Improve Mental Well-being

Category: Psychiatry

Rachel’s Reviving Remedies

In February 2024 I was invited by AVIXA to speak on a panel at ISE 2024, about mental health in the workplace. Although not an expert in this field, there has been much written on the subject and I shared my findings with the audience. I have included links to my favourite sources but there are many more for you to discover.

There have been several traumas in my life and most go back to my childhood. This is quite common and whilst traumas are often different they trigger a similar response in all of us and are the most common cause of long-term stress, depression and suicide. Gloomy or what? Do not be dismayed it can be reversed and there are remedies for short-term stress and ways of building resilience against medium-term stress. However, if you feel you cannot cope seek medical advice, especially for long-term stress.

Our responses to a situation depend on the context of what is happening. If the situation is traumatic the surrounding narrative should be shared with those you trust or written down. Internalising the trauma will prolong the shame and the blame we all attach to it.

You have to start somewhere and you may be surprised by what my list consists of but it is all backed up by expert research, see links provided. I also recognise we have to live our lives in our own way and this is just a guide to help us improve our mental state and longevity.

  1. On awakening try and remember your last dream and write it down. 
  1. Go outside for a morning walk, preferably within 1 hour of waking and if possible surrounded by nature, fields or trees – 4,000 steps or more is OK.  
  • Look towards the sun, or if overcast where the sun would be for as long as is practicable. This suppresses melatonin and resets your circadian rhythm. It also triggers the release of cortisol to help you wake up and stay alert during the day.
  • If you meet someone wish them good morning, strike up a conversation or at least smile.
  • Links: Dr Andrew Huberman – https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=WDv4AWk0J3U
  1. Good quality nutrition, how much you eat and when you eat is essential for brain function and a healthy body. 
  • Cut out ultra-processed foods completely. 
  • Boost your gut biome and include amino acids, and protein, at least 30 different fruits and vegetables per week, this can be nuts, spices, herbs, vegetables, fruits and berries. You can also have lean meats and omega-3 fatty acids like oily fish for instance. 
  • Introduce fermented foods such as yoghurt, kefir, kimchee, sauerkraut and kombucha.  
  • Reduce the amount of alcohol consumed. 
  • There are three natural pathways for you to need to consume sugar and the brain’s preferred food is glucose. The food companies know this and put sweeteners in foods and drinks (including zero sugar) to trigger your brain to want more. Be aware too much sugar is bad for you and you will receive the right amount by eating the aforementioned. 
  • If you drink coffee make sure it is during the day, preferably the morning, to enable a good night’s sleep. 
  • Arrange a time of fasting every day, perhaps finish eating at 8 pm and have breakfast at 8 am. This gives the body and brain time to remove dead cells, build muscle from the day’s exercise and repair systems. The longer the fast the better the repair.
  • Links: Dr Andrew Huberman – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjEFo3a1AnI,  Dr Michael Mosley – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpnOVX0Dc5E, Professor Tim Spector – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGY05t_sImc&t=22s
  1. After 40 years of age, you reduce muscle mass, speed and power so exercise is essential for a healthy body and mind and longevity. Daily movement, either cardiovascular or resistance training is very important. 
  1. We are sociable mammals and regular social interaction can impart many emotions to lift mood and happiness and increase metabolic rate and neural output. However, at work, for instance, there is no choice but to interact, therefore be aware of those you interact with. People can be grouped into three sections, those who give you net savings on stress (you feel at ease with), those who are neutral and those who are taxing. Try to avoid those in the taxing section. Link: Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeRgqJVALMQ&t=7385s
  1. Stress happens to all of us and there are tools to help manage and alleviate acute stress. The quickest and easiest way to alleviate acute stress in real-time is the physiological sigh, this immediately slows the heart rate down. Medium-term stress can be handled by training oneself to cope better under stress conditions. This involves taking cold showers or plunges and whilst immersed practising the physiological sigh to bring you to a state of normality. The more you practice the better you will be at regulating and coping with stress.  For long-term stress or at any point where you feel you cannot cope, seek qualified medical help. Links: Dr Andrew Huberman – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntfcfJ28eiU, Dr Peter Attia & Dr Paul Conti – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoGBkn_1Z14&t=6s
  1. You need good sleep to allow your brain and body to rejuvenate itself. The important factors here are the quantity, the quality, the regularity and timing (Chronotype) of sleep (QQRT). Try having 7 to 9 hours of the best possible sleep per night (no phones allowed). This should be in a darkened bedroom. Go to bed and arise within 30 minutes of your sleep routine to form a habit and enhance your circadian rhythm. Temperature plays a large part in sleeping and your bedroom should be cool – around 19°C. Place arms, hand and feet outside of the covers, take a hot bath or shower before going to bed – this will actually cool down your core temperature. Link: Dr Andrew Huberman – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2aWYjSA1Jc&t=118s

