How Walking in Nature Changes the Brain

Article c/o The New York Times

A walk in the park may soothe the mind and, in the process, change the workings of our brains in ways that improve our mental health, according to an interesting new study of the physical effects on the brain of visiting nature.

Most of us today live in cities and spend far less time outside in green, natural spaces than people did several generations ago.

City dwellers also have a higher risk for anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses than people living outside urban centers, studies show.

These developments seem to be linked to some extent, according to a growing body of research. Various studies have found that urban dwellers with little access to green spaces have a higher incidence of psychological problems than people living near parks and that city dwellers who visit natural environments have lower levels of stress hormones immediately afterward than people who have not recently been outside.

But just how a visit to a park or other green space might alter mood has been unclear. Does experiencing nature actually change our brains in some way that affects our emotional health?

That possibility intrigued Gregory Bratman, a graduate student at the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford University, who has been studying the psychological effects of urban living. In an earlier study published last month, he and his colleagues found that volunteers who walked briefly through a lush, green portion of the Stanford campus were more attentive and happier afterward than volunteers who strolled for the same amount of time near heavy traffic.

But that study did not examine the neurological mechanisms that might underlie the effects of being outside in nature.

So for the new study, which was published last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Mr. Bratman and his collaborators decided to closely scrutinize what effect a walk might have on a person’s tendency to brood.

Brooding, which is known among cognitive scientists as morbid rumination, is a mental state familiar to most of us, in which we can’t seem to stop chewing over the ways in which things are wrong with ourselves and our lives. This broken-record fretting is not healthy or helpful. It can be a precursor to depression and is disproportionately common among city dwellers compared with people living outside urban areas, studies show.

Perhaps most interesting for the purposes of Mr. Bratman and his colleagues, however, such rumination also is strongly associated with increased activity in a portion of the brain known as the subgenual prefrontal cortex.

If the researchers could track activity in that part of the brain before and after people visited nature, Mr. Bratman realized, they would have a better idea about whether and to what extent nature changes people’s minds.

Mr. Bratman and his colleagues first gathered 38 healthy, adult city dwellers and asked them to complete a questionnaire to determine their normal level of morbid rumination.

The researchers also checked for brain activity in each volunteer’s subgenual prefrontal cortex, using scans that track blood flow through the brain. Greater blood flow to parts of the brain usually signals more activity in those areas.

Then the scientists randomly assigned half of the volunteers to walk for 90 minutes through a leafy, quiet, parklike portion of the Stanford campus or next to a loud, hectic, multi-lane highway in Palo Alto. The volunteers were not allowed to have companions or listen to music. They were allowed to walk at their own pace.

Immediately after completing their walks, the volunteers returned to the lab and repeated both the questionnaire and the brain scan.

As might have been expected, walking along the highway had not soothed people’s minds. Blood flow to their subgenual prefrontal cortex was still high and their broodiness scores were unchanged.

But the volunteers who had strolled along the quiet, tree-lined paths showed slight but meaningful improvements in their mental health, according to their scores on the questionnaire. They were not dwelling on the negative aspects of their lives as much as they had been before the walk.

They also had less blood flow to the subgenual prefrontal cortex. That portion of their brains were quieter.

These results “strongly suggest that getting out into natural environments” could be an easy and almost immediate way to improve moods for city dwellers, Mr. Bratman said.

But of course many questions remain, he said, including how much time in nature is sufficient or ideal for our mental health, as well as what aspects of the natural world are most soothing. Is it the greenery, quiet, sunniness, loamy smells, all of those, or something else that lifts our moods? Do we need to be walking or otherwise physically active outside to gain the fullest psychological benefits? Should we be alone or could companionship amplify mood enhancements?

“There’s a tremendous amount of study that still needs to be done,” Mr. Bratman said.

But in the meantime, he pointed out, there is little downside to strolling through the nearest park, and some chance that you might beneficially muffle, at least for awhile, your subgenual prefrontal cortex.

Doctors Now Prescribing Music Therapy

Article c/o AJ Block
for Didge Project



Doctors Now Prescribing Music Therapy for Heart Ailments, Brain Dysfunction, Learning Disabilities, Depression, PTSD, Alzheimers, Childhood Development and More

Music has proven time and again to be an important component of human culture. From its ceremonial origin to modern medical usage for personal motivation, concentration, and shifting mood, music is a powerful balm for the human soul. Though traditional “music therapy” encompasses a specific set of practices, the broader use of music as a therapeutic tool can be seen nowadays as doctors are found recommending music for a wide variety of conditions.

