Posted in: Hypnotherapy
Got this email today: "Had wonderful holidays smoke free!!! Hope you had a wonderful holiday season as well. I have referred a couple of people to you for weight loss and/or smoking, hopefully you can help change their life as much as you helped change mine. Have a happy new year." (E.H.) Are you ready to be smoke free? Hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool to become the person you want to be. Be smoke free. BE WELL.
Getting letters from clients is one of the most awarding parts of my profession. Like this one: "I'm on my 44th day of being a non-smoker! I never in a million years thought I could do this. Thank you so much. Four of my friends have also contacted me about the hypnosis & have requested your information! They want so badly to be smoke free. Hopefully they will contact you soon when they are 100% ready. Thanks again! Brooke" You, too, can be a person who used to smoke. Hypnotherapy is a valuable tool for anyone who wants to be a healthy nonsmoker.
It's the time of the year when many of us begin to think about a new start. Whether it's losing weight, quitting smoking, getting more exercise or one of a myriad resolutions, most of us consider the beginning of a new year an opportunity for change and new beginnings. For most of us that process of change begins by identifying the bad habit. To learn and understand your habit, break it down. Ask yourself "what are the triggers that cause me to (do whatever it is you want to change). Next break down the actual behavior of the habit ( what do you do, where, when, are you alone or with others). Then think about why you have the habit - what are the rewards? Finally, identify how you are going to change the triggers, behaviors and rewards to attain your goals. It is o.k. to look for help in making those changes. Smart people use tools. You can dig a hole with your fingernails. It's a lot easier to use a backhoe. So get help where you can - a personal trainer may help you to get started in an exercise program, a registered dietician may help you plan your meals. A hypnotherapist can be another great tool in supporting new beginnings. Be smart. Get the help you need to make new beginnings. And BE WELL.
"It's the most wonderful time of the year" sing the carolers. But for many people, the holidays from Thanksgiving till New Year can be cause for depression. The holidays are times of high expectations, jammed calendars and memories of the past. All of these things can trigger depression which can cause behaviors that may make things worse.
Every year many people put great stress on themselves by trying to create "the perfect" holiday. There are homes to be decorated, food to be prepared, gifts to be bought and wrapped and people to be entertained. Trying to do this while still maintaining work schedules, school schedules and regular homelife can be overwhelming. As time to the big day gets closer and closer, a feeling of failure can trigger depression.
Because people are busy, some important self-caretaking can be dropped. The time demands and the darkness outside may have regular exercisers dropping their routine. Exercise increases levels of the mood-boosting brain chemicals, serotonin and dopamine. When people don't exercise they lose those helpful chemicals. Then there are all the food choices to be made around the holidays. Most of us do not usually have six dozen fat and sweet cookies sitting on the table year round. Gaining weight through the holidays is typical and can be depressing. In addition, we tend to eat more sugar. Sugar is a substance which will originally elevate mood, but then comes the sugar crash and depresses the mood.
As depression begins to occur, many people try to relieve the anxiety that comes with depression by drinking alcohol. This self-medication may be a temporary fix for depression but soon causes more harm than good as it interferes with sleep, depresses the central nervous system and may interact with any antidepresants being taken. While some people drink, other people begin to withdraw from family and friends. Social withdrawal will in actuality increase depression.
So avoid the depression traps of overeating, self-medicating with alcohol, food or sugar or social withdrawal. Hypnotherapy can be a great tool to help you deal with the stresses and depression traps of the holidays. BE WELL and have a happy holiday season.
Ten million Americans suffer from the painful condition known as temporomandibular disorders (TMD). These disorders affect the facial muscles and or the jaw joint and can cause pain and other symptoms in the ears, neck face and head. Among common symptoms of TMD are: a clicking or popping sound in the jaw, aching facial pain or face fatigue, headaches and ear pain and stuffiness. In fact, many people are surprised to learn that people with TMD do not always suffer jaw pain. Instead misalignments of the jaw and bite can produce painful inflammation causing all the earlier mentioned issues. Cases of TMD are usually diagnosed by a dentist who may do disk manipulation to temporarily eliminate the pain or make a bite plate appliance to help with tooth grinding. About five per cent of sufferers may need surgery to get relief.
So what causes TMD? Even slight misalignments of the jaw can cause aching pain because of the constant movement of the jaw as we speak, chew and relax and tighten facial muscles. Another common cause of TMD is bruxism. This is when people grind their teeth while sleeping. Some people get only occasional pain from bruxism while others are chronic teeth-grinders which can cause long-term damage to teeth and gums.
