuations in blood sugar levels, which can have a significant impact on the brain and its neurotransmitters. Typical symptoms of imbalanced blood sugar levels are low mood, anxiety, brain fog and fatigue.

This is why it is important to eat foods that provide the body and brain with a consistent and sustainable source of energy. This means making sure you’re eating complex carbohydrates that contain ample amounts of fibre, such as brown rice, starchy vegetables and tubers like sweet potato, butternut squash and beets, as well as eating protein rich foods with every meal and snack.

Avoiding refined grains like white bread, pastries, cakes, biscuits and white rice, as well as foods with added sugar like in processed foods, sweet yoghurts, fruit juices and cereals, is absolutely key to avoiding blood sugar imbalances.

Get moving!

According to a study published by JAMA Psychiatry, people are 26% less likely to become depressed with regular physical activity. It is well established that exercise can stimulate the release of endorphins such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine – all of which regulate mood and prevent symptoms of depression.

We also know that exercise stimulates the release of protective molecules such as Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, which helps to trigger the growth of new brain cells.

The key takeaway is to include some form of movement into your everyday life to help encourage the brain to produce its ‘feel-good chemicals’. Whether it’s fast paced walking or a more intensive exercise like HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training – which we’ll introduce you to in the Active Body domain), it is vital to be moving.

 

Further info

Don’t panic! Quick fixes to get you out the stress trap

Some people experience panic attacks, characterised by extreme feelings of fear. These are not at all uncommon. Symptoms often experienced during a panic attack include palpitations, rapid breathing, dizziness, unsteadiness and a feeling of impending death. Those who suffer with agoraphobia, a fear of being alone or in public places, often know that they can go out or can be alone, but are afraid of having a panic attack.

As ‘psychological’ as this sounds, there is a biochemical imbalance behind many people’s anxiety attacks, apart from, or as well as, any psychological factors. It’s too much lactic acid. When muscles don’t get enough oxygen, they make energy from glucose without it. The trouble is there’s a by-product called lactic acid. As strange as this might seem, giving lactic acid to those prone to anxiety attacks can induce an anxiety attack.

One way to increase lactic acid levels is to hyperventilate. Many people will do this when they’re experiencing anxiety attacks. Hyperventilation changes the acid level of the blood by altering the balance of carbon dioxide. The body responds by producing more lactic acid. The solution is to breathe into a paper bag during a hyperventilation attack and concentrate on breathing deeply for a minute. This helps redress the balance. Moments of blood sugar dips can also both bring on hyperventilation and increase lactic acid. So, keep your blood sugar level even by eating little and often.

A more advanced and highly effective breathing technique is Buteyko breathing (see www.buteykobreathing.org). It is good for general anxiety but especially good for those who often hyperventilate and have panic attacks, which can be exacerbated by the lack of CO2 induced by over-breathing. Buteyko breathing can be taught in a workshop or one-to-one session.

The other main driver of panic attacks is just too much adrenalin. Many people don’t realise that the essential hormone progesterone is anti-adrenalin. When levels fall low, commonly in the peri and post menopausal phases, women often become more anxious and prone to panic attacks. Simply rubbing natural (bio-identical) progesterone cream on the inner arms, where is absorbs well, can literally stop panic attacks in under five minutes. Dr Michael Platt has written a book about this, called Adrenalin Dominance, available from www.plattwellness.com.

An instant way to switch off anxiety

If you experience a panic attack or extreme anxiety, dipping your face into a basin of very cold water for 30 seconds (while holding your breath, of course) can instigate what’s called the Dive Reflex, which has a rapidly calming effect. This is because cold water stimulates your vagus nerve, which is a key part of your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The PNS works in partnership with your sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which is involved in the stress response. So after a stressful event has passed, it’s your PNS that takes over to calm you down and restore your body to business as usual. But triggering the Dive Reflex activates the PNS immediately, so you feel calmer and less stressed in a matter of seconds. Splashing your face with icy water, or pressing your face onto a plastic bag filled with ice, can also have the same effect for some people, and works better if you also lean forward and hold your breath for 30 seconds. The only word of caution is that this procedure should not be attempted by anyone with a slow heart rate or low blood pressure, as it slows your heart rate.

