People also need an equal amount and intensity of recovery to neutralize the harm from stress. Too little stress will weaken. Too much will destroy.
Use it or lose it. Wrap up your muscles in a cast, they weaken and atrophy. Don’t stress the immune system every day, you will be vulnerable to disease. Don’t stress your brain, you stop improving. We need stress to keep us alive.
Create the balance between stress and recovery. Too much stress is not the problem, it’s not enough recovery. Physics tells us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The sea becomes flat when two opposing waves hit at the peak and at the trough. It’s the same with stress. Meet stress with an equal and intense amount of recovery to counteract the cortisol-stress response that causes increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, stops digestion, shuts down the immune system and inflammation.
Fear-based stress is caused by not knowing what's going to happen in the future. Fear of injury, fear of failure and fear of looking bad. Counter this fear by learning everything you can about the future event.
Conflict-based stress is caused by external conflict or internal conflict. External conflict at work or at home. Boss yells at you? Counteract this by connecting with friendly people that will support you no matter what. Internal conflict is caused by going against your deep-rooted values. You lash out at someone and become upset from stress because this goes against your internal value of being kind and accommodating. Counter with kindness. You need to learn and identify the cause of your stress so that you can apply the appropriate recovery counter balance.
Physical stress-recovery. Psychologist Nick Hall is an extreme kayak athlete and talks about the need for physical recovery that must be in the same amount and intensity as the stress. For athletes and working out, it’s important to counter the stress of an exercise with the opposite move for recovery. You exercise your biceps with 10 reps with a 40-pound bar, you counter this with ten reps of an 80-pound triceps pull-down exercise.
Emotional stress-recovery. At work, you may be doing a task requiring numbers and calculations, counter this with work involving creativity with images and sounds. You get yelled at by the boss, counter this with an equal amount of time and happiness with a friend. You have a stressful event at home, you need to recover with an equal and opposite amount of something good.
Subconscious stress-recovery. In addition to physical stress and social stress, there is a potentially dangerous type of stress that may occur at your subconscious level unknown to you. Nick Hall talks about showing a picture of a coiled rattle snake ready to strike to a person who has severe fear of snakes, and the person has an acute anxiety attack. However, tear the picture up into tiny pieces, randomly paste them on a piece of paper, and show this picture of random pieces to the person. There will be no reaction, but if the person is monitored by a functional MRI machine, the amygdala lights up, cortisol is released, and the heart rate increases all without knowledge at the conscious level. This experiment shows there are stress triggers going on all around us day and night (during dreams) at the subconscious level that triggers the cortisol- stress response. These need to be neutralized with an equal amount of recovery. Discovering these triggers and aligning the conscious mind with the subconscious can be helpful. Nick Hall suggests training the subconscious mind to recognize stress as a trigger to provide an equal recovery response. For example, run or exercise at your baseline then increase by 10% for stress, then 10% below baseline for recovery, and then back to baseline. Repeat at different percentages both ways always returning to baseline. Eventually, stress will trigger a corresponding recovery time.
Stress related to explicit memory and implicit memory. Explicit memory means you need to think about the activity. You’re learning a new skill like driving a car, you need to think about each action. Implicit memory means it’s permanent and automatic. You start and stop your car without thinking. However, your subconscious can play tricks on you. For example, you’re playing a sport and doing well using implicit memory, then you start thinking about what you are doing, and you fall apart because you started using explicit memory that requires energy and loss of focus.
Extreme hyper-stress situation. People may and often react differently under extreme stress. The controller who is in charge of a meeting begins to have resistance from other meeting members that escalates to personal insults resulting in such severe stress, the controller gives in completely and shuts down. The accommodating person in an extreme life-threatening situation may suddenly become an intense controller taking total charge. It’s not because these individuals lose memory, it’s that they switch from explicit to implicit memory. They lose explicit memory and gain implicit memory. This is useful to know because this may explain opposite and uncharacteristic behaviors in yourself and others during extreme stress.
Call to action. Stress is needed for a healthy and invigorating life. Say yes and embrace opportunity despite the potential stress. You can manage the stress so it contributes to success. Counter physical, emotional and subconscious stress with an equal amount and intensity of recovery.
Gary R. Epler, M.D. at Epler Health
Boston
#1 best-selling author of “Alive with Life”
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Choose wisely which one you use. You may be going through a downturn in your life. You’ve lost your income source with more money going out than coming in. You’ve lost your job. You’ve lost someone you love.
You feel bad. Everything aches. You walk slowly and your shoulders are slumped. You’re frustrated. You’re mad. You’re angry. You know these feelings don’t help, and you know everything will turn around, but you keep feeling bad taking up precious energy that you need to fix the problem.
You need to review your emotions and find out which one is making you feel this way. This is what will happen. You can’t be mad at anyone because the event happened out of your control. You can’t blame anyone because the situation required people to do what they had to do and not because of you as a person. Most of all, you can’t be angry because this emotion is defined as feeling slighted or wronged by someone. You as a person is not the problem. The situation developed that is no longer sustainable. On the surface, anger is a common response, but deeper exploration shows the situation is untenable and irreversible. You can’t be jealous, envious or resentful because this issue is about you and not about anyone else. But, you can feel sad, and it’s comforting.
You can feel sad. This is a good thing. First, it’s only a single emotion – no need for being mad, no need for anger, and no need for being overwhelmed by thinking you have all of these bad feelings. Second, sadness is always temporary and will go away. Third, most importantly, sadness is defined as the loss of something which means you can replace the loss either with the same thing or with something else. You can develop a new way to make money, you can find a new job or create a new business, and you can keep your loving feelings at the same time as you go forward to find new love.
With a loss, keep in mind that you may go through the five stages of grief that include (1) denial, (2) anger, (3) bargaining, (4) depression, and (5) acceptance. The stages will occur with varying lengths of time, some a few hours or days, while others may last longer. The anger stage is an especially dangerous time because of the harmful effects for you as well as for others. It’s important to analyze the situation at the second and third degree level to realize the situation was not personal, nothing could have been changed and create a distraction to move on. The depression stage is also a harmful time. It can be useful to recognize that this stage is temporary, and will soon lead to resolution and acceptance.
Call to action: Going through a downturn? Review your feelings. Eliminate all of them except sadness. Feel sad about the situation. It’s comforting, temporary and you will move on to better things than ever before.
Gary R. Epler, M.D. at Epler Health
Boston
Best-selling author of "Fuel for Life" and "Peak Performance Leadership"
]]>Think, say, and write more positive words than negative words. The words you think, the words you say, and the words you text can add years to your life. It’s simple to do and costs nothing.
During the 1930s, a group of people who wrote joyful and positive words in daily journals during their 20s lived ten years longer than their counterparts who wrote negative words. This is astounding finding, if medications or surgery had this outcome, these treatments would be consider a huge success. Thinking, saying, and writing more positive words than negative words can prolong your life.
Professor Marty Seligman at UPenn had his team calculate the ratio of positive words to negative words people use on their social media sites. People who have a negative ratio, more negative words than positive words, had more heart disease than people who had a positive ratio. And, it’s not just a neutral ratio, the optimal ratio of positive to negative words is between three and six. Less than three is harmful and more than six shows no benefit.
Married couples whose conversation is negative, more negative words than positive words, have a much higher divorce rate than those with a positive ratio. This means that a spouse who uses negative words must say three to six positive words to restore balance.
This positive to negative word ratio applies to the home, among friends, in a social setting, and at work. For example, Harvard psychologist Shawn Achor wrote that improving the word cloud ratio from 1.2 to 3.6 among workers at a company increased productivity by 40% resulting in a more enjoyable work environment and success.
A healthy word cloud ratio can result in improved work life, personal life, health, friendships, sociability, creativity, and energy.
Positive social communication improves our lives at home and increases productivity at work. Positive social interaction is defined as both individuals feel better after the conversation. It’s related to your ongoing word cloud. For example, you tell someone an exciting event that has occurred in your life, and the other person responds with enthusiasm and positive comments, both of you feel good.
Negative responses can have you feeling neutral or even feeling terrible. Continuing the above example, the person may say “that’s nice,” and ignore the story. This is neutral for you and neutral for the other person, not bad, but a missed opportunity for a positive exchange.
However, there are two destructive responses that leave you feeling bad. The first is a “one up” response where the other person replies by saying something like “That’s nothing, you should hear what I did today.” This conversation results in you either ignoring the comment or being forced to come up with something even better causing stress and a negative feeling. The other person is unfazed and may even feel good. The second destructive response occurs too many times between spouses and at work when the reply is “while you were having fun, I was working hard the whole time, and how much is this going to cost?” Now both individuals are upset and angry. Your upbeat comment has been destroyed making you feel bad, and the other person is angry for an unrelated reason – usually coming into the conversation after a fight with someone else or being yelled at by the boss.
Call to action: Begin now, think, say, and write more positive words than negative words for optimal performance and impact as well as a healthy and enjoyable life. Practice positive social interaction with your family, your friends, people at work, and all encounters throughout the day.
Gary R. Epler, M.D. in Boston
Best-selling author of Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy and Peak Performance Leadership
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We have limited space in our brain for memory. The memory is filled with two things: facts and a retrieval system to find the facts. In ancient times, there were few facts that needed a minimal retrieval system. Over time, facts became so numerous, libraries were built and a complex retrieval system was needed.
Our memory is the same, we need a retrieval system to find facts. That's why companies whose advertisements associate an easy retrieval system with the product sell more product. There are two memory components of advertising – remember the product name and remember the retrieval system. If you want students to remember a healthy food slogan, associate the slogan with a cafeteria food tray, which will act as a retrieval system.
The internet search engines do a much better job of retrieval than our memory. If you want French food, your memory may have a list of two or three in your area, but the internet has hundreds and includes non-French restaurant names that serve French food.
We live in a wonderful digital age - we don't need to fill our memory space with facts. They're infinitely available to us on the internet. Memorizing and learning facts takes up memory space.
We have freed up our entire memory space to use for finding facts. Use it to find the right facts to apply in the right way for success.
Gary Epler in Boston
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Let’s look at the causes of looking old and replace them with positive conditioning.
