Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Laughter really is the best medicine

20 October, 2012 by 6 Comments
 
With winter approaching, many people are affected by seasonal affective disorder and fight the wintertime blues. Since my busy life has made it difficult for me to post lately, I thought I’d repost my series of practical tips to get those happy hormones in your brain working to create a happier you this winter. Enjoy!
As a pharmacist, a patient, and a child of God who’s had to be “parented” quite a lot over the last eight years, I have learned many practical solutions to insomnia, depression, anxiety, and addiction. I’ve also learned that these four issues often go hand in hand, and are directly related to the chemicals in our brain. The pharmacist in me sought a medical solution–pills. And as most of you know, pills just made things worse.
Throughout this year, I’m going to share small, easy changes you can make in your life that will make for a happier you. All of these tidbits of information are based in both scientific fact and scripture. Medicine and faith really can walk hand in hand when God is your first and foremost physician. I’ll try to keep it simple as far as the “sciency” stuff goes, but a little knowledge about the brain really helps understand why these solutions work.
Most of you have probably heard about the hormone we have called serotonin, right? It’s that almighty chemical the media flooded us with information about when Prozac was first introduced. There is another hormone in your brain called cortisol. Cortisol is the hormone that really kicks in we we are under high stress, afraid, in a hurry, etc. It’s the one that helps us with our “fight or flight” mechanism. Remember that term from high school biology? Well, these two hormones do not coexist well. When Cortisol is high, like when you are worried or stressed, Serotonin is low. And vice versa. 
I’m here to tell you that you don’t need Prozac or one of it’s relatives to help. There are numerous small changes you can make in your lifestyle that have been clinically proven to increase the serotonin levels in your brain. 
Today I want to tell you about laughter aerobics. “What?” Yes, laughter aerobics. This has got to be one of the silliest things I’d ever heard of, but it really exists. Laughter aerobics is a class where people basically sit in a circle and one person is appointed to begin laughing. Fake, real, goofy…it doesn’t matter. They just have to laugh. In turn, everyone else starts laughing too. The great thing is, you don’t have to go to an aerobics class! In the evening, after your work day is complete, do some laughter aerobics with your family. Your kids will think you’re nuts, but that’s all part of the fun! I promise you will end your day with a happy note, your cortisol levels will decrease, your serotonin levels will increase, and as a bonus, you will sleep better.
To top it off, science is not the only confirmation that laughter will make you happier. Read the prescription verse for today. From this verse comes the quote we’ve all heard, “laughter is the best medicine.” 
So tonight, begin your new year by making this small change. Spend just five minutes with your family playing laugh aerobics. I promise you won’t regret it and what do you have to lose?
Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, God's Pharmacy, Handling Stress, How to be Happy, Making Changes, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Stretch Your Way to Happy

28 April, 2012 by 15 Comments

When Marlee was just a toddler, she would stretch endlessly. When I would go to get her up in the mornings, she would stall saying, “Hang on, I’m not finished stretching yet.” And she would stretch to one side, then the other, procrastinating because she didn’t want to get out of bed. 


But she always got up in the best of moods! 


Stretching does so much for our mind and body. When I get up in the morning, I try to take lessons from Marlee and stretch for a minute. I’m immediately energized and awake. At night, if I can’t sleep, I stretch my arms and legs as far as I can, hold the stretch, and then relax every muscle in my body. 
There is something that happens when I do this that feels like peace washing over me…which is why I picked the prescription verse above. 


I’d like to think that I’ve had the peace of God many times in my life, but nothing like I felt when He healed me in 2010 of seizures, depression, and addiction. I was in the car listening to a song by Phillips, Craig, and Dean called Mercy Came Running, being totally thankful for the mercy that God showed me when He chose to heal me, and I literally felt peace wash down over me, starting at the top of my head, running down my hair and face, then over my shoulders—kind of like the green slime kids get poured over them on Nickelodeon, only not so gooey! 😉


When we stretch out our muscles, we release endorphins in our brains that give us a peace of sorts…a sense of well-being and calmness. Maybe not as good as God’s peace washing over you, but he did create the hormones in our brain, so in a sense, it is His peace! 


