“Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath.

Stress is an ignorant state.  It believes that everything is an emergency.  Nothing is that important.  Just lie down”

Natalie Goldberg

Many of the women I see in the clinic come in with physical ailments, but in the vast majority of cases there is a large serving of underlying stress.   Real life is often messy, unpredictable, hectic, unbalanced and overwhelming.   It’s often impossible to control the external stressors which keep us awake into the wee small hours.

Then the best we can do is focus on increasing our internal resilience through shifting mental paradigms.

Of course it makes sense to modify as many external stressors as possible, and then take a deep breath and  remember that stress is really an “inside job” -  an internal response to an external cue.  Have you ever heard anyone say “I’m under so much stress?”  The truth is that stress is not  what happens to us  – the unpaid mortgage; the sick children; or the strained marriage… these outside forces are the stressors not the stress. 

The stress is generated purely by how we perceive, interpret and respond to these outside forces. Given that the path of modern life is littered with stressors, simply putting in place strategies of avoidance is not the answer.  What is?

The secret to reducing the impact of these “stressors”, is shifting our focus from the outside chaos and turmoil, to our inner world, paying attention instead to altering our mental perceptions.  As our thinking changes, so too does our biology.  

Stressors will always be present, but we can increase our understanding of our own individual reactions to them; and learn new psychological skills to maintain our internal biological equilibrium in spite of the less than ideal outside world. 

Our mind and body are one, and their second by second interaction literally creates our internal biological soup.  First comes a thought, followed immediately by a biological response.  On the way home you remember that you left your house keys on your desk.  Immediately your adrenal glands squirt a fountain of stress hormones, and your heart rate and blood pressure climb rapidly.   Over time, our thought determined biology predicts our physical state of health.

Our attitudes, beliefs, and emotional states, be they love and compassion or fear and anger, trigger biochemical chain reactions that affect our blood chemistry, heart rate, and the activity of every cell and organ system in our body.

So what are the psychological characteristics which  increase our stress hardiness and reduce our risk of physical illness?  Studies looking at executives running top companies have identified several personality characteristics in those executives who remained healthy in the face of ongoing stress.  One trait is the ability to respond to challenge with excitement and energy to change.  These people look at new situations as a new opportunity to learn, grow, and develop personally. 

Having a commitment to something meaningful, be it their work, their community, family, or charity was also another key factor.   The third, and critical characteristic, was a sense of being in control, of being able to make decisions that make a difference and make things happen.

Conversely, there are other mental traits which increase our vulnerability to stress:

• negative mental processes such as “deficiency focusing”-  the habit of always focusing on the negative instead of the positive.  Often this is accompanied by a mindset which anticipates and expects difficulties and problems. 

• Negative self-talk – bombarding ourselves with  internal messages of failure and low self esteem, such as “I always mess up”; “I’m not good enough to do that”; “they won’t pick me of course”.  Playing these negative records endlessly in your brain triggers a stress response, causing a  release of  adrenaline and cortisol, and eventually leading to the development of stress related illness. Negative self-talkers often have an associated tendency of low skill recognition.  With low perception of their own abilities, they underplay the role of their abilities in their success, instead  attributing everything positive to an external factor such as luck or another person.

High CRP may mean you one day need CPR!

This week I found myself explaining some blood tests to a patient.  In particular I was interested in her C-Reactive Protein (CRP) results.  This is a simple blood test that is often overlooked in a standard battery of tests, and yet it’s a test which gives us a very clear insight into a persons risk of a host of nasty degenerative diseases.

CRP is a protein molecule produced in the liver in response to inflammation in the body.  Inflammation is the body’s immunological response to bacterial or viral invasion, or trauma such as twisting an ankle.  Under these circumstances the inflammatory response works in our favour to wake up infection fighting immune agents, and speed tissue healing.

Increasingly though, we are paying the price for our overweight and sedentary ways, with an epidemic of chronic inflammation.  When the acute inflammatory response that helps us, becomes stuck in the “on” position, the ongoing systemic inflammation can cause havoc in our body.   It is thought that this inflammation is a main driver in the development of debilitating diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

Measuring CRP levels allows us to determine what degree of systemic inflammation exists.   Otherwise healthy middle aged men with the highest CRP levels are three times more likely to suffer a heart attack in the next six years compared with their peers with the lowest CRP levels.   If your CRP is 3 or higher, your risk of heart disease is tripled…. And the danger is even greater if you are a woman.  On the other hand, if your CRP is a very healthy 0.5 or lower, it is highly unlikely that you will ever end up in the cardiology ward.

