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Optimism may benefit the heart

Julia Barnard — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:43:01 +0000

A recent review by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health of over 200 studies indicated people who are happy and optimistic have a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke. This finding remained even after accounting for age, weight, socio-economic status and smoking behaviour. the study also found that optimistic people were more likely to eat healthily, which are both good for the heart. However, the link between optimism and heart health remained even when controlling for these factors.

I have discussed other benefits of optimism in my article Optimism is Good For You.

To get a good introduction into learning to be more optimistic you may enjoy Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life.

Be on the move

Julia Barnard — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:28:47 +0000

If you’re sat behind a desk at work, try to get up and walk every 20 minutes, especially after eating. Doing so may help reduce insulin and glucose levels that occur after a meal – increased levels of which have been linked with diabetes and heart disease. This is according to a study conducted by Dunstan et al and published in the Diabetes Care Journal.

Nineteen overweight sedentary adults took part in the study, participating in three separate seven hour sessions. In each session they drank a 763 calorie drink after the first two hours. The first session had them sitting for seven hours, getting up only for bathroom breaks. In the second, participant walked around every 20 minutes, starting after they had consumed the drink. In the third, they also got up every 20 minutes, but their activity was more energised.

Results showed that getting up every 20 minutes reduced the spike in blood sugar and insulin levels that occurred after drinking and which was shown to be greater for the group that sat throughout. The benefits were apparent even when participants just walked around, without too much energy.

Useful articles:

A Beginner’s Guide to Type 2 Diabetes

Take Control of Your Television

Happiness on the increase

Julia Barnard — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 22:31:06 +0000

Maybe the work of positive psychologists is paying off. Because a recent poll by Ipsos Global suggests the world has been getting happier since 2007. People in 24 countries were polled and three quarters of people said they were happy with their lives and one quarter said they were very happy. The five happiest nations were: Indonesia, India, Mexico, Brazil and Turkey. The unhappiest nations were: Hungary, South Korea, Russia, Spain and Italy.

Relationships were identified as being important to happiness, with married people being happier than unmarried. No gender differences were found, although younger people reported greater happiness as did those with a higher education.

Sleep through the decades

Julia Barnard — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:10:21 +0000

A recent university of Pennsylvania study suggests that as the decades pass, people report sleeping better. This is contrary to the belief that sleep quality gets worse with age. Over 150,000 people took part in a telephone survey that asked them about their sleeping patterns. The findings indicated that the older a person was, the fewer complaints they had about sleep. However, people in their forties were show to have the biggest problem with sleep.

The study did show links between depression and sleep difficulties, but once this was accounted for, the age-sleep pattern remained.

If you have sleep problems, have a look at some ideas to help you sleep.

Heart health of pet owners

Julia Barnard — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:28:47 +0000

Having a higher heart rate variability means a person’s heart is able to respond quickly to a changing situation compared to having a lower heart rate variability. So for example, during times of stress, having a higher heart rate variability means the heart will beat faster, sooner in response to the situation. Evidence suggests such variability can be beneficial to mental and physical health.

Now researchers at the Kitasato University in Japan have found pet owners had a higher heart rate variability than those people without pets. 191 people with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure wore a heart rate monitor for 24 hours. Five percent of participants with pets were shown to have greater variation in their heart rate compared to 2.5 percent of non-pet owners.

Although the research only looked at one day in the life of the participants, it adds further support to the benefits a pet can bring you.

I have written more in my article The Health Benefits of Pet Ownership.

Internet addiction affects the brain

Julia Barnard — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:10:48 +0000

Being addicted to the internet can result in changes to the brain, according to researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Seventeen participants diagnosed with internet addiction disorder had their brains scanned using MRI. Comparisons with non-addicts revealed a change in white matter, with disruption to certain nerve fibres. The affected nerve fibres are those involved with decision making, attention, emotions and self-control. These changes have also been found in addicts with substance and impulse control disorders.

Forget detox

Julia Barnard — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:28:32 +0000

The British Liver Trust suggest the best way to look after your liver is to take care of it all year round, rather than giving your body an occasional detox. They see little benefit in detoxing, which can involve periods without alcohol and drastic dietary changes, often following a time of excess. It makes more sense to eat well, exercise and drink in moderation throughout the year – that way you are helping take care of your liver.

You can discover more about your liver and how to look after it at the British Liver Trust website.

Positive bias of the brain

Julia Barnard — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:36:46 +0000

A UCL study has found the brain remains optimistic about future events, despite the actual likelihood of the event happening being greater than believed. Fourteen people’s optimism levels were tested before and after they were tested whist being connected to a brain scanner. During testing, participants had to rate the likelihood of a negative event happening to them. They were later told the actual statistic and had the opportunity to change their original likelihoods. Optimists were shown to only slightly upgrade their risk of an event (such as the chances of getting cancer) when their original estimate was less than reality. In other words, they still remained optimistic it would not happen to them, despite the data. The brain scans themselves revealed less activity in the frontal lobes of optimists when the information given was negative (such as, they had a 30% chance of getting cancer rather than their estimated 10%).

