How Stress Influences Disease

Stress is something we all experience throughout life, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The stress response is a natural reaction to life experiences and can help us to cope with potentially serious situations. However, if this stress response doesn’t stop firing, then long-term stress takes a toll on your health.

---

Prolonged stress wreaks havoc on the mind and body. Research shows that the effects of psychological stress on the body's ability to regulate inflammation can promote the development and progression of disease.

When under stress, cells of the immune system are unable to respond to hormonal control and consequently produce inflammation that promotes disease. Inflammation plays a role in many diseases such as heart disease, asthma, autoimmune disorders (like arthritis, crohn’s disease, hasimotos’s disease, Ulcerative colitis), and cancer.

Your hypothalamus, a tiny region at your brain's base, sets off an alarm system in your body in response to stress. Through a combination of nerve and hormonal signals, this system prompts your adrenal glands to release a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. In response to stress, adrenaline increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure, and boosts energy supplies. 

Cortisol is known as the primary stress hormone. It increases sugars (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances your brain's use of glucose, and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues. Cortisol also curbs functions in the body that would be considered as non-essential in a fight-or-flight situation. This hormone response suppresses the immune system, digestive system, reproductive system, and growth processes. 

When the natural stress response goes wild

Stress has a huge impact on your health when stressors are constantly present and you constantly feel under attack. The long-term activation of the stress response system and the overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones that can disrupt almost all your body's processes. The impact puts you at increased risk of many health problems, including:

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Digestive problems

• Headaches

• Muscle tension and pain

• Heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, and stroke

• Sleep problems

• Weight gain

• Memory and concentration impairment

• Cancer

Stress management strategies include:

• Healthy Lifestyle - Eating a healthy diet, getting regular exercise, and getting plenty of sleep

• Practicing relaxation techniques - such as yoga, deep breathing, massage, or meditation

• Keeping a journal and writing about your thoughts or what you're grateful for

• Happiness / Laughter - Having a sense of humour and finding ways to include humour and laughter in your life, such as watching funny movies or looking at joke websites

• Time Management - Organizing and prioritizing what you need to accomplish at home and work. Remove tasks that aren't necessary and say no!

• Seeking professional counseling to develop coping strategies to manage stress

• Avoid unhealthy ways of managing your stress - caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or excess food. 

Next time you start to feel stress creeping back into your life, give these tips a try to maintain a healthy, happy, and stable body & mind.

---

Create a Wellness Retreat at Home

Countrywide lockdowns, a slow economy, and a pandemic on your doorstep may have taken a toll on your mental health and lead to stress & anxiety. A lockdown is an ideal time to practice self-care and focus on your well-being to recharge your energy. 

 It's the wellness weekend you've been needing - relaxation, self-care, healthy meals, physical activity, and all your favorite wellness treatments. Retreats allow you to truly unplug, harmonise the body and mind, and recharge your energy. You don’t need to go anywhere to get these benefits and you can create your own wellness retreat at home. 

---

Steps to create a home retreat:

1. Create a schedule for the day or week. Just like going on a retreat, give yourself an agenda. Schedule both energising and relaxing activities, meal plan, and create downtime. Type them up and put the agenda on your fridge.
   
   A sample day might look something like this - morning meditation and journaling, breakfast, mid-morning yoga flow class or walk, lunch, a nap after lunch, downtime, dinner, evening restorative or yin yoga or bedtime meditation or journaling, or an Epsom salt bath.
   
   

2. Eat healthy Wholefoods. Plan meals, eat meals at the table, chew slowly, consider doing intermittent fasting or a juicing cleanse. Create a healthy menu. Shop for groceries and prep food ahead of time.
   
   

3. Disconnect. Go on a digital detox on the weekend or one day a week.  Alternatively, limit screen time each day. Turn off your phone. No emails, no social media, and ignore the TV.
   