Attitude. If you think and feel old, you’re going to be old. The antidote to this is simple: love life. It’s filled with awe, excitement, creativity, interesting people, and exotic places. Be engaged in life, not buried in the mobile device world. Know what you want, what you’re doing, and where you’re going at all times. Have meaning in your life, outside of yourself. Engage in positive social interaction, and when you’re with people, always make it about them.
Posture. Stand and sit tall. When standing or sitting, gently tightened your upper back muscles between the shoulder blades and let your shoulders fall naturally. This straightens your back and brings your chest forward, giving you a strong appearance. Tuck in your chin in and align the back of your head with your straightened back. This posture sends positive signals to your brain, providing a sense of strength and confidence. Condition and maintain your abdominal and back core muscles through daily exercise. Rounded shoulders make people look old. Head down is weak and sends negative signals to your brain of weakness and fear. Use your computer screen at eye level. Slouching above a keyboard can become permanent, as can shoulders and a neck that sag.
Back straight, chin in, and head up not only gives you positive energy and strength, it also allows you to radiate this out to the world around you.
Slow walking. Walk tall with a steady gait while maintaining your back straight, shoulders falling naturally, chin in, and head up. This comes naturally if you’re engaged in life and have a purpose. For an extra burst of energy, walk briskly at a pace that’s 25 percent faster than your normal speed.
Complaining. Blaming others. Criticizing. Making excuses. These four traits should be eliminated from your conversation. There is no need to point out an issue or problem that’s out of your control. This repeats a negative story that helps no one, especially you. Blame and criticism do not solve problems. They’re simply a rehashing of negative energy—and on top of it, they make other people feel bad as well. In this same vein, making excuses causes negative energy and provides no solutions. People who know their own true self are in charge. There is no reason for complaining, blaming, criticizing, or making excuses.
Pessimism. Having a positive outlook will create energy and confidence. Optimism can be learned and applied to your thinking. Here’s a tip: Stop the first negative thought so it doesn’t lead to the second negative thought and subsequently the repeating of a negative story in your mind. Make a conscious decision to be grateful, have compassion, and see the good in all things.
Sad face. Smile. This sends a positive feeling to the brain and also telegraphs positivity to those who see you.
Age spots. Brown age spots on the face and the top of the hands trigger a conditioned response: thoughts of old age. These can add two decades to a person’s sense of his or her age. They can be removed with creams and other techniques; consult a dermatologist.
Take action. Abandon the feeling of being old. Develop a positive attitude and a tall posture. Eliminate complaining, criticizing, blaming, and making excuses. Choose optimism; it’s healthy. Smile. Here are some additional things you can do to fight off the feeling of old age: make a habit of health practices that include eight hours of sleep, one hour of continual exercise, eating foods that will not harm you, learning something new every day, spending time in alpha-brainwave meditation, practicing gratitude, having compassion, and making an effort at self-healing. Incorporating these things into your routine will enable you to live an extraordinary life with energy, meaning, success, and enjoyment.
Gary R. Epler, M.D. in Boston
Best-selling author of "Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy" and "Peak Performance and Leadership"
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Your subconscious mind makes every decision in your life. This is appropriate and automatic ninety-nine percent of the time for walking, talking, and driving your car, but beware of the other one percent. All behavioral decisions like healthy eating, social interaction, and continuing bad habits are made in your subconscious mind.
What is your subconscious mind? It includes the thoughts and feelings below the level of awareness and is nearly unlimited in size.
In the clock-face study, people were asked to raise their hand randomly while looking at a clock. The researchers knew when they were going to raise their hand 300 milliseconds before the person knew. In the portrait study, people were asked to push a button in their right hand if a portrait of a person had a friendly expression and the left hand button if the portrait appeared sinister. The researchers knew several seconds before the person knew which button was going to be pushed. What’s going on? The subconscious mind makes the decision and sends the message to the conscious mind. We assume that we decide to do something, but these studies show the subconscious mind makes all decisions.
The implications may seem minor at first, but they can be life-changing. We need to align our conscious decisions with our subconscious decisions for greater success. This is accomplished by learning how to communicate with the subconscious. This is a primitive crocodile brain that responds to conditioning; emotions; images, sounds, smells, taste and touch; and subconscious reflex triggers.
Your subconscious mind sabotages your thinking. You tell yourself no dessert at today’s luncheon meeting. But, you say yes to the dessert menu and have a sugary dessert all the while saying to yourself you’re not having any. Worse yet, you’re angry with yourself causing dangerous levels of stress toxins. Your subconscious mind made this decision as it has been doing since childhood through conditioning. Instead, use this to your advantage through positive reinforcement. Eat a bowl of plain organic oatmeal. This is a different taste than you’re used to, and it’s like eating paste. However, not in your subconscious brain, here the feeling of hunger has been satisfied which sends a surge of dopamine to the nucleus accumbens pleasure center giving the brain a positive feeling, which in turn sends a pleasant feedback loop to the subcortical striatum part of the brain. Try the oatmeal again, and add blueberries, your subconscious will register this as another pleasant experience. Repeat this several times, and you will develop a craving for this healthy food with the extra benefit of the anti-inflammatory effects of the blueberries.
Sales and persuasion techniques have been based on subconscious decision making for thousands of years. Sell to the subconscious through emotions, images, sounds, and touch. The puppy dog close: send the puppy home for the night with no obligation. Yet, the dark side of the subconscious explains why brainwashing through negative conditioning is so effective. Associate a person or a group of people with negative images over and over through television and the web, soon people will automatically view that person or group as evil. How do you know when your opinion is based on conditioning or your own thinking? For example, if you have an opinion that vaccines cause autism, this is a conditioned response. This opinion is based on a single fraudulent report in a 1998 prestigious medical journal that was quickly “retracted” after investigation showed the author admitted falsifying the data. Vaccines do not cause autism. If your opinion is based on one person’s opinion or a single superficial statement, it’s likely a conditioned response. Do primary source research, and your decision will be your own.
Unconscious mind reflexes are the same as physical reflexes such as tapping the knee tendon. Learn what they are and use them in a positive way. Smile, your subconscious makes you feel better. Stand straight with open arms for strength, and slouch with folded arms for weakness. Head up is strong, head down is weak. Give a gift for increased sales. Give an after dinner mint for increased tips. This is the reciprocity reflex. Your sub-conscious mind has been conditioned to reciprocate. Scarcity of an item is similar, you will buy something if there are only three remaining because your subconscious fears loss. Consider physical activity at work as exercise and gain the benefit. Single-word reflexes are from mirror neurons. You smile and the person smiles back. The other person has a frown, you frown back along with the feeling of anger. Use “because” for a request will result in more yes responses. Rolling your eyes during a discussion causes the anger reflex by activating the amygdala anger center. Make a small request, return later and someone is more likely to accept a large request because the subconscious prefers consistency, or the opposite, make a huge request and immediately offer a small request.
Call to action. Learn the functional principles of the subconscious mind to know when it’s used against you, and learn to align your conscious thinking with your subconscious for a sustainable less stressful and more successful life.
Gary R. Epler, M.D. in Boston
Best-selling author of “Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy” and “Peak Performance and Leadership”
Important acknowledgement – Professor Peter M. Viston at William & Marry; and Professor Robert Cialdini at Arizona State University for their breakthrough research and insights into the subconscious.
]]>Each time a negative thought comes up, stop it and move on. No need to replace with a positive thought – that’s too much work. No need to replace it with anything. Move on to something else. Think a negative thought? Stop and move on.
Why? Because one negative thought leads to two, and that leads to a story. This is what happens when you have one negative thought. You have a second thought, and the third negative thought builds a story. And, this is always a bad story with an ending that causes frustration, depression, anger, and rage. This is the basis for the adage: think about it, say it, act it, and it becomes your character. Think negative thoughts, use negative talk, act on negative talk, and you become a negative person. Additional traits of this character include complaining, criticizing, blaming others, and making excuses.
Rejections. Have you ever had a major rejection or a series of rejections? You’ve submitted proposals, loan applications, college applications, or funding plans for a project or startup; and you’ve received two, five, ten, twenty or more rejections? We are told that rejections are part of life and part of success. The first few are ignored, but eventually you begin to think about these rejections. You tell yourself you’re a failure, you’re not smart enough, and everyone else is better than you. These negative thoughts begin to repeat themselves incessantly until you convince yourself you’re a failure at everything and the world is out to get you. These negative thoughts go on and on day after day. You become irritable and depressed. You become angry and rage at your family and friends. You don’t want to be around people because you’re so upset; likewise, people don’t want to be around you because you’re negative and depressed. All of this started from a single negative thought.
Other situations. You’ve been chewed out at work. You’ve been fired. You’ve been turned down for a job. You don’t get a promotion. A negative thought pops in your head, do not replay the scene. You have an illness or an injury? Stop all negative thoughts about these. You got a parking ticket? You’ve been criticized? Do not replay these scenes in your mind. Move on to something else.
Solution. Stop the negative thought and this is what happens. You have an instant feeling of relief. Your whole body is relieved because you don’t have to relive the long depressing story again. Over time, the story will disappear from your memory. You free your mind to be healthy, more creative, and to lead an enjoyable life.
Call to action. Negative thoughts? Stop them and move on. Stop thinking negative thoughts for a healthy mind.
Gary R. Epler, M.D. in Boston
Best-selling author of “Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy” and “Peak Performance and Leadership”
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Positive communication is interacting with people in a way that results in a positive feeling for both participants. Talking to coworkers, clerks, shop owners, and restaurant staff in a positive manner increases personal energy and feel-good neurotransmitters. Visualize two people talking, spouses, friends, or coworkers. One of them is excited about a huge event and can’t wait to tell the other person about it. The other person has four response options. The best is to respond with engagement, enthusiasm, and curiosity (demonstrated by asking questions). A second response is a passive “that’s nice,” not harmful but a missed opportunity for a good feeling for both people. A third response is harmful, which is to ignore the person’s excitement and one-up the conversation with a better or more exciting event. You may have been at a dinner party, work party, or a family get-together, and certain people will exhibit this response throughout the entire gathering. This is not an uplifting and pleasant social interaction. Finally, there is the fourth response: the destructive comment. This is a response such as “While you were having fun, I was stressed out trying to work” or “How much is this going to cost us?” and so forth. These caustic, angry responses usually come from people who are insecure and unhappy with their own lives. Use response number one for the best results. The first person gets to feel good about sharing an exciting event, and the second person feels good because of sharing an exciting experience. Eliminate one-up and destructive responses. There is no place for these responses in positive social interaction.
