Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Be careful little ears what you hear

21 July, 2012 by 1 Comment




Summer months are lazy months. Kids are home from school and all they want to do is sleep late and then when they finally do get out of bed, they plop down on the sofa to television. And I fall right into the trap with them! Especially if there’s housework to be done. Procrastination is often my adversary. 

When I start feeling like a sloth…
                                                                                                         …I get my iTunes going. 


At least it does these days. 

During my years of depression, you would never find me listening to music. Why? It made me think. I didn’t want to think, I didn’t want to hear anything that might make me feel something. I didn’t want to hear any of the voices inside my head (an upcoming blog post you don’t want to miss.) So television was my go-to. I could sit numbly on the sofa absorbed in someone else’s made up life. Actually kind of like the One Tree Hill marathon I watched with Miranda last week…but that’s a different story. 

I’ve been blogging about the five senses God gave us and today we will talk about hearing. 

What we hear has a direct route to our brains and has a direct effect on the way we think. In the elderly population, depression is often triggered by a loss of hearing. This sparked the idea that sound therapy could be a solution for depression in the hearing population…they just need to be listening to the right stuff. 

This is where my research got really technical…and actually really boring…reading about difference in frequency and sound waves. I’ll just depend on those providing sound therapy to handle that part. I’m much more interested in what it does to the brain. Here’s what a found (it’s bit technical too, but much more interesting—if the sciency stuff loses you, skip down til you see the ***):

Sound Therapy is a non-pharmacological option in the treatment of depression and a tool that could make counseling more effective by supporting it with a physiological impact on brain activation. Creative, focused work or meditation also stimulates the left hemisphere. Research showed that the stronger is the left orientation, the happier the person is likely to be. Sound Therapy directly stimulates the left-brain, so long term Sound Therapy listening is likely to increase levels of happiness. Someone who had had a tendency to depression may need a significant period of time to reshape the brain’s responses. Sound therapy has also side effects, but they are all good: better sleep, more energy, better audition, memory, concentration and learning abilities improved… Don’t you think it is better for you or your child than the drugs with all these terrible side effects?


Okay, so it works on the left hemisphere of the brain. Here’s a little more of my research: 



***
Remember that brain diagram I gave you the other day to illustrate the awe of God’s creation? It’s a diagram of the limbic system—right where our emotional responses come from and right where sound therapy works. The left pre-frontal cortex mentioned above is the first responder in our brains to any type of emotional event. If it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to, we don’t know how to recover from very sad events. That’s often when depression occurs. So anything that can keep these parts of our brain functioning like God planned, and in a manner pleasing to God, is a good thing. 

Do I think sound therapy is a cure all? No. But I do believe God gave us what we need. He made us in his image. He gave us a brain that is unbelievable and five senses that have a direct effect on that brain. We need to lean on him, not on our own understanding and the trends our world has conformed to. 

I hope I didn’t lose you with all the sciency stuff. All five senses can be used to fight depression. We just have to know how to use them correctly. 

 


Remember the song we sang in Sunday School? 

God tells us in today’s prescription verse above we should not conform to this world, and our society is all about the quick fix. I’ll be the first to tell you that antidepressants are very helpful for some people. But not this many: 

latimes.com




October 19, 2011

 

Antidepressants apparently keep a lot of people functional, according to new data from the federal government.

 

The most recent statistics about antidepressant use in the United States, released Wednesday, show 11% of Americans ages 12 and older take the medication. Antidepressants are the most common prescription drug used by people ages 18 to 44. Almost one-quarter of all women ages 40 to 59 take antidepressants. 

Click here to read the entire article. You will be stunned.

What if some disaster happened and drugs were suddenly unavailable? Where would that leave us? Our need for medication keeps us imprisoned. Sometimes this is unavoidable, and we deal with it.

But are 11% of all Americans over 12 years of age really clinically depressed?

I don’t think that’s part of God’s plan. Do you?

From my heart, 

Celeste


P.S. Click here to go to my delicious stack with more articles on sound therapy and depression. 