 

Emily is a case in point: “I recently started getting panic attacks after an unpleasant week of events in which the future life as I knew it became uncertain. On return to normality panic attacks begun. I was never sure what set them off but was in a constant state of shaky nerves, high heart rate, no appetite and feeling hot and sweaty for a month and I couldn’t work out why. I can happily say it’s now been a 3 week panic free period. I learnt about progesterone cream and the dive technique which both dramatically helped stop the panic attacks in the moment from a 12hr panic to nothing. Stopping the onset of them came from a trip away, I had time to breathe and get to know my non panicky self, with the knowledge that I could stop them at any time if they returned.”

Stress reduction techniques

Some people need a little extra help to learn how to switch out of the adrenalin state. There are breathing and meditation techniques for this, as well as psychotherapeutic avenues to explore in dealing with the perceived stresses and causes for anxiety, and many of them can be extremely helpful. We have been particularly impressed by Heart Math techniques and also the effects of ‘vital energy’ exercises such as yoga, and T’ai chi.

There are three things to remember when you’re freaking out, says Laurel Mellin in her excellent book Wired for Joy. ‘Don’t judge (yourself and others). Minimise damage. It will pass.’ That, and taking a few deep breaths into the heart space. See step 1 of Heart Math’s Quick Coherence Technique.

Or the ‘dive’ technique might just help you get some perspective. Going for a walk in nature is also good.

 

Further info

Letting go of negative emotions (past out of present)

A lot of attention is put on our IQ (Intelligence Quotient) but what about EQ (Quotient)? Many meditation type techniques focus on helping us to ‘be present’ as do books such as ‘The Power of Now’. Yet, the reality is we all have negative emotional patterns built up from the past, especially during our childhood development, that alter the way we see things in the present.

The big question in life and psychology is how can you become free from this conditioning and move into a freer, more open and present way of experiencing life? This is not something that can be solved with a brief conversation, or a pill of any kind. But there are some good clues, and options, in the report Emotional health – Get Your Past out of Your Present in the Library.

What is it to have a healthy emotional response to life’s inevitable circumstances?

‘Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – this is not easy,’ said Aristotle.

How do you deal with a circumstance where someone accuses you of something you didn’t do? Or when your relationship breaks down and ends, or when a loved one dies? How about when you lose your job or run out of money? Before exploring these questions it’s good to have a brief emotional check-up to see how you relate to the world of feelings.

Fill in the Questionnaire

Please read the report Emotional Health – Get Your Past out of Your Present in the COGNITION Library. We hope it will give you some ways forward to enhanced emotional health and happiness and, in the process, reduce your future dementia risk.

 

Further info

How to improve your mood

If you find yourself becoming enthusiastically negative, not happy most of the time, stuck in a black hole, not enjoying your life and not seeing a way forward read on to discover the six essentials to improve your mood.

A staggering, and increasing number of people feel like this, with one in six being prescribed anti-depressants. We strongly believe the combination of psychological and nutritional solutions is the way up from down, not drugs.

Read the Report The Way Up from Down in your Library.

As well as giving you some suggestions on the psychological side, there’s plenty you can do on the nutritional side. Almost every recommendation also reduces future risk for cognitive decline so you might already be doing a few of these if you’ve brought other domains, such as BRAIN FATS (including omega-3 and vitamin D) and SLEEP & CALM into the green.

In summary, the way up from down is to:

• eat a low carb low GL diet, with plenty of oily fish,
• avoid sugar, cut back on stimulants and alcohol
• make sure your daily supplements include omega-3, vitamins B, D, zinc, chromium, plus the amino acids 5- HTP, tyrosine and TMG. This might sound like a lot but you can find combination supplements that contain most of them, except omega-3, which is an oil and has to be taken as a separate capsule. Read the report ‘The Way Up from Down’

 

Further info

Rapid relaxation

Every day we all need to have at least half an hour in a relaxed state. How often does that happen for you?

In this report in your Library, you will discover that there are a number of simple techniques, some with audio instructions, to lead you into a deeply relaxed state.

Too many people live almost permanently in a state of ‘alert’ waiting for that call, scanning for problems, plagued by ‘to do’ lists, never actually relaxing and switching off. There is a saying “Don’t worry. Nothing is under control.” On the one hand, trying to control everything is really tiring and, on the other hand, we all want to be in control.