Commitment means always doing what you say you will do 100% of the time, with no exceptions. You say yes to a meeting, to a dinner party, to helping someone, or volunteering. Do it, even if a better offer comes along or you change your mind. There is no problem saying no. If you don’t want to do something or have a conflict, say no—say no to free tickets, no to an invitation, and even no to a request for help. This is meaningful for both participants, since saying yes and then not showing up is bad for everyone. This makes you feel bad and registers a negative feeling in your subconscious, it makes the other person doubt your character, and it lets down the other people involved in the situation. Say yes, and whatever it takes, do it.
Making decisions means make a decision as fast as possible, one way or the other. A good decision makes us feel good and most likely helps other people. A bad decision makes us feel bad, but we recover, learn something from it, and try another approach. It’s not the decision that’s bad, it’s the outcome. Making no decision is a problem. There is no progress, no forward action. This indecisiveness makes people look weak. This is especially important in your own life. When you are at a standstill, you can’t engage in life. Make a decision—whether it’s good or bad doesn’t make any difference. You can move forward and enjoy the decision or make another one, but you’re alive with energy and creativity from having done it.
Confidence is needed for a good leader. Do you like to follow someone who is weak and has no confidence in a decision, plan, or project? You feel bad when you have no confidence in yourself. Increasing your self-esteem is not enough. We have great self-esteem when everything is going well, but when things get tough, self-esteem jumps ship and abandons us. Use compassion for yourself; this never lets you down. Confidence comes from how much we like ourselves. How much are you willing to be your true self? In grade school, we want to be who our parents and teachers want us to be. Later we want to be who our friends want us to be, who our boss or spouse wants us to be, who society wants us to be—or worse, the perfect, flawless person that our mind wants us to be. It takes time, but be yourself. You’re free. This is freedom from blame, freedom from criticism, freedom from making bad decisions. This is you; there is no reason for complaining, blaming, making excuses, or criticizing.
Persistence is fundamental for continuing success in life. Psychologist and author Dr. Angela Duckworth uses the term “grit” to describe perseverance and passion. Grit consists of courage, which often means eliminating the fear of failure; endurance and follow-through; and resilience—the optimism and confidence required to bounce back from failure. It’s not concentrating on winning, it’s concentrating on doing your individual best. Grit also means not quitting because the task or project is too hard or someone told you to quit or that you’re not good enough. Stop because you have completed the project, the job, or reached your goal.
Creativity is the spice of life. This means using your mind to solve day-to-day problems and bumps. Using your mind to make things happen, to create projects for the community, to create products, to create solutions, create businesses, create enjoyment for yourself and for your family. Increase your creative ability, and you will improve your life and everyone else’s too.
Honesty and integrity are the foundations of a good leader. This is obvious for an executive or boss, but even more important is being honest with yourself at a private level. No exaggerations, no convenient forgetting, and no stretching the truth. Always be honest with yourself. No lies. No rationalizing. In many situations, the raw truth will be painful, and sometimes extremely painful, but recovery will occur. The ancient saying is correct: The truth will set you free.
Call to action. Learn and relearn these attributes of a good leader. Use them at work, when volunteering, at home, and most importantly, for yourself. Positive communication, commitment, decision making, confidence, persistence, creativity, and honesty. They will become self-sustainable, enabling you to live an extraordinary life with energy, meaning, success, and enjoyment.
Gary R. Epler, M.D. in Boston
Best-selling author of “Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy” and “Peak Performance and Leadership”
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Did you know that increasing your heart rate will help you fall in love with the person next to you? Try it and find out.
Want to fall in love with your husband or wife, your girlfriend or boyfriend, or a first date? Do something that increases your heart rate, especially something requiring cooperation together, like keeping a kayak in a straight line. Go for a hike, climb a mountain, go on a bike path, ballroom dancing lessons, workout together, or go for a run together. That’s what happened to me. I was training for the New York Marathon along the Charles River in Boston and saw someone, my future wife Joan, coming my direction and made the U-turn. Our hearts were beating faster. It didn’t take long, a few moments, to fall in love.
This is what happens. The feel good hormones and neurotransmitters like endorphin, serotonin, and dopamine kick in from the exercise, and when two people exercise, the bonding hormone oxytocin is flowing. In addition, with exercise and increased heart rate, both of you are in the alpha-brain wave world of happiness and bliss. Joan and I ran the Greek Marathon for our first anniversary and our favorite memories were running the three 20-mile training runs to Wellesley and back to Boston the three Saturdays before the marathon. We were together in the alpha-brainwave meditation state, a fantasy world filled with love, joy and peace. The hot-fudge sundae at the end was also a big plus.
I was talking with my friend during a Cape Cod ocean swim telling him about increasing the heart rate to fall in love. This reminded him of his first date with his wife, they took ballroom dancing together, just the two of them. Heart rate increased, they fell in love, and were married within the year. My friend John hiked a mountain trail with someone new and fell in love.
There’s a bonus. You will create lifelong memories that you will both recall 10 years later, 20 years later, and forever. Remember nighttime skating on the Brookline Country Club pond, remember the New Hampshire hike with cranberry nut bread and Mozart’s music, and remember running by MIT during a Boston wintry nor’easter.
Want to enjoy life together? Fist date? Do something that will you increase your heart rates. Run together, stay together. Love is in the air.
Gary R. Epler, M.D.
Award-winning author of “Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy”
]]>Visualize the process, not the goal. Books, seminars, courses, and motivational speakers talk about setting goals for success. When it comes to visualization, it doesn’t work. It delays reaching the goal and may even prevent ever reaching the goal.
Want an A on the exam? Visualize the process, not the A. For days, you visualize getting an A on the exam. You visualize the A when you brush your teeth, walking to class, and going for lunch. How could this be a problem? Everyone says this is a good idea. If visualizing the A is such a good idea, let's test it and find out. Tell 100 students to visualize the A on the exam for five days and compare their grade to 100 students who don’t visualize the A. The results: those who don’t visualize the A get a better grade! This is because students who get the good grades spend their time studying for the exam and not spending their time visualizing the A. This not only takes time, but the students who visualize the A have the feeling that they will get the A because the “universe” will help them. This is not a good feeling, it’s a false feeling of success, and a double bad feeling when the A doesn’t appear. Be the process-visualization students about getting an A and study.
Want a job? Visualize the process, not the job. People can spend hours visualizing their dream job – visualize talking about the offer, about the surroundings of the new job, about what they will do with the money, and about the feeling of success. How-to books and motivational gurus tell you this over and over. They give you thousands of success stories. It sounds so perfect, but it’s not. This is a waste of time and will take you away from attaining the job. Take 100 people who visualize their dream job compared to 100 people who don’t. People who don’t spend time visualizing the job used the time on the process of getting the job, and they get the job.
Want to make a million dollars? Visualize the process, not the million dollars. The “how-to” authors and speakers will tell you to visualize a million dollars, and it will appear. They tell you not to worry about how it will happen, the “universe” will take care of how it will happen. Visualize it, write it down, repeat it 100 times every day, post it on the mirror, and visualize the million dollars during meditation. It’s a secret, don’t tell anybody. All of this effort is time wasted. It’s a distraction. Every cell in your body knows what the goal is – no reminders are needed. Visualize the process, this will lead to success and you’ll feel better.
What happens when you visualize the process? Less stress and more enjoyment. The feeling of failure is eliminated because process is not a win-loss situation. Thinking about goals is stressful and not attaining the goal day after day is not good, a bad feeling in the stomach. It's a negative hope of attaining a goal that may never be reached. Thinking about the process is a continuous feeling of accomplishment and engagement not associated with failure or success, it’s not a competition with yourself to reach a goal. Working on the process results in positive feelings, engagement and meaning in life, accomplishments, and positive social interactions. Deal with process setbacks the same way. Don't think about the setback itself, move on to thinking about the process of getting back on track. Working on the process produces a comforting sense of well-being.
Action step: Visualization is good. It’s how we think. Visualize and think about the process for success, and enjoy the journey.
Gary R. Epler, M.D.
www.eplerhealth.com Award-winning author of Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy
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Machines are built to repair themselves, and so can you.
At any given time, people have something that needs some healing attention. Healing is the process of restoring physical health from injury or disease and restoring mental and emotional health. Healing is a state of mind, and you can use your mind to help with healing.
Two basic requirements. Before talking about healing, you need to do two things. First, learn everything you can about the anatomy of the injury or the mechanism of the disease process from your doctor and review of established evidence-based websites. Second, use your best medical treatment option available, such as antibiotics, medications or surgery. Ask your doctor questions about the injury or disease, about the diagnostic process, how to monitor the process, and the treatment options including the natural history of the process. Ask questions until you thoroughly understand the answers. This will help you be in charge of the situation and begin healing.
Use your mind for healing. You need to have a positive approach to the injury or illness. Tell yourself, you can take charge and successfully manage this situation. Remember, in some situations, you may not be able to cure it, but you can always manage it, and that’s good enough. Anger and a negative approach causes the neurolinguistic trap. This occurs from repeatedly thinking of and verbalizing anger and negative feelings (complaining) about the illness. This counterproductive activity establishes a bad neuropathway sending you down the road of perpetual aggravation and worsening the process. A positive approach neuropathway sends you down the road to strength and control. Use compassion as a companion approach. Have compassion, not anger, for your injury or diseased organ system.
Controlled breathing. Use controlled breathing. Breathe silently and equally in and out, without holding your breath at the top or the bottom of the breath. Move your lower abdomen out as you inhale, also called belly breaths. This will decrease stress which will help the healing process.
Visualization. This can be used to help healing especially while in the alpha- or theta-brainwave state. These relaxed brainwave states help manage fear which is a huge initial part of an injury or illness. There are several ways to use visualization, and you can develop your own. Here are four examples. First, mentally send healing energy to the specific body part that needs healing such as the elbow or knee or the organ system such as the heart. Learn about the anatomy or the illness because the more specific, the better. Second, visualize replacing dysfunctional and abnormal cells with new healthy cells. Begin with one cell, then two, four, eight until you reached millions. Third, visualize repairing damaged DNA in your cells as future cells will be healthy. Finally, with your mind, reignite your dormant healing genes involved in the injury or disease process.
