Stress and Alzheimer's Disease

A recent study discovered that there might be an important link between chronic stress and Alzheimer's disease. The study indicated that those under constant stress spawned insoluble tau proteins in their brain. This protein is one of the suspected causes of Alzheimer's, thus establishing a clear link between people who are constantly stressed out and their likelihood of getting Alzheimer's.

Neurofibrillary tangles-a protein deposit-are one of the most recognizable indicators that someone has Alzheimer's disease. This, the researchers are saying, is why there has always been a link between stress and sporadic Alzheimer's. Now that it's known that stress can actually spawn these protein structures in the brain, steps need to be taken to figure out how to fight this stress-induced problem. Alzheimer's disease affects about 25 million people around the world, and now that one of the possible causes of this disease is better understood, the next logical step is to figure out how to prevent it.

The study looked at lab mice and found that when they were exposed to emotional stress, their likelihood of getting Alzheimer's increased. The stress spawned the insoluble proteins and this in turn leads to the neurofibrillary tangles mainly found in the brain's hippocampus that so accurately diagnose Alzheimer's.

There are a lot of advances that have been made in Alzheimer's and dementia research lately. This is just another important step toward finding an effective way of preventing and treating this awful disease. Now that one of the causes of Alzheimer's is known, researchers should move in the direction of learning how to prevent this from happening. Stress, of course, is unavoidable in many situations and as a result will never be able to be eliminated, but the results of that stress-the protein deposits-might be able to be avoided. This would be a huge step forward in treating this disease. Responding to the results of stress is the most logical way of approaching this information.

The interesting thing about this study was that they found that not all stresses and stressors are created equal. Acute stress, the kind that is severe and harsh but doesn't last for very long, has little to no bearing on the development of the detrimental proteins. These transient stressors are actually beneficial to the brain, researchers believe, since it increases cellular plasticity. It's chronic and repeated stress that has the biggest negative impact upon the brain. The constant wearing and tearing of stress pathways is what leads to these protein deposits within the hippocampus. And it is the results of this constant stress that is the likely cause of Alzheimer's disease. By figuring out how to eliminate these insoluble tau proteins, doctors will be taking a huge step toward the fight against Alzheimer's.

Matthew G. Young is a freelance writer who specializes in financial, sports, and health-related topics. To learn more about in home health care visit Paradise In Home Care

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10 Ways to Reduce Your Stress Level

Stress is everywhere we look. Let me tell you what stress looks like, how it affects your life, and then 10 simple steps to stress management.

Did you know that 75 percent of all medical complaints are stress related? Here are the most common complaints:

· Insomnia/sleep disorders

· Sexual dysfunction

· Indigestion/ Vomiting

· Ulcers/diarrhea

· Headaches

· Muscle Aches

· High Blood Pressure/heart attack/strokes

· Chronic illnesses ( flu, colds, etc.)

· Hives

At least 50 percent of the population suffers from one of these symptoms on a regular basis. The difference in how we react to stress depends largely on how we perceive ourselves and our situation. Stress releases hormones into our system that attack our immune system. While you can seek out medication to help with stress, it does not take away the source of the stress and the stress hormones are still released to reach havoc on our immune system.

Over work and anxiety may result in hormonal imbalance, which can cause exhaustion or sluggishness in our systems. This hormone reduces the ability of our bodies to fight diseases. There are several symptoms of ongoing stress. They include:

· Isolation from family and friends

· Drug/Alcohol abuse

· Increase in smoking

· Depression/anxiety

· Irritability/rapid mood swings

· Compulsive eating/dieting

· Child/spouse abuse

There are 3 key areas stress hits the hardest:

· Personal/home

· Work/career

· Money/financial

Stress is contagious. If you experience continual intense stress in one area of your life, you will find it in all other areas of your life. That is why Stress Management is so important. There are four phases or coping mechanisms that people usually use to cope or hide stress.

· Phase I: Hope it will go away.

· Phase II: Seek fast relief. (Turning to medication, alcohol or drugs)

· Phase III: Take it out on others:

· Phase IV: Seek help. (The use of stress management techniques; talking to someone)

There are 3 skills to coping with stress. Most people do not plan ahead to cope with stress. These are just some things to think about.