Here are a few other ways stretching is good for you: 

  • Stretching relieves your body of stress, therefore decreasing your cortisol levels and increasing your serotonin levels.
  • Stretching helps put your muscles in a more relaxed state, therefore helping you sleep better.
  • When you stretch, you are focused on your muscles…contracting and relaxing them with a regulated breathing pattern, which also increases serotonin.
  • Stretching increases blood flow in your body, therefore reducing the stress on any particular system in your body (cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous system).

So the tip to a happier you for today is simple—stretch. If you read Monday’s post, and you have your post-it note up to remind you to say your “trust” prayer, just use it to remind you to stretch too. Again, it only takes a few minutes and what do you have to lose? 

From my heart, 
Celeste
Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, How to be Happy, Overcoming Addiction, Physical Wellness, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Do what you love

22 April, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I love to take pictures of people. It’s both challenging and rewarding to capture the essence of someone’s personality in a photograph. Sometimes you can see personality characteristics in a photograph that you can’t see in real life. We were created in God’s image, and every single one of is is a masterpiece created by the Master Creator. 


One of the best ways to fight depression—or even just the blues—is to do something that you love. For me, photography is one of my “somethings.” Here are the reasons photography makes me happy: 

  • It is a creative outlet
  • It keeps my mind focused and busy
  • It allows me to interact with people
  • It allows me to do something for someone else
  • It gives me a sense of accomplishment

All of these reasons I enjoy photography actually increase the endorphins and chemicals (serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin) in my brain that increase my mood and sense of well being. Doing something that you love, whether it’s photography, music, gardening, carpentry, etc…have most of the characteristics I listed above. 


So my tip for a happier you today is to do something that you love. Whether you make money or not is irrelevant. Getting paid for doing what you love sometimes makes it more rewarding, and sometimes it makes it less. It’s all the other reasons that make it worth it. 

For me, spring is a great time for photography which is what led me to this tip today. With senior pictures, proms, and mother’s day, my camera has been busy. And I was blessed to get to photograph one a God’s new creations last week too! So I thought I’d share a few of God’s masterpieces with you today as seen through my lens 😉

So go do what you love and be happy! 
From my heart, 

Celeste
Enjoy! 😉

Gotta love the horse in this one! :D

Filed Under: How to be Happy, Life Through the Lens, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Do you have insomnia? Learn how to sleep!

11 February, 2012 by Leave a Comment
When God created the earth, he rested on the seventh day. Wouldn’t it be nice if we only had to rest once a week? It sure would free up time for my to-do list. But sleep doesn’t work that way. God created us to need sleep, and unfortunately, a little more than once a week. 
When I was in the midst of my seven years of hell, insomnia plagued me frequently. In my depression, all I wanted to do was sleep. But also in my depression, I didn’t want to do anything at all, so my brain never really told my body it needed sleep. So of course the pharmacist in me took the easy way out—a sleeping pill called Ambien. The depression and lack of activity, however, even kept the Ambien from working the way it should. I never slept for more that two to three hours at a time, and once I went twenty-one days straight with not one wink of sleep. I know, I’d tell you it was impossible too if I didn’t experience it myself. 
The sleep-wake cycle is complex. No two ways about it. There are six stages total sleep-wake cycle, and each of the following hormones plays a part: Cortisol, Acetylcholine, Glutamine, Norepinephrine, Dopamine, Serotonin, Adenosine, Galanin, GABA, Melatonin, Progesterone, etc.; are you getting the picture? Did God create a complex brain or what? He knew what he was doing and He gives us instructions on how to take care of it.
…And when they sleep, they will wake refreshed. 
(Jeremiah 31:26 CEV)
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil;
For he gives to his beloved sleep. 
(Psalm 127:2 ESV)
And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” 
For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 
(Mark 6:31 ESV)
On September 25, 2010, when God showed mercy on me and rescued me from the pit I was in, quite a few light bulbs came on. The revelations didn’t come all at once, but over a few months God revealed truths to me that I couldn’t see in the pit. I won’t bore you with too much sciency stuff, but I want to give you some absolutes about sleep. 
•   Some type of exercise early in the day will help you sleep at night. 
When we exercise, our body makes cortisol (our fight or flight hormone), which lasts in our body about eight hours. It also breaks down ATP to give us energy and a hormone called adenosine. Once the cortisol level begins to drop off early in the evening, the adenosine is there and ready to calm us down to get ready to sleep. If we exercise too late in the day, the timing doesn’t allow this process to occur any faster, so we can’t get to sleep. Since I’ve started running in the mornings, I’m typically asleep within a minute…once I stop talking of course. 

