Tag Archive for: anxiety

Just Breathe

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As I was lying there before my colonoscopy, waiting for the drugs to kick in to put me in la-la land during the procedures, I used a form of the technique used in this study of dealing with stress: rhythmic beathing. First, the paper.

Researchers recruited 27 graduate students to participate in a clinical trial to test two types of deep breathing in stressful situations. The only issue they cite was that they had no male volunteers, so the results may apply only to women (but probably not, in my opinion). They tested heart rate via electrocardiogram (EKG), electroencephalogram (EEG), as well as verbal responses. The EEG gave the researchers the chance to see the responses in specific areas of the brain. While complex in interpretation, they were able to identify areas associated with stress and relaxation.

They used two different breathing techniques. The fast response was a quick 1 second in and 1 second out. The slow technique was 3 seconds in and 3 seconds out. The key to both was belly breathing where you expand your belly as you breathe in. The slow technique reduced heart rate more than the quick breath technique.

Why would slow belly breathing impact heart rate and brain activity? It may be the impact on the vagus nerve, which slows down both breathing and heart rate. No matter how, slow rhythmic breathing in stressful situations works.

The specific technique I use is sometimes called box breathing: 4 seconds in, a 4-second hold, 4 seconds out, and another 4-second hold. There are many permutations taught in everything from yoga classes to mental coaching programs; when you’re not in a critical stress situation, it can help you focus your thoughts.

Whichever method you prefer, slow breathing techniques can help relieve stress and anxiety.

One More Thing

It would be irresponsible of me not to tell you about the classic way to deal with the physical and mental response to stress: regular aerobic exercise. Exercise trains the autonomic nervous system (ANS) that controls hormone release as well as resets the tone of the ANS. Briefly, your heart rate is controlled by both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system; the sympathetic wants to speed things up while the parasympathetic says to relax. The balance between them is called tone. Exercise sets the tone lower so when you’re exposed to stress and anxiety, your body can deal with it better. Your body can be trained to deal with stress by moving more—and that’s in addition to all the other benefits.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Nature. Scientific Reports. (2025) 15:841

Living with Stress and Anxiety

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“May you live in interesting times.” —Ancient Chinese Curse

Paula got that message in a fortune cookie many years ago, and she thinks it has proven to be true. Interesting is one thing, but with all that goes on in our lives, it can be downright stressful; I got stressed just trying to find out who actually said that quote. There are several theories, but no one really knows for sure.

I just had an endoscopy/colonoscopy last week. The most difficult part? It wasn’t the prep, which stresses out many people—it was the potential results that stressed me out. I had three polyps last time and was diagnosed with Barrett’s esophagus. Were things better or had they progressed? The results turned out fine with a couple of polyps removed, but that didn’t reduce the anxiety of waiting.

We live in stressful times. The price of food—heck, the price of everything. Proposed healthcare cuts: you find out that your healthcare plan just increased your annual contribution before insurance kicks in just when you need a new roof or car repairs. And then there’s the whole issue of politics and most likely hundreds of other scenarios in our lives. You can just feel your heart rate and blood pressure rise. Who knows what else is going on that may be damaging your body, from your brain to your kidneys? We try to shield our kids, but they have their own stressors, as well as picking up on adult anxiety.

A recent study tested a theory of how to deal with this stress and anxiety. I’ll cover that on Saturday. Hang in there until then.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Distress Is Normal!

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We’ve experienced ever-present stress over the past three years, from pandemics to politics to prices of just about everything. It hasn’t slowed down, and that can take its toll—if you let it. Am I saying that stress is normal? I already said that in the last Memo. The objective is to train the body to adapt to stress.

I’m not going to review the entire general adaptation syndrome, but put simply, you expose yourself to a planned stressor, such as exercise, to train the body to adapt to the hormones released during stress. That way the body is trained to respond to stress hormones when you’re exposed to other types of stress.

The Stress Response

The most extreme yet common example of the stress response I can think of for almost everyone would be this: did you ever almost have a car accident? I mean within seconds, you’d have been severely injured and maybe dead. Remember that first minute afterward? If you had sensors to test yourself, your heart rate and blood pressure would be sky high. You’d be breathing heavily. You’d most likely be shaking. All the hormones that caused those reactions would still be coursing through your body; it would take time for your body to normalize. That’s the extreme, fight-or-flight, type of stress response.

When you exercise regularly, you train your body to deal with that hormone surge, although the results aren’t as extreme as when you’re exposed to life-threatening stress. How you respond is at least partially in your control.

Dealing with Stress

I interviewed psychologist Evan Parks again to ask him how a person can deal with the anxiety caused by today’s stress. Here are his recommendations:

  • Stand outside your body and take a survey of what’s going on. Is there anything you attribute the symptoms to? Are you feeling stress in response to something specific, or is it just a general feeling of anxiety?
  • Does talking about it with a spouse or a friend help clarify things for you?
  • Can you center your thoughts from doom and gloom to a realistic perspective by prayer or meditation?

If these steps help, great. If not, it may be time to seek professional help.

Psychology isn’t my area of expertise. You can hear the interview in Straight Talk on Health on drchet.com if you’re an Insider or Member; it will be posted no later than Monday. Dr. Evan Parks does a great job of explaining all of it in more detail.