Persist. The healing component of an injury or disease process can have a powerful influence in your life and if successful can restore your physical, mental, and emotional health. Healing is a state of mind, keep learning new ways to use your mind for healing.
Gary R. Epler, M.D.
www.eplerhealth.com Best-selling author of “Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy”
]]>Imagine having the feelings of joy, creativity, and confidence. These are wonderful, soothing feelings that we need every day especially during a personal downturn, loss of income, stress, or pain. How can we do this? It’s through meditation or what I call alpha-brainwave time.
What's alpha-brainwave time? It’s day dreaming. It’s meditation. It’s time when you are experiencing alpha brainwaves. We have several brainwave frequencies. Beta brainwave activity occurs during our typical waking day. Alpha brainwaves and theta brainwaves occur during light and moderate sleep. We require 15 minutes of very slow delta waves for deep sleep every night. Gamma waves are fast and may occur during peak performance. Wake up and unlock the benefits of alpha brainwaves. You can also learn to be in a theta brainwave state while awake for even greater benefits.
How do you do alpha-brainwave time? The traditional way is with sitting, eyes-closed meditation, which continues to be the gold standard. I prefer new eyes-open meditation that you can do while sitting, walking in the woods, walking or slowly jogging on a treadmill, swimming or during yoga. The Norwegians have a term “Friluftsliv” which is the alpha-brainwave feeling that develops being outside in free air.
5 benefits from alpha-brainwave time. First, alpha-brainwave time decreases stress by lowering your blood adrenaline levels. You go from the flight-or-fight state to the stay-and-play state. Second, meditation releases feel-good neurotransmitters and hormones including endorphin, dopamine, and serotonin. Third, meditation balances your left and right side of the brain. We need the left brain to function in society, but it’s rigid and dominant. Meditation shifts some of this activity to the right brain – the social and creative brain making a more enjoyable day. Fourth, people may depend on outside activities for pleasure and enjoyment, but this is an inside job – meditation brings that pleasure inside with no need for outside forces. Finally, science-based benefits of alpha-brainwave time include increasing mirror-neuron function that improves social interaction and increasing the life of telomeres at the end of your chromosomes for increased lifespan.
Take action: Learn everything you can about alpha-brainwave time and meditation. Learn the different ways and find one that is best for you. Give yourself 15 to 20 minutes of alpha-brainwave time every day and especially when you face the inevitable personal downturns and stress. Alpha-brainwave time will give you energy, confidence, and joy. If you wish, watch "Who Knew Life was so Easy?"
Gary Epler
Best-selling author of “Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy” and upcoming book: “Universal Path to Health and Happiness: 15 Practices throughout the world."
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Do you want to find the best people to help you? Make sure they do the second part of the job and finished the last 5%. Do you want to do the best job? Do the second part and finish the last 5% of the job.
Every job has two parts.
I had some work done on the house replacing some wood that had become worn. The first part, they did a perfect job replacing the wood, couldn’t have been better. The second part, clean up and protect the house. They failed miserably with the second part. They left a mess. There were scraps of wood and paint on the grass, the flowers were trampled, and worse, there were deep gouges in the wood from the ladders. Not so good.
If you want the best, every job has two parts. A good doctor diagnosis and treats disease correctly, the best doctor does this plus has a caring personality. A spin class instructor may have the best music and routine, but lack the second part of creating a positive social interaction in the class. A good plumber fixes your sink. The best plumber fixes your sink and doesn’t trample mud on your floor, doesn’t leave grease on the cabinets, and doesn’t scare you. You need help clearing two feet of snow from you driveway? The good snow remover removes the snow from the driveway. The best removes the snow from the driveway, doesn’t plow the snow into your neighbor’s yard, clears the sidewalk, and cleans the edges.
Look at your work. Do you do a good job or do you do the best job? There are two parts to every job. Know the second part, do the second part, and you will be the best.
Finish the last 5% of the job.
My friend Bob owns a construction company and told me the first 5% and the last 5% of building a house are the hardest. Review your experience, is he right? Yes, he is. Finishing the last 5% of any job separates the best from the average.
My wife, Joan and I watched two houses being built during our Sunday morning run along our neighborhood route. They were beautiful, majestic homes. They were both built quickly during several months. However, for months after building the first house, the street sidewalk remained in total disrepair from the construction, and the small strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street was mud. For the second house, again several months after “finishing” the job, the protect-the-environment-straw bales were spread throughout the street and neighbor’s lawn. Both of these last finishing touches will remain there for several more months or even longer. For another new house at a different part of our run, the owners took two years to clean up scraps of wood and finish a tiny strip of landscaping in front of their new house that was built in less than a year. These minor details may not bother some people, but the job wasn’t finished. And this issue occurs every day in our businesses and social lives. What about the husband who takes out the trash bag, but doesn't put in a new trash bag in the barrel, leaving this annoying job for his wife? Examples are everywhere.
My friend Scott told me about his experience with the last 5%. He was a furniture mover in the past and experienced two situations. When two crews did the work, if the first crew only moved the big, obvious items, it took the second crew twice and sometimes three times longer to find, load, and pack the last 5% of small random items. If the first crew, moved what needed to be moved including extra nuisance items, the total job took half as long and cost half as much. Secondly, when homeowners left loose pieces scattered throughout the house in the attic and basement, it took more hours to finish this last 5% than to completely empty the entire house resulting in higher cost to the homeowner. Completing the last 5% saves money too.
Look at your work. Do you complete the job? Do you leave tools scattered throughout the house after minor repair work? Do you clean up after making a mess fixing something? At your work, do you stop at the last 5% of the job and go home? Do you let your associates or friends finish the last 5% of the project?
Finish the job every time. You will have the satisfying feeling of doing a great job, even if no one notices, and you won’t have the lingering, unsettling feeling of a job not quite finished. Second, you will be more successful in your overall work and social interaction. Do the last 5% of the job to be the best.
Take action: Everyone needs to take action for doing successful work. Do the second part of the job and finish the last 5% of the job.
Gary Epler
Best-selling author of “Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy”
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You can manage your disease better than anyone else can. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, asthma, type II diabetes – you may not be able to cure them, but you can manage them to live an energetic, extraordinary life filled with creativity and enjoyment.
How do you manage your disease?
Start with learning everything you can about the disease. Explore the internet top five searches. Trust yourself, you will be able to read sources that will help you. Learn the causes and learn how the disease is diagnosed – what tests and x-rays are helpful. Is a biopsy needed? Learn the treatment options. There are always options – the natural course of the disease without treatment, medical treatment, surgical treatment, and complimentary treatments. Monitor the progress – is it improving, staying the same, worsening. Often staying the same is good enough, as this is managing the disease and will not interfere with your life. If worsening, try another option. Finally, create a healing environment. This is where the mind is a powerful. You can be healed without being cured. It’s in the mind.
What do you need to know about diagnosing your disease?
You may think that diagnosing disease is the doctor’s job. This is true, yet it is helpful for you to learn about the diagnostic process because you’re going to be asked to decide which tests to have. Some are simple, a blood test or urine test, while others such as special x-ray tests and especially tissue biopsies are complex and have potential adverse reactions. So, learn about potential causes of disease and the diagnostic process. Importantly, ask your doctor the reason for the test, what happens if you don’t do the test, the chance of making a diagnosis, the risks of the test, and finally alternative options.
Find out the treatment options.
There are always options. Ask your doctor what happens if you don’t do anything. What is the natural history of the disease process? This will help you several ways. First, the process may resolve over time. Second, you will have something to monitor to determine if the treatment plan is working. Third, it may be a rapid deadly outcome and you will have intense decisions to make. After this, ask about the medical treatment options. What medicines will be used? What is the typical outcome with these medicines? What are the adverse reactions of the medicines? You may need to know surgical options. What is the operation? What are the chances of success? What are the risks? Ask the same questions about chemotherapy and radiation treatments. When you find out the answers, you will be able to weigh the benefits and the risks to make a decision that is best for you.
Monitor your disease.
Now that you have a treatment plan, it is helpful to monitor the progress. This can be simple by keeping track on your iPhone or computer, or developing an elaborate computer graph. Use the 48-hour rule. If the process is improved in 48 hours, continue the plan. If the process is unchanged, give another 48 hours and re-evaluate. If worse in 48 hours, contact your physician and maybe continue the plan or change the plan, depending on severity. If there is dramatic worsening, call 911 or go to the emergency room.
How do you heal?
Healing is a state of mind. You can be healed despite having a chronic disease. I’m reminded of the professional piano player who was blind and emaciated from AIDS, yet as he was sitting at the piano, he told the interviewer he was at peace and healed. He died the next day. You can learn how to heal. There are several do nots: Do not dwell on your disease. Do not complain to others. Do not let the disease take over your life. Follow what has been discussed: Learn about the disease, know you have chosen the best diagnostic studies and treatment options for you, and monitor the process. Develop a positive attitude toward the management plan. This will give you a feeling of control and being in charge of the disease. Next, you need eight hours of sleep, one hour of exercise, and eat the right foods in the right amount including lean protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and slow-burn carbohydrates. Use the power of your mind, spend alpha brainwave time through meditation. Have compassion for yourself and the organ system involved. Use visualization of healing the process. Develop relaxation techniques through belly breathing and yoga breathing (equal breath in and equal breath out). Manage stress through these techniques.
Take action.
Learn about your disease, know the diagnostic process, understand the treatment options, monitor the disease, and create an environment for healing. You are in charge. You can manage your disease better than anyone else. Your chances of success are unlimited.
Gary R. Epler, M.D.
Best-selling author of "You’re the Boss: Manage Your Disease”
Image via Public Domain Archive
]]>What’s omega-6?
It’s an unsaturated fatty acid. The number 6 is the location of a double carbon bond on the long-string fatty acid. It’s an essential fatty acid, which means the body does not produce omega-6, and it must be consumed from an outside source. We have been told that the unsaturated fats are the healthy ones, and saturated fats are the ones that cause artery inflammation. Even though an unsaturated fat, too much omega-6 also causes inflammation. This inflammation may occur in the coronary arteries causing a heart attack or in arteries leading to the brain causing a stroke. Recently, people who replaced saturated fats with omega-6 increased their risk of heart disease.