So what can be done to deal with these painful side-effects of bruxism? Of course, you should work with your dentist who can evaluate your bite and the height and tooth positions and make whatever adjustments are needed to relieve discomfort. This may include grinding down a tooth or adding height with a crown. Your dentist may do disk manipulation or custom-make you a bite plate appliance.
In addition, you can relieve bruxism by finding ways to manage the stress that exacerbates teeth grinding. Relaxation tips such as massage therapy, biofeedback and hypnotherapy can be helpful. Hypnosis can be a valuable tool to provide relaxation and relieve the chronic stress. Manage your stress, relieve bruxism, BE WELL.
Hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. If you have been thinking about quitting smoking either now or making a New Year's resolution to stop smoking in 2013, please check my website: www.BeaHealthyNonsmoker.com. The site has lots of information for those thinking about quitting smoking and even has a quiz to help you decide if you are ready to be a nonsmoker. Whether it's your first time to try to stop or your tenth, keep your goal in front of you It's never too late to become a nonsmoker. Within 24 hours of quitting smoking, you'll be at a lower risk for having a heart attack and your blood pressure will be closer to normal. Within a week of quitting you'll be less short of breath and your sense of smell and taste will be better and within three months of stopping you will have more stamina and lung capacity and your circulation will improve. Stop smoking and Be Well.
Time to begin an early Thanksgiving holiday. I am so thankful for each one of you for reading my blog. Your thoughts and shares are truly appreciated. May you and those you love have a wonderful holiday. Please join me next week here at www.johnsonhypnotherapy.com and on twitter @DrJenJohnson. Until then have a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving.
In earlier blogs, I have talked about insomnia and the problems caused by lack of sleep. If lack of sleep is a problem for you, be sure and read my earlier posts about insomnia. In 2011 a new study on lack of sleep was completed by Li Li, Md, PhD, associate professor of family medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cleveland. The study was based on a survey of 1,240 patients who were getting ready to have a colonoscopy. They were asked about their sleeping habits including the number of hours they slept nightly.
It was found that the patients who slept, on average, less than six hours per night were 50% more likely to have precancerous lesions in the colon and/or rectum than those who got at least seven hours of sleep per night. Dr. Li theorized that lack of sleep lowers the production of melatonin. This is a problem because melatonin is believed to help repair DNA damage which is important in preventing cancer.
If you have insomnia and particularly if you have a history or family history of making adenomatous polyps (those pre-cancerous lesions), then you are at greater risk for developing colon cancer. Getting help for insomnia may include counseling with a sleep hygienist and over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids. Hypnotherapy can also be a valuable tool in working with the issue of insomnia. As you are sleeping better, your body will produce more melatonin and reduce the risk of colon cancer.
A study published in NICOTINE & TOBACCO RESEARCH reported that quitting smoking reduces depression. The study by Christopher Kahler, PhD, research professor of community health, Warren Alpen Medical School, Brown University, Providence was the author of a study of 236 people who were trying to quit smoking. He found that people who quit smoking were happier than those who remained smokers. He also reported that those who quit smoking even for a short amount of time were more likely to be less depressed while they were not smoking. Once a subject returned to smoking, the symptoms of depression reoccured.
If you are a smoker suffering from depression and want to feel better, now is the time to quit smoking. Know that hypnotherapy is a great way to become a nonsmoker. Check out my website: www.BeaHealthyNonsmoker.com and get rid of the chemicals in the cigarettes and the depression they can cause.
Still another reason to lower your consumption of trans fats. A study of 12,059 people published in PLoS was reported by Almudena Sanchez-Villegas, BPharm, PhD, and associate professor of preventative medicine, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain. In the journal, Dr. Sanchez-Villegas warned that the risk for clinical depression was raised by 48% in people who ate more than 1.5 grams of trans fats each day. The risk became greater as more trans fatty foods were consumed.
The researchers believe that because trans fats increase inflammation, this may disrupt mood and interfere with brain transmitters. If you have been diagnosed with depression or are concerned about the possibility of developing depression, limiting consumption of trans fats is a great goal. Hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool in focusing on that goal as a part of eating well.
