With 15 to 20 million people in the US suffering physically and emotionally from financial stress- there has to be some way out of it.

     Do yourself or someone you love a favor, and pass this quick info summary on what you can do to lessen the effect of finances on your health.  Side effects may include a sense of buoyancy  positivity and the ability to negotiate your unique situation with more balance and less anxiety.  See your doctor if these symptoms to not immediately appear because this may be an indication that you need stress reduction support- stat!

Check out these articles on the same topic:
Schedule your HeartMath biofeedback session today
HeartMath biofeedback technique

Thank you for reading.  
To your good health,

     Do you deal with stress, anxiety and tension in your body day in and day out?  Many do.  Some are able to not let stressful events, people and situation get to them, but most of us end up feeling emotionally drained at the end of a work day.

     Several years ago I was introduced to HeartMath, a type of biofeedback which teaches users to reconnect with their body and emotions through use of heart rate patterns.  The effects are usually immediate and profound.  Simple techniques are learned and practiced for as little as a minute or two a day.  Doing this allows for reintegration of the underlying physiology of the cardiovascular, endocrine and nervous system.  It balances you from the ground up.  And living from a place of balance is what we could all use a little more of.

   Some of the many health and emotional issues which can be addressed at their foundation by HeartMath: hypertension, stress/anxiety, depression, pain management, anger and emotional volatility, fatigue or feeling burned out, assistance in optimal weight management, better immune system response, and moving beyond a sense of overwhelm and inability to time manage.

     Look for our announcements later the month as we will soon begin offering HeartMath training sessions, either as part of an office visit with Dr. Angela, or as a stand alone appointment.  A short series of training is recommended, with daily practice done between weekly appointments.  We are excited to be offering this simple, easy tool which addresses some of the most hidden and hard to treat illnesses.
     
     After seeing the profound effects using HeartMath on patients and myself, I can't wait to being HeartMath sessions here at Rose City Health Clinic.  

To your good health,

    In celebration of the much awaited upcoming summer season, this article will recognize one of the many bodily rhythms that keep us functioning.  It's all about balance. Things go up, then go down.  Reactions are monitored, excess levels are corrected, deficient levels are boosted.  And somehow, while holding the reins of all this potential chaos, the body keeps chugging along, keeping all the millions (or billions) of reactions in balance, constantly and simultaneously.

    I'll profile one of my favorite bodily rhythms here (yes, I'm that much of a science geek that I've put some time into pondering this).  If the interest so arises I'll describe more in the future, but in the meanwhile I'd love to hear what comes to your mind as well when we think of important and/or interesting body rhythms.
    Sunlight, cortisol and melatonin.  I like this rhythm because of the integral interaction between humans and the sun.  It all starts in a teensy weensy spot right in the middle of the brain (halfway between the eyeballs and the back of the head) which contains a small bundle of nerves called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCM) within the hypothalamus, which is the traffic control officer for many of the brain's nerve signals.
    The SCM receives light and dark signals from the presence and absence of sunlight.  From this information it tells the body what time it is and thus what it should be doing.  A fascinating thing about the SCM is that although it receives the light signals through the eyes it is still fully active and functional in those who are otherwise completely blind (also, it's present and functioning in sightless animal species).  It's that primitive and important of a function, even more so than sight itself.
    When the SCM sees light, it says, "suns up! time to get moving!" The form of its signaling is called the morning cortisol spike.  Cortisol is most commonly known as a stress hormone, one which floods the body during those "fight or flight" body responses (previously helpful for escaping hungry predators, now used mainly in rush hour traffic).  This amping up of the system is a primary factor in getting someone up and moving in the morning.
    Throughout the day, cortisol slowly climbs back down to its low pre-dawn level, waiting for the next day's first morning burst of sunlight to start all over again.

     In the meantime, the absence of sunlight at night stimulates the release of melatonin from the same part of the brain.  Melatonin, in humans, is sleep-inducing.  It has a similar spike and gradual fall like cortisol, but at the opposite part of the day. 
    A fascinating aspect of melatonin is that it spikes at night for all animals.  Nocturnal animals which are most active at night appear to receive a similar effect from a nightly burst of melatonin as the average person does his or her morning burst of cortisol.  Each respective species has their own "wake up" and "go to sleep" hormonal response.
    Elegant, responsive, and endlessly adapting to signals both within and beyond our bodies, bodily rhythms are necessary, complex and deserve a little recognition every once in a while.

Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment if you enjoy my writing, have a comment or question or would otherwise like to add to my articles here.  I take suggestions on topics, do the research and answer your questions here, so please feel free to drop me a line!
-Angela

Research looking at Tai chi versus heart failure-related education in recently published  in the Archives of Internal Medicine (LA Times summary article here).  When looking at lowering depression, increasing vigor, mood, quality of life and daily activities, who came out ahead?

Tai chi, on all counts!

This form of movement is part exercise, part meditation and part stress reducer.  While practicing tai chi, one is moving, balancing and culminating the energy within and beyond the practitioner.

The control group for the tai chi research, education on heart failure, actually caused increased levels of depression and decreased levels of vigor by the participants.

So if you're looking to add a movement/meditative practice to your schedule, consider looking into local tai chi classes.  If you're looking to maximize the tai chi ambiance, Portland's downtown chinese garden (recently renamed Lan Su) has weekly group tai chi practice, free with admission (information here).

Get that chi flowing, your body will thank you!

Comments? Questions? I'd love to hear it!
-Angela

Most people have more inflammation (what we may call "pro-inflammation reactions") happening than their body really needs. Too much inflammation increases the severity of all those diseases and medical conditions we discussed in Part 1 (few diseases are really free from inflammation's influence), as well as leading some seemingly minor health complaint (such as occasional achy joints or a mild skin rash) into more severe disease categories all together (developing Rheumatoid Arthritis or Ezcema).

High levels of inflammation also lead to other diseases or conditions hopping on for the ride and serve to worsen your overall health (high blood pressure, then coronary artery disease then heart attack). To combat this, one must identify what actions and circumstances lead to more vs. less inflammation.

Inflammatory causes are a lot farther reaching than simple traumas. Most of your body's inflammation actually comes from all those factors in your day to day life that stress you out and make you less healthy overall. These include dietary and exercise choices, as well as pretty much any thing you surround yourself with that exhausts you and makes you irritable and on edge (work? relationships? daily commute?).

And anti-inflammatory helpers include a much larger list than just that Aspirin or Aleve in your medicine cabinet. Every choice you make to lessen stress and strengthen your health are working on your side to decrease inflammation in your body. Calm, nutritious, leisurely dinner with loved ones? Put that in the anti-inflammatory column. Cramming down a burger and cola while fuming about the rush hour traffic you're trapped in? That is upping the inflammatory responses in your body.

So continue to make choices to support your health and lessen your stress.

Lastly, feel free to contact me any time to continue this discussion further.  I'm also open to topic suggestions, particularly related to health in the news. Send me an article link, or other topics that have come to your attention, and I look into writing a piece about them here.

Thanks for reading!
Angela