Why is omega-6 a problem now?
Omega-6 was not a problem before the 1950s and is not currently an issue in many non-industrialized countries. Why? The biggest source of omega-6 today is from processed foods and meats. New manufacturing techniques for food preservation and chemically-manufactured foods such as high-fructose corn syrup were not available years ago. In the past naturally-occurring foods resulted in a mostly healthy balance of omega-6.
What are the biggest sources of omega-6?
Vegetable oils, processed foods, and unhealthy meats are the biggest sources of omega-6. Vegetable oils that have high amounts of omega-6 include sunflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil, and peanut oil. It is paradoxical that in the 1960’s, corn oil and peanut oil were recommended for replacement for lard and butter for frying foods because these contained unsaturated fats and not the unhealthy saturated fats. Yet, today these are unhealthy high omega-6 oils. Soy beans have a worse story, often thought of as a healthy alternative in the past, today processed oil from soybeans is the biggest source of omega-6 in the American diet. Processed soybean oil is everywhere. It’s in chips, pastries, snacks, ice cream, and fast food. Processed corn and soy are used for animal feed and farmed-raised fish feed resulting in high omega-6 content of these foods. Whole soy beans are loaded with omega-6.
Unhealthy meats may be common in the US. I recently drove across the country with my family from shining sea to shining sea and purple mountains. In the middle of the country, we experienced a foul-smelling stench for several miles that permeated the car causing nausea in all of us. There were hundreds and thousands of cattle squeezed tightly in pens next to each other. Were they receiving processed corn and soy feed plus steroid hormones for muscle growth? Probably. These are deplorable conditions for these animals, and the meat will have unwarranted excessive amount of omega-6 that will overwhelm the balanced omega-6/omega-3 ratio in people. The same situation may occur with pen-raised chickens and farm-raised fish, both having too much omega-6.
Why is the omega-6/omega-3 ratio so important?
Food science has led us to something new to understand. The body needs an equal balance of omega-6 and omega-3 for optimal health, but a high omega-6/omega-3 ration causes inflammation. In the past, there was a healthy balance between these two fatty acids until manufacturing processes and forced-fed animal practices have developed during the past 25 years. Now there is an overpowering imbalance from 15 to as high as 40 times more omega-6 compared to omega-3 allowing the inflammatory properties of omega-6 to damage the lining of the heart and brain arteries, and causing other inflammatory responses throughout the body. It’s important to restore the balance by decreasing omega-6 intake.
Take action.
Learn as much as you can about omega-6. Read food labels, even some so-called health foods such as energy drinks and energy bars may contain large amounts of omega-6. Foods with lower omega-6 levels include organic whole fruits and vegetables as well as grass-fed meat, free-range chicken, cage-free eggs, and free-swimming ocean fish. Limit high omega-6 vegetable oils such as sunflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil, and peanut oil. Limit or eliminate processed foods, drinks, and meats.
Gary R. Epler, M.D. at www.eplerhealth.com
Best-selling author of “Food: You’re the Boss”
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What's a Level-10 Energy day? It's an amazing day. It’s one of those days you love to have. Everything goes well, you’re on top of the world, nothing bothers you, and you can do anything. You're alive with energy. Your mind is generating positive energy. Nothing goes wrong. Annoying problems don't develop. You talk to people and people talk to you. You listen to people and people listen to you. You help people. People help you. Your work creates energy. You’re forgiving. You’re grateful. You’re creative. You enjoy life.
How do you have a Level-10 Energy Day? The sources of energy are everywhere. You just need to know how to use them. There are 10 steps that will work for you.
The first three include eight hours of sleep, one hour of vigorous exercise at the best of your ability, and eating the right foods for energy including lean protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and slow-burn carbohydrates. You need eight hours of sleep to replenish the adenosine energy chemical that is depleted during waking hours. One hour of vigorous exercise will create feel-good hormones and neuro-transmitters that include endorphin, dopamine, and serotonin. Group exercise will produce oxytocin, the bonding hormone. Lean protein will provide pure energy. Omega-3 fatty acids will keep the arteries healthy. Slow-burn carbs will prevent blood sugar spikes that cause damaged inflamed arteries and inflamed big bellies.
Two more steps include learning something new every day and using your alpha brainwaves. Not too many people like to take tests, but almost everyone loves to learn. It gives you energy. Learn something new. This can be random and not related to your work. We have five types of brain waves according to frequency. Beta brainwaves are our usual waking state and help us through our daily routine. Alpha brainwaves are slower and can provide a huge amount of creative and feel-good energy. They usually occur during light sleep and with practice, you can create them while awake with eyes open through calming brain activity or meditation. Day dreaming – that’s the alpha brainwave state. It’s healthy and provides energy.
The remaining 5 steps provide energy and create a Level-10 Energy day through the use of the mind and your thoughts. They include managing fear and stress, positive social interaction, being grateful, seeing the good in all things, and helping others. We can usually manage acute stress without harm, but chronic stress is dangerous to our health by producing harmful inflammation chemicals in our blood. Chronic stress is usually caused by fear – manage the fear and you manage the stress. Positive social interaction with people produces feel-good energy. Say hello to someone and talking every day. Being grateful creates a great feeling and energy. Look for the good things throughout the day, it will give you uplifting energy. Finally, help someone. It feels good and provides input for your Level-10 Energy Day.
For you, Level-10 Energy can provide a day filled with creativity and enjoyment. Use the 10 steps for a blueprint to success.
Gary R. Epler, M.D., #1 Amazon best-selling author of “Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy”
Check out Jennings Wire for a Level-10 Energy Podcast
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Synchronicity occurs when two unrelated events come together to create a common outcome. Heads and tails are two unrelated opposites but are related as a coin. Serendipity is a happy coincidence or miracle discovery.
There are many instances of seemingly unrelated events that nonetheless are united. For example, have you ever thought about a childhood friend or a roommate and when the phone rings, it’s that very person? Or, how a mother knows that her child is in danger and rushes to a distant scene to save her child? Or why scientists in two different countries make the same discovery simultaneously?
How can thoughts be sent thousands of miles? They aren’t. These aren’t coincidences, nor are they simple statistics (e.g., a chance of 1 in 4.5 billion thoughts). It’s not the result of brainwaves either; they’re too short.
The answer is Level-10 Energy. Here’s how it works. It’s a five-component Einstein thought experiment.
First, Level-10 Energy consists of subatomic packets of pure energy, each one identical, and all are gregarious. They love to be near each other. These energy packets make up 70 percent of the universe and are expanding at an astonishing speed. That’s a huge amount of Level-10 Energy.
Second, these Level-10 Energy packets are like a hologram. Each one contains all of the information in the universe from the past, present, and future. Therefore, as you think about your friend or roommate, each Level-10 Energy packet in the universe already has the matching thought. There’s no lag time because time is not involved. These tiny packets of energy are in every cell of the body, including the brain and the source of thought. Therefore, your thoughts are instantly available.
Third, your thought has a unique Level-10 Energy configuration.
Fourth, there is an exact complementary replica of that thought in each of these holographic Level-10 Energy packets.
Fifth, these two configurations meld together causing the synchronicity or serendipity outcome. It’s like pieces of a puzzle with two separate pieces of Level-10 Energy forming a single piece.
The implications of this thought experiment are exciting. Your friend calling or the two scientists from separate laboratories creating the same result are random. But, what if we could learn to create these occurrences? We’ve been told there are opportunities all around us. This is true, but how do you connect with them? If you’re single, you know that the perfect spouse is somewhere, but how do you make the connection? You know there is an answer to a problem, how do you find it?
The hologram nature of Level-10 Energy shows that all answers are available to us.
So, how do these thoughts meld together? Seeking out the corresponding thought is impossible as there are infinite thoughts available in the Level-10 Energy pool. Attracting the two energy thoughts together will not work as these are pure Level-10 Energy without a positive or negative charge. Try this: create the alpha brainwave state, visualize the exact counterpart thought, and merge the connection with your mind.
This concept could change the way humans behave and interact. Imagine what thinking and communication will be like 200 years from now. That’s fuel for life.
That’s Level-10 Energy.
Note: Please send me your experiences related to this topic so that we can learn more about it.
Written by Gary Epler, bestselling author of Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy.
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First, begin with a Level-10 Energy day. What’s a Level-10 Energy day? “It's like being on top of the world with no worries. It's doing anything you want without stress. It's the feeling of unlimited creativity and enjoying every minute of the day. It's the best feeling in the world. It's a way of life!” Follow the steps to success including the right amount of sleep, find the exact exercise, eat special foods for energy, and more.
Second, turn work into an energy builder. Some people are able to do this naturally. For most, it’s a learned response. The good news is that almost everyone, no matter the job they do, can learn to create energy while working. Concentrate on positive events. Shrug off negative comments and events, let them pass through without using energy to judge them or fight them. Gain energy through positive interactions with people and focus on successes, no matter how small. Learn about your special traits and talents. These are defined as recurrent behaviors and activities that you enjoy doing every day and keep returning to them over the years. There are about 30 of them and everyone has three to five that are uniquely theirs. They are your passion. Know them and do work that’s aligned with your traits and talents. This is what will happen –you will enjoy your work, you will be good at your work, and you will be energized. For quick energy, look for the good things at work, compliment someone, and give a gesture of help.
Third, create a positive work environment: The energized environment occurs when people know what is expected of them. Everyone needs the tools and resources to do the job right. You need to be setup for success and believe your opinions matter. Everyone needs opportunities to learn and grow.
Fourth, eliminate an environment of chronic stress. Chronic stress can cause cortisol-based life-threatening health problems and drain energy. Stress is a fear-based reaction. A plane ride with up and down loops is exhilarating for some people, producing positive neurotransmitters and hormones, but terrifying for others, producing stress hormones and chemicals. What are some ideas for coping with stress? The happiness factor is important, learn to focus on what’s intrinsically important and discarding or ignoring everything else. Exercise is an excellent stress reliever. Compassion, kindness, and forgiveness are stress relievers. Eliminate stress by realizing that it’s an interpretation of a threat, based on fear. “Eliminate fear at the workplace, eliminate stress.”
