Yo-Yo Dieting Alters The Way We Handle Stress

Yo-yo dieting can change the way our body handles stress and can cause us to overeat, according to a new study published in the December 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The findings of this study show that moderate diets can influence the way our brain responds to stress and crash diets can make us more susceptible to weight gain.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania had examined the hormone levels and behaviour of laboratory mice that were fed on limited diets. The mice lost 10 to 15% of body weight after three weeks of a fewer calorie diet similar to human diets. Previous studies showed that mice that have a lifelong calorie restricted diets live 50% longer than well-fed mice. Quick-fix diets led to an increased level of the stress hormone corticosterone and to depression like behaviour.

Several genes that are important in regulating eating and stress have changed, according to the researchers. Experiences that can alter the form and structure of DNA fall into the domain of epigenetics. Such epigenetic changes were reported to last even when mice started to be fed back to reach normal weights.

Results suggested that dieting not only increases stress, but it can also reprogram the way our brain responds to future stress and emotional drives for food. Future weight loss drugs should target such stress related molecules.

Stress and Health:Behavioural Medicine and Managing stress

Stress is more prevalent today’s society than ever before in our past
· Stress is blamed for effects including: mental illness, poor health, physical illness, painful emotions and poor relationships
· Stress profoundly affects the immune, nervous and endocrine systems (study of psychoneuroimmunology)
· Situations that one person finds stressful (for example public speaking) others might find invigorating
· Some types of situations everyone finds stressful (war, earthquakes, fires)
· Definition: Stress occurs when one is faced with events perceived as threatening to their physical or psychological well being
· Events that produce stress are called stressors
· Reactions to stressors are called stress responses
· Bad stress = distress
· Good stress = eustress
Categories of Stressful Events:
· Traumatic situations: outside the range of usual human experience (house fires, earthquake, war, car accidents, robbery, rape)
· Uncontrollable and unpredictable events: noise, crowds, hassles, traffic, car repairs, weather, etc.)
· Internal events that challenge the limits of our own capabilities and self concepts (for example, moral and ethical issues)
Traumatic events:
· First stage: survivors usually stunned, dazed, appear unaware of the scope of the incident
· Second stage: passive, unable to initiate behaviour but will allow themselves to be directed
· Third stage: anxiety, apprehension, difficulty concentrating, can last for weeks
Factors influencing the perception of stress:

Control:
· Greater control leads to less stress
· Perception of control is most important (you don’t even have to exercise the control)
· Primary and secondary control

Example experiment:
Group 1: sees murder photos but can’t stop the sequence of slides
Group 2: sees the same murder photos in the same sequence
And for the same duration but can stop the slides at any time
Results: Group 1 indicates far more stress on a stress measurement questionnaire

Predictability:
· Greater predictability leads to less stress
· If you can anticipate stress, you can better prepare
· Wives with husbands lost in action in Vietnam reported much more stress than husbands confirmed dead
Personality:
· Certain personality styles are more conducive to stress
· Independent Vs dependent (locus of control)
· Impulsive/aggressive Vs moral standards
· Pessimistic attribution styles are conducive to illness
· Type A personality: competitive, compulsive
Common psychological responses to stress (affective state)
· Anxiety (worry, apprehension, fear)
· Post-traumatic stress disorder: becoming numb to the world, reliving trauma, sleep disorders (e.g. people from war and concentration camps can still experience stress response 20 years later)
· Anger and aggression: can result as a response to blocked goals
· Apathy and depression: occurs with prolonged stress
learned helplessness
Cognitive effects of stress:
· General cognitive impairment – difficulty concentrating
· Task performance degraded, especially on complex tasks (arousal, performance and task complexity)
· Reversion back to old behaviour

Physiological reactions to stress:
· If source of stress is resolved quickly, physiological reactions are brief (could be acute)
· If stressor is ongoing (chronic), stress response becomes prolonged and particularly damaging
· All stress responses are similar (sympathetic nervous system and adrenal cortical systems activated – fight flight syndrome)
· Hypothalamus controls stress response
· Chronic exposure to stress will lead to physical illness (high blood pressure, migraine headaches, gastrointestinal disorders, ulcers, hardening of the arteries, enlarged heart)
· Intermittent exposure to some types of stress can be physically healthy (good stress = eustress)
· Moderate levels of stress can improve performance
Hans Seyle (1907-1982)

Three phases of physiological reaction:
1) Alarm phase: SNS response
2) Resistance phase: prolonged SNS, immune system response to deal with stressor
3) Exhaustion phase: from chronic exposure, body’s resources become depleted leaving one open to physical and mental illness.

Coping with stress:
· Problem focused coping: working things out through problem solving, looking at alternatives, discussions
· Emotional focuses coping: use of emotional states so you do not have to confront problems directly (behavioural strategies and cognitive strategies):

Behavioural strategy examples:
· Running
· Eating
· Drinking, drug abuse
Cognitive strategy examples:
· Setting thoughts aside
· Focusing on other things, e.g., TV, movies, etc.

