Taking the Heat!

Survival in the desert is a constant challenge for the variety of animals and plants that live there; to flourish in the desert requires the organism to withstand drought, extreme heat, and seasonal floods.  In the desert, for several months of the year, the temperatures may be exceedingly hot, exceeding what is called the range of thermoneutrality in which the animal can survive.   This heat, combined with the scarcity of life-sustaining water, makes for an extremely tenuous survival.  And yet, through adaptation to their environment, and the ability to avoid excess heat, flora and fauna are able to survive – and even flourish in this harsh environment.

What is your range of psychological thermoneutrality?  What are some of the environmental conditions (i.e., relationships, community, school, finances, commute) in your life and experience that have been the most difficult to overcome? When things heat up, do you struggle and fail - or adapt, cope and flourish? What adaptations have you made in the past to your circumstances that have helped you to not only survive but to flourish? Take some time and consider a stressful time, event or circumstance you have experienced that has challenged you.  What did you do to cope?  What did you learn? Would you do things differently now?  Contemplate your successful “adaptations” and remember them when your environment heats up.

Keeping FIT is NOT always EASY! (Part 2)

Keeping fit and healthy–is NOT always EASY!  If you set out to make some positive changes to your health, it’s likely you will find your intent is stronger than your willpower. If you’re stuck – try this.   Instead of feeling discouraged and giving up completely, one of the things you CAN do is keep a journal or diary or notes – whatever you want to call it - of your food intake each day.  What would this look like?  You could create your own template or download an APP. 

Your notes or diary should include when you eat.  Keep track of every time you eat something, even if it’s a nibble.  Don’t be shy about listing everything. No one else will see your notes. Note the exact time. 

Keep track of everything you eat.  Write down even the 1/3rd cookie you nibbled on before breakfast.  Write down the 3 peanut butter chocolate candies you ate from the office lobby and the 2 glasses of wine before dinner.

Keep track of how much you eat. If it’s a small serving – describe it in your notes. If it’s two servings, describe.  Include calorie totals next to each food.  Use a calorie tracker for this. You can find trackers easily online.  Round up to the highest total; we know that the far majority of people underestimate serving size and caloric intake.  

Get in the habit of doing this everyday, every week.   Did you know that for some people, having a concrete idea of what, when and how much they eat actually helps them cut down on their overall caloric intake?  You will begin to see patterns in your eating that you may not have truly known before.  Try it – you may find the effort worth it.  

Are you a Type A?

Having a "Type A personality" is marked in popular literature and media by a person who is an overachiever and fills his or her schedule to the maximum with work and status related activities and commitments.  Popular notions of Type A personality are based on published scientific research undertaken by cardiologists, Meyer Friedman and RH Rosenman, while researching the possible causes of coronary disease. http://www.sfms.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&SECTION=Article_Archives&CONTENTID=1732&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm

In the 1950’s, Friedman and Rosenman studied over 3,000 healthy men aged 35 – 59 and observed a higher prevalence of clinical Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) in men who exhibited two specific traits: time urgency and free floating hostility.  They labeled this disorder Type A behavior pattern. Subsequent studies challenged the hostility factor; ongoing research continues to help us understand the relationship between Type A Behavior and Coronary Heart Disease in both men and women.  In 1981, The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute published a critical review that identified Type A Behavior as an independent risk factor for CHD.

Current research is helping to identify issues and difficulties in measuring Type A traits in the individual. Researchers have concluded that time urgency and hostility measures, usually completed by the patient through a self report questionnaire are not as reliable as the clinician's observation and evaluation of the person’s psychomotor traits. Recognizing these psychomotor traits in an individual takes specific training over the course of several months to years.

Some of the signs and symptoms that may indicate hostility or time urgency and a Type A Behavior pattern include: chronic facial tension, tic like elevation of the eyebrows, tense posture and abrupt, jerky movements, rapid speech, hastening the speech of others, frequent loss of temper (i.e., yells or gets upset while driving), sleeplessness because of anger or frustration, disbelief in altruism, easily provoked irritability over trivial errors, facial hostility, and a hostile laugh.

Health psychologists treat individuals who exhibit these characteristics and through lifestyle change interventions, including behavior modification, cognitive – behavioral interventions, stress management and mindfulness training, and talk therapy, help the person with Type A Behavior patterns to modify his or her unhealthy patterns of time urgency and unresolved hostility. Research has already established that the degree of lifestyle change is positively correlated with positive changes in coronary atherosclerosis and other CHD predictors.  If you want to read more detailed and clinical literature on these studies, the Preventive Medicine Research Institute is an excellent resource:  http://www.pmri.org/research.html.  If you recognize yourself or a loved one as possibly fitting the description for Type A Behavior patterns, learn more and ask for help. Become heart healthy and feel better.

Humor Can be the Best Medicine!

Humor can be the best medicine!  If you are hoping to become more fit and healthy, then remember to laugh! The study of psychoneuroimmunology has resulted in the scientific understanding that there really is a relationship between the mind and the body.  Stress and the accompanying emotions, including anger, fear, guilt, worry, depression and loneliness can have a damaging influence on the physical body. From high blood pressure to abdominal weight and fat accumulation to lowered immune responses and inflammation, stress and ‘negative’ emotions take a toll on our bodies.  In turn, experiences, events and attitudes that support emotions such as hope, love, joy, silliness, play, good humor, absurdity and other feelings we associate with humor can have a positive effect by not only giving us a sense of well being but lowering our physiological inflammatory response and enhancing endorphin levels.   So laugh. And laugh out loud if you can!  If laughing is not your style, then chuckle!  Find something humorous that gives you a laugh and make a point to be silly and lighthearted at least once each day. Take better care of your health!

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