•   A sleeping pill is meant for short-term use only. 

As is the case with many drugs, once your body becomes used to them, their effect declines. Ambien, a common one used today, activates GABA receptors in your brain that control the rhythm of sleep cycles. It’s speculated that Ambien does not allow for an adequate amount of REM sleep which is necessary to recall past events. If you’ve ever taken Ambien, you know that it really messes with your memory. I can remember waking up in my bed, having no memory of the night before—no memory of getting the kids to bed, cleaning up the kitchen, or taking my shower, yet apparently I had done them all. 

•   Meditation can be a powerful tool, not medication. 

I used to roll my eyes when people told me that. I always thought meditation was just a new age title for prayer. Now I have been known to recommend prayer at bedtime, because when we pray, the devil will put us right to sleep! But when insomnia is a problem, prayer can sometimes make us dwell on the things in our lives that cause worry. Here’s a little meditation trick that I find very helpful when you can’t go to sleep: 

When you are in the bed completely relaxed, begin breathing in and out slow to the count of four.
Breathe in…1 2 3 4; breathe out…1 2 3 4.
Repeat.
 Each time you breathe out, try to let your body relax a little more by the count of four. 
By counting, your brain doesn’t have time to think about all of the things trying to crowd your brain. The repetitive action of counting and breathing naturally helps our bodies produce calming hormones like melatonin. It works like a charm. 
•   Sleep in a dark, quite room. 

The happy hormone that I’ve talked so much about, serotonin, is actually converted to melatonin to help us get into that deep sleep. However, it is impossible for serotonin to be converted to melatonin in light. Melatonin can only be produced in the dark. That’s why it’s so difficult for people who work third shift to get on a sleep cycle that is effective, and why there is such a high incidence of depression and insomnia in Alaska when the sun shines twenty hours out of the day. It may be “all in our mind,” but it’s the chemicals “all in our mind” that are in control. 
I know this was a lengthy post, but sleep is essential to everything we are. Lack of sleep causes us to be depressed, overweight, fatigued, in pain, short-tempered, stressed, anxious, etc., and insomnia plagues more people than you might think. Please share this with anyone you know who suffers from insomnia. The pharmaceutical world we live in pushes us to take this for that or that for this, when the best answer to insomnia is simple lifestyle changes. 
So put some of these tips into practice and sleep your way to a happier you! 
From my heart, 

Celeste
Filed Under: Beating Depression, Brain Functions, Making Changes, Managing Prescription Drugs, Physical Wellness, Tips to a Happier You Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Acts of Kindness & Altruism

4 February, 2012 by 2 Comments


Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
 (Romans 15:1-2 Msg)

The definition of altruism in the New American Oxford Dictionary reads as follows: 

altruism |ˈaltroōˌizəm|
noun
the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others 


One of the foundational truths repeated time and time again throughout the Bible is that we should practice altruism:
You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.
(Mark 12:31 ESV)

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law of the Prophets.
(Matthew 7:12 ESV)

We are to care for and have compassion for our fellow man.

Much scientific research has been done on the effects of altruism, and it has been proven time and time again it benefits both the giver and the receiver. Acts of kindness and altruism have shown to actually increase serotonin production in both parties involved.

When we are depressed, we tend to maintain the “poor, pitiful me” status. You can only remain miserable by continuing to look inward. When we begin to help someone else, we take our focus off ourselves and begin looking outward.

