• check out my interview with Portland Center Stage: http://www.pcs.org/meet-a-patron-claire-wheeler/ #

Powered by Twitter Tools

• Show up, be the you-est you you can be, and then walk away. Detach from the outcomes. You'll be amazed the joy you feel… #
• My advice for dealing with the flu season: http://bit.ly/5FKD9Z via @addthis #

Powered by Twitter Tools

My book, which continues to sell well 2 years after publication, is on amazon’s 4 stars and up listing for stress books! Check it out! And if you want to buy a copy, you can do that while you’re there! Also, you can help me out by letting them know you’d like to see the book on Kindle by checking the link on the book’s page. Thank you for all your support!

We’ve known for some time now that chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is often associated with measurable changes in the actual structure of the brain – most specifically in the hippocampus of the limbic system. The limbic system is in charge of memory and emotion. So it’s not surprising that an overwhelmingly traumatic experience would cause changes in that area.

What we didn’t know was that garden-variety chronic stress, the kind we all can experience when things get to be too much, can also cause the structure of the brain to change. In a study published in November 2009 in the journal Neuroreport, it was found that rats who endured long-term stress showed measurable, significant shrinkage of the hippocampus in their brains.

OK, you may be saying, “But I’m not a rat!” Well, it turns out that rats and humans have a lot in common when it comes to stress and how we respond to it. A lot of what we know about stress in humans was observed in rats first – and confirmed in humans afterward.

What does this mean to us? Well, it’s too soon to tell for sure, but it suggests that the forgetfulness, irritability, trouble sleeping, and other signs of stress may be due in part to changes in the limbic system’s ability to regulate itself. And over time, it means that if we don’t learn to manage stress, we could be putting our brains at risk – along with our hearts and waistlines.

I know I say this over and over again, but it’s true – moderate exercise is a fundamental part of staying healthy. Research shows that exercise can increase the number of cells in the hippocampus, keeping it working well into old age – staving off the ravages of memory problems and other signs of dementia. So keep walking! Or running… Or dancing…

As the new year begins, it’s interesting to look back at some of the most important research that came out last year, and what it might mean for us now and in the future. One of the biggest stories published last year appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, and it was about brown fat.

What is brown fat? It’s a special type of fat tissue that we used to think was only found in newborns. It helps regulate a process called thermogenesis, which is related to managing body heat and calorie burning – very important for little tiny babies. But now it appears that adult humans retain brown fat in their bodies, and it may play an important role in keeping them at a healthy weight – in part by burning calories to generate heat.

Dr. Aaron Cypess and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School used advanced imaging techniques to show that brown fat is present in adults. They also showed that women tend to have more than men, and that the amount goes down with advancing age and as people become more overweight.

Bottom line? Right now, we’re still trying to figure out how to help people keep their brown fat – but it seems clear that if we can do that, it’ll be a lot easier for people to maintain a healthy weight and avoid diabetes – because this type of fat actually makes you burn calories faster!

What to do in the meantime? Keep up your moderate exercise routine. Keep your BMI below 25. If you’re overweight or obese, start optimizing your lifestyle now so you’re ready when the next round of scientific advances becomes available!

If you or a woman you know is considering options for birth control, it’s important to know the oral contraceptives (”The Pill”) offer many benefits beyond the prevention of pregnancy. A brand new practice bulletin, just published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, documented several benefits to taking the pill beyond contraception. By the way – a practice bulletin, usually written by a highly respected expert, is a document that summarizes the most reliable research to date to advise doctors how best to handle different conditions and diseases.

Dr. Robert Reid and his colleagues reported that women who use a combined estrogen/progesterone pill during their child-bearing years have a 50% reduction in their risk of endometrial cancer (cancer of the uterus) and a 27% reduction in their risk of ovarian cancer as they age. The benefits last as long as 20 years after stopping the pill!

Other benefits include a reduction in colon cancer risk while taking the pill (by 18%) relief from painful menstruation and acne.

So – the Pill is a great choice for pregnancy prevention, but remember, it offers NO protection from sexually transmitted diseases! So, if you’re not in a completely monogamous relationship or if your partner has a documented STD, you need to add condoms as well for full protection.

Also, you really must not smoke if you’re on the pill. The two together can have bad effects on blood pressure and the potential for blood clotting. You shouldn’t smoke anyway!

Being overweight can cause lots of health problems, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer and heart disease. And it’s true, if you’re overweight or obese, you should try to lose some weight. But did you know that just being anxious about your weight, even if your weight isn’t terribly high, can also make those things worse?

Dr. Peter Muennig and his colleagues at Columbia University found that people who were happy with their weight were less likely to be ill than people who weren’t – regardless of how thin or fat they were. They found that body dissatisfaction was a better predictor of sick days than actual weight – in keeping with their hypothesis that a big part of the health damage done by being overweight or obese comes from the anxiety and social rejection that goes along with it.

So what do we do with this? Well, to start, take a realistic look at your body and your weight. Are you really as “fat” as you think you are? Get some objective measures – a Body Mass Index (overweight is above 25, obese is above 30), a Waist-Hip Ratio (for women should be less than 0.9 and for men, less than 1.0). Take realistic stock of your body and decide if you really do need to lose weight.

If so – then start by taking good care of and appreciating the body you have now! Just that one thing – relaxing about your weight – can be the start of actually losing some of it!

Many of us have losing weight on our list of New Year’s resolutions – but before you start that very low calorie diet, stop to consider the state of your bones – especially if you’re a woman in your twenties, thirties or forties!

There have been many studies showing that long-term low-calorie dieting without adding exercise can result in an increased rate of bone loss in women. These losses can be offset with exercise, but many women tend to use dieting alone to lose weight..

Another important thing to remember, if you’re going to diet, is to make sure you maintain a high intake of calcium. A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, published in September 2008, found that as long as calcium intake is adequate, there’s no major change in bone mass over the course of a weight-loss program. In this study, women were given diets that provided between 900 and 1200 mg of calcium per day.

Bottom line – if you want to lose weight, I always recommend exercise over dieting. But if you must diet, please remember to take your calcium supplements – you probably won’t have the benefit of a world-class medical kitchen preparing your meals for you!

A hilarious look at the plight of meat eaters everywhere…

The latest findings from the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) Study, being done at the University of Pittsburgh, have shown NO protection from cognitive decline with age in people who regularly take gingko biloba supplements. In a paper published in JAMA, the researchers observed this in people with both minimal or mild cognitive impairment – defined as problems with memory, attention, visuospatial perception, language, and executive functions.

One expert, Dr. Ronald Devere at the Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center in Austin, Texas, went so far as to say that this research lays the “final nail in the coffin” of the advisability of using gingko to stave off age-related dementia and other mental deterioration.

So what should we do? Nobody wants to look forward to an old age marked by dementia. Sadly for those of us who love our lattes and espressos, recent research doesn’t support a role for coffee in avoiding dementia either (previous research suggested there might be a link).

The good news? The evidence is still strong for eating plenty of flavinoids (the miracle molecules found in fruits and vegetables) and getting regular moderate exercise to keep our brains growing and flourishing into old age. More on that in a later post!