The Bottom Line

Distress is normal, so you’d better get used to it. One way to do that is to use a positive stressor such as exercise to help you prepare your body. Yes, eating a better diet and eating less may help as well. Use planned distress to your advantage by preparing your body for the unpredictable stress of today’s life.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Living in Anxious Times

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A psychologist I’ve interviewed on my local radio show on WGVU-FM, the Grand Rapids NPR affiliate, called me recently to talk about a wave of anxiety that seems to be impacting people: increased visits to doctors and ERs for chest pain, headaches, high blood pressure, and many more symptoms that don’t have a physiological explanation. Without a physical explanation, the symptoms may be our response to the stressful times in which we live.

Think about it. Things seem to be out of control. We’re exiting a pandemic that has changed the way society interacts. On top of that, every day there seems to be another major act of violence, such as the one recently in my home town of Buffalo, NY. Inflation is talked about incessantly. Supply chain issues are having serious effects on our lives—there’s nothing more serious than being unable to feed your baby. If we’re on social media, we can’t escape it. The stress of life is having an impact on every single one of us.

I think what’s happened over the last few decades, at least in the U.S. and Canada, is that we’ve come to believe that a happy life is one free of stress. We’ve gotten to believe that those stress feelings are not good. Is stress bad? I’ll discuss that as well as how to cope with stress on Saturday.

This month’s Insider Conference Call is tomorrow night. The call is where you can get your product and health questions answered. I’ll have a research topic or two that I’ll talk about, and then it’s on to your questions.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

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Mental Health 2020: Take Control

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In the last Memo I said that there are no simple rules to be made whether we talk about the pandemic or politics. These are complicated issues no matter how much we wish they were not. There are no absolute answers, and that results in a loss of control. We appear to have lost control of our lives, and that uncertainty creates anxiety and subsequently depressive symptoms.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?

Could this unrelenting stress result in something such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? Generally, PTSD is associated with a single traumatic event. After the last presidential election, that term was floated because for over half the electorate, the results were unexpected. Psychologists and psychiatrists were quick to suggest that term didn’t apply.

There have been no studies published on the general population related to PTSD and COVID-19 in the U.S., but research from Italy and China indicates that even though the pandemic is an ongoing stressor, it can potentially lead to a PTSD scenario in some people. Whether it’s called PTSD or given some other name, the loss of control is very stressful to most Americans.

Is It Time for Digital Detox?

Is there anything we can do to ease the current level of stress? One psychologist suggests that we take a social media and digital detox. I have to agree.

You want proof? “Russian interference.” That phrase alone can start a social-media firestorm. I don’t even have to go into the particulars, and people on both sides of the issue have their digital knives drawn. Didn’t you just for that split second get ready to attack, depending on your political persuasion, even though I didn’t say another word? Do you think that’s healthy? I don’t think so.

I think that if you use social media or the Internet, take a break or limit it the time spent on it every day. I certainly have. I believe in a controlled fast to help your body detoxify itself, and the same applies to our mental health. Just as you eat better foods while you detox your body, get back to reading more positive books and magazines to detox your mind. End your online session with cat videos or baby pictures or scripture—whatever makes you smile and feel good.

It comes back to control. You’re in charge of you, and you can control what you do and see. You can’t control what other people say or do. Do you really think you’ll be able to change someone’s mind about politics or the pandemic with what you have to say? When they respond in a vicious way, is that going to help your mental state? Get control of your digital world and detox your brain.

The Bottom Line

We live in challenging times and we certainly live in a constant state of stress. That can definitely impact our mental health whether we realize it or not. As I said, much of what is impacting us today is not under our control.

What we can do is control how we respond to it. Eat better. Eat less. Move more. And clear your mind with a digital detox. It all comes down to one question:

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

References:
1. https://wbur.fm/33q5hHX
2. https://bit.ly/2FsESRN
3. https://bit.ly/3kecphl

Mental Health 2020: The Stats

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At this point, there have been no substantive studies of mental health resulting from either the pandemic or the political climate in the U.S. There are metrics that have been tracked via online survey since April; the surveys added modified questions that ask about factors related to the pandemic.

The results for symptoms of anxiety show that 30.8% of respondents indicated more symptoms in late April compared to 31.4% in late August although the percentage fluctuated as high as 36.0%. The results for symptoms of depression ranged from 23.5% in late April to 24.5% in late August with a percentage fluctuation as high as 28.8%.

What do the numbers mean in comparison with pre-pandemic times?
From January to June 2019, 8.2% of adults aged 18 and over had symptoms of anxiety disorder while 6.6% had symptoms of depressive disorder. The current surveys are not perfect and there’s no statistical analysis, but by all appearances we are more anxious and tend to exhibit more depressive symptoms.

I think what contributes to the anxiety is that there’s no simple solution. Humans like binary choices: this is right, that’s wrong. And that just doesn’t apply in this case. Could we be creating a population at risk for a form of posttraumatic stress disorder? Is there anything we can do about it? We’ll take a look at that on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

References:
1. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health.htm
2. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/depression.htm

Question Time: Professional Help

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Wrapping up this week on recently asked questions, I saved the most serious question for today. I talked to a number of people who were concerned about themselves, friends, or family members. The simplest way of explaining the questions is to say they or people they knew had medical issues related to nutrition and diet, and the inability to resolve health and eating issues may have contributed to a state of depression and anxiety.

Note that I said “may have.” This is not my area of expertise. I wouldn’t presume that I know enough to be able to say . . .

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