Area Physician, Dr Adrian Blotner, To Host Seminar Series, ?Achieving Healthy Balance: Caring for Yourself & Those You Love?
The
monthly seminars will begin on September 11, 2009 and will wrap up on
August 13, 2010. The cost for each hour long seminar is $30.00; they
will start promptly at 7:30am. At 6401 Poplar Ave # 316, Memphis, TN 38119 The following is a current schedule of the series recently released:
Enhance Your Romance: Valentine?s Day & more 02/06/2010
Reducing Stress at Tax Time 03/12/2010
Spring Break-Give ME a Break! 04/09/2010
School?s Out: Oh, No-Now What 05/14/2010
Beating the Heat: Enjoying YOUR Summer 06/11/2010
How to NOT need a Vacation after Your Vacation 07/16/2010
Family & Friends: Achieving Healthy Balance 08/13/2010
For more information, contact:
J Blotner Advertising (media) Jonathan Blotner (901) 568-4800, email: jb@jblotneradvertising.com
Seminar reservations and information: Joanna 901-761-3255 ext 302, email: adminassist@drblotner.com
self-Renewal & Changing Habits
7 Questions for Highly Effective Self-Renewal
What healthy physical activities can I do?
How can I improve my nutritional health?
How can I improve my medical health?
How can I improve my mental & emotional health?
How can I improve important relationships in my life?
What can I accomplish that is important to me?
What can I do today that will lead to a better tomorrow?
Changing Habits
We
often have habits we think of as bad and that we want to change, but we
often find it very difficult. It is uncomfortable to let go of habits
we think of as unhealthy, because we derive some immediate pleasure
and/or relief of emotional or physical discomfort.
Take the
example of those with problems with cigarette smoking, overeating,
alcohol, or drugs. The disadvantages of these habits are usually
obvious to the person with the unhealthy habit(s) and their loved ones.
So, why are these habits so difficult to change?
To start with,
there are positive aspects to these habits in the first place.
Cigarettes provide short term satisfaction, unhealthy foods taste good,
alcohol provides relief from psychic pain, drugs offer a chemical high
or low that may be, to the individual, preferable to ordinary daily
suffering. In the short run, the body and mind may see them as good.
Then
there is the issue of physiologic withdrawal?the body has to go through
a biochemical adjustment to not having the substance around. (I believe
this even applies to attempts to significantly reduce fat and/or
carbohydrates in the diet).
Perhaps more importantly, social
groups and social rituals are intimately associated with the use of
these substances. People smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, take drugs,
or eat unhealthy foods. They have shaped their daily lives to include
spending time with people who share their habits.
Often, the
most difficult part of giving up unhealthy habits is dealing with the
social changes: giving up this pleasurable time with friends, being the
only one in a group of friends who does not smoke, or drink, or do
drugs, or eat dessert. The power of these social rituals is
considerable. Anyone who has tried to make this type of change can
attest to the physiological, emotional, and social discomfort that
occurs during the initial stages of healthy change. No wonder it is so
difficult to make successful and long-lasting changes.
You need
a lot of motivation. You have to replace all these underlying aspects
of the unhealthy habit with some sort of healthy alternative or "plan."
These
can include efforts to increase healthy foods in the diet, properly
selected nutritional supplements, gradual increases in physical
activity, and spending more time with healthy people, doing healthy
activities, in healthy places & situations. Non-habit-forming
medications, certain natural herbs, and tonics may be helpful and even
necessary but these must be carefully selected. In the case of
cigarette smoking, which is a true addiction (nicotine is a highly
addictive drug), special medical help to reduce withdrawal symptoms may
be necessary to accomplish change. As with all healthy change,
remember: the first rule is "do no harm."
There?s a funny thing
about changing habits: sometimes a terrible experience will provide the
needed motivation for a healthy change. I have heard a surprising
number of patients say, "I feel funny saying this, but having a heart
attack was the best thing that ever happened to me." Of course, they
are not glad that some of their heart muscle has been permanently
damaged. But they are surprised at the increased amount of pleasure
they experience with time as they consistently maintain healthy change.
They express regret that it took such a terrible event as a heart
attack to give them the motivation and permission to make this healthy
change and wish they had made it years ago, without needing something
as terrible as a heart attack to facilitate the change.
Healthy
changes can be facilitated by any other life-threatening illness such
as cancer or trauma. Witnessing these illnesses happen to people we
know and love can sometimes be enough to motivate change. People
commonly say that it results in their reassessing their priorities--how
they spend their time and energy. Some things that used to seem
important (like material things) become less important, while others
(like relationships and peace of mind) are moved up on the priority
list and no longer taken for granted.
One important variable
here is often the reaction of family and friends, who support,
facilitate, and even demand healthy changes out of their love for the
survivor of the heart attack or other trauma. But can people change
habits as strong as these without the incentive of such terrible events
happening in their lives? Can you?
Well, I?ve got good news and
bad news for you. The good news is that you have the power to make your
life better, by your own definition of what that would be.
The
first important question is: What do you really want? Is it worth
taking action to get what you really want? To look better, feel better,
have more fun, get more pleasure out of your important relationships?
Do you want to be less sensitive to stress? Do you want to be an active
participant in helping your body and mind to be in better health, in
helping your body and mind to heal themselves?