Trauma – Healing the Shame

When I remember my informative years there were two major issues I faced, both of which I could not, dare not, talk to anyone about. These issues have stayed with me throughout my life and I now recognise them as traumas. I found a conversation between Dr Paul Conti and Dr Peter Attia in my trawl of podcasts on this subject.

Paul Conti, MD, is a Psychiatrist who completed his training at Stanford and at Harvard, where he served as Chief Resident. He wrote ‘Trauma the Invisible Epidemic’ and was hosted on Dr Peter Attia’s podcast, The Drive. He described trauma as a sense of angst or frustration. A sense that something isn’t right, anger and resentment. Here are my favourite moments and I would urge anyone to watch any of the podcasts Paul Conti has been involved in. https://drpaulconti.com/  https://peterattiamd.com/paulconti/

Trauma can be carried within us forever if not addressed – the burden of shame, inadequacy, and self-blame. This can lead to frustration and anger, even bitterness and lead us away from being a good person in the world, being more isolated from care and concern for others and that is a very small step before the use of abusive substances because of the injustice of feeling awful. This is a self-seduction that leads to a path of short-term healing at the expense of a long-term solution. 

We face traumas all the time in our lives and this can lead to seeing those traumas through the lens of shame, “it was their fault”, “they are not a worthwhile person”, “they can’t make their way in the world”, “they cannot feel safe”, “no one will like them”, “no one will care for them”, “they’re not good enough”. Many feel persecuted internally from the trauma and this internal dialogue is played over again, blinding their true potential. Some feel the negative narrative in their head is a justifiable self-punishment for the trauma which is self-reflexive as other people hurt them.  Once they start talking about the event that led to the trauma and unpacking it then they realise there is no shame to feel but the logic doesn’t matter if the emotion is telling them something different.  When you are aware of the cause and reconstruct the narrative, the emotions do not have to control you. 

Memories only have meaning through the emotions attached to them, so if a trauma introduces an emotion of shame, the previous memories are also altered, so you don’t remember how good things were before the trauma.

Pillars of Mental Health

Living in Harmony – Ancient Daoist Philosophy – Yin Yang

I have included ancient medicine philosophy because modern thinking now recognises that nature, exercise, breathwork, meditation, acupuncture and the gut biome, have an important part to play in our physical and mental health.

Daoist philosophy dates back to 500 BC and was founded in China. The Daoists followed their observations of nature and believed the world was made up of opposites and without these opposites, the world would not function. They viewed human existence as being no more important than any other living organism and for harmonious living there had to be a balance with nature. Life was seen as a journey similar to a river flowing, with a general idea that without any intervention most outcomes would be positive ones, therefore there was no need to overly worry about problems on the way. Qi (pronounced Chee) was the life force energy and had three centres or Dantian. The lower Dantian probably seen as the most important was in the centre of the body approximately 4 fingers width below the tummy button. The other two centres were in the chest near the heart and in the middle of the forehead between the eyebrows.

The Daoist symbol of Yin Yang has become a common icon of harmony and balance. The idea behind yin and yang is paradoxical. The black and white stands for two opposing forces that are also complimentary. This constant mutual attraction and repulsion causes contestant change, that manifests in what we call the universe. Phenomena like life and death, winter and summer, matter and emptiness are all physical manifestations of Yin and Yang. 

In the ancient masterpiece written by Lauzi called the Dao De Jing, he talks about the great mother, being the mysterious, receptive and passive force represented by the black part of the symbol, and the active force that is most visible and prominent, represented by the white part. The symbol has a black dot in the white area and a white dot in the black area, representing the idea that both parts carry the seed of one another. Day carries the seed of dawn and night carries the seed of dusk. 