Fifth, create energy from social interaction at the workplace. You need to feel free to flourish in creativity. Take advantage of people who are battery chargers. They can instantly charge a person’s energy level from low to high. Being near them, talking to them, and interacting with them can be energizing. Better yet, be one yourself. The science behind the transfer of energy between people is related to the feel-good neurotransmitters like oxytocin, the bonding hormone. How can someone become an energy producer? Have a Level-10 Energy day.
These five steps will increase personal energy at the workplace resulting in enjoyment, improved efficiency, and higher productivity.
Gary Epler, Best-selling author of “Fuel for Life: Level-10 Energy”
]]>How? Level-10 energy consists of subatomic gregarious packets of pure energy, each one identical, containing all information from the past, current, and future time. Therefore, as you have the thought about your friend or roommate, each Level-10 Energy packet in the universe instantly contains that thought, so your friend can instantly have the same thought.
Let me know about your Level-10 Energy experiences.
Gary Epler
]]>First, energy spark your day with enough sleep – eight hours, no more and no less – it’s the key to success. Go to sleep every night at the same time, add eight hours, and wake up every day at the same time. This can be the most difficult step, but it can change your life. If you’re a night owl, you can decide to modify your sleep habits. Try getting up early, do some work, go for a jog along the river or a walk along a mountain trail, or go to a workout club. Your brain needs eight hours of sleep to recharge adenosine, the brain-energy chemical. It’s possible to do anything you want to do with enough sleep.
For next energy step, exercise one hour to the best of your ability and time every day. It will give you unlimited energy. Any age can find a way to exercise – by walking, jogging, bicycling, swimming, you name it. The social way is to take classes at a local fitness club, dance center, or senior center. It’s great and so much fun to meet people and share common interests. Besides, exercise in a group produces oxytocin, the bonding hormone, so you really enjoy being with people and look forward to seeing your workout friends every day. Commuting and working full time, raising a family, and taking care of parents can make finding time to exercise challenging, but if you make it a priority, you’ll find a way. Try exercising before everyone wakes up or during your lunch hour at work or right after work. You’ll feel so much healthier, be thinner, and look great.
Maintaining a healthy weight takes you to the third and last step, finding the right foods and eating them in the right amounts. It’s tricky to figure out the right foods, you can scroll down the computer and find confusing information, so here they are, in living color. Eat lean protein without any fat or fried batter, like boiled chicken, steamed salmon, or quinoa. Believe it or not, we need healthy fats, like those that come from olive oil and omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon and walnuts to build cells and healthy hormones. The hardest thing to do is to remember to eat more slow-burn carbs, which means carbs that don’t increase your blood sugar. Examples are spinach, broccoli, rapini, and high-fiber foods. When trying to figure out how much to eat, start with these secrets to portion-size mastery – use small plates and split entrées in restaurants. You’ll notice an immediate difference and feel great. Allow yourself to cheat one day a week and look forward to your day of cravings. Enjoy every bite without stress. And, if you bake cookies, instead of eating the batter, eat one cookie, and give the rest away with love.
Getting enough sleep, exercising, and eating the right foods will have you on the high-energy path to a happy and healthy life. See you there.
Written by Joan Epler who is an energy fitness expert in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Her husband, Dr. Gary Epler, is a Harvard Medical School professor, has written four health books, and is the creator of Level-10 Energy®. Another exercise secret? You can meet your spouse. Joan and Gary met jogging the opposite way along the Charles River in Boston, and it was love at first sight. They ran together every morning, and he proposed beneath the Eiffel Tower before the Paris Marathon. For their first anniversary, they ran the Greek Marathon together. Sign up for energy at Epler Health. This article can also been found at Savvy Gal.
]]>Breast Cancer Awareness: A strange lung disease called BOOP [bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia] may develop in some women who have had radiation treatment for breast cancer. It may be a funny sounding name, but I discovered this disease several years ago, and it can be serious or even lethal if not diagnosed and treated with the right medicine.
BOOP is inflammation of the lungs. The BO in BOOP is “bronchiolitis obliterans” which means the small bronchiole airways are filled with inflammation. The OP in BOOP is “organizing pneumonia” which means the lungs are filled with inflammation. BOOP is often called Epler’s pneumonia.
In most situations, the cause is unknown, but sometimes BOOP occurs among women who have had radiation treatment for breast cancer. This type of BOOP usually occurs from three months to six months after the radiation treatment is completed. There may be no symptoms, but cough, fever, and shortness of breath are common. The lung examination is usually normal. The chest x-ray or computer scan shows hazy shadows, and surprisingly, usually in the lower lungs away from the radiation field. This type of BOOP is almost always curable with the powerful anti-inflammatory corticosteroid medication, or “steroids.” Fortunately, in some women, this type of BOOP can be closely monitored without medication and resolves over time. In conclusion, if pneumonia occurs during the first year after radiation treatment, it could be BOOP.
"BOOP: You’re the Boss" in paperback and eBook
Do you want to know about an amazing discovery that will change your life? It’s Level-10 Energy. It’s the energy of the universe. I discovered this through years of research looking for a way people can improve their lives. Level-10 Energy is fuel for life! Start with a Level-10 Energy day.
What's a Level-10 Energy day? It's an amazing day. It’s one of those days you love to have – everything goes well, you’re on top of the world, nothing bothers you, and you can accomplish anything! You're alive with energy. Your mind is generating positive energy. Nothing goes wrong. Annoying problems don't develop. You talk to people and people talk to you. You listen to people and people listen to you. You help people. People help you. Your work creates energy. You’re forgiving. You’re grateful. You’re creative. You enjoy life.
How do you have a Level-10 Energy Day? The sources of energy are everywhere. You just need to know how to use them. Five steps will provide a good start. Eight hours of sleep. One hour of vigorous exercise to the best of your ability. Eat the right foods for energy including lean protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and slow-burn carbohydrates. Learn something new every day. Use the power of the mind to create unlimited energy. There are sources of energy you use every day and don't even know it, finding out what they are will give you a huge amount of Level-10 Energy.
What is Level-10 Energy? It’s the hologram energy of the universe that is expanding every day. It's subatomic packets of energy containing the whole of the universe, and each energy packet is identical melding together creating Level-10 Energy.
Let's hear about your Level-10 Energy Day!
Gary Epler
It was a perfect spring day. We had our annual Mother’s Day basketball game in the driveway with my sons and uncles. I recall giving pre-game safety instructions that included, “No one’s going to the ER. Let’s concentrate on offense, and keep defensive contact to a minimum.”
During the third game tie-breaker, I came down with a rebound and landed on the left side of my left foot. There was a distinctive snapping sound as the metatarsal bone broke like a chicken wishbone. For anyone who has snapped a bone, you remember that sudden mild nauseated feeling in the pit of your stomach. I knew I would have a 15-minute window before reality sets in.
I was angry with myself for such a stupid move, but quickly dismissed this feeling because it wouldn’t help. I was able to finish the last ten minutes of the game in a semi-state of distress by staying clear of the action. I faked my way into the house holding onto the car, garage wall, anything allowing me not to put weight on my left foot. When I got there, I put up my left leg for relief.
It was time to apply the five steps – first, I needed to learn everything I could about a broken metatarsal. There was no bone sticking out of the skin and no misalignment, so immediate ER action wasn’t needed. Second, I remembered the diagnostic process. It’s usually an x-ray, and sometimes an MRI. Third, the treatment. In the past it was an ankle cast up to the knee. Now it’s an improved soft “boot”, and sometimes metal pins. Fourth, monitor the progress, noting the amount of swelling, amount of blue discoloration, and amount of pain. Fifth, I was going to approach the situation with a positive approach. Treating it at home had some risk and was slightly against the rules, but I was confident I would succeed.
The first 48 hours were the hardest. I kept the weight off my left foot by hobbling around the house holding onto chairs, tables and walls. Otherwise I kept my foot elevated and iced either with ice cubes or by freezing a paper cup of water and using the paper as a handle. The area needing ice was obvious, it was a big bump above the broken bone and 15 minutes of icing turned the area numb. The first night was especially difficult because the swelling had spread to the entire left foot and the toes became indistinguishable, like an extended foot without spaces. The black and blue areas also spread from the left side of the foot to the toes. Yet, I survived the night without too much anguish. The second day and night were similar – hobbling around lots of pain, but bearable pain. The swelling and blue-tinged foot didn’t change but didn’t worsen.
After the first 48 hours, it was time to get back to the fast-paced life. I returned to my daily workout, very slowly with no lower extremity work, and a big swollen left foot with a non-tied sneaker. It was difficult getting around keeping the foot straight, but not impossible. I was able to work with the foot propped up all day. The swelling and blueness had not worsened.
This is the timeframe for a broken metatarsal: two days of pain and swelling, three weeks to knit the bone, two additional weeks for hardening, and one additional week for safe measure. I followed that timeframe like it was a formula – and took special care not to reverse the situation during week four.
But during those initial three to four days, negative thoughts assailed me. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like just to be able to go one-half block to the end of the street. The thoughts were so powerful, it actually felt like I could never do it again! I positively told myself I could, and, by the end of the first week, I was making the trip – albeit with an awful hobble. I expanded the distance little by little during the next two to three weeks at a walking pace and continued my daily strength-training workouts.
At the end of week three, I did a low-key spin class without the left-peddle stirrup, and sometimes hanging my left foot in the air. I also started walking on the treadmill and holding on to the hand rails. Then I gradually increased the pace until week five when I was able to have a reasonably good run. On Father’s Day I had a wonderful 10K run through the tree-covered Wellesley/Westin roads, between the ponds, with my beautiful wife Joan. We completed the Boston Athletic Association 10K medley race the next Sunday.
My left foot sometimes reminds me of the broken bone with an ache while running, but overall the broken bone is quickly becoming a forgotten memory. Two months later, Jerry asked, “How’s the foot?” I answered, “It’s a hundred percent, and even stronger now because the bone is twice as thick.”
Editorial note: This story is for information and to show an alternative management option. This has risk. Although this situation was successful for me, individuals who have this type of injury should seek medical attention and physician-directed management.
