Stress, Aging, and Mental Alertness (Healthy Living DIY)

Want to think clearly into old age? Science has just come up with another great reason to address your stress now.

As health care in our society steadily improves, people are getting much more interested in identifying behaviors that can help them really enjoy that ripe old age they're likely to attain. Among the people I speak with day to day, one of their fears about aging is the fear of losing their mental alertness or sharpness.

For good reason. Who wants to spend their later years dottering around confused?

Well, science has good new for us today. Seems a group of scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has just identified a relationship between chronic everyday stress and the brain degeneration pattern that occurs in Alzheimer's disease.

Although I've only just learned about this study, I didn't want you to spend a second more of your life in the dark about this. Today's summary is a quick one.

This experiment was remarkably humane, so I'll explain it to you. The scientists restrained individual members of a group of cute little laboratory animals for a half hour a day. That's it. That was the stressor. It was supposed to simulate the daily stresses and strains of our busy lifestyle.

After repeating this procedure for just two weeks, our cute little friends developed changes in the protein arrangements in their brains. This change replicated the changes seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and those with some other neurodegenerative conditions. Specifically, "the brain-damaging effects of negative emotions are relayed through two known corticotropin-releasing factor receptors..."

Did you catch the first part of that quote? The emotions related to unmanaged stress damage your brain.

Let's quickly make the distinction between managed and unmanaged stress. We've already seen in other research studies that stress is all about perception. Two people can find themselves in the same objective circumstances. One is bothered by them and the other takes them well in stride. The difference is simple and clear.

Since stress is all about perception, and since perception is under our conscious control... Well, need I say more? Why not infuse yourself with perception-shifting intuition so that little stuff doesn't bother you so much? Your brain will thank you.

Picture yourself at 96 years old, doing Sudoko puzzles on the porch with your friends. Not so bad, eh?

Elizabeth Eckert can help you explore how simple everyday choices create health — or undermine even the best of intentions. With a background that ranges from energy medicine to structural bodywork to developmental psychology, this "Stick-To-It Coach" has the experience to support you in creating the healthiest possible expression of — you!

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