If you’re over forty I would recommend an annual wellness check that not only includes testing your cholesterol and triglycerides, but also measuring your CRP levels.  Everyone knows that too much cholesterol is bad for your health, but in truth the picture is a lot more complex.   LDL (low density lipoprotein) is the “bad” potentially troublesome cholesterol that can cause plaquing in your arteries.  Even if your LDL levels are high, it’s not the full picture.  If your bad cholesterol is high, but there is no sign of inflammation in your body (shown by a low CRP reading), then you’re at a much lower risk of heart attack than someone with high bad cholesterol and a high CRP reading.  When there is inflammation, it increases the likelihood that the LDL plaques in the arteries will rupture and cause a heart attack.   This is one of the ways in which aspirin (an anti-inflammatory) helps reduce heart attack risk (see my previous blog on aspirin).  Statin drugs are prescribed to lower bad LDL cholesterol, but it turns out that they also work as an anti-inflammatory, thus reducing likelihood of LDL plaques breaking away and causing heart attacks.

One of the causes of chronic inflammation in the body is an excess of abdominal fat.  If you are overweight and carrying much of your excess fat around the middle, you are also likely to have an elevated CRP. Abdominal fat takes on a life of its own, resembling a hormone secreting organ.  Many of the chemicals produced in abdominal fat work as inflammatory agents, as well as decreasing sensitivity to the blood sugar regulating hormone insulin.  Some research suggests that inflammation can increase risk of diabetes, and a higher CRP reading is predictive of a higher risk of developing type II diabetes.  While common sense would suggest that taking steps to lower CRP will also lower diabetes risk, it’s too early to definitively make this claim based on clinical trials.

There are some simple steps you can take to reduce your CRP and along with it your risk of chronic degenerative disease.  It always seems to come down to the same simple, but not so simple equation…. Loose weight and exercise more!  Loosing weight (especially when the excess weight is on your abdomen) increases your sensitivity to the hormone insulin, and at the same time lowers CRP levels.  If you’re a smoker, stop NOW to lower CRP. 

A Mediterranean diet can lower levels of this inflammatory marker.  That means eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, fish, olives, garlic, and yes, a little red wine!

Increasing your dietary fibre content has also been shown to lower CRP, so switch to wholegrains, brown rice, beans and lentils and of course lots of fruit and vegetables. 

  www.lyndawharton.com

24 hours a day, 7 days a week our senses are bombarded with images and sounds of  a world  fraught with difficulty.  Twenty four hour a day television, radio and the internet  crash their way relentlessly into our private worlds,  bringing us visions of terror, death and despair from around the globe. It is hardly surprising that depression and anxiety disorders haunt us in ever increasing numbers.  While cancer and diabetes grab the headlines, it is depression which fifteen years from now is projected to become the second most common cause of disability for all ages and both sexes, worldwide.   In any given year, nearly ten percent of the western world suffer from depression, with women at almost double the risk of men.  Between the ages of 18 and 24, depression is our leading cause of premature death and disability.

The treatment of  depression and anxiety disorders invariably centres on pharmaceutical medications such as antidepressants and tranquilisers.  Often, but not always, adjunctive psychotherapy or counselling is used.  While antidepressants are one of the most widely prescribed classes of medication, their efficacy and dangers remain a subject of scientific debate.  Some studies indicate their effectiveness to be no greater than placebo. The most widely prescribed antidepressant, Fluoxetine Hydrochloride (Prozac)  belongs to a group of drugs known as SSRI’s.  Treatment with Fluoxetine has been shown to produce a 50% improvement in symptoms in only 38% of those who start treatment, and in only 56% of those who complete a full course.  Discontinuation rates are high with 27 out of 100 patients receiving a SSRI during a six week trial stopping treatment because of side effects.  Of late debate has centred on research indicating an increased risk of suicide amongst antidepressant users, especially young people and children.