But the way to be in control is to develop a higher perspective whereby you don’t get pulled ‘off centre’ every time something happens out of the ordinary which is inevitable. The Irish say “That can happen”.

As well as these techniques there’s a few things we recommend:

• Don’t watch the late night news or horror movies. You want to be calming down in the evening, not winding up.
• Have a bath with Epsom salts in the evening.
• Take magnesium 300-500mg, perhaps in the evening to relax and sleep. (You can get 500mg capsules but make sure it’s ‘elemental’ magnesium. For example a product such as ‘magnesium citrate 500mg’ 80 mg of elemental magnesium per tablet – the rest is citrate.

 

Further info

Wired and tired? Try these natural energy boosters

When you signed up for COGNITION you rated your energy score as [… insert ‘number’] out of 10. We note you experience [QID NO=94 C=SleepCalm D=7], [QID NO=96 C=SleepCalm D=7], [QID NO=98 C=SleepCalm D=7], [QID NO=104 C=SleepCalm D=7].

[* how to add ‘and before last item if selected, or none if only one selected]

Already you are learning ways to de-stress and increase energy.

These include:

• Improving your quantity and quality of sleep
• Doing the Quick Coherence Technique when stressed and as a daily practice
• Quitting sugar and junk food
• Possibly supplementing the amino acid 5-HTP and the mineral chromium
• Supplementing GABA, if allowed in your country

Here’s a few more actions that can help.

• B vitamins and vitamin C
• Coenzyme Q10
• Theanine – in tea, not coffee
• Reducing caffeine
• Adaptogenic herbs

B vitamins and C

Numerous studies have linked low levels of vitamin C with increased fatigue. For example, a study at the University of Alabama Medical Center assessed the vitamin C intake of 411 dentists and their spouses, then, using a questionnaire, determined their ‘fatigability’ score. Researchers found that the 81 subjects who consumed less than 100mg of vitamin C per day reported a fatigability score averaging 0.81. Conversely, the 330 participants who ingested more than 400mg a day reported an average score of just 0.41.(1) The researchers concluded, ‘These limited data suggest that individuals consuming the generally accepted RDA for vitamin C report approximately twice the fatigue symptomatology as those taking about sevenfold the RDA.’

Supplementing vitamin C alongside B vitamins can also have a marked impact on how you feel and your energy levels. A 2011 randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial gave 198 men between the ages of 30 and 55 in full-time employment either a supplement containing vitamin C, B complex and minerals or a placebo. After assessments at 14 and 28 days, those receiving the supplement were found to have greater physical and mental stamina, concentration and alertness than those taking the placebo.(2)

Coenzyme-Q10

Coenzyme Q10 (Co-Q10) is a vital link in the energy equation. In cell studies it improves energy, reduces stress and acts as an antioxidant.(3) Co-Q10’s magical properties lie in its ability to improve the cell’s capacity to use oxygen. A study at the Free University in Brussel tested sedentary young men supplementing with 60mg of Co-Q10 daily and found improved endurance and heart strength after just four weeks. In other words they were fitter – without exercising! Other studies show that supplementing Co-Q10 increases resilience and reduce fatigue. For example, in  one study supplementing 300mg of Co-Q10 a day, participants were found to have more energy and demonstrated improved physical performance during fatigue-inducing workload trials, where they had to cycle for two hours twice a day on an exercise bike, working at 80 per cent of their maximum heart rate.(4) It also helps to stabilize blood sugar in diabetics.(5)

We recommend 50 to 200mg of Co-Q10 a day for an energy boost although there is no known harm in taking more. It is especially effective in older people, over 50, as levels decline with age. No studies have reported toxicity of Co-Q10, even at extremely high doses taken over many years.

Supplements containing L-theanine and the amino acid GABA, or its precursors can help to make you feel more relaxed and less ‘edgy’.(6) Theanine is a calming amino acid found in tea, not coffee. Our advice is to cut right back on caffeine in general with a max of one cup of coffee in the morning, away from food. Switching to tea would be best. Theanine is including in some supplements supporting relaxation.