1. Identify the stress source.

2. Have a stress-management strategy in place that offers a step-by-step method to relieve the symptoms and eliminate the cause of the stress.

3. Have outside support available such as family and friends or a counselor.

There are 10 Ways to Manage Stress

1. Do not let minor aggravations get to you. Do not try to ignore feelings of aggravation. Acknowledge them and then look toward possible solutions. Review them the next hour, day, or when the situation will change. Keep your perspective. Small stressors can seem huge, but fade quickly if you let them.

2. Don't succumb to guilt. If you did something you regret fix it if possible-apologize, change your behavior, and learn from your mistakes. Do not let others use guilt to manipulate you. If it is legitimate, take steps to make sure it does not happen again.

3. Develop strategies. This is an action strategy to achieve a specific solution or a coping strategy for adapting to the situation.

4. Learn to accept and adapt to change. Look for opportunities instead of staying in the status quo of things. Take a leadership approach-an active approach to coping with stress.

5. Change the way you look at stress. Look at stress producers from all angles. Look for choices and alternatives. View problem solving as enjoyable and challenging.

6. Develop a support system-at least one person who can be a sounding board. These people can provide valuable insight and perspective.

7. Learn to accept the things we cannot change. You cannot control everything. Look to the future, when things will improve. Accept your feelings and do not hide them, instead look for your supports. Keep busy. Avoid too much free time to think about problems. Change the environment-take a walk, plan a trip. Pamper yourself. Indulge in a personal luxury like relaxing in a hot bath or buy yourself a small gift.

8. Develop a personal anti-stress regimen. This involves a combination of diet, exercise and relaxation. Make it convenient, time effective, inexpensive, and enjoyable.

9. Don't take it personally.

10. Believe in yourself.

These are 10 simple steps to reduce stress. I recommend that you look up how your diet effects stress, simple exercises that reduce stress, and look into relaxation CD's or Podcasts that can teach you relaxation and can be used as relaxation exercises. Having these in hand will greatly reduce your stress level.

Carolyn L. Nelson is a licensed clinical social worker who has been in the field over 20 years. She writes for her Blog at http://blog.therapistscornerblog.com/

She also can be reached at her website at http://www.therapistscornerblog.com/

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Quick Fix for Stress Management

Stress relief is becoming an important part of many people's lives. Work, family and school can take their toll on every family member. It is important for your family and your health to get your stress under control before it controls you. Learning some stress management techniques can, literally, save your life. Here are some quick fixes you can use to help with life's daily stresses.

Deep breathing exercises are a great stress management technique because they work on a mental and physical level. They are easy to learn and help your body feel like it does when already in a relaxed state. Often when we are stressed out, our breathing becomes shallow and the lack of oxygen can make you feel worse. Deep breathing brings in the needed oxygen while sending a signal to your brain to relax and calm down. As with anything, practicing this technique makes it even more powerful. And you can do it anywhere.

Pet your dog or cat. Research shows that pets can provide excellent stress relief along with other health benefits; perhaps more than people since they are non-judgmental. Read studies find that a pet can help reduce depression and help reduce blood pressure. One study showed that owning a pet reduced blood pressure more than pharmaceuticals in a group of hypertensive New York stockbrokers! Of course, if you don't like animals or are too busy to have a pet, then this stress relief technique is not for you.

Spend time with friends or family. If pets are not your thing, at least try to spend more time with loved ones. Talking to friends or family during a stressful time in your life can drastically help. You can let go of bottled up emotions or just laugh, which is another form of stress relief in itself. Allow yourself to relax and have fun with friends, talk to family or a close friend. Whether you talk about your stress and ask for help or if you just hang, relax and have fun, keep in mind that both can be beneficial.

Water therapy have always proven to be great stress relievers for many. The most thought of form is relaxing in a bath. But this is not for everyone. Some prefer showers; almost a symbolic as well as a physical way to wash away the stress of the day. Another form is floatation therapy, where anti gravity allows your body to relax all the muscles more deeply than lying on a surface. Of course, do not attempt this unless with the help of a professional and a floatation tank.

Taking a brisk walk outside can be an excellent form of stress relief. Walking allows to take your mind off your problems as you focus on your surroundings. It increases blood flow to the brain, which can stimulate the release of endorphins; nature's mood enhancing chemicals. You can walk when and where you feel like, without having to change clothes or drive to a gym. Of course other forms of exercise can help, too.

