Musings from the Ozone

From time to time, I would like to post some writings that I have saved throughout the years.  They are not my own writings, but I have adopted ideas from some self-help writers and find them useful.  Here is one I have saved from Third Age:

Most people know what an "adrenalin rush" feels like. A near accident. Giving a presentation at work. Going on a first date. Even thinking about the last time you were really "stressed out" can make you sweat a little and bring back sensations of your heart pounding and tensed muscles.

During times of stress, the body responds by releasing hormones that trigger physical changes. Chronic stress can have negative effects on our well being, leading to higher blood pressure, increased abdominal fat and decreased bone density.

The hormones released into the bloodstream during times of stress also affect the brain and our ability to remember. Sometimes stress acts like a flashbulb that illuminates a scene, allowing us to recall minute details about important events. On the other hand, who hasn't blamed an embarrassing moment of forgetfulness on being stressed out?

Psychologist Tracey Shors summed up what we know about the relationship between stressful life experiences and memory. The effects depend on the types of stressful events, their length and intensity, she wrote. They also vary depending on the type of memory being assessed.

Exposure to stress can damage the hippocampus. The damage results from a kind of chain reaction or feedback loop. The cycle begins when the adrenal glands release steroid hormones called glucocorticoids -- more commonly known as corticosteroids or cortisol -- into the bloodstream. The hippocampus has a high density of receptors for glucocorticoids, and under normal circumstances the sea-horse shaped organ helps regulate the production of the stress hormones.

However, the hippocampus is particularly sensitive to these hormones. Studies have shown that hippocampal neurons of rodents die when they are exposed to glucocorticoids for months, and that neuronal dendrites atrophy and retract after just a few weeks of stress. As a result of the damage, stress hormones continue to be secreted at increased levels, resulting in even more damage to the hippocampus.

Because exposure to stress can damage the hippocampus, and because the hippocampus is an important brain structure associated with declarative memories for facts, researchers have been particularly interested in how stress affects our ability to remember new information. Studies have shown rats exposed to high levels of stress hormones have memory deficits. Those who want to study the link between stress and memory in healthy human beings have several options. They can either expose people to doses of stress hormones, create experiences in their laboratories that are stressful for participants, or they can study the memory performance of people who have experienced stressful events like war, severe accidents or the death of a loved one.

A growing number of these kinds of studies have in fact shown that stress negatively effects declarative memory. For example, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine found that participants who were given doses of cortisol at levels corresponding to times of moderate or major stress were not able to remember as much information from short paragraphs as study participants who were given placebos. The effect went away after a six-day "washout" period, suggesting it is reversible.

The effort that it takes to suppress thoughts about stressful life experiences, like a death in the family or starting a new job, may also affect our ability to juggle and make use of multiple pieces of incoming information. Psychologists Kitty Klein and Adriel Boals found that the more negative life stress participants reported, and the more time they reported thinking about those events, the poorer was their performance on difficult working memory tasks.

Alternate ending 1: Learning new information can be stressful. If learning about stress has stressed you out, give your hippocampus a break and try some of the techniques described on the AARP site.

Alternate ending 2: Learning new information can be stressful. If learning about stress has stressed you out, give your hippocampus a break using some of the following techniques:

1. Take a mini-break from everything that's stressing you out. Do something you enjoy for a few minutes instead. Or, take a walk for a change of scenery.

2. Visualize yourself in the dreamiest place imaginable. Once you're on that beautiful beach or scenic mountaintop, spend some time there. Soon you'll feel your mind and body relax.

3. Try some deep breathing exercises. Slowly breath in to fill the lower lungs by expanding the abdomen. Once your lower lungs are full, fill the upper chest, ultimately raising your shoulder up toward the ears. Enjoy the moment, but don't hold your breath. When you're ready to exhale, reverse the pattern. Relax your shoulders, exhale the air in your upper chest, then contract your abdominal muscles to exhale the air in your lower chest. Stay focused on your breathing throughout the exercise.

4. Learn some progressive muscle relaxation techniques. The basic idea behind these techniques is to systematically tense up and relax different muscle groups. Muscles tend to be more relaxed afterwards, and by concentrating on the various sensations as you tense up and release, you can learn how to recognize and reduce muscle tension.

5. Is something or someone on your last nerve? Buy some time. Slowly count to 10 and consider your alternatives.

6. Take a bath. There's nothing like soaking in a warm tub to soothe your mind and body.

7. Write about it. Some people find making a list of stressful problems and potential solutions helps clear their mind and put things in perspective.

8. Meditate. There are many ways to meditate, but one goal is to allow yourself to rest by quieting the "monkey mind."

Source: AARP

Pasted from <http://www.thirdage.com/news/articles/DAI/07/04/05/070405-01.html