Adaptogenic Herbs

Adaptogenic herbs moderate stress hormone levels and have been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years as natural energy boosters. Emotional intelligence , Rhodiola rosea, Ashwaganda and Schisandra have been found to alleviate fatigue and other symptoms of stress.(7) The three most reputable adaptogens are the Ginseng family (Korean and American), Reishi mushroom (also known as Lingzhi in China) and Rhodiola. In Asia, especially China and Japan, Reishi has been revered for 5,000 years. Chinese reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) is often used to modify or enhance the effects of other stress-fighting herbs. It also helps lower insulin levels.(8)

You’ll find these, or combinations of these, in any health food shop, perhaps with theanine and the amino acid tyrosine (9), which supports adrenal function. Supplementing such a combination is especially helpful if you’re weaning yourself off caffeine.

Further info

What’s the difference between pleasure and happiness?

Pleasure means something I want because it feels good at the time, so I want more, until that ‘want’ becomes a ‘need’.

Happiness means contentment. You feel good and are satisfied. You don’t want or need to buy anything. It is about connection.

Pleasure seeking, reward and desire are all linked to the trio of ‘stimulating’ neurotransmitters – dopamine from which we make noradrenalin and adrenalin – and the more activated the more ‘want’ turns into ‘need’. This is the basis of addiction to caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, stress, gambling, video games, overeating, checking your mobile phone, Facebook likes and sex.

Alcohol is the flip side of all this because it promotes GABA (which switches off adrenalin) but the effect doesn’t last so long so you need another and another drink, then wake up with low GABA so easily flip into a stress state.

This neurological highway has been hijacked to make us buy the latest iPhone and check your email, Facebook and Instagram every 2 minutes, think more sugar or coffee or another drink will fill that need. The end result is we become addicted consumers and pleasure seekers but increasingly less happy as a result. We are sold happy – the happy hour, happy meal, happiness is… – when really we are being sold a quick fix hit of pleasure.

Happiness is different. It is to do with the neurotransmitter serotonin which becomes depleted by the dominant overstimulated dopamine pathway. Depressed serotonin leads to the hallmarks of 21st century living – anxiety, feeling stressed, poor sleep, carb and alcohol cravings.

Marketeers have learnt how to trigger our brain’s ‘reward’ circuitry with triggers that make you act and variable rewards. Facebook, for example, have learnt how to do this with prompts, swipe downs, red icons that you press and don’t know what you receive. Is it a ‘like’. Has another person ‘linked’ to me on Linkedin etc. The average person now checks their phone 2,617 times a day (according to research in 2017 – probably over 3,000 times by now). Facebook even knows when you’re feeling ‘insecure’, ‘worthless’ and ‘need a confidence boost’ or bored, according to a leaked report this year, and can make sure you receive notification of a ‘like’ just when you ‘need’ it to keep you hooked in.

We are sold various forms of caffeine, sugar and alcohol as the answer to happiness. Think of ‘happy hour’. The medical profession also offer anti-depressants and tranquillisers as the answer to our lack of happiness. It’s a telling sign of the times that serotonin- based anti-depressants such as Prozac, now off patent, have been replaced with serotonin and noradrenalin-based anti depressants such as duloxetine with terrible ‘withdrawal’ effects, which is a hallmark of a potentially addictive substance.

Addictive substances tend to have a variable reward – they don’t always work and often become less effective as you get used to them so you want more, and end up just needing the substance to feel normal, not good.

These, and many drugs, work by blocking the recycling of the brain’s neurotransmitters. That’s what an SSRI antidepressant does. It stops you recycling serotonin so you become increasingly deficient. The new anti-depressants are noradrenalin reuptake inhibitors. Cocaine is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. Heroin is an endorphin inhibitor. Sugar, in excess works the same addictive pathways. Sugar plus stress equals addiction.

Think about your addictions – that is things you couldn’t do without or, if deprived, would start saying ‘I need…’. Do they really make you happy and contented or do they stop you feeling bad/tired/stressed? How long before you need more?

How to end addiction is based, first on restoring the brain’s normal ‘reward’ chemistry and promoting healthy serotonin response. Key is quitting sugar and junk food. Something simple like exercising outdoor in sunshine helps. Next time you reach for a coffee how about taking a walk around the block instead? Exercise and sunshine actually promote serotonin and happiness.