Exercise - if you do belong to a gym, try to put your cares aside for a while as you go take an aerobic class or play racquetball with a friend. Do yoga at home along with a yoga DVD to stretch and relax your muscles and clear your mind. It is a reality that regular exercise reduces stress on many levels. Be sure to not overdo it and injure yourself; even just moderate exercise can make a difference.

Stress relief is needed by almost all of us these days. Students are under pressure, job seekers are competing, parents are busy providing and some of us are just trying to pay our bills. No matter what, learning healthy stress relief techniques can make your quality of life much better.

Nutrition may also help with stress relief or find more help at How To Deal With Stress .com

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Tapping Away Stress

It's a fact that we live in stressful times. Unless you operate under extraordinarily peaceful circumstances, it is almost inevitable that you will encounter daily stress. There are always deadlines to meet, more tasks to get done than seem possible and countless outside forces presenting unexpected challenges every day.

I'm not a doctor, but I am a human being, and I've battled high stress levels for years... and have paid the price for it. So with more than enough first-hand experience and a lot of research, here's what I know: Stress is far more than the tension in your neck and shoulders. It can negatively affect virtually every system in your body.

Knowing how to successfully manage stress (in a safe, responsible way) can improve your health, enhance your relationships and provide peace of mind. It could even increase your longevity. My intention with this article is to teach you a simple, safe and effective way to deal with stress. But first I want to remind you how bad stress really is for you.

The Stress Response

When your body perceives a threat or danger, your nervous system releases a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones prepare the body for emergency action. Your heart pounds, muscles tense and tighten, blood pressure rises, your breath quickens and your senses become sharper. These physical responses help increase your strength and stamina, while enhancing your reaction time to danger.

When you are continually stressed about debt, the amount of work facing you or worrying about something that "might happen" your body reacts just as intensely as if you were facing a life-or-death situation.

The adrenal function, while valuable as a temporary aid during emergencies, keeps your body in the "flight or fight" mode during times of chronic stress. This keeps the tap open on your adrenal glands, greatly fatiguing them and taxing your body's resources. And, the more often your stress response is activated, the harder it is to shut off.

Stress can raise your blood pressure, increase your risk of heart attack or stroke and compromise your immune system. Chronic stress can also speed up the aging process and even reprogram the brain, leaving you vulnerable to anxiety, addictions and depression. Bummer. Additionally, many people deal with stress by overeating, which further increases health problems. Stress is also one of the main factors in sleep disorders. As we lose sleep, our bodies and minds are put under even more stress, further compounding the problem.

Stress contributes to gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, diarrhea, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. And if that's not enough, stressful experiences can heighten sensitivity to arthritis, back pain, muscle pains, headaches, and even contribute to infertility!

The Good News

One of the most efficient, safe and easy ways to cope with and even reduce stress is through meridian or energy tapping. This article isn't intended to teach you all about meridian tapping, but rather to introduce you to some simple tools to reduce your stress or anxiety. *See other resources for learning more about tapping at the bottom of this article.

By tapping on certain meridians while making some simple statements, an individual can reduce stress by 60% or more in a matter of minutes. With a little more time and diligence, a stressful or anxious state can easily be transformed to a calm relaxing state.

Check into your body's current stress level and measure it on a 10 to 0 scale. If you are highly charged or agitated, that would be a 10. Feeling calm and relaxed would be a 1 or zero. Sit down, take a deep breath and reference the Energy Points chart (below) for the tapping points.

First, tap on the karate chop point (KC) of one hand with the fingers of your other hand, while saying a simple set-up statement such as: "Even though I'm really stressed at the moment, I want to accept that for now, and allow myself to change." Do this 2-3 times. (A more specific description of what the sequence will look like is shown below.)

Next, tap on these described meridian points, with three fingers, while repeating a reminder phrase of "This stress" or "Stress about this meeting."

Begin at the inside of the eyebrows, just above the bridge of the nose (EB,) then move down to the side of the eyes (SE,) then under the eyes (UE,) and under the nose (UN.) You should be tapping about 4-6 times at each location. After the tapping under the nose drop your fingers to under the chin (UC.)