   

4. Home Day Spa. Create a home Day Spa experience. Do a home facial and facemask, have a bubble bath or Epsom salt bath, self-massage, manicure/pedicure, or dry skin brushing before a cold shower.
   

5. Be organised. Do all your household jobs before your retreat day / week. Plan to spend a few hours getting rid of clutter and cleaning up before you begin your retreat. Set aside a yoga mat, your journal, and other items you would take on a retreat to have them ready to go. They're all set aside and ready to go, just as they would be when you arrive at a retreat centre.
   
   

6. Schedule down-time. Make space for "Do-Nothing-Time." This allows you to reflect and to cherish this experience. Too often on Retreat, we try to cram in as many activities as we can. Read a book, sit in the sunshine, and lounge around the house.  Give yourself time to rest & recharge.

During the lockdown enjoy your self-care at-home wellness retreat! Have fun creating an at-home retreat that is perfect for you to rest and recharge.

---

Dreams: Why do we have them and what do they mean?

Everyone dreams every night, yet 95% of dreams are forgotten before we wake in the morning. The ones that are remembered can be entertaining, fun, adventurous, vivid and often bizarre. Yet there is still much about sleep and dreams that remain a mystery for experts. Even the question of why we dream is one yet to be answered. However there are studies that can help us to understand what triggers intense dreams and the health benefits of dreaming.

---

What are dreams?

Whether you remember your dreams or not, everyone dreams anywhere from 3 to 6 times each night. Dreams are a series of images, stories, emotions and feelings that occur throughout the stages of sleep. The dreams that you remember happen during the REM (rapid eye movement) cycle of sleep. REM sleep happens approximately 90-120 minutes after you have fallen asleep and lasts around ten minutes. The brain is very active at this point and is when our more memorable dreams happen. Dreams can occur as a way for us to play out events and process things that have happened during the day.

Do dreams affect our sleep quality? 

Sleep helps your brain absorb new information and consolidating memories. If you experience vivid dreams immediately after you have fallen asleep, it could be a sign of a sleep condition called narcolepsy. 

Nightmares can make it more difficult to fall asleep and cause difficulty in moving between sleep cycles. Research shows that those who have negative dreams also have higher rates of stress during the day and are more likely to have sleep disorders. Likewise, those who have positive dreams are less likely to have sleep disorders.

When someone is sleep deprived there is a greater sleep intensity, meaning greater brain activity during sleep; dreaming is definitely increased and likely more vivid. Less Sleep = more dreams.

What are the health benefits of dreams?

Some studies suggest dreaming can help the brain with its memory function. Dreaming can also help with cognition and your ability to process events.

However why we dream is still a common topic of debate among experts. Considerable evidence points to dreams playing a role in facilitating brain functions like memory and emotional processing. Dreams appear to be an important part of normal, healthy sleep. At the same time though, nightmares can disrupt sleep and even affect a person during their waking hours.

How can you stop bad dreams and nightmares?

• Behavioral therapy and/or medications

• Improving habits and sleep hygiene can help reduce bad dreams. 

  • Practice relaxation techniques to minimize stress and anxiety, both of which can provoke nightmares.

  • Give yourself time to wind down before bed in a calm and comforting bedroom environment.

  • Avoid screen time for an hour or more before bed, and make sure not to watch scary or bothersome content at night

  • Avoid drinking alcohol, which affects your REM sleep, in the evening and especially before bed

  • Keep a consistent sleep schedule, even on weekends, to avoid sleep deprivation, which can spur more REM sleep and intense dreaming.

---

8 Tips to keep your Immune System Strong

When we’re feeling strong and healthy we can take our immune healthy for granted. Yet when the sniffles start we hope our immune system will pick up the slack. The colder months often make it harder to keep up with a healthy lifestyle. However your first line of defence is to choose a healthy lifestyle.

Every part of your body, including your immune system, functions better when protected from environmental assaults and bolstered by healthy-living strategies. I’ve listed my top 8 tips for keeping your immune system strong as the seasons change.