There are no absolutes when considering what is Yin or Yang, it depends on the situation. This is what Lauzi wrote in Chapter 2 of the Dao De Jing:

  • Being and non-being produce each other
  • Difficult and easy complement each other
  • Long and short define each other
  • High and low oppose each other
  • Fore and aft follow each other

Yin represents a series of characteristics that are – generally – passive, empty, low, cold and dark in nature. Things like passivity and emptiness seem of little value, but they harbour an immense power. Yang can be described as the active element, that’s generally found in things like light, warmth, height, fullness, aggression and speed. One cannot exist without the other, and whether one is Yin or Yang depends on the relationship between the two. An example is the functionality of a mug. Yang is the material the mug is made of while the emptiness in it is the Yin element. The mug cannot function without both parts. Without the space in our universe, the solar system would not function. 

Society’s Yin passivity is essential for every form of accomplishment e.g. After a hard gym session, muscles are built in bed when the body can rebuild the muscle tissue. Yin is receptive to flowers waiting to be pollinated. Lauzi described Yin as soft comparing it to water in relation to hard Yang rock but water can shape rock over time through erosion. An atom has a positively charged core surrounded by negatively charged electrons and the Yin Yang pattern is the essence of binary code, which solely consists of ones and zeros. Lauzi wrote that no movement is possible if an opposite movement has not occurred:

  • If you want something to return to the source
  • You must first allow it to spread out
  • If you want something to weaken
  • You must first allow it to become strong
  • If you want something to be removed
  • You must first allow it to flourish
  • If you want to possess something
  • You must first give it away

Yin and Yang complement each other, create each other, support each other, regulate each other and transform each other. Non-doing or effortless action, also called Wu Wei by the Daoists, is a practice that harvests the power of both Yin and Yang—knowing when to act and when not to, so our actions won’t be strenuous but more in a flow state. By embracing Yin we become more receptive to the natural course of the universe and in many cases, there is no need to act, many problems solve themselves and taking action can worsen a situation. By backing off we enter a Yin state but the key is knowing when to act or not. Too much passivity can be as bad as too little. No matter what you do there will always be a dark and light side to everything. Without opposites, there is nothing to support yourself in the hierarchy of things.

Qigong

Most forms of Qigong (pronounced chee gung) originated from Daoist practices focused on cultivating and maintaining personal health. Included in those practices were exercises made up of postures, breathwork, and intention setting. The exercises initially mimicked the movements of animals and then evolved as people gained a deeper understanding of human anatomy and physiology. 

Qigong follows traditional Chinese medicine principles, which claim that Qi flows through our bodies. Accordingly, people tend to feel their best when Qi travels freely, but health problems can crop up if the energy becomes stagnant or blocked in certain areas of the body. Through simple poses and patterned breathwork, Qigong can remove obstacles to promote a healthy flow of Qi. Physical movements are coordinated with breath through the repeated practice of exercises. Once proper form is achieved, work on turning those exercises into moving meditation or finding the change in energy within the postures, movements, breathing patterns, and transitions can be practised.

The slow, gentle movements are believed to warm up your tendons, ligaments, and muscles; mobilise the joints; and promote the circulation of body fluids (like blood, synovial, and lymph). Meanwhile, deep breathing, which plays a central role in Qigong, calms the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nervous system and activates the parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) side of your autonomic nervous system, which regulates involuntary processes like breathing, heartbeat, and digestion. By tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system, Qigong can help reduce stress and anxiety, which has many health implications. From the traditional Chinese medicine perspective, Qigong optimises the flow of energy in your body to help mitigate or attend to any number of conditions.

Acupuncture

The practice of acupuncture grew out of ancient Chinese phylosophy’s dualistic cosmic theory of the Yin and the Yang. The first documentation of acupuncture that described it as an organised system of diagnosis and treatment is in The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine. Acupuncture points are believed to stimulate the central nervous system. This, in turn, releases chemicals into the muscles, spinal cord, and brain. These biochemical changes stimulate the body’s natural healing abilities and promote physical and emotional well-being.

The forces of Yin and Yang act in the human body as they do throughout the natural universe as a whole. Disease or physical disharmony is caused by an imbalance or undue preponderance of these two forces in the body, and the goal of Chinese medicine is to bring the Yin and the Yang back into balance, thus restoring the person to health.

An imbalance of Yin and Yang results in an obstruction of the life force, or Qi, in the body. Qi flows through 12 meridians, or pathways, in the body, each in turn associated with a major visceral organ (liver, kidney, etc.) and with a functional body system. Acupuncture is designed to affect the distribution of Yin and Yang in these channels so that the Qi will be enabled to flow freely and harmoniously.

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