1. Music Helps Control Blood Pressure and Heart-Related Disorders

According to The Cardiovascular Society of Great Britain, listening to certain music with a repetitive rhythm for least ten seconds can lead to a decrease in blood pressure and a reduced heart rate. Certain classical compositions, if matched with human body’s rhythm, can be therapeutically used to keep the heart under control. The Oxford University study states, “listening to music with a repeated 10-second rhythm coincided with a fall in blood pressure, reducing the heart rate” and thus can be used for overcoming hypertension.

2. Listening and Playing Music Helps Treat Stress and Depression

When it comes to the human brain, music is one of the best medicines. A study at McGill University in Canada revealed that listening to agreeable music encourages the production of beneficial brain chemicals, specifically the “feel good” hormone known as dopamine. Dopamine happens to be an integral part of brain’s pleasure-enhancing system. As a result, music leads to great feeling of joy and bliss.
It’s not only listening to music that has a positive effect on stress and depression. The Namm Foundation has compiled a comprehensive list of benefits of playing music, which includes reducing stress on both the emotional level and the molecular level. Additionally, studies have shown that adults who play music produce higher levels of Human Growth Hormone (HgH), which according to Web MD, is a necessary hormone for regulating body composition, body fluids, muscle and bone growth, sugar and fat metabolism, and possibly heart function.

3. Music Therapy Helps Treat Alzheimer’s Disease

Music therapy has worked wonders on patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. With Alzheimer’s, people lose their capacity to have interactions and carry on with interactive communications. According to studies done in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, “When used appropriately, music can shift mood, manage stress-induced agitation, stimulate positive interactions, facilitate cognitive function, and coordinate motor movements.”

4. Studying Music Boosts Academic Achievement in High Schoolers

Early exposure to music increases the plasticity of brain helping to motivate the human brain’s capacity in such a way that it responds readily to learning, changing and growing. “UCLA professor James S. Catterall analyzed the academic achievement of 6,500 low-income students. He found that, by the time these students were in the 10th grade, 41.4% of those who had taken arts courses scored in the top half on standardized tests, contrasted with only 25% of those who had minimal arts experience. The arts students also were better readers and watched less television.” This goes to show that in the formative stages of life, kids who study music do much better in school.

5. Playing Guitar (and Other Instruments) Aids in Treating PTSD

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs shared a study in which veterans experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) experienced relief by learning to play guitar. The organization responsible for providing guitars, Guitars For Vets “enhances the lives of ailing and injured military Veterans by providing them free guitars and music instruction.” Playing music for recovery from PTSD resembles traditional music therapy, in which patients are encouraged to make music as part of their healing process. Guitar is not the only instrument that can help PTSD. In fact, Operation We Are Here has an extensive list of Therapeutic Music Opportunities For Military Veterans.

6. Studying Music Boosts Brain Development in Young Children

A research-based study undertaken at the University of Liverpool in the field of neuroscience has light to shed on the beneficial effects of early exposure to music. According to the findings, even half an hour of musical training is sufficient to increase the flow of blood in the brain’s left hemisphere, resulting in higher levels of early childhood development.
The Portland Chamber Orchestra shares, “Playing a musical instrument involves multiple components of the central (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral (nerves outside the brain and spinal cord) nervous systems.  As a musician plays an instrument, motor systems in the brain control both gross and fine movements needed to produce sound.  The sound is processed by auditory circuitry, which in turn can adjust signaling by the motor control centers.  In addition, sensory information from the fingers, hands and arms is sent to the brain for processing.  If the musician is reading music, visual information is sent to the brain for processing and interpreting commands for the motor centers.  And of course, the brain processes emotional responses to the music as well!”

7. Music Education Helps Children Improve Reading Skills

Journal Psychology of Music reports that “Children exposed to a multi-year program of music tuition involving training in increasingly complex rhythmic, tonal, and practical skills display superior cognitive performance in reading skills compared with their non-musically trained peers.” In the initial stages of learning and development, music arouses auditory, emotional, cognitive and visual responses in a child. Music also aids a child’s kinesthetic development. According to the research-supported evidence, a song facilitates language learning far more effectively than speech.

8. Listening To Music Helps Improve Sleep

According to The Center for Cardiovascular Disease in China, listening to music before and during sleep greatly aids people who suffer from chronic sleep disorders. This “music-assisted relaxation” can be used to treat both acute and chronic sleep disorders which include everything from stress and anxiety to insomnia.

9. Playing Didgeridoo Helps Treat Sleep Apnea

A study published in the British Medical Journal shows that people suffering from sleep apnea can find relief by practicing the Australian wind-instrument known as the didgeridoo. Patients who played the didgeridoo for an average of 30-minutes per day, 6 days per week, saw significant increases in their quality of sleep and decreases in daytime tiredness after a minimum period of 3-months of practice. Dr. Jordan Stern of BlueSleep says, “The treatment of sleep apnea is quite challenging because there is not a single treatment that works well for every patient. The didgeridoo has been used to treat sleep apnea and it has been shown to be effective in part because of strengthening of the pharyngeal muscles, which means the muscles of the throat, as well as the muscles of the tongue.”

