Interval Training for Brain Health

Studies confirm that interval training helps improve and maintain good blood flow and delivery of nutrients to the brain. This helps, in turn, to improve and maintain cognitive functioning. This intense type of training - while vigorous - can be accomplished without a huge commitment of time. Interval training twice per week, for about thirty minutes, will suffice. Three times a week, however, is even better. In order to maintain an adequate level of intensity during the interval training session, use of a treadmill, elliptical trainer, or stationary bike is recommended, although I imagine that other methods such as outdoor sprinting would work just as well. Many people don't enjoy working out in a gym. Many do not have the means or the room for large pieces of exercise equipment. A two to three minute warm-up is recommended at the outset of the session, followed by eight, 30-second bursts of high intensity exercise, with 90 seconds of much lower intensity output between each of the eight bursts. Warm down for three to five minutes at the end of the session. Please consult your physician, however, before increasing the intensity of, or changing the nature of, any exercise regimen.

D.

Kale and the Prevention of Cognitive Decline

"Leslie Beck's Longevity Diet" is full of information with respect to the power of food to slow down the aging process. One of the so-called power foods she mentions is kale. After outlining numerous other health benefits like vision preservation and anti-cancer properties, Ms. Beck zeroes in on kale's ability to slow the rate of cognitive decline.

Among other things, kale contains a fair amount of vitamin E and manganese. Vitamin E is thought to shield brain cell membranes from free radical damage. The brain is especially vulnerable to free radical damage due to its high demand for oxygen, its great number of easily oxidized cell membranes and its somewhat weak antioxidant defences. Manganese is a trace mineral that is a crucial component of superoxide dismultase, an enzyme which acts as an antioxidant. "Superoxide dismultase is found exclusively inside the mitochondria, or energy factory, of body cells, where it protects against damage from free radicals formed during energy production." (1)

Kale is best ingested in cooked form in order to ensure that the oxalates present in the kale can be weakened in their capacity to interfere with the absorption of calcium which is also present. Try it steamed, in soups, and in stir-fries.

D.

(1) Beck, Leslie and Gelok, Michelle, "Leslie Beck's Longevity Diet", Penguin Group (Canada), Toronto, 2011, p. 84.)

Borderline Personality Disorder

When I was practising law many years ago, I had a client who had been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).  At the time, I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but I knew that in her case it involved violent outbursts that resulted once in her breaking her 10-year-old son's arm.  Her two boys, one of whom was 14 at the time, were apprehended by the local child protection authorities.  She was a single mother on welfare who was having extreme difficulty coping.

While I was watching a dvd of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Iolanthe' operetta the other night, a song towards the end of the production made me think of BPD as the fairies were singing to the members of the House of Lords what basically amounted to: "we really can't stand you, but we love you, so don't go"!

BPD is still considered a controversial diagnosis in some circles.  Decades ago, it was used as a 'catch all' classification for conditions which psychiatrists couldn't quite figure out.

As understood today, BPD manifests as significant emotional instability in which a person has a severely distorted self-image that makes him or her feel worthless and fundamentally flawed.  Anger, impulsiveness and frequent mood swings may push others away, even though lasting and loving relationships are desired.  Fear of abandonment is usually a strong underlying issue, and ironically, the behaviour of someone suffering from BPD usually does result in pushing away those who they strongly desire to be in relationship with.

Signs and symptoms of borderline personality disorder may include:

• Impulsive and risky behavior, such as risky driving, unsafe sex, gambling sprees, or illegal drug use
• Awareness of destructive behavior, including self-injury, but usually feeling unable to change it
• Wide mood swings
• Short but intense episodes of anxiety, or depression
• Inappropriate anger and antagonistic behavior, sometimes escalating into physical fights
• Difficulty controlling emotions or impulses
• Suicidal behavior
• Feeling misunderstood, neglected, alone, empty or hopeless
• Fear of being alone
• Feelings of self-hate and self-loathing 
• An insecure, unsure sense of self (self-identity, self-image, sense of self rapidly changes)
• Feelings of not existing or of disappearing; of not being thought of or cared about 
• Tumultuous relationships with shifts to fury and hate over perceived slights/minor misunderstandings
• Tendency to view things in either black or white (not seeing the grey areas of issues).

As with most mental disorders, personality disorders may be inherited, or strongly associated with other mental disorders among family members, environmental factors such as child abuse, neglect or lack of proper attachment to caregivers/loved ones, or brain abnormalities.

Certain medications can help, but ideally should be combined with an effective form of therapy and support.  Certain psychotherapies can go a long way towards nullifying some of the symptoms and teaching better coping strategies.