          P.S.S. In case you’re really interested in Sound Therapy specifically, Here are some links for    sound therapy providers, but I think the right music on iTunes can be pretty effective 😉


Antidepressants apparently keep a lot of people functional, according to new data from the federal government.The most recent statistics about antidepressant use in the United States, released Wednesday, show 11% of Americans ages 12 and older take the medication. Antidepressants are the most common prescription drug used by people ages 18 to 44. Almost one-quarter of all women ages 40 to 59 take antidepressants.


Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, How to be Happy, Making Changes, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Made to Crave

7 July, 2012 by 6 Comments



Here are a few things I know about taste and mood: 

  • It makes us happy to eat something sweet…a comfort food.
  • If we eat a healthy diet, we feel better and are therefore happier.
  • A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. 
  • We feel happier—more satisfied—when our stomachs are full. 
And last but not least…
  • Food is often about relationships. Relationships between us and God, us and friends, and us and our own soul.
There have been tons of studies done testing what we eat with how we feel. We all know that certain vitamins—like Omega-3 fatty acids for instance—feed our brains and increases our overall well-being. 

Food is obviously an important topic to God, as the Bible is full of references to food. Many major events in the Bible took place around food. 

But the food—and the choice of food— was used as a gateway to Christ. Whether it was sacrifice, celebration, or miracle, the food was all about Christ. His body is the bread.

I’ll be honest. This is a tough topic for me. In research, depending on the exact point you search for, there are arguments in every direction. For more information about the arguing voices in my head, check out my post Acceptance in Christ—which honestly is not the best title considering it deals mostly with food. But oh well. 

One of the books I’ve read this year is Made to Crave, which is honestly the most unusual—but also the most enlightening—book about diets. Mostly because it is and is not a diet book. I’m afraid you will just have to read to see what I mean. But there’s one thing I learned (well, confirmed my thought anyway):

We crave whatever is a part of our life—what we do, who we see, what we eat, what we drink, etc. 

    • If we watch pornography, we want to watch more.
    • If we drink alcohol—or Mountain Dew—we want to drink more.
    • If we use drugs, we want them more (And I’m a witness to that one!) 

The neat thing is, though, that the flip side of this is true as well.

    • If we read about God, we want to know more.
    • If we become a volunteer, we want to volunteer more.
    • If we begin tithing, we want to tithe more. 
I’ll share a secret here. I almost didn’t write a blog post today. Not because I didn’t want to, it’s just that time got away from me this week and I found myself beginning this post at midnight last night. Only to hear David say, “What the heck are you doing on your computer NOW?” He really gets tired of seeing me on my computer. 

Well, he hurt my feelings. And as all great women do, I pouted. Most of the day today. Didn’t get anything accomplished. You know the video that surface a few months ago about the father putting a bullet in his daughter’s laptop? I think that’s what David would like to do to mine sometimes. 

But I realized something really important about myself today. I was made to write. It is one of God’s purposes for me. You may get this post a day late, and it may mean only a little to a very few people. But God compels me to write, so it must be for something! I just have to find more time alone. Hmmm….

Okay, back to topic. 

Our taste buds can deceive us. What we think makes us happy, may be only temporary. Since I’ve cut back on sugar, I don’t crave it nearly like I used to. And since I’ve been blogging and writing for God, I crave it more and more. As Lysa Terkeurst says, “We were made to crave.” 



We just have to begin putting away the bad, and starting on the good. 

“Whether we’re on the path toward victory or defeat is determined by the very next choice we make. Not the choices from yesterday. Not the choices five minutes ago.” ~Lysa Terkeurst

We must retrain our taste buds—whether it’s the ones in our mouth or those on our heart—to crave good. 

Especially to crave God.
From my heart,
Celeste

P.S. If you want to know more about the foods and vitamins that can physically enhance your mood, click here for the link to my Delicious stack, Diet for Depression.
Filed Under: Eating to Live, God's Pharmacy, Living with Purpose, Making Changes, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~The Power of Touch

30 June, 2012 by 1 Comment

I’m back to my posts on how we can use the five senses God gave us to fight depression and made us happier. Today it’s the power of touch. 

The touch of Jesus is illustrated through story after story in the Bible. 