Find more great articles at www.transcendct.com

Easy Homemade Vegan Butter

Article c/o avirtualvegan.com


If you love butter but hate the ingredients in store bought dairy free versions then this easy homemade vegan butter recipe is the answer to your prayers. It is dreamily smooth, rich & creamy & can be whipped up in minutes. It is also palm oil & emulsifier free & can be used in any way you would use real butter! 

Find more great articles at www.transcendct.com

The Best Beverages To Drink For Amazing Sleep Every Night

Article c/o mindbodygreen.com

Have you ever noticed that certain liquids make you feel energized while others cause you to feel sleepy? Well, that's because the drinks you consume really do affect your level of alertness and the quality of your sleep.

As a Ph.D. diplomat of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, I've devoted 35 years to the study of human sleep and clinical sleep disorders. Here are the drinks I recommend avoiding for better shut-eye—and the beverages that will help boost your sleep:

The best drinks to boost your sleep:

Cherry juice in the evening may help you fall asleep faster. Night workers may also benefit from drinking tart cherry juice in the morning to help them sleep.

Chamomile tea and passion fruit tea with a little honey, 90 minutes before bedtime, may make your sleep more restful.

Milk, 90 minutes before sleep, may also help you fall asleep (if you're not lactose intolerant). Whether you warm it up or not is a personal preference—it has no effect on milk's sleep-inducing properties, which are tied to the essential amino acid L-tryptophan.

Water is important to drink throughout the day for optimal health. However, drinking water right up until bedtime will stimulate your kidneys and you're likely to wake up multiple times in the first few hours of sleep.

The drinks that will rob your sleep:

Alcohol

Of course, the initial effect of alcohol is typically a more relaxed and sleepy state. But alcohol near bedtime is actually disruptive to sleep. Many people will drink alcohol in the evening to relax after a stressful day at work and find themselves drifting off to sleep in a chair while watching TV. Depending on how long they sleep in the early evening, they can experience a lot of difficulty returning to sleep when they finally decide to go to bed for the night. Evening napping disrupts your internal clock's timing of the main sleep period later in the night.

Some people specifically use alcohol as a sedative. And yes, they fall asleep fast. But once the alcohol has been metabolized—maybe three to four hours into sleep—they abruptly awaken and find it difficult to return to sleep. If they do manage to get back to sleep, the remainder of the night is typically characterized by fitful sleep with frequent awakenings and intense dreaming. The sleeper wakes up groggy, tired, and unrefreshed despite having been in bed for a full seven to eight hours.
Nighttime alcohol can also induce snoring in a sleeper who does not normally snore and increases the risk of obstructive sleep apnea.

Coffee

Caffeinated coffee and soda are widely used for their ability to promote alertness and energy level. Unfortunately, the stimulant drug effect of caffeine is short-lived, and when it wears off in four hours, most people experience a fatigue or sleepiness rebound, which encourages only more caffeine to re-energize.

And so the cycle goes: larger and larger amounts of caffeinated coffee at three- to four-hour intervals throughout the day. The problem is that the stimulant effect of caffeine also increases your heart and respiratory rates, making you feel anxious and jittery right up to bedtime.
Heavy daily caffeine consumption and caffeinated drinks close to bedtime are very disruptive to falling and staying asleep in most people. Afternoon and nighttime caffeine will also aggravate any restless-leg symptoms you may have. Restless legs are uncomfortable creeping, crawling sensations in your calf muscles when you are sitting or lying still that force you to keep moving your legs. These are the folks who are constantly moving their legs and shifting their positions around during meetings, movies, or plays. Restless-leg symptoms tend to increase over the day and are particularly severe during the evening and at bedtime. If you have restless legs, consider eliminating caffeinated beverages altogether or at least after lunchtime.

How to cut down on caffeine: Switch to beverages that are half-caffeinated and half-decaffeinated. Confine your caffeine consumption to mornings up through lunchtime, with only decaffeinated beverages later in the day. Aim for a daily target of 10 to 12 ounces of caffeinated coffee or tea by the end of two weeks.

The bottom line:

When it comes to getting your best sleep, keep in mind that what you drink is just as important as when you drink it. Stop all caffeinated beverages after 2 p.m., and avoid alcohol before bedtime. Drinking tart cherry juice or chamomile or passion fruit tea with a little honey or milk 90 minutes ahead of bedtime may help you relax and fall asleep faster. Finally, stop drinking fluids one hour ahead of your bedtime—you'll minimize sleep disruptions in the first few hours, when your sleep is typically deepest and most restorative.