Dialectical behavior therapy was designed specifically to treat BDP.  This method of counselling (which I just recently began to study for use in my counselling practice) uses a skills-based approach combined with physical and meditation-like exercises which teach how to regulate emotions, tolerate distress/discomfort and improve relationships. Other effective treatments include: cognitive behavioural therapy, mentalization-based therapy, schema-focused therapy, and transference-focused therapy.

To be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, you must exhibit at least five of the signs/symptoms spelled out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  

• Intense fear of abandonment
• Pattern of unstable relationships
• Unstable self-image or sense of identity
• Impulsive and self-destructive behaviors
• Suicidal behavior or self-injury
• Wide mood swings
• Chronic feelings of emptiness
• Anger-related problems, such as frequently losing one's temper or having physical fights
• Periods of paranoia and loss of contact with reality (1)

A diagnosis of borderline personality disorder is usually made in adults, rather than in children or teenagers because acting out during the younger years is likely a phase that will pass. If it doesn't pass, then BPD may be implicated.  Additionally, substance abuse can cause symptoms which look like BPD, and BPD can cause substance abuse.

D.

(1) www.mayoclinic.com/health/borderline-personality-disorder/DS00442

On Children

How we treat our children (what we say to them, how we listen to them) is ultimately what matters to their healthy emotional development…not what we DO for them. Doing for them is important, especially when they are young, but it is simply not enough. They need to be heard, valued, and respected as thinking and feeling individuals. They need to know and to feel that they matter.

D.

Children and Our Values

Even though our children will take on our values as their own while they are young, there is no guarantee that they will keep them. As they mature, they will constantly look at, assess and reassess the rules and values they inherited from us.  This is growth: growth towards becoming separate, complete and whole individuals.

D.

From the book, "It's not fair, Jeremy Spencer's parents let him stay up all night!", by Anthony E. Wolf, Ph.D., HarperCollinsCanadaLtd., 1995.

(As an aside, I get a real kick out of the title of another book by Anthony Wolf: "Get out of my life, but first could you drive me and Cheryl to the mall?")

Belonging

A sense of belonging can be an important source of happiness and life satisfaction.  Social identity theory hypothesizes that fitting in with a group is integral to an individual's identity, influencing his or her feelings of self-worth and life satisfaction.

D.

Scientific American Mind, September/October 2011, "The Many Faces of Happiness", Suzann Pileggi Pawelski, p. 53.

The Power of Creating 'Flow' in Your Life

There are so many things that I enjoy doing that don't make me any money, but put me in the state of 'flow' which is so essential to good mental health. Things like taking photos, keeping up my various blogs, writing, researching, gardening, and more, thoroughly nourish me. I can wile away hours in something I would term the 'zen zone' and the time spent during these hours is so much more gratifying than say, zoning out in front of the television.

Finding intense engagement and absorption in the things that you do creates tremendous satisfaction in daily life. According to studies carried out by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, professor of psychology at Claremount University in California, flow experiences lead to positive emotions in the short term. In the long term, those who reported more flow experiences were generally happier people. People vary in their ability to enter flow, and this ability can vary from day to day depending on a number of factors. Also, recognizing how flow occurs in your life - or doesn't occur - and working to create more opportunities for experiences of flow can be a precursor to feeling increased happiness.

While you are in flow, hours can pass like minutes; hence, the old saying about how time flies when you are having fun! Something you love - something you can lose yourself in - is key. You aren't preoccupied with yourself, but focused on whatever it is that you are doing.  Some people can experience flow just folding laundry or washing dishes, provided they focus on the task at hand. Flow and mindfulness go hand in hand. You aren't wondering how others are perceiving you, but rather your awareness of yourself is only in relation to what it is that you are doing. Extraneous thoughts don't invade your mind. The activity itself, rather than what you wish to ultimately accomplish by the activity (the goal), is in itself rewarding.  Flow activities are not passive, (like zoning out in front of the tv), and you have at least some control over what you are doing. Although flow activities require effort, when you achieve flow, everything seems to click so that it feels effortless. Flow is intrinsically rewarding, so you have the motive to recreate it when you have the opportunity to do so.

For flow experiences to occur, there must be a balance between the challenge of the activity and the level of skill you need in order to perform it. The activity must fully engage your mind in order to avoid creating feelings of boredom, so must be challenging enough to do so. Conversely, a project or task too challenging for your skill set will create anxiety.

D.

Source:  "Positive Psychology:  Harnessing the power of happiness, mindfulness, and inner strength", Julie Corliss (writer), Ronald D. Siegel, Psy. D. (medical editor), Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, 2013.