Now for the bad
news. Only you can be the one to do this. No one else can do this for
you, though others can do this with you and support your efforts. In
order to get what you want, you must be willing to try an experiment:
take a small, healthy step in one of your habits and hold the line for
a few days. Make it "bite-sized," "small change." And keep your focus
just on today and tomorrow. When you focus on making a "bite-sized"
positive step today, you can go to bed tonight feeling good about what
you?ve accomplished.
I know...it?s easier said than done. And
give yourself a break: no one bats 1,000. (The best hitters in baseball
rarely bat over .350). Also, remember to notice and enjoy even small
benefits of your change. What do you have to lose? You can always
return to your old habits.
Connections in the Brain Between Pain & Depression
Scientists Find Connections in the Brain Between Physical and Emotional Pain By Brian Vastag (JAMA. 2003;290:2389-2390)
Poets muse about the agony of a broken heart. Losing a friend hurts, and rejection can feel like a kick in the gut.
It
turns out that these expressions are more than metaphorical. When Wake
Forest University psychologist Mark Leary, PhD, investigated the
linguistics of pain, he discovered that the overlap is not a
coincidence of English. Each of the 15 languages he analyzed likened
emotional pain to physical harm.
Scientists are beginning to
understand why. It turns out that the brain processes both experiences
in much the same way. While a large part of how the brain responds to
physical pain remains mysterious, a series of recent discoveries has
unveiled an evolutionary efficiency: the brain circuits and structures
that respond to a twisted ankle also recognize a stinging rebuke.
DEPRESSION CONNECTION For
decades, physicians have known that physical pain and depression are
intertwined. Chronic pain can cause depression, while depression can
heighten pain. In fact, up to 80% of patients with depression present
with mainly physical symptoms (Am J Psychiatry. 1993;150:734-741).
Thirty
years ago, the first evidence of a chemical overlap between pain and
depression appeared when physicians discovered that small doses of
tricyclic antidepressants can ease chronic pain. The phenomenon is so
well-known that tricyclics are considered a first-line therapy for
fibromyalgia and other poorly understood pain syndromes (Curr Opin
Investig Drugs. 2002;3:454-458). The latest research continues to bear
out the benefit of these older antidepressants. One recent study found
that in patients with chronic tension headaches, tricyclic
antidepressants work better than relaxation strategies; combined, the
two approaches proved synergistic (JAMA. 2001;285:2208-2215).
Newer
antidepressants show promise, too. A few clinical studies have found
that drugs that work on serotonin and norepinephrine?two hormones in
the brain that help regulate mood?can relieve some chronic pain,
including migraine headaches. One review found that venlafaxine
(Effexor), the best studied of the newer antidepressants, is just as
efficacious against neuropathic pain as the tricyclic antidepressants,
with fewer adverse effects (Minerva Anestesiol. 2002;68:105-114).
One
connection between mood and chronic pain, then, lies with these two
brain hormones called serotonin and norepinephrine. Brain cells that
produce these hormones connect to mood-regulating areas of the brain.
But these cells also connect to the spinal cord, where they help
regulate external and internal sensation, according to research from
Stephan Stahl, MD, PhD, a psychopharmacologist at the University of
California, San Diego.
SENSORY GATEKEEPING When the body
is functioning normally, serotonin and norepinephrine circuits suppress
routine body sensations, like that from the stomach during digestion,
and other sensations from the body, like those from muscles and joints.
This prevents the brain from wasting energy on irrelevant details. But
in people who have clinical depression, these routinely ignored
sensations may reach the brain.
"It's entirely possible that a
malfunctioning of these serotonin and norepinephrine pathways allows
routine sensory input to be felt as uncomfortable or even painful,"
said Stahl. "When those who suffer from clinical depression complain of
headache, stomach pain, or pain in the lower back, joints, and neck . .
. these sensations are [made worse by increased sensitivity to pain due
to malfunctioning of these serotonin and norepinephrine pathways in]
the spinal cord and into the brain." Stahl recommends antidepressants
with serotonin and norepinephrine action for those who suffer from
clinical depression and pain.
Arthritis Diet
A
diet lower in fat, 20 grams of fat a day, reduced headache frequency by
71 percent and intensity by 66 percent in a study done at the
University of California at Irvine.
Carbs: High complex carbohydrate-60% of total calories High-carbohydrate bedtime snack
Proteins: Restrict to 10-15% total calories & more plant protein, less animal protein (as possible) Eat products made from wheat and soy.
Fats: Moderate fat-25% of total calories (minimize polyunsaturated oils, trans-fatty acids) Use extra-virgin olive oil as your main fat. Increase intake of omega-3 fatty acids (i.e., salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, tuna).
Fiber: Emphasis on fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, whole-grain breads and cereals
Nutrients that reduce inflammation (may be taken as supplements): ginger and turmeric.
Reduce potential sources of food allergies: Eat organically grown fruits and vegetables as much as possible to avoid toxins Eliminate milk and milk products, substituting other sources or protein and calcium. Eliminate
polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening, all
partially hydrogenated oils, and all foods (i.e., deep-fried foods)
that contain ?trans? fatty acids. Limit caffeine