  • The story from the prescriptions verse above where he touched the leper and healed him.
  • The story of Peter when he stepped out of the boat to walk on water. When he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink. But when Jesus took his hand, they walked across together. 
  • The story illustrated in Matthew 28 where Jesus touches the eyes of the blind man and restores his sight.
  • The story in Mark chapter 7 where Jesus healed the man who was deaf and dumb through touching his ears and his tongue. 
  • The story in Luke chapter 8 where the woman touched the hem of Jesus’s garment and was healed. 
Jesus healed all of these people through his touch. But was it really his touch that did the healing? God sent Jesus to earth in human form. He was not an angel or a spirit or a deity when he was on earth. He was human. So how did his touch heal so many? 

I believe it was the faith behind his touch. Because Jesus was the Son of God, people had faith in his touch. It was really a no-brainer if you ask me. But now let me tell you another story…

I have a friend, Patty Mason, who suffered severe depression—nearly to the point of suicide, back in mid-1990. She has suffered a difficult childhood and put all of her happiness in her own husband and children. But something was always missing. She could never fully leave her past behind and depression overcame her. In the shower one morning—the morning that she told God she’d had it…she was going to end her life—God impressed upon her to go to her MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) group that day. So she went. 

After listening to a speaker who just happened to be speaking on depression, she stayed a little late to chat with the speaker. Before she knew it, she was pouring out her heart to this woman she didn’t even know, sobbing uncontrollably in front of other women, who were no doubt staring in disbelief. 

After intently listening, this woman reached out to console Patty, touching her left arm. In that exact instant, the depression disappeared. 

And never had the guts to return. 

Did this woman heal her? No. Did Jesus heal in the Bible? I don’t think so. God worked through them—through the power and faith of their touch—to heal. 

Now I realize the trinity puts a whole other spin on the situation, but Jesus was in human form when he lived here on earth. I don’t presently recall any stories in the Bible that Jesus’s touch did not heal, but I bet there were some people touched by Jesus who were not healed, because they did not believe. 

Researchers have spent much time, effort, and money learning how human touch affects human emotion. You can see some of the articles in my research in my delicious stack, but I can tell you all the literature show a direct proportion between hugs and happiness.

Have you ever seen someone on the street with a sign that says “Free Hugs?” In most cases it’s not some nutcase trying to get close to you. There is a movement going on to increase happiness and love through the power of hugs. 


Besides just observation, Dr. Tiffany Field of the Touch Research Institute (you know it must be important if it has it’s own institute) says the following: 

The benefits of touch seem to stem largely from its ability to reduce levels of cortisol, a stress hormone manufactured by the adrenal glands. This was measured in two dozen studies. She said that touching with moderate-pressure (a firm handshake) stimulates activity in the vagus nerve, one of the 12 cranial nerves in the brain, which in turn slows the heart and decreases the production of stress hormones including cortisol (remember, that’s the fight or flight hormone I’ve discussed in other {tips to a happier you} posts).  

Other studies published from the Touch Research Institute, published in peer-reviewed journals, demonstrate that touch contributes to…


  • Decreased pain. Children with mild to moderate juvenile rheumatoid arthritis who were given messages by their parents 15 minutes per day for one month experienced less anxiety and lower cortisol levels. Over a 30-day period, parents, kids, and their physicians reported less pain overall in the children.  
  • Enhanced immune function. In studies, women with breast cancer and HIV patients showed a measurable increase in natural killer cells—part of a line of defense in the immune system against virus-infected cells and cancer cells—after massage. They also experienced less anxiety and depression. 
  • Happier, healthier babies. Preemies who were touched more while in the NICU gained more weight.
  • Less labor pain. Women in labor who received a backrub the first 15 minutes of every hour of labor reported less pain and made fewer requests for pain medications. Their labor was also shorter, on average.
  • Enhanced alertness and performance. Following massage, adults completed math problems in significantly less time and with fewer errors.   


Okay, enough of the sciency stuff. I think you’re getting my point.  

When we were in Chicago last week meeting the head honchos of the home health franchise we are looking into, there was a very unique impression made on me by Shelley, the president/CEO of the company. After our initial dinner meeting—which consisted of ten couples and a few executives—she bid us good-bye with a hug…each and every one of us. I’m guessing that as a CEO of a successful company, she knows the value of a hug. 

If God worked through the touch of his son Jesus, he can work through our touch. After all, we are his children too! 