Then, move your fingers down to just under your collarbone and about 2" out from the center of your throat (CB.) Then continue tapping under the arms (UA,) under the breasts or liver point (LV,) then on the line at the beginning of your wrists (WR,) then finally on the crown of your head (CRN.)

Here's what it will look like:

1) Set-up Statement: "Even though I feel pressured and stressed about this deadline (or whatever is true for you), I want to accept it for now while allowing myself to shift." Tap on the KC point continually while saying this 3 times.

Tap on the meridian points, with three fingers, and with both hands, as shown, while saying a reminder statement, such as "This stress." Here are some other choices for reminder statements. You may use them all, choose only one or improvise with one that suits your stress situation.

EB- this stress
SE- feeling stressed
UE- my stressful day
UN- this stressful deadline
CB- the stress in my neck and shoulders
UA- the anxiety and stress about my job
LV- all of my stresses
WR- this stress is giving me a headache
CRN- my stress level right now

2) Do another round or two, using the same or similar statements. Breathe normally as you tap, releasing the stress on the exhale.

3) Reassess your stress level and see if your number is the same, higher or lower. For most people it will have gone to 2 or 3 points from where you began. For some people it will go up a notch or two, simply because you are focusing on the stress more closely.

4) Do another set-up phrase (on the KC point) changing it slightly to "Even though I still feel stressful, I am feeling slightly more calm, and want to feel even more relaxed and calmer." Repeat this 2-3 times.

5) Do 2 more rounds of tapping, similar to the ones shown above, but this time add in some desire statements:

EB- this remaining stress
SE- I want to let it go
UE- this stressful deadline
UN- I want to be calm about it
CB- the stress in my neck and shoulders
UA- I want to relax my tense muscles
LV- all of my stresses
WR- I allow myself to release them
CRN- I want to feel calm and relaxed

6) Reassess your intensity again. If it's above a 3, repeat steps 5 and 6. If it's a 3 or below, change the setup to an empowering "choice statement" as shown below. Something like, "Even though I'm still feeling stressed, I choose to completely eliminate it. I choose to feel calm, relaxed and better prepared to meet my obligations." Then tap on the points using reminder statements such as:

EB- this remaining stress
SE- I chose to eliminate it now
UE- this stressful deadline
UN- I choose to have more than enough time
CB- the stress in my neck and shoulders
UA- I choose to relax my neck and shoulders
LV- all of my stresses
WR- I choose to let them go
CRN- I choose to feel calm and relaxed

7) Keep repeating the above steps until you feel the tension completely release from your body. You will experience longer-lasting results if you keep tapping until your stress feels entirely gone (at a zero), rather than just "less." You should be able to do this in 15 minutes or so.

*Note: If your stress level isn't going down after 2-3 sequences, then you most likely have a psychological reversal or "subconscious resistance to change." You may feel that stress helps to give you the edge you need to complete a task. You may think it's not OK to be calm and relaxed when having so much to do. You may feel that being stressed makes you seem more businesslike or hardworking. Don't worry, that's normal. Just add this procedure prior to the set-up statement:

Tap on the KC point while making this statement 3 times; "Even though I DON'T want to let go of this stress, for WHATEVER reason, I still want to accept and respect myself." This "Reversal Neutralization" helps discharge the resistance to change, allowing this process to work more easily.

Performing this simple tapping process won't eliminate stressful events in your life, but it can greatly improve how you deal with them.

Good luck and good tapping.

** For more information on tapping, workshops and webinars visit http://www.lkcoaching.com/ Read more articles like this in Lindsay's "Power of 10s Series - 10 Ways to Brighten Your Life" at http://www.powerof10s.com/.

Lindsay Kenny has been helping people lose weight, improve their health, increase their energy and self-esteem, and become more effective in life for over 30 years. Lindsay is a Life Coach and member of the ICF, an EFT Master and Certified Trainer for the AAMET, and the founder of the National Alliance for Emotional Health. As a trainer to practitioners and trainers, Lindsay derives great joy from the knowledge that those she trains go on to help many more. The "secret" to Lindsay's success is her genuine care and concern for her clients, and she brings a lifetime of experience, with thousands of hours of coaching training to her practice as well. Providing outstanding client support, frequent follow-up and affordable pricing options allows Lindsay to establish relationships with her valued clients that will last a lifetime!

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