While antidepressants are often credited with potentially lifesaving therapeutic effects, lifestyle and dietary changes and clinical nutrition offer huge therapeutic benefits to  many depressed or anxious people.  Whether your tablet of choice is an antidepressant, a herb or a nutritional supplement, simply swallowing a pill without addressing the bigger picture of your life, is nothing more than a short term “bandaid”. Seventy percent of people who are prescribed antidepressant therapy experience a relapse at a future date  once off their medication.  For most people resolving emotional issues or addressing areas of chronic conflict in their life is an important part of long term recovery.  Daily living practices also need to come under the microscope.  If you’re running on empty, with little sleep, a poor work/life balance, no times of joy and relaxation, few close nurturing personal relationships and friendships, and no time for exercise, you’re a walking prescription for anxiety and depression.  Simply swallowing a pill without also addressing the bigger picture of your life may well prove to be a futile act of self delusion.

Many New Zealanders start their day with a nutritious breakfast and a nutritional supplement or two for good measure.  While multivitamin and mineral tablets are a useful way of covering all the nutritional bases, specific nutrient therapy has  has much to offer in restoring balance to a frayed or depressed nervous system.

(part one of a two part blog)

AMH TEST

As an acupuncturist and naturopath, working with women trying to conceive is a big part of my daily clinic life.  Recently, many of them have asked me about the new AMH blood  test hitting the headlines in New Zealand. While it’s early days and there appears to be yet more research to do, this simple blood test appears to be a very useful tool  for women wanting a true insight into the state of their remaining fertility.

The AMH tests levels of Anti-mullerian hormone.  This hormone is produced by egg follicles that the ovaries grow in order to prepare an egg for release.  In a nut shell, the more of this hormone you have in your bloodstream, the better off you are in the fertility stakes.  Hormone levels reduce with age, and the lower your levels, the less likely you are to conceive.

AMH levels are a reflection of how many egg follicles you have remaining in your ovaries, and it’s also a reflection of the biological health and vitality of those remaining eggs.  The biological age of a woman’s eggs can differ from her chronological age.  You can be a fit and sprightly 35 year old for example, but have eggs more like those you’d expect to find in a 40 year old woman. A baby girl is born with all the egg follicles she will ever have, and once she starts ovulating from her early teens onwards, the number of egg follicles gradually decline until menopause.  The existing test used to guage fertility is the FSH or Follicle Stimulating Hormone test.  This test is much less sensitive than the AMH test, and is only able to tell a woman her fertility is declining, at an advanced stage of the process.

Developers of the AMH test are really emphasising this use for the test, suggesting that women in their thirties have a test to determine their likely fertility for the following two years.  Based on their results they have a clearer understanding of the potential cost or otherwise of delaying conception.  Perhaps they want to travel overseas; take a job promotion… or simply find a man of “fathering” quality.  A poor AMH result would give them the option of trying to conceive sooner rather than later.  Test results are thought to be 70% accurate.

The AMH also makes the stressful process of fertility treatment a little less of a lottery.   AMH testing of women about to undergo IVF allows specialists a clearer idea of the likelihood of success for a particular woman.  Understanding the biological age of a womans eggs will allow doctors to tinker with fertility drug doses to maximise a womans chance of success, while minimising the risk of “hyperstimulating” her ovaries… a potentially fatal situation. 

Working with women experiencing the grief of infertility, I personally see  a great benefit in this new test.  I would encourage all my 30 something patients, still putting off pregnancy for yet another year, to have this test.

Lynda Wharton is a Traditional Chinese Acupuncturist and Naturopath with 25 years experience in Holistic Woman’s Health.  She is also the author of “Wellbeing – an essential guide to vibrant good health for women available online at www.lyndawharton.com

A new study from Denmark confirms what I’ve suspected for a long time. Women who live a life of high career pressure (a role traditionally associated with males) take on the male profile of cardiac disease. The Danish study looked at a group of 12,000 nurses between the ages of 45 and 64, and assessed the impact of their work pressures, and the degree of personal influence or power they had in the workplace. The nurses were tracked for a fifteen year period. The results were hardly surprising, but interesting confirmation that it’s not just stressed out type A business men who pay a price for workplace stress. Those nurses who reported their work pressures to be too high, were 25% more likely to develop heart disease compared with nurses who said work pressures were manageable and appropriate. For those at the top end of the stress scale, who felt overwhelmed by work pressures, there was a 35% increased risk of heart disease.