From my heart, 
Celeste
Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, How to be Happy, Living in Faith, Living with Purpose, Miracles Do Happen, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Choosing to See Truth

16 June, 2012 by 1 Comment



As a pharmacist who became the patient for seven years, I gained quite the understanding on depression. If you’ve never experienced it, I’m rejoicing with you! It’s not a place you want to go. If you have experienced it…well, I’m right there with you. 


In the gloomy pit of despair and hopelessness that is depression, desperation is born. The desire to be out of that pit is overwhelming. We will do anything to get out. 


Prozac, one of the most prescribed medications for depression, was approved by the FDA just as I began practicing. It was the first antidepressant in its class of serotonin reuptake inhibitors. That particular class has grown drastically over the last twenty-two years and has actually spun off into a new class—serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. For a list of the serotonin reuptake inhibitors, click here. For a list of serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, click here.


During my first fourteen years as a pharmacist, I couldn’t begin to tell you how many Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil prescriptions I filled. I never understood the desperation behind those prescriptions. In the last few years, Cymbalta—one of the newer antidepressants—has gained popularity. Drug companies in the U.S. have invested millions in research, marketing, and advertising making antidepressants the most prescribed class of drugs in our country. 


A 2007 article at CNN Health, “CDC: Antidepressants most prescribed drugs in U.S.,” says the following: 

According to a government study, antidepressants have become the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States. They’re prescribed more than drugs to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, or headaches. CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen discusses the CDC study on antidepressants.

In its study, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at 2.4 billion drugs prescribed in visits to doctors and hospitals in 2005. Of those, 118 million were for antidepressants.

A 2011 article at Harvard Health Solutions, “Astounding increase in antidepressant use by Americans,” gave the following statistics: 

  • According to a report by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the rate of antidepressant use in this country among teens and adults (people ages 12 and older) increased by almost 400% between 1988–1994 and 2005–2008.
  • 23% of women in their 40s and 50s take antidepressants, a higher percentage than any other group (by age or sex)
  • Women are 2½ times more likely to be taking an antidepressant than men (click here to read a May 2011 article in the Harvard Mental Health Letter about women and depression)
  • 14% of non-Hispanic white people take antidepressants compared with just 4% of non-Hispanic blacks and 3% of Mexican Americans
  • Less than a third of Americans who are taking a single antidepressants (as opposed to two or more) have seen a mental health professional in the past year
  • Antidepressant use does not vary by income status
Are you getting the picture? 

During my seven years as a patient, I was desperately searching for a cure for my depression (among other things). I tried a few of the antidepressants, none of which helped my depression. Cymbalta, in particular, caused so many side effects and drug interactions, I think it made me more depressed. And when I decided to go off of it, I had to wean very slowly to avoid withdrawals (nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea) from this drug that we are told is not addictive. 

Okay. I’ve said all that to say this: 

We’ve got to stop trying to take the easy way out of everything. 

God created our brain—every little complex, intricate detail—to deal with sadness and depression. He also gave us our eyes—the sense of sight.  

In an article at Mood-Factory on the power of color, Susan Minamyer tells us this: 

Bright colors, such as yellow, reflect more light and stimulate the eyes. Yellow is the color that the eye processes first, and is the most luminous and visible color in the spectrum. 

And what color did God decide for the sun? 

I don’t believe that to be a coincidence. 

Seasonal Affective Disorder gives us further proof of this. It’s a kind of depression that occurs a certain time of the year, usually in the winter months. There is even a special type of light you can buy that mimics sunlight. And yes, I have one of those too. 

Now I’m not totally against antidepressants. I do believe in some cases they are necessary. 
But in the United States, we want immediate gratification. Consider this excerpt from the CNN Health article quoted above: 
Dr. Ronald Dworkin tells the story of a woman who didn’t like the way her husband was handling the family finances. She wanted to start keeping the books herself but didn’t want to insult her husband.
The doctor suggested she try an antidepressant to make herself feel better.
She got the antidepressant, and she did feel better, said Dr. Dworkin, a Maryland anesthesiologist and senior fellow at Washington’s Hudson Institute, who told the story in his book “Artificial Unhappiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class.” But in the meantime, Dworkin says, the woman’s husband led the family into financial ruin.