You can find in a Sept. post in this blog an entry on the problems with drinking diet soda. Recently, I read the results of a study headed by Hannah E. Gardener, ScD. Dr. Gardner is an epidemiologist in the Clinical Research Division, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Florida. This study was on the dietary habits of 2,564 people. The headline information for this study was that diet soda drinkers have a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke. Even after accounting for risk factors such as smoking and alcohol consumption, gender and age, the research indicated that people who had the habit of drinking diet soda every day were almost 50% more likely to have a vascular problem such as a stroke. It was noted that daily diet soda drinkers may also have different eating patterns than those who don't drink diet sodas at all. If you have been thinking about stopping drinking diet soda, hypnotherapy may be a valuable tool to help you reach your goal.
Everyone has heard the old saying "You can't be too rich or too thin". With so many people coming to see me to lose weight, it's interesting that occasionally someone will come to see me because they are underweight. It may be hard to be sympathetic if you are one of the roughly 72 million American adults who are overweight or obese. But about five million American adults are underweight. And being underweight can be a health risk.
Being underweight is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5. If you are not sure of your BMI you calculate it by going to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Web site, www.nhlbiSupport.com/bmi to determine what is a healthy weight. An analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys reported that underweight people have a greater risk of surgical complications, of dying from infections and in being prone to other conditions than people who are normal weight.
The first step in dealing with being underweight is to analyze why a person is underweight. Obviously, genes factor into a persons ability to lose weight, gain weight or just be thin. But if you have unintentional weight loss, you should see your physician and be evaluated. A number of diseases and chronic conditions can cause weight loss. Among those are chronic conditions such as celiac disease and Crohn's disease that may lead to malabsorption and digestive problems. Chewing and swallowing conditions may affect weight. In addition, some mental and emotional issues such as depression can lead to unintended weight loss. Medications may also factor in to a person being underweight. Some antidepressants, antibiotics, painkillers and diurectics may cause a person to lose weight.
Once a person has been evaluated by a physician to screen for an illness or medication causing weight loss, s/he should try to gain enough weight to reach a healthy goal weight. There are a number of things you can do to gain weight. A reasonable goal is to gain one to two pounds a week. An underweight person needs to add as many as 1,000 calories daily beyond what they have been consuming. A person with a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease may need the help of a registered dietician to plan his weight gain program.
If you have experienced any of the signs of depression such as difficulty with concentration, feeling hopeless, having changes in sleeping and eating patterns or changes in mood, get professional help. Depression is among the main causes of adults who have lost interest in life and it's pleasures such as eating. Get professsional help if your weight loss seems to be a symptom of depression.
Eating suggestions to help gain weight include: consciously planning to gain weight by getting more fat into the diet, adding food-supplement beverages like Ensure Plus or Carnation Instant Breakfast and snacking often. An underweight adult may eat three large meals and three high-calorie snacks.
If you are a smoker and underweight, be aware that smoking suppresses the appetite. In addition, cigarettes often become an oral substitute for food. Many smokers gain weight when they quit smoking. If you are a smoker and underweight, it's just another reason to stop smoking.
And it's time to get moving. This may surprise you. Sometimes my clients who want to lose weight are fearful of starting to exercise for fear of burning even more calories. But exercise can build greater muscle and bone mass, increase appetite and improve your mood so you want to eat more. A combination of strength and flexibility exercises working up to 30 minutes daily is a good goal to encourage you to eat more and begin to gain weight.
Hypnotherapy won't change your genes. But it can help you to get motivated to make the changes so you can gain the weight and no longer have the health risks of being underweight.
K.Y. Wolin, et. al., reported on research done at Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis in the 2010 CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY, BIOMARKERS AND PREVENTION. The report was called, "Change in Physical Activity and Colon Cancer Incidence and Mortality." The researchers studied more than 150,000 adults and compared exercise levels and colon cancer diagnoses and deaths in that group.
The researchers found that the lowest risk for diagnosis of or death from colon cancer was in those who had exercised consistently for at least ten years. They found that not only did exercise reduce the risk of dying from colon cancer, but also reduced the risk for cancer coming back after original diagnosis.
If you have been looking for a reason to get motivated to exercise, particularly if you or family members have a history of colon cancer, this study certainly supports getting motivated to get moving. Hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool for a person who wants to start exercising. Reducing the risk of dying from colon cancer could be just the motivator you need. Get moving and BE WELL.
