Play Back!
Being able to call up positive and detailed memories helps us to deepen our inner sense of well-being and joy. And we know that a greater sense of well-being and joy is oh so good for our body and cells. I found that out — and so much more — during the two years I spent researching and writing my new book, THE LAST BEST CURE: My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life. But research also shows that calling up good memories is particularly hard when we are feeling stressed or anxious or sad, which is of course when we need to switch our brain state the most. So investigators wanted to see what would happen if people used a specific trick to enhance their ability to bring back good memories— a technique called the “method-of-loci” strategy. Here’s how it works. Recall a great memory and think about an object that you associate with it, or the location where the memory was made. For me a few location-associated memories might be, say, the day 20 years ago when my husband got down on his knees on the steps of the Annapolis State House and asked me to marry him. Or the many times my Dad and family and I used to sail under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Meaningful objects include the carefully crafted (by tiny hands!) clay animal sculptures, necklaces or paintings my kids have made for me over the years (one favorite is the Mother’s Day card my son gave me when he was 10: he drew a sunrise on the handmade card and when I opened it up it said, “Mom, you are my sun.”). And I still remember the moment I looked up through the kitchen window while doing the dishes and he was painting the words “I LOVE YOU” on a giant piece of paper on an easel, smiling at me, ear to ear. A much bigger object is their baby rocker, where I rocked them both from the day they were born, and for many years after. Making a concrete association between a vivid memory and an object or a location, and recalling the love or joy we felt in that moment — helps us to relive that positive emotion again each time we see that object or place. And that helps us to turn on what I call, in THE LAST BEST CURE, The Life Channel — and turn off The Pain Channel. Once we make that concrete association — between an object or a location and inner joy — then each time we see that particular location or object, our brain tracks to The Life Channel more easily. In the study, participants were asked to come up with 15 positive memories. One group was asked to use method-of-loci strategy to create strong associations with good memories, while a control group was asked to simply recall memories without associating them with objects and places. Later, participants received a surprise phone call from researchers, who asked them to recall their good-feeling memories one more time. Participants who used the method-of-loci technique were significantly more able to dial up positive memories and emotions and change their mind-states. Researchers say that associating vivid, positive memories with physical objects or locations makes it easier for us to not only recall positive memories, but “to elevate our mood in the long-term.” Elevating our mood in the long-term. I like that.
What Are You Cooking?
Today, my friend Mark Hyman, MD, author of The Blood Sugar Solution, has come out with a much needed cookbook that can help all of us who want to learn more about utilizing “food as medicine.” Many of you, like me, eat gluten and dairy free — but cooking gluten and dairy free meals (especially for our families!) can be a challenge. Well, Mark Hyman has made it so much easier, with 175 gluten and dairy free recipes. If you’ve read my book, The Autoimmune Epidemic, you know that a clean diet is instrumental to supporting your immune system and fighting inflammation. Mark Hyman explains why the 175 recipes — and way of cooking — in The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook are so important: “The cure for what ails us—both in our bodies and in our nation—can be found in the kitchen. It is a place to rebuild community and connection, strengthen bonds with family and friends, teach life-giving skills to our children, enrich and nourish our bodies and our souls. Yet, in the twenty-first century, our kitchens (and our taste buds) have been hijacked by the food industry. In 1900 only 2 percent of meals were eaten outside of the home; today that number is over 50 percent. The food like substances proffered by the industrial food system trick our taste buds into momentary pleasure. But our biology rejects the junk forced on our genes and on our hormonal and biochemical pathways. Here’s a video blog on the book. Thank you, Mark Hyman, for making it so much easier to prepare the healthy meals our bodies and brains need for mental and physical well-being. Here’s to healthy cooking with and for our families — and sharing meals as a family at the dinner table (my favorite time of day!).
Babies Get It, Grade Schoolers Get It, So Why is it So Hard For Us?
