MIND & BODY AFTER 50
Professional Help for Recovery from Childhood Trauma
Here's more practical information about childhood trauma. How professional help might contribute to recovery.
Over past decades, psychiatry and psychology have developed various ways to help people heal from the effects of earlier trauma. Research continues. Fortunately, the field of trauma recovery includes many sincere, dedicated professionals who have insight into the suffering of others. Many of them have recovered from trauma too!
What is psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy, sometimes call…
Mindfulness & Positive States of Mind
Thank you for telling me about your experience of optimism. I'm smiling with you in this. We all appreciate our positive states of mind, don't we? It's such an important question. How can we support our happiness?
Even though outer problems may continue (they often do!), we want practical, realistic ways to develop positive states of mind from within. Self-care for our inner world.
But is that really possible? What is truly effective? How can we support our natural capacity for positive st…
Mindfulness is linked to Optimism!
Optimism has an important role in ‘mind-body’ medicine. Research shows optimism is a mind-state that can directly affect both physical and psychological well-being. For example, a doctor could rightly encourage her patient to develop a more optimistic attitude to protect the health of her heart -- or to extend her longevity.
Here’s a 2021 study that has more good news about optimism. It also shows that optimism is linked to mindfulness!
In 2020/21, psychologists from a Dutch university inte…
Too old to learn mindfulness?
Are you wondering if it's too late for you to learn mindfulness? I've been asked that many times during my years teaching MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction). Here's what I've seen.
Age is not an obstacle to mindfulness. In fact, some wise teachers say that happiness in ageing increases with mindfulness!
Curious? Please check out the video (4:40 min).
And see below a summary of research described in the video.
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“This article examines mental and physical …
Is poor sleep a cause for mental health problems?
Here's surprising new research published recently in 2021. It shows that poor sleep can be the cause of mental health problems!
This is a new perspective. Until recently, medical science usually considered a person’s poor sleep to be a part of their mental health problem. Poor sleep was a symptom, caused by the mental health problem.
But this study considers that poor sleep can sometimes be the cause of a mental health problem, not just a symptom.
That's extra significant because sleep an…
Your Amazing Brain!
Maiken Nedergaard is a charming Danish neuroscientist who has changed sleep science forever — and she has helped explain why Alzheimer’s disease is connected to poor sleep!
Your brain’s ‘glymphatic system’
In 2013, Dr. Nedergaard revealed her discovery of the ‘glymphatic system’ — your brain’s amazing system to cleanse itself during sleep.
Every night, during deepest sleep, the ‘astroglial’ cells of your brain actively shrink in size and arrange to form special channels that open wide. T…
How's Your Sleep?
Do you have sleep problems? If you’re saying ‘yes’, you’re certainly not alone!
Women often experience disturbed sleep during the perimenopausal years, and, by the age of 60, almost half say their sleep is a problem, at least from time to time.
Usually, this is just occasional sleeplessness — maybe caused by a work deadline, or a noisy neighbour, or a headache, or too much coffee, etc. etc. The woman feels tired, but, eventually her mind-body rebalances, and she’s back to regular restorati…
Why you want plenty of sleep!
Sleep scientists used to be mild-mannered folks.
They usually stayed in the background, busy measuring brain-waves and lecturing at the university. They wrote scholarly articles to be read mainly by fellow-scientists -- and the occasional medical student like me, years ago.
But recently, that’s changed.
Modern sleep scientists now speak out publicly, sounding the alarm. They say our society suffers from chronic sleep deprivation. We risk serious health problems in the years ahead.
The sle…
Sleep procrastination?
Do you find yourself delaying sleep? It’s your bedtime, but you stay awake for no definite reason?
Scientists call this ‘sleep procrastination’.
Maybe you’re busy online or you’re watching screen-based entertainment? Maybe you’re checking your devices, reacting to messages, etc? You’re busy reading this... watching that... Caught up in vaguely purposeless activity that absorbs your attention. Time goes by and you don’t go to bed.
You may even be in bed, but still you keep looking at an e…
Your body prefers a regular pattern of sleep!
Do you realize how much your body appreciates routine?
The body seems to prefer that we be regular in our daily activities -- that we do the same activities, at the same time, every day.
Here's important new research that shows the health risks associated with being irregular, especially the risks of sleep irregularity.
This 2023 study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. [1] Scientists found that people’s heart health is undermined if they have the habit of an …