Have you had your blood sugar (glucose) checked this year? If you haven't, it's time to get this on your schedule. Be aware that even if you have a routine physical every year, not every doctor tests blood sugar annually. You need to know if you have diabetes or prediabetes. Diabetes is a disorder in which the body doesn't produce enough insulin or is resistant to the action of insulin. Insulin is the hormone needed to remove the main source of the body's energy, glucose) Fortunately, it can be diagnosed early with testing. The American Diabetes Association advises all adults to get tested every three years. It is important to detect high blood sugar early because the more quickly it is treated the easier it is to prevent serious complications such as strokes, kidney problems and heart attacks.
The National Institutes of Health recognizes diabetes as one of the most serious common chronic diseases in the United States. Eighty thousand people are diagnosed with diabetes each year. In fact, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that by 2050 one in three Amercians could develop diabetes and one in four Americans could have prediabetes.
Your doctor may recommend a number of different blood tests including FPG (fasting plasma glucose), OGTT (oral glucose tolerance tests) or hemoglobin A1C. These tests will identify the glucose in the blood. Sometimes even seemingly healthy people can find that their levels are out of a normal range with high levels indicating undiagnosed prediabetes or diabetes or low levels indication hypoglycemia.
Knowing your numbers is the first step in trying to normalize your glucose levels. Lowering those numbers can help avoid serious complications. Being aware of a problem can be the first step to caring for yourself by eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. In addition, you may need prescription drugs to help your body metabolize sugar effectively.
At least eighty percent of people who develop type 2 diabetes are overweight. Losing just ten pounds can dramatically lower your blood-sugar levels. A combination of healthy diet emphasizing complex carbohydrates, fish, poultry and low-fat or no-fat dairy products and exercising regularly are basic first steps in dealing with high blood sugar. Since a side effect of diabetes is excess urination, you may become dehydrated. So drink at least eight glasses of water every day. Excess stress can also raise your blood sugar levels. To get motivated to eat better, move more, drink more water and deal with the stresses in your life. Work with a qualified hypnotherapist to get motivated to bring your blood sugar levels down and protect yourself from diabetes.
Have you been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism or atrial fibrillation? If you have, be aware that both of those disorders are associated with elevated stroke risk. Brian Silver, MD, a senior staff neurologist at Henry Ford Hospital and assistant professor of neurology at Wayne State University School of Medicine has warned that hyperthyroidism (which means overactive thyroid) is dangerous. In fact, if you are diagnosed with hyperthyroidism before the age of 45, your risk of having a stroke increases by 44%. In addition, the heart rhythm disorder, atrial fibrillation, has long been associated with increased stroke risk.
So what can you do if you have been diagnosed with either atrial fibrilattion or hyperthyroidism? First of all, you need good medical care. You should have a complete physical at least once a year to have blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels checked. Your physician may recommend these be checked more often. Then there are all those things you know you ought to be doing - exercising regularly, quitting smoking, eating a high-fiber low-fat diet. A trained hypnotherapist can help you make those lifestyle changes that will help you to bring down the risk of having a stroke. Hypnosis can help you to BE WELL.
One of my goals for this blog has always been for my readers to Be Well. Often I talk about how hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool for reaching that goal. But sometimes I just like you to be aware of research studies on issues that may influence your health. So this post is about how your reusable shopping bags can do just that.
In 2010, Charles P. Gerba, PhD, a professor at the University of Arizona in the department of soil, water and environmental science, was the leader of a study of bacteria in reusable shopping bags. The study found that fifty percent of the reusable bags had bacterial growth. In addition, the study indicated that 12% of the bags had e.coli bacteria. This bacteria is particularly dangerous because it can cause severe intestinal illness.
There are things you can do to protect yourself from bacterial growth in reusable shopping bags. First of all, keep them clean. Don't just throw your bags in the trunk of your car until your next trip to the grocery store. They should be washed regularly in soap and water. In fact, it's a good idea to not leave empty bags in a warm car at all since bacterial count rises quickly in a as little as two hours. Finally, avoid carrying raw foods like produce and meat in reusable bags.
We all want to protect our environment by avoiding using the paper and plastic bags. But we need to be smart in our use of reusable shopping bags. Follow these hints to be able to use reusable shopping bags and still BE WELL.
One of my goals for this blog is to share with my readers the latest research which could affect their health. For years there have been studies done on the value of taking vitamins to protect or prevent disease. But the research has been inconclusive or even conflicting. Some studies showed value in taking vitamins while others showed little or no effect in protecting the vitamin taker from diseases.
In this Wednesday"s Journal of the American Medical Association, a large study was publishing suggesting that taking a daily multivitamin might reduce the risk of cancer in older men. It did not suggest that their was any reduction in the ultimate risk of dying from cancer. The study did not observe any single form of cancer being reduced by taking vitamins. But the total risk of a cancer diagnosis was reduced.
