A Healthy Mind: Stress Management

It’s amazing how the literature insists on two issues as being an integral part of a healthy mind: stress management and self-esteem.

In contemporary behavior therapy, we studied that anxiety, not depression, is the number one mental illness in the United States. To fend it off, the literature recommends a nutritious diet, an exercise routine, and plenty of restful sleep. As I’ve discussed in a previous blog entry, I’m currently doing a diabetic diet, because it allows me to eat a good range of food in moderation. I’m also going to the gym on the doctor-recommended dosage of at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes. The gym also offers me the added benefit of making new friends. I’m also being very mindful of my sleep hygiene. I’m taking a warm bath 90 minutes before bed, and then I do something relaxing (e.g.: color in a coloring book or breathing deeply). I bought a sunrise alarm clock with a built-in white noise machine, too. I used to be too busy for this, but I now understand that I’ll reap the benefits in the long-run with improved stamina (i.e., a lower medical bill).

If there is something in particular that gets you anxious, you might want to try systematic desensitization. The first thing you have to do is to find a competing response; you can’t be anxious and relaxed at the same time. Some competing responses include positive thoughts and laughter. Usually, people adopt deep muscle relaxation as their competing response. To practice deep muscle relaxation, all you have to do is to tense up different body parts progressively, and then relax them. The second thing you have to do is to create an anxiety hierarchy. Basically, write down all the things you can think of that make you anxious (within a same topic) and rearrange them from least anxiety-provoking to most. Let's say that you are afraid of spiders. On your hierarchy, you would put things ranging from looking at a picture of a spider to having a spider crawl all over you. The last step in systematic desensitization is to visualize an anxiety-provoking scenario and to practice muscle relaxation.

Self-love is also important in maintaining psychological well-being. I was impressed to read that there is therapy for psychoses based on self-esteem. In class, we are going to study this some more, so I’ll go into more detail at a later date. What I can say now is that this goes along with what the Master Healer told us to do. It is my understanding that the pivotal difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament is that Jesus completed the Law by stating that “We should love others as we love ourselves.” In other words, if we didn’t have a healthy ration of love for ourselves, how could we love others as fruitfully as God loves us?

(to be continued…)

Flow and Mindfulness

“… flow – the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” (Csikzentmihalyi, 1991)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Mindfulness is the practice whereby a person is intentionally aware of his or her thoughts and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally. Mindfulness is applied to both bodily actions and the mind's own thoughts and feelings.

What kinds of activities get you into these states? Personally, I remember glass beadmaking and computer programming getting me into a state of flow. Also, remembering my happiest moments gets me into a state of flow. As to mindfulness, I think I'm achieving a constant state of it. Very powerful stuff.

Having the Munchies But Don’t Want to Have a Meal?

Try popcorn. Hot air popped and with some butter-flavored cooking spray, that is.

I was curious to see why a friend of mine, who happens to be a personal trainer, eats so much popcorn. Found out it has lots of fiber and really low calories. Plus it fills you up. I also found tons of recipes with popcorn at http://www.bellybytes.com/recipe/popcorn/index.html and at http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/food/popcorn.html. Eat up and enjoy!

Food and Water Intake Log

For a low-budget, healthy eating lifestyle, I am using the Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cookbook (HCDC) in conjunction with this log. The HCDC is an awesome book. It plans for you your meals for every day. It gives you nutritional information on the food it has planned for you. It gives you the grocery list needed for the week. And did I mention it is cost-effective? No more wondering what you're cooking tonite. No more wasting time wondering if it is nutritious. No need to make grocery lists. And it costs about or less than what you are spending now!

Oh, and most importantly, they are yummy and easy to make. :)

Designing Your Own Diet and Exercise Routine

On Valentine’s Day I made a contract with myself based on the Premack principle. This principle states that a low-frequency habit that you want to do more frequently should be paired with a high frequency habit. In my case:

a) Once I exercise for 10 minutes, I can watch TV for 30 minutes.
b) Once I drink 2 bottles of water, I can have a meal.
c) Once I eat a healthy meal, I can study for 4 hours.

Another principle I took from cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is the dead man rule; never ask a live person to do something a dead person can do. For example, “don’t eat chocolate” would be better stated as “eat fruits and vegetables” or “increase your protein intake.”

For the first time in my life I feel I can go to the gym for the rest of my life and enjoy it. I see the machines as toys I can play with. I see the opportunity to learn more about nutrients. I see it as a way to improve my self-esteem without going to a psychologist and without taking medication that makes me fat.

Another important change is that I don’t plan further away than tomorrow. OK. For example: Today I went to the gym and challenged myself. Tomorrow I’ll go and challenge myself (or not); I’m going to go until I feel proud of myself. If I told myself I have to do 3 sets of 12 reps of my upper body muscles, I wouldn’t do it. I need to just see what the machine feels like without weights and then just do a few repetitions until my muscles hurt.

Anyway, the good thing about CBT is that what’s happened in the past doesn’t matter. All that matters is the present and the antecedents and consequences that have been maintaining my habit of not exercising. Just how you need training wheels on a bike before you can ride it, you need to go through a phase of familiarizing yourself with your body.

In teaching, there’s a presentation phase, a practice phase, and a production phase. Going to the gym and doing a circuit of exercises to me is part of the last phase, the production phase, where the student performs what is expected without crutches. I’m going to need crutches for a while.

Self-esteem has 4 bases: spiritual, physical, social, and intellectual caring for oneself. My physical base has been extremely ignored until now.

My ultimate goal is to run on the treadmill like that Vietnamese girl did at the university. She could run fast for like an hour.

Researching on health topics that interest me, journaling, and imagining being a personal trainer are going to help me lead a healthier lifestyle.

I also want to become a vegan, but I’ll take baby steps for that, too.

I cancelled cable today. That’s how I’m paying for the gym. It’s coming out of my entertainment budget. So I better have fun doing it.

I bought a calendar and some stickers to show when I’m proud of what I’ve done physically.

Doctors are consultants to your health. You are the one that has to determine what is best for you. Only you have your own best interest at heart. What I mean to say is don’t depend on them alone for your well-being.

It’s a vicious cycle (weight concerns cause eating disorders, due to self-esteem issues, which cause weight concerns), so why not tackle what you can control? Your weight.

The trainer at LA Fitness gave me a schedule:

M) Chest and abs
T) Back
W) Legs and abs
R) Triceps
F) Biceps and abs
S) Shoulders

And cardio for 30’ afterwards.