Support Healing from Within

For Christmas I received a subscription to New Scientist. It is my favourite magazine and prior to getting my own copy each week I regularly pilfered my Mum’s copy (thanks for the present Mum). In a recent edition (Issue 3136) I read an article about the benefits of feeling small as a human when compared to nature, Earth, the sun, other planets and space itself. The article goes onto discuss the concept of awe, not just with things bigger than us but anything that truly inspires awe; a full moon rising, a stunning view, a beautiful piece of music, art or an idea.

The feeling of being awestruck has powerful effects not only our mind and body but also on our sense of self. True awe can dissolve our sense of self, allowing a greater sense of connection with others and nature. It can lower stress, boost creativity and even make us nicer people. So what is the feeling exactly? Researcher’s studying awe describe it as ‘an emotion that combines amazement with an edge of fear’, and is a feeling we get when ‘confronted with something vast, that transcends our frame of reference’.

Part of feeling awe is a move of focus away from our own self-interests and to a bigger picture, which has shown to help us feel happier, less stressed and even improves immune function by reducing inflammation. This effect doesn’t just last in the moment, if cultivated, awe can have lasting effects. It can also help switch us out of ‘fight or flight’ mode by stimulating parasympathetic nervous system responses (rest and digest mode).

Contemplating awe I thought back over recent history to moments that I identified with feelings of awe and a few came to mind; St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, a recent full moon rising that seemed to take up half the skyline, and every time I really think about what it would be like to be Dr Who’s companion in the Tardis (yep, I’m a fan and it’s a big concept!).

There are ways of cultivating awe on a regular basis. The article infers that we could stop looking at images of nature and space on our smart phones and starting looking at the real thing. Yes, yes we all say! Fortunately awe isn’t necessarily rare and can be manifested in more ways than just seeing amazing things. To do this we need to raise our expectations of feeling awe in the first place, and then think about what we individually find awe-inspiring, whatever that may be. Then we can make it part of the every day.

Feel free to comment below – what makes you feel awe?

Reference:

Marchant, Jo. Awesome Awe, New Scientist ISSUE 3136 | MAGAZINE COVER DATE: 29 July 2017

From a health perspective, my skin is my vulnerable organ; for me everything shows up on the surface. Stress in particular is a ‘skin trigger’. I have changed my health significantly since the days of breakouts and chemical sensitivity so they aren’t issues anymore, but my skin still tends to be reactive in response to stress looking drier and flushing easily.

Skin is one of the key defence systems of the body with the outermost layer providing a natural barrier to water loss and potential toxins or microbes. It is exposed to numerous daily stressors such as infections, toxic agents (artificial fragrances), allergens, UV light and mechanical damage and is usually well equipped to respond and protect from these environmental factors. However, in those with skin conditions such as psoriasis, chronic itching, eczema and rosacea, both environmental and psychological stress can be a trigger for acute flare-ups as well as sustaining chronic issues.

Stress impacts aren’t just about major life events. It is often the ongoing daily pressures of life that creates a chronic stress burden, eventually leading to less overall stress resilience. The depth of this impact is in part a reflection of genetics, but also of cumulative experiences over time. Of considerable influence are individual health behaviours such as sleep, hygiene, activity levels, diet and substance abuse (alcohol, excess sugar intake, recreational drugs, cigarettes etc). The more we move away from healthy practices such as enough sleep, regular exercise and a healthy diet, the more burden on the body and the more likely maladaptive stress responses will develop.

When stress is constant, individuals with skin conditions can lose resilience at a local skin level as well. As a consequence there is less innate ability to regulate immune and inflammatory responses within the skin. Essentially stress leads to increased inflammation and potentially worse disease severity.

The specific impacts of stress on skin include:

• Reduced skin barrier leading to trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) so skin looks and feels dry and dehydrated. Dry/dehydrated skin skin also becomes more sensitive to environmental stressors e.g. topical creams or temperature changes.
• Reduced local antimicrobial defence leading to greater risk of infection from microbes residing on the skin e.g. staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of secondary infection in those with eczema.
• A significant increase in pro-inflammatory chemicals in the skin contributing to both acute and chronic inflammatory responses – skin may present as more red, more reactive, itchier or with increased plaques in the case of psoriasis.
• Delayed recovery time.

For example, the general psoriasis population is vulnerable to the exacerbation of inflammation such that a stressful event/s can significantly aggravate the course of the condition. Up to 80% of individuals with psoriasis report a stressful life event prior to a flare up and 45% prior to the onset of the disease.

Fortunately there are many positive skin benefits associated with improved stress resilience and while there is no doubting the benefit of enough sleep, a healthy diet and exercise, adding regular mindfulness practice to usual treatment can have significant benefit. For example, in a group of psoriasis patients’ regular mindfulness practice led to a 4 fold increased clearing rate of skin lesions. Mindfulness based practice has also been shown to reduce post-stress inflammatory responses and increase symptom relief following skin damage.

There are numerous ways to improve stress resilience using self care and mindfulness but I find while many may work in the short term, sustained practices are those that really make the difference…practices that, while they may take time and effort, really make you feel good. I find that implementing mindfulness and self-care is less prescriptive and more a journey of discovery, trying new techniques or remembering things you used to do regularly and enjoy. Many of the practices are quite simple:

• Green therapy – a favourite of mind, which is spending time in nature
• Mindful breathing practices
• Meditation
• Mindful walking – being present and observing your movement
• Head to toe scanning to tap into body sensations
• Regular magnesium baths or foot soaks
• Journalling – thoughts, frustrations, things to be thankful for
• Practicing gratitude
• Reading for pleasure

I generally encourage patients to pick one and ‘try it on to see if it fits’. While it may take sustained effort something will feel good. The aim then is to make it part of a daily, weekly or regular practice and this is when the benefits will be felt, and seen on the skin.

Memory and Vitamin D

In other memory related news (see previous post), a 2017 randomised trial in healthy adults showed that high levels of vitamin D improved visual and non-verbal memory, resulting in higher-level cognitive function. This trial was conducted in healthy adults so the mechanism isn’t necessarily about correcting disordered function related to a disease state. However, the impact of higher doses (4000iu daily) was greater in those with lower baseline levels of vitamin D (75 nmol/L). Interestingly most Australian pathology labs indicate that a vitamin D level between 50-100 nmol/L is sufficient. On this basis a proportion of adults that have ‘normal’ levels of vitamin D may benefit from increasing their level to the high-normal range.

Vitamin D, Sleep and Pain

I have previously discussed before the relationship between sleep, mood and pain (listen here or read here) but a recent paper (Oliveira D, et al, 2017) provides the possibility that vitamin D might provide an important interface between sleep and pain. Vitamin D shows sleep modulation effects and lower levels have been liked to sleep disorders. The link between vitamin D, sleep and pain may in part be the impact this nutrient has on shared brain neurotransmitter pathways. The anti-inflammatory impact of Vitamin D may also help reduce nociceptive (danger signals) input, which the brain interprets as pain.

I will add my usual caveat with vitamin D, which is to establish baseline serum levels before taking higher doses and it is worthwhile seeing a health care professional such as your naturopath or nutritionist to do so, particularly if you are having memory or pain-related issues. Sunshine can and vitamin D rich foods are also important for maintaining healthy levels.

References:

de Oliveira, D.L., Hirotsu, C., Tufik, S. and Andersen, M.L., 2017. The interfaces between vitamin D, sleep and pain. Journal of Endocrinology, 234(1), pp.R23-R36.