Several studies over the past few years have found that kids as young as 18 months old possess deep feelings of compassion. One study found that when toddlers show kindness to others, it’s motivated by innate feelings of compassion — not just a desire to please the adults in their lives. In the study, when toddlers saw someone in need of help their pupil sizes increased — a sign of empathic concern. After toddlers did something nice for that person, their pupils got smaller. Researchers say this means their kindness came from deep, genuine concern. In fact, toddlers showed greater signs of happiness when they gave away a special treat, than they did when they received one. Performing truly altruistic acts—acts that involve some measure of personal sacrifice—made the kids happier than helping others at no cost to themselves. This is the first study to show that altruism is intrinsic to who we are, and is rewarding even to very young kids, and that it makes them happier to give than to receive. When a behavior is intrinsically rewarding like this, especially at the earliest stages of life, it suggests to scientists that it has deep evolutionary roots. Other studies on compassion and kindness show that kids prefer other kids who are kind and, contrary to popular belief, being kind can even help kids boost their “popularity standing.” Researchers asked 400 students between the ages of 9 and 11 to perform three acts of kindness — or choose other easier tasks — over four weeks. Afterwards the kids who showed kindness saw a much greater spike in their popularity, gaining twice as many friends as their counterparts. And they also had more positive feelings about themselves. Kids said they did simple things like gave their mom a hug when she seemed stressed (always a welcome gesture at my house!), or shared their lunch with someone at school. But clearly, as we grow up and come of age, and especially when life gets more stressful, or life is hard, our innate sense of compassion goes underground. We compete at work. Drivers gesture angrily on the freeway, and turning on the news shows us that too many politicians and sports heroes choose to treat themselves well rather than others kindly, and that too many young people die in personal or gang violence, or spree shootings. It can seem there is too little kindness to spare. We face so much stress in our own day-to-day lives and see such callousness around us that we can become a little numb. And yet, even so, that innate compassion that we had at 2 or 9 or 11 is there, ready to bubble up, if we just call it up. And even those who’ve faced the hardest of lives can call it up. Researchers introduced a type of brain-changing practice known as compassion meditation — sending kind wishes to themselves, those they love and those they find problematic in their lives — to teenagers living in a foster care group in Florida. These were kids who faced a lot of day-to-day stress and adversity. Their lives were tougher than most of us can imagine. The foster teens underwent an eight-week loving kindness meditation class, keeping journals on how much they practiced. Researchers measured their stress responses both before and after. They also asked the teens to wear an electronically activated recorder that picks up the ambient sounds in a person’s environment – including disagreements, harsh words, altercations. And here’s what happened: the more troubled teens practiced loving kindness meditation on their own – about four or five times a week – the more compassionate they became in their day-to-day interactions and the less altercations ensued. Not surprisingly, teens’ stress hormone levels and inflammatory markers also went down, which we know is critical to improving physical health. Troubled foster teens, living calmer, healthier lives, simply by letting their innate compassion emerge from within for a few minutes a day. Similar work is going on in high security prisons where, after meditation classes using both compassion and breath as a focus, violence has gone down by twenty percent or more. Things haven’t changed that much from when we were 2 and 9. We feel better about ourselves when we extend kindness. Others feel better about being with us. We feel less stressed. Life is sweeter all around, for our brains, bodies and cells. I’ve found that it’s a decisive act to be compassionate — we have to choose compassion in our rush, rush lives. But learning to choose it — along with practicing the other techniques I test drove in my one year experiment to find The Last Best Cure — is a life-changing gift not only to others, but to ourselves.
Contest Winners!
Thanks to ALL of you who have been joining in THE LAST BEST CURE conversation on my blog. I’ve been so heartened to hear your stories, thoughts and well-wishes, it’s been lovely to hear from you all. As promised, today is the day we announce the winners of the raffle for 5 free signed copies of my book — if you posted on my blog your name was entered into the give-away drawing! Are you ready? Congratulations to: Pat Smith Paige Munro Stacy Heatherly Rebecca Benner Patricia Siroky If your name isn’t on this list, don’t despair! We’re running a new contest, for two more give-away books — signed copies. To win you can enter between now and March 15th EITHER by posting on my blog or by clicking “LIKE” on my Facebook fan page! I’ll post the winners here and on Facebook on March 15th! Congratulations to today’s give-away contest winners! We’ll reach out to you by email to find out your addresses so we can get your signed copies in the mail and headed your way!
Countdown Reason # 1: PUB DATE IS TODAY!
Hi Friends, Today is the day! The Last Best Cure: My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life is now in stores! LIKE my Facebook Fan page or post here on my blog by March 15th and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free copy of my book on March 15th! Winners of my last raffle will be announced today at 7:00 p.m. EST on my blog! Stay tuned to find out if you’re a winner! I’m so excited to hear what you think! Happy Reading!
Countdown Reason #2: Because We Need This, and We Need it Right Now
In just a few hours it will officially be February 21st, 2013 — pub day! Everyday I pick up another study which reminds me why I took on this challenging quest and wrote up my journey in THE LAST BEST CURE. The book I hope you’ll soon be holding in your hands. This week a new study came out in JAMA Internal Medicine showing that although we might assume that adults today are healthier than our parents were at the same age, the opposite is true. 32 percent of our parents reported being in “excellent” health in middle age. Today, only 13 percent of us in mid-life can say the same. The study discovered why. Those of us in our 40s, 50s and 60s have higher rates of chronic conditions than did our parents, and at younger ages. Diabetes, high blood pressure, you name it. We are twice as likely as our parents were to be suffering from a disabling chronic illness. Study authors sum it up with these words: “You live longer, but those extra years you bought — you’re sicker. That’s not a good public health outcome.” Something is really wrong with this picture. Something has to change. THE LAST BEST CURE will be available everywhere in just a matter of hours. Here’s hoping it proves a powerful tool in helping to turn the health story of our generation around. — The Status of Baby Boomers’ Health in the United States: The Healthiest Generation? King DEet al. JAMA Intern Med. 2013 Feb 4:1-2. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.2006.