The trial was a randomized one of men ages 50 and older. The daily multivitamin, Centrum Silver, was taken by 14,461 men at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute. The trial found that those taking the multivitamin were eight percent less likely to be diagnosed with cancer than those who were taking a placebo.
Although further research and studies will certainly continue, if you are a male fifty years are older, taking a multivitamin could be an easy thing to add to your health regimen. Multivitamins are relatively inexpensive and are easily accessible to buy and to take.
Thanks for reading my blog and BE WELL.
If you have a job interview on your calendar. It's highly likely you have tried to prepare to do a good job. You've read the books. You have an excellent resume. You've researched the prospective employer. When you go to the interview you are well-groomed, on time and have thought through how you intend to present yourself and how you could be of value to your company.
Yet too often, people are sabotauged by their nonverbal communication. Psychologists believe that between 60% and 80% of all communication is nonverbal. So when you go into an interview, know you're not only being listened to - you are being watched. Your facial expressions and body language will be sending messages just as much as what you say.
In this hiring market, there can be many qualified applicants for every job. You want to present yourself as calm and relaxed. Get to the apppointment early, so you do not feel rushed and anxious. Check where your resume and any other papers are in your briefcase before the interview so you can retrieve them quickly during the interview at the appropriate time. As you are waiting, do a deep breathing exercise. I tell my clients, "Breathe deeply. Exhale completely." Deep breathing can be very calming.
When you enter the interviewer's office, be aware of your posture. Enter without hesitation. This is your chance to make that important first impression. Behave the way you want to be perceived - as calm and collected. Handshakes are important. Match handshakes and hand movements to the other person. If an interviewer is a hardy handshaker, he will respect the same from the person he is interviewing. On the other hand, if the interviewer uses moderate pressure, he may think you are trying to dominate if you shake hands in a hard way.
When you are seated sit forward on the chair. Keep both feet on the floor. Cross your legs only if the interviewer does. Once you are seated, keep your eyes on the interviewer's face. A wandering gaze can show lack of interest or even disrespect. Even if the interviewer's eyes' wander, your gaze should be on his/her face. Keep your hands in view and use slow, calm hand movements. Speak slowly to convey your calmness to the interviewer.
The job interview process is hard. There are a lot of things to remember. A session with a hypnotherapist can be a wonderful tool to facilitate a calm, productive and successful job interview.
A study of 794 men published in FERTILITY AND STERILITY reported that obesity may affect the quality of a man's sperm. The study was led by Ana Carolina Martini, PHD, biolgist, Physiology Institute at the School of Medicine, National University of Cordoba in Cordoba, ARgentina.
The study indicated that obese men's semen had lower amounts of the enzyme neutral alpha-glucosidase (NAG). NAG is involved in sperm maturation. In addition, obesity is associated with fewer rapidly moving sperm and with fewer sperm that swim forward in a straight line.
This is just one study. But for those obese men hopng to improve chances of fertility, losing weight may be a way of improving sperm quality. If you or your partner is obese and you have been struggling with infertility, hypnotherapy can be a valuable tool to assist in losing weight for general health and to improve sperm motility and maturation,
Can't figure out why you are continuing to gain weight? Researchers have found another reason those jeans may be a little tight. Spanish researchers in the online journal PLos One reported that exposing human pancreatic cells to even minute amounts of the chemical Bisphenol A caused them to release almost double the insulin necessary to metabolize a meal. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a very common chemical and is found in lots of commonly used items from paper receipts and tickets to plastic containers to food and drink cans. When we are exposed to BPA, that excess insulin can cause our bodies to store more calories as fat. And that study was done by Spanish researchers, it is likely that Americans have been exposed to even more BPA than the those studied by the researchers.
So what can we do to protect ourselves from the effect of this chemical on our body. The first thing is to become more conscious of our exposure and try to limit it in any way we can. Ordering tickets online and printing them on BPA-free paper is an easy way to avoid BPA tickets. We can avoid plastic food and drink containers and choose fresh foods over canned foods. Its also a good idea to use microwave glass containers rather than plastic to reheat foods.
Hypnotherapy can be used as a great tool for weight loss. Hypnotherapy is not magic. You won't go out of the office 20 pounds lighter. Instead, it can be used to help live consciously about the choices you make like avoiding BPA and working a healthy eating and exercise plan.