Premenopausal women under the age of 50 generally have a low incidence of heart disease, due to the cardiovascular protective effects of estrogen. If you’re a younger woman in a stressful work environment, don’t bank on your female hormones protecting your heart from the effects of stress. According to this latest study, you are in a demographic MOST at risk of work stress related heart disease. Nurses under the age of 50, who felt they were under moderate work place stress were a whopping 60% more likely to have heart disease compared with their unstressed peers.

So is it the actual biochemical changes resulting from stress that predispose us to heart disease, or is it the effect that stress has on our lifestyle choices? Most likely it’s a combination of both. Feeling chronically stressed puts you into a “fight or flight” state for much of the day, complete with health damaging biochemical changes. But the truth is that if you’re stressed and exhausted when you get home you’re much less likely to have the energy to exercise or cook yourself a healthy dinner… and a glass or three of wine a night may look just a little too tempting.

If you are interested in finding out proactive ways of optimizing your health, read “Wellbeing”, by Lynda Wharton, published by Harper Collins. Available in book stores, and online at www.lyndawharton.com

This is a test post of video for wordpress

Self Help

If chronic bladder infections are making your life a misery, there is plenty you can do to help yourself. Pass water before and immediately after sex, and wash thoroughly after intercourse to prevent bacteria finding their way to your vulnerable bladder.  Drink plenty of water throughout the day, and pass water frequently.  Never hold on to a full bladder for longer than necessary.  Avoid scented and coloured toilet paper, and personal hygiene products. Take extra care to maintain hygiene when you have a bowel movement.  Always wipe, from the front to the back, to avoid transferring E coli bacteria into the urethra.

Red miracle berries

The slightly tart tasting cranberry has been used by indigenous people to treat urinary tract infections, for centuries. Although our ancestors knew that eating and drinking cranberries prevented and treated urinary tract infections, modern science has uncovered the secrets to these effects.   These tiny red berries help to acidify the urine, thus making it less hospitable to bacteria.  They also contain a number of chemicals which make it more difficult for bacteria (usually the E.Coli bacteria which lives in the human gut) to attach itself to the bladder lining, therefore promoting the flushing of the bacteria, when you pass water.  Two main components of cranberry prevent this bacterial adhesion.  The first is the fruit sugar fructose, and the second is the powerful antioxidant proanthocyanidin.

With chronic bladder infections it is important to eliminate as much sugar as possible from your diet, so if you are drinking cranberry juice regularly, make sure it is the face puckering unsweetened variety.  Alternatively use fresh cranberries or cranberry extract capsules instead.   Six capsules equate to 2oz of fresh cranberry juice.  Cranberry juice or capsules are best taken with meals, twice daily, or three to four times daily during an active bladder infection.

Recent research has discovered that it’s not only cranberries that are good for bladder health.  Blueberries are one of the most beneficial foods to add to your diet, and it appears that they are great for your bladder health too.  Like, cranberries, blueberries contain naturally occurring antioxidant chemicals which stop bacteria from sticking to the bladder walls. 

D-mannose

Cranberries and blueberries contain a natural sugar called D-mannose, which is similar in structure but metabolised differently, from glucose.  As the body metabolises only a small amount of D-mannose and excretes the rest in the urine, it is safe for diabetics to use as a supplement.  D-mannose has been shown to be ten times more effective than cranberries at dislodging E coli from the bladder walls.  Studies show that supplementing with D-mannose regularly can reduce the incidence of bladder infections dramatically.  Unlike antibiotics, D-mannose does not kill any bacteria, good or bad, but simply helps to displace them.

Diet matters

Does diet play a part in frequent bladder infections?  Yes, according to a study in the American Journal of Nutrition.  The diets of women who suffered frequent bladder infections were compared with the diets of a  control group of women who never had bladder problems. The results showed that eating more fresh fruit and drinking more berry juice was linked to a lower incidence of urinary tract infections.  Interestingly, the consumption of fermented milk products containing probiotics, such as acidophilus yoghurt, was also linked with a lower incidence of recurring urinary tract infections.  This is because the friendly bacteria in cultured milk products colonises the gut, helping to keep the problematic E.coli bacteria in check.  As well as eating cultured dairy products regularly, always use a probiotic supplement for at least a month after a course of antibiotics, to restore a healthy bacteria balance in your gut.