 

“Doctors are now medicating unhappiness,” said Dworkin. “Too many people take drugs when they really need to be making changes in their lives.”

We have a choice.  

We choose what we see. 

Your eye is a lamp that provides light for you body. 
When your eye is good, your body is filled with light.

We choose to see things that make us happy. We choose to see light or dark. We choose to see truth. 
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet 
and a light unto my path. 
(Psalm 119:105 KJV)

Doctors see only a sliver of our lives, yet we expect them to fix us. It’s not their fault, really.  With advertising and the Internet, we typically walk into their office knowing what we want. As patients, we need to look deeper. 

What are you choosing to see?

From my heart, 
Celeste
For more information, check out my delicious stacks: “Antidepressants” and “What you see is what you get.”

If this post was of particular interest to you, check out an older post, “America on Drugs.”
Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, Chronic Illness, Managing Prescription Drugs, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Tips to a Happer You in 2012~When life gives you lemons, sniff them!

9 June, 2012 by 56 Comments


“Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles 
and all the years you have lived.” – Helen Keller





God gave us five senses—hearing, sight, taste, touch, and smell. All of these senses send direct messages to our brains. Consider the information given by the Social Issues Research Center on the subject of fragrance and emotion: 


The association of fragrance and emotion is not an invention of poets or perfume-makers. Our olfactory receptors are directly connected to the limbic system, the most ancient and primitive part of the brain, which is thought to be the seat of emotion. Smell sensations are relayed to the cortex, where ‘cognitive’ recognition occurs, only after the deepest parts of our brains have been stimulated. Thus, by the time we correctly name a particular scent as, for example, ‘vanilla’ , the scent has already activated the limbic system, triggering more deep-seated emotional responses.

There are many references to perfumes and essential oils in the Bible. Events of sacrifice and worship most always involved essential oils. Frankincense and myrrh were two of the three gifts brought to Baby Jesus when he was born. God uses our sense of smell to make connections in our brain. 

The nose knows. Scents take us back in time to our memories that were associated with that scent. We also associate scents with certain events. 

  • Coffee = Morning
  • Fir = Christmas
  • Coconut=The Beach
  • Lemon=Clean

Studies on the effect of scents on mood show the following examples:

  • Natural plant odors make people calmer, more alert, and in better moods than those in an odor-free environment. 
  • Orange, lavender, coffee, and licorice increase attention span.
  • The smell of cleaning supplies makes people more generous. 
Aromatherapy is the practice of using natural oils to enhance psychological and physical well-being. 

We have a very personal relationship with our sniffers. What smells good to me might smell terrible to someone else. Many people love the smell of vanilla. I hate it. I used to battle with migraine headaches pretty frequently and used a heating pad on the back of my neck sometimes for relief. This particular heating pad was one that you microwave and it was vanilla scented. The heating pad never did help with my headaches; now when I smell vanilla, it gives me a headache! 

Now I realize that sticking a great smelling candle in your kitchen won’t cure depression. But it’s a small step. We can use the senses that God gave us—our sense of smell in this case—to make our environment a happier one. The little things add up to big things. 

If you are a regular reader, you know I post regularly on Saturdays and Mondays little tips and ideas to make your life happier and maybe a little easier. No single tip or change you make will be a cure-all. It’s all about small steps. I can’t tell you how many times I have cleaned all of the junk food out of the pantry, determined that my family will eat healthy, only to end up replacing most of it within a few days because everyone is fussing. As humans, we resist change, but change is necessary to grow. We must take one step at a time and repeat, repeat, repeat. We are creatures of habit and must turn these small things into habits before we move on the next one. In a year’s time, these small changes will equal big results. 

So my little {tip to a happier you} today is to think about smells you associate with good things and try to incorporate them into your life. Then go back and check out the other {tips to a happier you} and {make-a-change} Mondays I have give you this year. Have you implemented any of these? Have they stuck? Have they made a difference? I hope so. 

Life certainly isn’t easy; you never know when your coming up to the next big hill. Any small thing we can incorporate into our lives can make a difference. 

So when life gives you lemons, sniff them! 




From my heart, 



Celeste

For more information on how scent affects your mood, check out my delicious stack of article here. 



Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, Making Changes, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , ,