North Star Mental Fitness Blog

Health and Taking Care of You

Oftentimes, it is extremely difficult to remember or take the time to do what is necessary to maximize our good health.  It seems that as we get older, there are more things that need to be done just to keep moving.  It is easy to get discouraged and forget to follow through with our never ending prescriptions for good health.

The number of medications increases.  Exercise no longer is sufficient.  More and more specific procedures are prescribed.  We are given exercises for specific parts of the body are necessary.  We have more and more individually designed braces, etc.  More and more doctors become involved in our lives.  More and more forms of therapy.  Keeping and maintaining good health is not for sissies. 

I have found that sometimes it is easier to motivate myself to do what is necessary for my health by focusing on the bigger picture.  The big picture is "I am committed to taking care of me"!  I now do or try to do whatever is necessary to take care of me.  When I take a medication and think of it as taking care of me rather than just as taking a medication, it seems to change my mindset.  I feel more committed and happier to perform all of the daunting tasks necessary for good health. 

Remember, only you can take good care of you!  Perform the tedious and routine necessities for maintaining good health, by focusing on the real important issue.  You have the opportunity to take care of youself? 

Triggers for Brain Plasticity

Brain plasticity refers to the brain's ability to rewire itself.  What triggers brain plasticity is one of the exciting pursuits of researchers.  Repetition of activities or brain exercises triggers brain plasticity.  However, in reality, repetition of activities or brain exercises do not automatically trigger brain plasticity.  Paying attention and concentrating on repetition of activities can trigger brain plasticity. 

Science News had a very interesting and enlightening article on the visual triggers for brain plasticity.  Takao  Hensch, PhD, of the Neurobiology Program and Department of Neurology at Boston Children's Hospital, reported that their research identified a protein Otx2 which can trigger the brain's ability to learn.  Dr. Hensch wrote:

Otx2 helps a key type of cell in the cortex to mature, initiating a critical period -- a window of heightened brain plasticity, when the brain can readily make new connections.

The work was done in a mouse model of the visual system, a classic model for understanding how the brain sets up its wiring in response to input from the outside world.

The researchers speculated that our other senses may also operate similarly in creating critical periods for learning in the brain.  The brain has to rewire itself during the critical period and when there is maximum sensory input.

Dr. Hensch reported "If the timing is off, the brain won't set up its circuits properly".

Here is the most surprising and enlightening finding:

 the brain cells that switch on critical periods in the visual system (parvalbumin cells) don't actually make Otx2 themselves. Instead, Otx2 is sent by the retina. In essence, the eye is telling the brain, "The eyes are ready and seeing properly -- you can rewire now."

The eye is telling the brain when to become plastic rather than vice versa.  Otx2 is originally produced during embryonic development   Some days after birth, it reappears in parvalbumin cells. "The nervous system is recycling an embryonic factor to induce brain plasticity," says Hensch.

Hensch, who last fall won the highly competitive NIH Director's Pioneer Award, is also interested in the transport mechanism that propagates Otx2 from the retina to the cortex. He speculates that Otx2 itself could be a carrier for factors you'd want to deliver to the brain, envisioning eye drops for brain disorders such as schizophrenia, in which parvalbumin cells don't properly mature.

What Reduces Posttraumatic Stress Reactions in Survivors of Terrorist Attacks?

What should you do if you are a survivor of a terrorist attack?  What should you recommend to a friend who may become a victim of a terrorist attack?

We all hope that there will be no more terrorist attacks.  We dread the thought that our significant others or ourselves may be a victim or survivor of a terrorist attack.

If there is a terrorist attack, Science News had an article entitled: "Cognitive Therapy Can Reduce Posttraumatic Stress in Survivors of Terrorist Attacks".

 Researchers at the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation evaluated cognitive therapy for people infected by terrorism and civil conflict.  58 people were studied.  Patients with chronic posttraumatic stress disorders associated with terrorism and civil conflict were split into two groups.  One group received cognitive therapy immediately and a second group was put on a waiting list for 12 weeks prior to beginning their cognitive therapy.

• "At 12 weeks, patients in the immediate therapy group showed significant and substantial reductions in the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.


• In contrast, patients in the waiting list group showed no change.


• The therapy group also had improved levels of work and social functioning.


• Thirty-eight per cent of those in the waiting list group deteriorated during the 12 week period compared to just seven per cent the therapy group.


• The treatment gains made were well maintained at the follow-up assessments.

These are very impressive statistics.  The statistics validate cognitive therapy as an effective treatment for survivors of posttraumatic stress disorders precipitated by terrorists and civil conflict.  The study also provides hope for people for people who have survived attacks by terrorist and civil conflict.

Do Men and Women Think Differently?

John Gray wrote Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.  In this book he emphasized that men and women differ in all aspects of their lives.  Dr. Gray emphasized that in all aspects of human experience including thinking, feeling, perceiving and relating men and women are different.

Bjorn Carey LiveScience Staff Writer wrote about a research article in Life Science, Men and Women Really Do Think Differently.  Primarily the brain is made up of two types of tissue.  The two types of tissue are called white and gray matter.  Research shows that men think more with gray matter and women think more with white matter.  Even though men and women think differently, both men and women function well intellectually.

University of California, Irvine psychologist Richard Haier and colleagues from the University of New Mexico studied matters related to the brain.  Men have 6.5 times the amount of gray matter related to general intelligence in comparison with women.  Women were not to be outdone, however.  Women had almost 10 times as much white matter related to general intelligence in comparison with men.

These findings seem to confirm that human evolution has created sexually different types of brains for "equally intelligent behavior".  Mr. Carey explained  "in the human brain, gray matter represents information processing centers, whereas white matter works to network these processing centers".  These results partially explain why men do better on activities such as working with mathematics, while women are better with language skills.

Another interesting finding was related to the location of white and gray matter.  For women, 84% of gray matter and 86% of white matter involving intellectual functioning are in the frontal lobe.  For men, 45% of their gray matter and 0% of their white matter are in the frontal lobe.  These findings explain why frontal lobe damage is much more destructive to women's intellectual functioning than for men.

Although there is evidence that men and women do think differently, the researchers emphasized men and women function equally well on intelligence tests and other cognitive tasks.

Jim Abbott An Example of Hope for People with Disabilities

"Jim Abbott was born without fingers on his right hand, but it never stopped him from fulfilling his dreams-dreams far out of the reach of most people" wrote John U. Bacon in Michigan Today.

"Lucky Man" was the title of John U. Bacon's article on Jim Abbott.  I'm sure most people would not describe a person with no fingers on the right hand as lucky.  It wasn't what Jim Abbott accomplished in spite of his disability that probably led Mr. Bacon to describe Jim Abbott as "lucky".  Jim Abbott was lucky because he was able to help so many people and motivate people with and without disabilities.

Let me make it very clear:  Jim Abbott is not an example of luck.  Quite the contrary, he is an example of hope for people with disabilities who are determined, confident and motivated to succeed.  Jim Abbott's accomplishments were because of his mental and physical fitness.  Jim Abbott was able to become successful in spite of his disability, when others probably would have given up or probably never would have even tried to be successful.

Even in grade school he never made a big deal out of his disability.  He was a pitcher throughout his career.  He learned to pitch with his left hand, put his glove on his left hand, catch the ball with his left hand, put his glove under his right arm, let the ball fall into his left hand and throw out a runner.  Jim recalled that this was not something he had to master, "it was just something I did".

Jim's accomplishments included:

1. Pitching for the University of Michigan baseball team,


2. Big Ten player of the year,


3. Big Ten male athlete of the year,


4. Sullivan Award for the nation's best amateur athlete,


5. Won the Gold Medal game at the 1988 Olympics,


6. Drafted in the first round by the California Angels,


7. Pitched a no-hitter against the Yankees,


8. A 10 year career in the major leagues, and


9. Retirement of his baseball number at the University of Michigan.

Jim's message:   "I want to be remembered not for having to overcome anything, but for making the most of what God gave me. If there wasn't some ability, and with that, some accountability, I'd probably just be remembered solely as the guy who pitched in the majors with no right hand."   

Isn't this a message that is good for all of us.  Aren't we accountable for doing the most with the abilities we have been given.

15 Ways for Coping with Illness and Disease

How you think is very important regarding your health.  How you think about illness and disease disease can improve or impede your recovery.

If you are faced with illness or disease, it is important to think to improve your chances of getting better.  We do not want your illness or disease to generate your thinking.  We want your thinking to be triggered by your motivation to be in good health.

Christina Laun from NursingDegree.com had a list of 16 ways for coping with illness and disease.  The title of her post was "It's all in your mind: 75 ways to think yourself in good health".

The powerful 15 choices are:

1. Don't think about the pain.


2. Concentrate on getting better.


3. Believe in your treatments.


4. Imagine you have a strong immune system.


5. Picture your body fight off infections.


6. Listen to your body.


7. Find a positive and friendly doctor.


8. Believe in miracles.


9. Don't fear treatments.


10. Take time to deal with negative things.


11. Stop thinking of yourself as a sick person.


12. Don't milk injuries.


13. Understand that sometimes it's all in the mind.


14. Don't expect pain.


15. Don't place blame for illness.

The choices you make are extremely powerful!  The connection between your mind and body is strong.  Think in a way to generate  good health and not perpetuate illness and disease.  Work with your doctor by thinking healthy thoughts.

12 ways for Thinking Your Way into Better Health

Christina Long  from NursingDegree.net had a wonderful article entitled "It's All in the Mind: 75 To Think Your Way into Good Health.  I loved her title and her wonderful ideas.  She has a very clear insight into the reality that you can think yourself into better health.

In my next few blogs I will present some of her ideas.  She had 12 general ideas for empowering ourselves into better health.  You can read about these 12 ideas or the 75 ideas for thinking yourself into good health by visiting her blog at NursingDegree.net.

The 12 general ideas are:

1. Get out negative emotions.


2. Try hypnosis.


3. Realize change is possible.


4. Think about things that energize you.


5. Imagine yourself aging more slowly.


6. Feel in control.


7. Embrace your faith.


8. Trust in yourself.


9. Be honest.


10. Live consciously.


11. Accept what comes your way.


12. Forgive yourself.

These are very powerful ideas.  Think these ideas on a daily basis and you will maximize your potential for improving your mental and physical health.

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Health, Mental Fitness And Your Unconscious Mind

I read a very interesting article on the unconscious mind by Doctor Edward Leyton.  Doctor Leyton's article was "The Power of the Unconscious Mind".  In this article the various functions of the unconscious mind were enumerated. 

This following quotation from Doctor Leyton explains the dilemma regarding our unconscious mind and the increasing stress and stress-related illnesses we are prone to experience.  Doctor Leyton wrote:

"When we are stressed today, we tighten the same muscles that we used to fight or flee 10,000 years ago. But today there is ‘nowhere to run’ so the stress builds up. Here are some ways to ‘talk to your unconscious’ so that it can learn new patterns".

Doctor Leyton's words 'talk your unconscious' may seem strange to you.  Talking to your unconscious may even make you feel uncomfortable. 

Maybe you never even thought about talking to your unconscious mind to change your unconscious mind.  Maybe you never thought about talking your unconscious mind to change or improve your health.  Maybe you never thought about your unconscious mind as causing health problems.  Maybe never thought about programming your unconscious mind to be healthy or overcome illness.

Unconscious thoughts steer our lives without our conscious awareness.  Our conscious mind makes numerous decisions throughout everyday for all of us.  It is important to remember that the power of the conscious mind is either neutralized or empowered by the unconscious mind.

Oftentimes we are completely unaware of these thoughts operated in our unconscious mind.  We only see evidence of the thoughts in our lives.  We sometimes fail to utilize our abilities and resources to solve problems, improve our relationships and our health.  In spite of our conscious efforts, their, oftentimes, is a stronger power that seems to dictate the outcome of our lives.  This power is, oftentimes, the unconscious mind.

It is exciting to think that we can change our unconscious mind and improve our health.  In order to do so, we must not only think in a way that generates health, we must think healthy in a very repetitive, frequent and determined manner.  This is where mental fitness training takes the stage and comes in to change our unconscious mind and hence our health.

Mental Fitness Training is talking to our unconscious mind as well as our conscious mind.  Mental Fitness training is repetitive exercises of thoughts that generate greater mental and physical health. Mental Fitness training is repetition of thoughts much as one might do sets of physical exercises.  The more health generating thoughts are repetitively thought, the the stronger the thoughts become in our unconscious mind.  Mental Fitness Training is repeating exercises that change how your conscious and unconscious mind work.

We can change our unconscious mind through mental fitness training.  After our conscious thoughts change our unconscious mind, our unconscious mind can then change our health and our ability to cope with stress.  After we had changed our unconscious mind byconscious repetition of healthy thoughts, our conscious and unconscious mind can then work in harmony to create greater health for us and greater well-being for us in all aspects of our lives.

To summarize, if you want to change your health for the better, don't forget the importance of your conscious and unconscious thinking.  Learn to think  healthy thoughts and thoughts to change how your unconscious mind works.  Check out The North Star Mental Fitness Program if you're interested in improving your health and psychological well-being.