By Gary R. Epler M.D.
I know the pain.
Two weeks ago I slept on a soft mattress and had the morning low back pain that disappeared after an hour, not an unusual occurrence and caused by the prolonged contraction of the lower back hip flexors from a slumped back.
One week later, the same pain occurred after an eight-hour plane ride, but this time it was a vicious harbinger of things to come!
The muscle spasms did not go away and spread to both sides of my lower back, the right worse than the left, and lasted throughout the day and night without let-up. Sleep was difficult, no position was pain free, but somehow, from pure exhaustion, I managed to get some sleep. The next morning was brutal – every turn to get out of bed was a sharp, level ten pain, only a few seconds but intense. Fortunately, a level ten pain doesn’t last long because our pain system has nerve endings firing the pain response, and within a few seconds, it sends anti-pain response neutralizing the pain. So these level ten pain episodes are tolerable because they only last a few seconds.
I then began 30 minutes of very slow and painful stretching. I started on my back with legs curled toward my stomach and then turned over onto my stomach to do “cobras”, with my arms out and my chin back, pulling up my head. For the morning workout, I was able to do upper body work and ten minutes on the treadmill at a snail’s pace. This was worth it as I was able to get through the day, but only to repeat the same painful experience at night and the next morning.
Day three worsened – something I didn’t think was possible because of duration and intensity of the back pain. New episodes developed – brief, intense lower back muscle spasms so intense, I couldn’t move. These occurred during the day while walking, sometimes after stepping on a small stone or tiny incline. They lasted 15 seconds, and I moved on. There were about six to eight of these over a 48-hour period.
That night was just about unbearable, with level ten pain at every turn and in the morning, it took me 15 minutes to get out of bed and stand up straight enough to walk. I did my 30 minutes of stretching. It was during this time that I thought I might have had a compression fracture on the right side, as the pain was so intense and continual. I could not do the treadmill, not even at a walking pace. Now the negative power of my mind began taking over – thoughts of never being able to move fast or run again. I continually dismissed these thoughts and moved on – that decision would become a turning point. I had a five-hour car ride in front of me. It was no problem, and my back spasms improved. The ordeal had ended. The next day wasn’t bad, and by the 17th, seven days later, life had returned to its baseline.
I had followed the five-step directions in the You’re the Boss book. Ten days later, the low back pain was level two to three, so low that it didn’t exist unless I thought about it or if someone asked me about it. I had an occasional spasm to level five pain, but nothing to interfere with an action-packed day. By day 20, the pain and spasm were completely gone.
Editorial note: I learned several lessons. First, I had not realized how long the intensity of the pain persisted when those posterior (low back) hip flexors go into spasm. I had thought it would last a few hours or one day at the most, but it can continue every day and night for one week or more. Second, it’s tempting to give in and let the negative power of the mind take over because of the relentless and prolonged intensity of the pain. I almost did, which would have interfered with my enjoyable time, prolonged the problem, and potentially sent me to a medical facility for complex diagnostic studies and unpredictable treatment. Third, slow, deliberate stretches saved the day, and deep muscle therapy can ease the spasms. Finally, stay with the five-step plan. It works.
The problem is that we sit all day in front of a desk doing computer work or watching TV or whatever, and the hip flexors become tight and contracted. So when we bend over to pick something up or twist in the wrong way, we develop sudden onset pain in the lower back shooting down the leg and sometimes all the way to the big toe. We can’t get up and can’t sit down, but surprisingly we can walk standing straight and tall. It’s not the spine or the lumbar vertebra – they’re solid. It’s those pesky hip flexors. They were tight and suddenly became tight to the extreme by going into uncontrolled spasm. And, they don’t let up. They cause all types of collateral damage – firing peripheral muscle groups, and worse, pulling and inflaming nearby spinal nerves causing the local back pain and the referred lower leg pain. Stretching, deep muscle therapy, and physical therapy can help by gradually relieving the muscle spasm. You must be patient as there are many muscles and nerves involved so it will take several days. And it will recur again because sitting all day will result in the tight hip flexors that go into spasmodic contraction at the smallest hint of stress. Prevention is the ultimate answer. Keep the back straight. Keep those hip flexors loose and strong. This is done by taking standing and walking breaks and a ceiling stretch at least once an hour or preferable every half hour.
There are several hip flexor body core exercises that you can do, and it can be part of your routine daily work out. Manage those hip flexors properly, and you can banish low back pain from your life.
Best selling author of Fuel for Live: Level-10 Energy
]]>“Whoa, you’re asking me?” Kate asked jokingly.
“Yup. You look trim and healthy, so I’m sure you can help me. I’ve tried pills and diets. The pills are too dangerous. The diets are too confusing and too many rules, and I was annoying everyone and myself by always talking about being on a diet. Besides, I couldn’t follow any of them long enough to help. What’d you do?”
“It’s hard work,” Kate said, “but not impossible. I put in the work and the food works for me. I learned everything I could about nutrition. This is what I found: eat the right food in the right amount at the right time, and it’ll take care of you forever!”
“That sounds exciting. But what does it all mean?”
“Eat the right foods – carbohydrates like vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and fiber, fats like omega-3 foods, and lean protein.” Kate said. “Eat the right amount, too – learn the food thresholds. All foods are good. It’s going over the threshold amount that’s bad – eat over the threshold and some foods will cause inflamed arteries and fat bellies.”
“What’s a food threshold?” Dave asked.
“At a certain low level no food is dangerous, even the toxic puffer fish, but above that level, that puffer fish can kill you,” Kate said dramatically. “Many types of common carbohydrates and foods containing saturated fats have low threshold levels, especially processed foods and sugary drinks. Try eating one french fry or one potato chip, or one sip of a smoothie?” Kate shook her head. “It’s so easy to go over the quantity threshold with these foods that I just try to avoid them most days, and that strategy works for me. Fortunately, there are many healthy foods – like spinach, vegetables, and omega-3 foods – that have such high thresholds you can eat much more of them and be safe.
“So, you’re saying to keep healthy,” Dave said, “I should eat the right foods in the right amounts, and they will protect my blood vessels, my heart, and provide the high energy I need to have an exciting, productive day.”
“You got it! That’s it,” Kate said as they returned to work.
There are five steps for successful nutrition management. Dave’s lunch with Karen illustrates the first one: learn everything you can about foods and continue to learn because new information about healthy foods becomes available every day. Learn about the good carbohydrates like vegetables, legumes, fruits, whole grains, and fiber. Learn about the carbohydrates that in low amounts can cause an insulin surge and cortisol release, which leads to increased fat deposition and to high triglycerides, which in turn causes inflamed arteries. This is the so-called glycemic effect of foods. Saturated fats at high levels cause inflamed arteries, which contribute to heart attacks and strokes. Learn about healthy proteins like quinoa and whey isolate, and be careful about the company some proteins keep like the fatty fried skin with the chicken or the darkened portion of fish. Learn to eat to your high-energy level, when you just start to feel full, rather than to your over-stuffed, low-energy level.
Second, understand your nutrition inventory and diagnostic process. Body weight is the easiest, but when you add weight circumference and percent body fat measurements, you’ll have a more complete picture about your health-risk zone. Understand the diagnostic process for the diagnosis of weight-related complications such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Third, know your management and treatment options. There are many approaches for weight loss including pills, diets, and weight-loss programs. Know the benefits and the risks, including the long-term, 20-year risk. Know the benefits and risks of medications used for treatment of overweight-related illnesses.
Fourth, monitor your nutrition status. Use weight, waist circumference, and percent fat measurements. Write them down or keep track of them with a computer. Ask yourself three questions. 1.) Are you improving? If so, stay the course. 2.) Are you the same? If so, give it time and repeat the question. 3.) Are you worse? If so, meet with your nutritionist to find out why, or if you have a medical condition, you may need to go see a doctor, even go to the emergency room.
Fifth, create a healthy and empowering environment for healing by healthy eating, regular exercise, and a regular sleeping schedule. Use the power of your mind. Approach the situation in a positive way. Use visualization, compassion toward yourself and your body, and controlled breathing. Your mind has a powerful influence on your health, and your body has an almost unlimited ability to heal itself. You need to learn how to let this happen. You can manage your nutrition better than anyone else. Your chance of success is unlimited.
There are more stories like this one in the new “Boss” book by Dr. Epler: Food: You’re the Boss.
]]>“John, I wouldn’t know you ever had pancreatic cancer,” the doctor told John after his recent set of x-ray studies in June 2012. This is what John told me this morning after our spin class at the sports club near Boston. According to his doctors, John Diarbakerly shouldn’t be alive today. Not only is he alive, but this almost-60-year old defies anyone to out-spin him.
John took up the popular indoor cycling exercise after his 2002 operation, when a cancerous kidney tumor was removed. It took a full year for John to get his diagnosis. After complaining of extreme fatigue, his internist declared him healthy and suggested he take a multivitamin. “He just said take it easy and everything will be okay,” John recalls. But John persisted, making multiple phone calls and searching for an answer. A visit with another physician yielded a shocking diagnosis: John had a large tumor on his kidney. Subsequent surgery, which removed the kidney, left John feeling exhausted and weak and facing a six-month recovery.
Undeterred, when he was finally able, he heeded his doctor’s advice to get himself to a gym and exercise his way to health.
“He said if I didn’t push myself to get my heart pumping, I’d die,” John said. And exercise he did. John began with slow stair-climbing, and then worked himself up to pedaling on a stationary bicycle for a few minutes, increasing the time and intensity slowly. Each day, except for Sunday, when he attended church, John pushed himself a little harder at the gym. His healthy glow returned. His diet changed from fast food to freshly-cooked fish, poultry and vegetables. John was on the road to recovery.
But six years later, he again found himself having difficulty keeping up with his schedule. “I began to feel weak once more. I went back to my doctor and this time the tests revealed a golf ball-sized tumor in my pancreas.”
The surgery successfully excised the tumor, but one week later, a stubborn infection left John with a persistently high fever, landing him in the intensive care unit for almost 40 days.
It was a slow recovery. But John remembered his doctor’s message from years ago. “Exercise, exercise, exercise. It will save you.”