Managing stress:
· Biofeedback
· Aerobic training
· Relaxation training
· Meditation
· Cognitive: altering people’s perceptions of situations they view as stressful
· Increases level of control in one’s life
· Increase social contacts and number of close friends

Take A Nap And Lose Weight

You hit the gym about four times a week. You sincerely watch what you eat. But you don't seem to be losing weight!!!!

The reason could be all those late nights that you are awake. If you want to lose weight, experts say you need to get enough sleep. Specifically, researchers have reported that women who sleep 5 hours or less per night generally weigh more than women who sleep 7 hours per night.

Sleep deprivation plays havoc on hormones. Leptin and ghrelin work in a kind of "checks and balances" system to control feelings of hunger and fullness. The hormone 'Ghrelin' is responsible for creating the hunger pangs and the hormone 'Leptin' tells the brain when to stop. When you don't sleep the Ghrelin levels increase and the Leptin levels decrease. The result is increased craving for food and not being satisfied inspite of eating more than you normally do.

So what's the connection to sleep? "When you don't get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don't feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food,"

Secondly, the growth hormone is secreted, for the most part, during first round of sleep. This hormone plays a very vital role in managing the body weight as it controls the body's proportion of muscle and fat. When you don't get enough sleep the body tends to secrete less of this hormone resulting in increased body fat. Aging is another factor which reduces the time we spend in deep sleep which in turn reduces the secretion of growth hormones. This significantly increases the chances of weight gain.

A session of peaceful sleep helps reduce stress. Lack of sleep increases the stress and increased glucose levels. Sleep deprivation puts your body into a starvation mode. Sleep deprived people tend to eat high calorie sweets, salty snacks. This is because of the increased craving for food. Sleep deprivation and sluggishness go hand in hand. Lack of sleep reduces the physical activity levels. Even small activities like siting, standing, fidgeting are significantly reduced and hence you burn fewer calories there by making weightless difficult.

How many hours of sleep does one need?

If you are unsure of how many hours of sleep you need, then experiment. Sleep as much as you can for four nights in a row. The amount of time that you sleep the last night is the approximate hours of sleep that you need every night. That's because by the fourth night your body is refreshed completely and the body clock will reach the natural rhythm. Make sure you are on a balanced diet and also exercise 4-5 times a week. The health tip for a healthy body is a good night's sleep.

Tips for Good night's sleep

1. Don't go to bed hungry. This does not mean that we should have a heavy dinner, A light dinner diet rich in sleep inducing amino acid tryptophan can help.
2. Exercise at least three hours before bed time. Physical activity contributes to sleep. But exercising too close to bedtime increases the metabolism rate and alertness thus preventing sleep.
3. Take a warm water bath before bedtime. The body temperature will drop once you finish your bath thus inducing sleep.
4. keep your days active. Resist the temptation to nap during the day, so that your body is ready to sleep during the night.

Work Place Workouts

Although I admire the enthusiasm and energy of people who live by the adage “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” I could never join their ranks. On days following restless nights, I struggle to focus, to keep organized and even to hold conversations. All of those things, of course, lead to increased stress... do you feel like me....In today’s lifestyle most of us have desk jobs where you are required to sit more than 8 hours at the desk. Our bodies are however not designed this way. Not only do we tend to put on weight on all the wrong places (and especially if our diet includes lots of calories) but this also causes common work-related pains, such as back aches, neck aches etc.

work place workout

Workplace sometimes becomes a place of stress and fatigue. People spend hours on the computer with high levels of concentration. This leads to fatigue and tiredness. To keep yourself fresh and energetic during work hours, a few methods can be followed which will give you complete relaxation to the entire body and you can work more efficiently.

Healthy and easy methods to reduce tiredness while at work,

Keep a good posture by holding your back straight. This might not be possible always, but keep trying and you can do it.
Keep moving your body frequently.
During the breaks, stretch your body and relax

Here are a few simple exercises that can be followed during work hours

Have a deep seating and Straight up your back. Also Straighten your arms and push down your chair and lift yourself. Now, take deep breaths and Straighten your upper half of the body. Breath for about 5 times. Do this every 40 minutes.

Put your right hand on the back of chair and put your left hand on the right thy, and twist your upper half of the body by applying a little pressure. Move your lower part of the body the other way by breathing out. Do this on both the sides. Breath in while in normal position and breath out while your stretch.

Move to the edge of your seat. Straighten your legs and keep your heels down and toes straight. Bend and move your upper half of the body down as like your navel touch your thigh. You can stop moving down your body as and when you feel. Keep natural breathing while you are bending. Move up slowly. Repeat this 3 times slowly.

Try these stretches

Stand up next to a table which is as high as your waist. Stand 1 and half feet away from the table. Put both your hands on the table and open your legs to the breadth of your shoulder. Now slowly straighten your body and legs

Now slowly bend without folding your hands or legs by moving your hip backwards and bringing down your head. You might have to hold your grip properly on the table and rest on your heals. While doing this take deep breaths.

Now after bending, put one of your legs a step forward and stretch further. Do the same for the other leg also.