Countdown Reason # 3: Gratitude.
I’ve heard from so many of you who’ve reached out to share your well-wishes, as we get close to THE LAST BEST CURE hitting bookstores (both real and online) and becoming available for download. Just 36 hours to go! I’m SO grateful for your enthusiasm and support. Just today, I’ve heard from a number of people who are setting up readings and book signings (stay tuned for details), from early reviewers, and from fellow authors, dear friends, and readers whose support means the world to me. Thank you. I feel such gratitude, and I happen to know, after a year of researching and test-driving how state of mind affects our neurobiology and physiology, that both extending well-wishes and feeling gratitude are healing for our brains, and for our cells. Thanks for reaching out — I can’t wait for the book to arrive in your hands. P.S. Don’t forget! February 21st is not only pubdate, it’s the day we announce the winners of the giveaway raffle — 5 books are going out to 5 people who’ve posted on my blog — so if you haven’t yet, post on my blog now for a chance to win a free book!
Countdown Reason # 4: “Look Who’s Reading Mom’s New Book!”
My daughter took this photo. I just had to share it, just for fun. When she showed it to my husband, she said, smiling, “Dad, look who’s reading mom’s new book!” It made me smile. I can’t believe that on Thursday — in just 4 days — THE LAST BEST CURE will be available everywhere. Below, both of our dogs get in on the photo shoot!
Countdown Reason #5: Look What’s Sitting On My Desk!!!!
Guess what just arrived at my house? My very own box of “author copies!” My daughter was so excited that she stacked them up on my desk and took this photo this afternoon. If you look carefully you’ll see a photo of my Dad behind the stacks of books — that photo always sits on my desk, where I write, right beside a photo of my children when they were young. My dad died from a complication from his chronic illnesses when I was growing up. He was also a journalist. So I guess I can’t help but think of how he might have smiled, if he’d had the chance to hold the books I write in his hands — or, even better, meet his grandchildren whose photos sit beside his. That’s why, I guess, I dedicated this book to him. This one’s for you, Dad!
Countdown Reason # 6: What Stress Does to the Gut, and What the Stressed Gut Does to the Brain
Two new studies tell us an interesting story about stress, the gut and the brain. We have a LOT of organisms in the gut. Cell for cell, we’re largely made up of bacteria. In fact, single-celled organisms, mostly bacteria, outnumber our own cells 10 to 1. Most of these live in our gut. Any alteration of the composition of good versus bad microorganisms in the gut —collectively known as our “microbiome”—impacts the state of our brain, making us more prone to anxiety, depression and low mood. And that lowered mood makes us more prone to feeling stressed out and reactive… which in turn further changes the composition of microorganisms in the gut… See the cycle? The first study appears in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. Researchers report that when we are under stress, the bacterial communities in our intestine become less diverse, allowing greater numbers of harmful bacteria to take over and party hearty. (We’ve pretty much known this for a while, after all, disorders of the gut such as irritable bowel and inflammatory bowel diseases are known to worsen during times of stress. But now we have the science to back up that clinical observation.) And that leads to the second study I wanted to talk about. It turns out that when bad bacteria are partying in our gut, it not only lowers our overall immunity, it lowers our overall mood. A sophisticated neural network transmits messages from those trillions of bacteria to our brain, exerting a powerful influence on our state of mind. That’s why scientists have begun to refer to our gut as “the second brain.” The idea that bacteria teeming in the gut can affect the mind “has just catapulted onto the scene,” say study authors. Our gut bacteria manufacture about 95 percent of our body’s supply of serotonin, which significantly influences our mood. In just the last few years evidence has piled up that the gut microbiome heavily influences our neural development, brain chemistry, emotional behavior, pain perception, learning, memory, and how our stress system is prepared to respond to life’s ups and downs. The more bad bacteria in our gut, the more anxious and moody and stressed out we feel. The more stressed out we feel the more we tip the microbial balance in the gut allowing more bad bacteria to thrive. Gastroenterologist Emeran Mayer, MD, director of the Center for Neurobiology of Stress at the University of California, Los Angeles, says that given the gut’s multifaceted ability to communicate with the brain “it’s almost unthinkable that the gut is not playing a critical role in mind states.” THE LAST BEST CURE is a toolbox to intervene in that stress feedback cycle and help rescue both the brain in our gut and the brain in our head. — “Exposure to a social stressor alters the structure of the intestinal microbiota: Implications for stressor-induced immunomodulation” by Michael T. Bailey, Scot E. Dowd, Jeffrey D. Galley, Amy R. Hufnagle, Rebecca G. Allen and Mark Lytee; and the brief commentary on it is “The gut microbiota: A new player in the innate immune stress response?” by Monika Fleshner. The article appears in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, Volume 25, Number 3 (March 2011), published by Elsevier.