In doing some research on altruism, I did find a few studies that support findings that altruism can contribute to depression. The giver can get wrapped up in the problems of the receiver and become depressed. I do understand that way of thinking, and that’s where our faith must come into play. There will always be sad situations that are ultimately out of our control. But that’s where God comes in. We are only commanded to help others, not to solve all of their problems. God has a plan and as Christians, we must trust him to carry out that plan. We are only to carry out the part of that plan as he presents it to us.


And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:28 ESV)
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
(Ephesians 1:11 ESV)
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
(Matthew 19:26 ESV)
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
(Proverbs 19:21 ESV)
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
(Jeremiah 29:11 ESV)

Serving others is always an adventure. To begin an act of service is to open yourself up to blessings you never know existed.

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’(Matthew 25:40 ESV)



Matthew 6:19-21 tells us not to collect treasures here on earth, but to lay up our treasures in Heaven. Have you ever wondered what that really means? Every single person on the earth has eternal significance—they all have souls worth saving—and will be our treasures in Heaven. 

I challenge you this week to look outward into the world around you and see what you can do for someone else.

From my heart,

Celeste


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

Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Get Moving!

21 January, 2012 by 2 Comments

When God created man, He sent them out to work in the garden. He didn’t tell them to sit down at the computer and play Farmville on Facebook. 
We were created in His image. 
He created the intricately detailed system of nerves, glands, neurons, and neurotransmitters in our brain that controls our emotions. 
All that He created was good. 
But our world has changed.  
As I mentioned in a recent post on the benefits of being outdoors, (click here to read: “Do you have nature deficit disorder?”) our world has become more and more industrialized, and our jobs don’t consist of the hard labor they once did. 
Our bodies were made to move. Our brains crave movement to keep everything up there in balance. Exercise must be a priority in our lives to keep the chemicals in our brain working properly. 
Here comes the “sciency” part: 
Remember that cortisol is the “fight or flight” hormone? It’s the one released when we are in any type of stressful situation, emotional or physical. When we exercise, we put our bodies under stress, and cortisol is released. 

But wait, cortisol is bad isn’t it? 
Cortisol is necessary for those emergency situations when we must react quickly–the “fight or flight” situations. But we don’t want cortisol hanging around all the time. Exercise is always difficult when we start. We put our bodies under stress that we aren’t used to and our body reacts by releasing cortisol. As we increase the intensity and duration of exercise, our endurance gets better and our bodies don’t perceive stress nearly as quickly, so not as much cortisol will be released. The more we increase our endurance, the better our bodies respond to stress. And when cortisol is low, serotonin–our happy hormone–is high. 
As an added bonus, when we exercise, endorphins are released into our brains. The word “endorphin” comes from “endogenous + morphine.” Endorphins have always been known as the “feel good” substance in our brains. Here is an excerpt from an article on endorphins that explains them well:

“Although more research needs to be done, endorphins are believed to produce four key effects on the bodymind: they enhance the immune system, they relieve pain, they reduce stress, and postpone the aging process. Scientists also have found that beta-endorphins can activate human NK (Natural Killer) cells and boost the immune system against diseases and kill cancer cells. In contrast to short-intensity workouts like sprinting or weightlifting, prolonged, continuous exercise like running, long-distance swimming, aerobics, cycling or cross-country skiing appears to contribute to an increased production and release of endorphins. This results in a sense of euphoria that has been popularly labeled the “runner’s high.” (To view the article in it’s entirety, click here:  “What are Endorphins?”)*

I’ve included a chart here that I found on the University of California Santa Cruz website on how cortisol and endorphins play a part in managing stress that explains it well if you’re interested: Managing Stress
I know it’s all very complex and confusing to us, but not to God. He made us in His image…perfection. Whether you care about the “sciency” stuff or not, I know you care about how you feel. We need to live the best lives we can with what God gave us. I started running a few months ago myself, and I’m up to three miles. I promise you if I can do it, you can too! 


So get moving!


From my heart,


Celeste



*www.roadtohealth.com by Bonnie O’Sullivan and Dale Maxwell “What are Endorphins?”




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