Learn how to be more optimistic in your own life:

Forming new habits

Julia Barnard — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:59:30 +0000

If one of your goals is to form a healthy new habit, the following research may be of interest.

Lally and colleagues at University College London had participants carry out a health related behaviour of their choice, once a day for 84 days. To help participants remember when to do the activity they were instructed to tie it in with a daily action. For example, doing a run after dinner. They found that success in making the behaviour become automatic and therefore part of life was to repeat the behaviour early on without skipping a session. Also, simpler behaviours become habits sooner. It was also found that if a person missed the behaviour for one day it did not affect their chances of it becoming automatic.

And how long did it take for the new habit to form? The average time was 66 days, but there was great individual variation, ranging from 18 to 254 days.

So:

When starting on your new habit do it as often as possible in the early days.
If you miss a session, start again the very next day. It is not a failure and something that you can bounce back from.
Keep your goal simple. You can always break a complex goal into simple steps.

December: A Whole Month of Happiness and Wellbeing

Julia Barnard — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:52:12 +0000

December is the twelfth and final month of the year and comes from the word decem, meaning ten as it was originally the tenth month of the year in the old Roman calendar. Given that it is the last month of the year, I thought this would be a good opportunity to get you ready for next year. It’s a chance to set some goals. These can come in the form of New Year’s resolutions if you like. I hope you achieved the resolutions you set yourself for this year. If not, hopefully the following will assist your chances of success next year.

Choose your goals. So what’s your New Year’s resolution going to be? Write it down so you are clear on what you want to achieve next year. It should be very specific. Vague goals will be difficult to achieve as you will not have a clear idea of what you want to do. ‘Lose weight’ is a typically vague goal. How much exactly do you want to lose? It should also be realistic. Be optimistic yes, but don’t over-reach.

You could make your goals fun for a change. You don’t always have to give something up when making a New Year’s resolution. It could be to do more of something, or an opportunity to experience or learn something new.

Make sure it is within your capability to achieve your chosen goal. It is okay to start on a smaller goal and then build on this success. This is particularly relevant to exercise goals where it’s easy to want to run before you can power walk. You decide it’s too hard or worse, get injured and give up. Small gains over time lead to great accomplishments.

Don’t tryto do too much. It’s very easy to come up with a long list of things you want to change or achieve in a year. The trouble is you may not have the time and energy to do them all and your willpower may just not be up to the challenge. Choose the one thing that’s the most important to you. Once this goal is achieved you can always move on to your next goal.

Set a deadline for your goal, but don’t be afraid to change it if you don’t think you will make it in time. A deadline serves as something to aim for and is not set in stone. If you find you do keep moving the deadline however, can you think of any changes you can make that will help ensure success?

Write down the actual steps you will need to take to fulfil your New Year’s resolution. Is there anything you need to purchase to help you with your goal? You’ve decided to learn to play the saxophone. This will require a saxophone at the very least. Are you going to teach yourself or get lessons? Either way you will need to get hold of some books or teacher. Write it all down, with a realistic guide of when you are going to do each step. ‘Purchase a saxaphone’ may seem obvious, but it is these steps that turn our goals from just dreams into reality.

When are you going to start your resolution? It does not have to be January 1^st and it may not even be feasible. A resolution to go to the gym from the 1^st and then it turns out the gym is shut could be an easy way for you to give up. Set a realistic date that works for you and stick to it. You could even start it sooner if you like. There’s no rule about when to start on a goal.

Be honest with yourself. How is the goal going to fit into your lifestyle and even your personality? You know you are not an early riser so resolving to get up at 5am to go for a run probably won’t work for you. There’s no need to add extra challenges to your resolutions.

Make sure nothing can get in the way of your chosen goal. This could be your own behaviour, your environment or the actions of others. Perhaps you intend to quit smoking. Think about who might want to discourage your attempts because they smoke themselves and are intent on sabotaging your efforts. How will you manage that person?

Keep a record of your progress and include how you felt after each small achievement. Let this be a reminder for you on days when you are tempted to give up.

Imagine how it feels to have accomplished your goal. You may like to draw a picture and then put it someplace safe to get out whenever you need some motivation.

A slip up is not a failure. Instead, use it as a learning opportunity. What can you do differently next time? If you can recognise this it will allow you to resume your goal the very next day.

Finally, list your reasons why this year you are going to accomplish your New Year’s resolution. Brainstorm as many ideas as possible. When you think you cannot come up with anymore, keep going. Look deep within and draw on past successes, your support network, your own strengths. Keep this list as a reminder that with all these reasons for success, there’s no need to fail.

To your success!

Remember

Every month there is a reason to be happy.