The amino acid tryptophan is the building block for serotonin. An experiment was carried out at Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry which proved this connection very clearly. Fifteen women were given a diet devoid of tryptophan. Within eight hours ten of the women started to feel more depressed. When tryptophan was added back into their diet, without them knowing, their mood improved. That is how quickly what you eat affects how you feel.

A natural form of tryptophan, 5-HTP, is a very good mood booster, also helping improve sleep and lessen anxiety.

So too is the mineral chromium, which also affects serotonin. If you’re not feeling much ‘happiness’ try this:

• Quit sugar and junk food (The Low GL domain explains how to eat low GL foods)
• Get outdoors and exercise more ,especially when the sun is shining.
• Try supplementing 5-HTP (100mg am and pm)*
• Try supplementing chromium (200mcg am and pm)

*There is a caution about taking 5-HTP with anti-depressants. Discuss with your doctor.

Further info

Building stress resilience

Did you know that being stressed a lot of the time is associated with

• A five-fold increased risk of dying from heart-related problems.
• Double the risk of developing diabetes in men.
• A 65% increased risk of developing dementia.
• Double the chance of developing obesity.
• A 12% lower likelihood of conception if you’re a fertile women.
• An increased risk of breast cancer (study references in the Report below)

That’s enough to stress anyone out!

But there is a simple ‘Quick Coherence’ technique, developed and proven to work by the world-renowned HeartMath Institute, that gets you out of a stress state into a resilient state in about a minute

The trick – and this is important to know – is that there are more neuronal connections from the heart to the ‘limbic’ brain, where a stress ‘fight/flight’ adrenal state is triggered, than from the brain to the heart. What this means is that ‘feeling’ is much more important than ‘thinking’ when it comes to stress.

Our knee-jerk reaction when stressed is to over-think it through and try to think, or rationalise your way out of stress. But actually evoking a positive emotional state most rapidly turns off stress. What this also means is that how we feel in any given moment determines whether or not we’ll perceive any particular set of circumstances as stressful.

When Winston Churchill said “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, while an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” That’s what he was getting at.

Read the Report Transform Stress with the Science of the Heart in your Library.

Further info

How to get a good night’s sleep

Getting good quality, undisturbed sleep is the best start to a day you can ever have. The question is how?

Today’s assignment is to read the Report The Power of Sleep in your Library.

You’ll find so many simple suggestions to nudge you before bed into a deep sleep, from a simple sound track called Silence of Peace which switches off active/beta-waves in the brain to calming alpha waves.

Here’s some feedback we received from people who downloaded this. Sue, who suffered from PTSD. “I used to sleep about 3 hours and woke every 45 mins. The improvement happened from night one, now just one week later I am sleeping 6 to 7 hours. If I wake – which is becoming rare I simply tune in again! I haven’t heard the end of the CD yet.

“Peter was too stressed to meditate and uses Silence of Peace to calm down. “I couldn’t believe it. In seconds I felt my heart slowing down and my whole body tingling.” Sleeping pills are not the answer. A report in the British Medical Journal which concluded that there is plenty of evidence that they cause “major harm” and that there was “little evidence of clinically meaningful benefit”. Just how marginally effective they are was vividly illustrated by a 2007 study by the American National Institutes of Health, which found that the newer drugs like zolpidem made you fall asleep only 12.8 minutes faster than with a fake pill and sleep for just 11 minutes longer. If your doctor wants to prescribe you anything ask for melatonin (3-6mg), the naturally occurring neurotransmitter that goes up when you sleep. In the US you can buy this over the counter. Caffeine depressed melatonin for up to 10 hours so don’t have nay caffeinated drink after noon.

In contrast, a placebo-controlled trial, supplementing GABA and 5-HTP, two natural supplements, cut the time taken to fall asleep from 32 minutes to 19 minutes and extended sleep from five to almost seven hours. Magnesium also makes a difference, relaxing both mind and muscles so great for leg cramps. You actually absorb some magnesium in an Epson salt bath.

Do read the Report The Power of Sleep and take some simple actions to ensure you get good quality sleep.

 

Further info