Just a week after leaving the hospital in December 2008, John walked back into the gym. He has been there ever since. He’s there when the doors open, at 5:30 a.m., attending daily challenging spin classes and pumping iron. At 9 a.m., John bounces out, ready to keep on living. “The doctors told me that three out of five either die during the operation or in six months, but here I am,” he says, his voice giddy with excitement.
When he visits his doctor every six months for follow-ups, he gets a big hug and words that warm his heart: ‘You look like a brand new person.’
“And I feel great,” John declares. “Now, I tell everybody to exercise. It saved my life.”
Editorial comment: John’s story shows how therapeutic exercise can be. He started slowly, enough to give him energy, but not too much to cause injury or discourage him, and he eventually worked his way up to a daily program that provided a high-energy level to do everything he wanted to do. In addition, John’s attitude was phenomenal. He had a positive approach to his illness, which provided additional energy to manage his disease. He used compassion for himself and others. He has a wonderful laugh and always a good word for everyone. John was relentlessly persistent. He was in charge. The cancers were banished from his mind as he exercised himself back to health.
Pancreas cancer isn’t always a killer.
Pancreas cancer? Challenge it!
Is there life after pancreas cancer? You bet!
How one cancer survivor went from his death bed to exercise workout king.
Pancreas cancer survivor secrets revealed.
Imagine eliminating pancreas cancer from your life. See John’s amazing story!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzJecgrogY&feature=g-all-u
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Mv7SMdDM4&feature=context-gfa
“We found the problem,” Scott, the building engineer replied, “it’s the ventilation system. One of the ventilation ducts wasn’t properly installed resulting in no air movement, but the condensation built up creating stagnant water, perfect for growing a nasty mold. We have completely eliminated the duct, replaced it, and intensely cleaned the entire duct system in the building. We also set up a five-step monitoring system to make sure the air is clean.”
“Are we going to get sick?” Kate asked.
“Very unlikely,” Scott said. “We contacted our occupational physician who investigated the situation. Sometimes people develop an allergic reaction in their lungs from these exposures, but it’s rare, and the problem was discovered early enough before someone developed the reaction.”
“That’s good,” Dave said. “Sounds like we can return to work breathing clean air.”
How do you manage your health at the workplace? It’s just like managing life. Use the five vital steps. First, learn everything you can about the situation. Second, understand the evaluation process. Third, know your solution options. Fourth, monitor the situation. Fifth, create a healing environment.
Take care of your body and mind outside of the workplace. If you have any chronic disorders such as hypertension, diabetes or asthma, learn everything you can about them, understand the diagnostic process, know the treatment options and monitor them. Importantly, create a healing environment at home and at work – exercise, nutrition and a good sleep hygiene program; and use the mind – visualize, compassion and controlled breathing. Eating at work should consist of eating high quality foods with low saturated fats, low sodium (salt), low sugar, small portions, and eat sitting down during a break. If you work in an office, get up and walk around at least once an hour and stretch – it’s good for the hip flexor group of muscles. Manage colds and flu by washing your hands and not touching your face.
Manage your environment at the workplace. Dave and Kate did the right thing, they contacted the maintenance department. There’s a term “sick building” syndrome that is used to describe unhealthy indoor air quality. Buildings are classified as healthy, average or poor – about one- third of the buildings fall into each of the categories, meaning that one-third of the buildings have poor indoor air quality.
There are five things that can be monitored to manage indoor air quality. That monitoring system set up by Scott is helpful. Here’s what it’s about. Temperature is the first component. It should remain at a constant, comfortable range. Humidity is the second component. The humidity in the room should be at a comfortable mid-range. Low humidity may cause excessive dryness, which can irritate your nose and throat, and may cause you to cough. The term “New England catarrh” was used for decades for the cough that occurred during the region’s winter months because of people breathing dry, inside air. If the humidity is too high, it’s uncomfortable, especially for people with asthma or emphysema. Insufficient management of temperature and humidity is the major reason that buildings are classified in the poor category.
The other three components require complex equipment. They are carbon-dioxide level, particulate level, and the number of room air exchanges per hour. If the carbon-dioxide level is high, it probably means there are too many people in the room and not enough circulating fresh air. The air in the room or the office should be replaced four to five times every hour, which is referred to as the room-air-exchange rate. If it’s too low, the air is stale and the carbon-dioxide levels may be high. If it’s too high, the room will be like a wind tunnel. Particulates are small particles in the air. The level of particulates reflects the amount of dust in the air. The particles are counted with a microscope. The causes of a high particulate level include an insufficient number of room air exchanges or the air filters are clogged. High particulate levels may cause discomfort and sometimes chest tightness in people with asthma. All five of these measures can be maintained at healthy levels with preventive management and system maintenance.
Finally, there are types of work that require special health management. Managing the mind is important in all settings. Managing the air quality is helpful in an office or retail setting. In an industrial setting, the most important part of managing health is knowing your exposures. Learn about the chemicals, dusts or fumes. What are their names? Are they hazardous? Be sure to ask for the material safety data sheets (MSDS) – they have all the information, review them and check the internet for more details. Know the best options for managing these exposures. Monitor the exposures. You’re the boss – you can manage your health at the workplace.
]]>Now, for the bad boss. Try the neuropathway bypass.
One special mind-management technique needs to be reviewed for workplace stress. Do you have a cruel and spiteful boss, supervisor, or coworker? Use the neuropathway bypass. What is it? People develop a response pathway in the brain when they see this person, hear the person or even see the name on the pager or cell phone. It produces an automatic knot in the stomach, increased blood pressure, increased breathing, sweaty palms, and a rapid pulse. The stress level spirals out of control, and if left unchecked will lead to serious illness. Instead of using this unhealthy, ingrained neuropathway, create a healthier track by bypassing the negative pathway. The method is simple, and can be applied to all types of unpleasant situations. It takes two to three minutes, twice daily, for two to three weeks.
Here’s how it works. In the morning, visualize the image of the feared or aversive person in your mind until it triggersanger-related feelings in the pit of your stomach. When this happens, say two soothing words to yourself repeatedly – “love and peace” or “peace and strength.” Say the words over and over until the feeling of anger subsides, usually in about two to three minutes. Repeat this in the evening. Think of the hostile image, allow the knot of anger to develop in the stomach, and again repeat the two words to yourself until the unpleasant feeling subsides. The next morning, visualize the image, experience the unpleasant response, and repeat the two words. Repeat this exercise each morning and evening for two or three weeks.
Sarah tried it. This is what happened. During her early-morning run, she triggered the knot in her stomach by visualizing her boss berating her. She started repeating “peace and strength” to herself over and over, and found, to her surprise, that after about two minutes, the feeling completely disappeared and was replaced by a soothing feeling. This calming feeling didn’t last long – the minute she saw the boss’s car in the parking lot, the anguish quickly returned. This is expected, the aberrant neuropathway had taken months to create, and it would take time to build a bypass. So, on the way home from work, Sarah repeated the exercise again in her car. The tightening in the stomach quickly returned as she visualized the boss, but again she was pleasantly surprised to find it replaced with a soothing feeling. She continued the exercise for several more days. Gradually, around the seventh day or so, she realized that, when she visualized her boss, she was having a hard time triggering the unpleasant feeling in her stomach. This was strange and she didn’t believe it at first, but after two to four more days, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t trigger the fear and anguish when she visualized her boss. It was an amazing experience. This new development gave her a renewed feeling of strength. After two weeks, Sarah realized that when she saw her boss or heard the name at work, it meant nothing to her. She had absolutely no fear and no stress. Her face appeared serene. She was no longer a victim. Several days passed, and the boss was about to begin the usual verbal public lashing during one of Sarah’s team meetings. She was standing about 12 inches away from her boss’s nose. She looked directly at the pupils of her boss’s eyes and smiled. At that moment, Sarah had an overwhelming feeling of calmness with no increased heart rate, anger, or fear. The boss blinked a couple of times, said nothing, and left the room. Months of hostility had come to an end. The boss later found someone else to torment. Sarah returned to her work full of energy and enjoyed her creative work. If you find yourself in this negative-feedback loop, learn the bypass method. You can use it in multiple situations. As time passes, it will take less than a few days to develop a bypass. You regain your strength. Your creativity returns. You are a stronger person.
]]>The person who can manage both health and disease will be in control and able to lead an invigorating life filled with endless possibilities. Learn about your disease so you can understand the diuagnostic process and the treatment options. When you understand your disease, you can monitor it effectively and develop an environment in which to promote healing. You are in charge. You can manage your disease better than anyone else can. You just need to know how.
The Five Vital Steps:
Step 1: Learn everything you can about your disease. Ask your doctor? Ask your nurses? Go to the internet. It’s filled with information about almost every disease, and you can interact with people all over the globe. You’d be amazed at how much you can learn from other people. Don’t worry about finding the wrong information. Yes, be cautious, just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true. But, trust yourself, you’ll find what’s best for you.
Step 2: Understand the diagnostic process. This consists of a battery of questions – how are you feeling? How long have you felt this way? A physical exam – looking into your eyes and listening to your lungs. And a series of tests – as simple as a blood test or as complex as a biopsy. The doctors ask their questions, but you also need to ask questions. What are the tests for? How do they help with my diagnosis? What are the risks?
Step 3: Know your treatment options. There are always options. First, find out the natural history of the disease. Some go away in days and some in months. What if you did nothing? Keep in mind, if you’re talking to an internist, medicines will be discussed. If you’re talking to a surgeon, surgery will be the solution. If you’re talking to an herbalist, herbs will be used. How effective are these treatments? What are the risks? What are the alternatives?
Step 4: Monitor your condition. Keep track of how you feel, write it down. Ask yourself three questions. Am I better? Good, stay the course. Am I the same? Give it 48 hours. Am I worse? It may be time to call your doctor or visit the emergency room.
Step 5: Create a healing environment. First of all, use the power of your own words and thoughts – think in a positive way. You can manage this disease. Use visualization. Use compassion. Use controlled breathing. You’ll have more energy to take charge of your treatment. Manage your nutrition and your sleeping schedule. Develop an exercise program. Your body has an amazing capacity to heal itself.
Don’t let your disease run your life. No matter what condition you have, the five vital steps in You’re The Boss: Manage Your Disease will teach you how to take control and live your life to the fullest.
You’re the boss. Control Your Health!
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