---

1. Sunshine

Vitamin D is important in keeping your immune system ready to fight infections. When possible, get outside and soak up the sun. Foods that contain Vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, however the skin's exposure to sun produces the largest amount in the body. If you're not getting enough sun you can try taking a Vitamin D supplement.

2. Get your dose of Vitamin A, C and E to help fight off nasty infections

• Vitamin A is a powerful antioxidant that helps rid the body of free radical waste that is produced during normal bodily functions. A deficiency can weaken the immune defences of the respiratory tract by damaging the mucous membranes that form a protective barrier against bacteria and viruses. Top food sources for Vitamin A are all orange and dark green fruit and vegetables (carrot, sweet potato, papaya, spinach, silverbeet etc).

• Vitamin C is an antioxidant is responsible for keeping the number of infection-fighting white blood cells and antibodies needed to ward off bugs. 

• Vitamin E for an extra healthy immune system – this antioxidant has been known to improve upper respiratory immunity. 

3. Minerals

Iron, zinc and selenium help nourish the immune system and cells active and healthy. Include mineral-rich foods such as. nuts, seeds, meat, fortified cereals, kale, broccoli, quinoa, and pulses. 

4. Sleep

Getting enough sleep is one of the ingredients to keeping strong and healthy. Rest is important to keep your heart and other organs functioning correctly. 

5. Exercise

Regular exercise promotes good cell circulation, improves mood, energy levels, heart health and prevents weight gain. 

6. Water

Drink plenty of water in winter because your body needs just as much hydration as it does in summer. Drinking water can help maintain regularity and flushes out toxins.

7. Lay off the sugar

Refined sugars negatively impact the body's defence structure. Sugars increase inflammation and can damage your cells. Try to avoid refined sugars as much as possible. To curb a sweet craving, eat more foods with protein and fats to stabilize your sugar levels.

8. Try to minimize stress

When we're stressed, the immune system's ability to fight off antigens is reduced to make us more susceptible to infections. The stress hormone cortisol can suppress the effectiveness of the immune system.

---

How to tell you have reached the point of Burnout?

Burnout is when you reach a state of mental and physical exhaustion. The main cause of burnout is stress. It is when you wake up feeling exhausted and dread getting out of bed. If you continue to push through burnout it can lead to depression, anxiety, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

The signs of burnout can be exhaustion, isolation, irritability, frequent illness, change in appetite, sleep changes, insomnia, depression and anxiety.

The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is our central stress response system. The HPA axis is responsible for the neuroendocrine adaptation component of the stress response. Stress causes increased overall cortisol output. Cortisol is your bodies main stress hormone and regulates a wide range of processes throughout the body, including metabolism and the immune response.

Long-term stress can result in negative feedback to the HPA axis which results in burnout. Whether or not chronic stress results in high or low cortisol output depends on the nature of the threat, the time since onset, and the person's response to the situation.

Tips to Prevent Burnout:

1. Take a long weekend and fully unplug from work. This will provide some temporary relief and the opportunity to rest & relax.

2. Know your breaking point and limit. When you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed, create more time for yourself to slow down & reset.

3. Take a Nap. Sleep 20-30 minutes after lunch to refresh your energy and the brain.

4. Take consistent mini-breaks throughout your day and the week to re-centre yourself:

   • Yoga or Tai Chi - Try a relaxing activity to calm the nervous system.

   • Daily Meditation - To calm the mind and bring your awareness to your breath.

   • Exercise - Regular physical activity can help you to better deal with stress. It can also take your mind off work.

5. Supplements:

   • Vitamin C - The production of cortisol and the other adrenal hormones depends on an adequate supply of vitamin C.

   • Vitamin B - Beneficial during times of stress and contains nutrients that play an essential role in energy production in the body. It contains nutrients involved in hormone synthesis and modulation. Pantothenic acid is required for the function of the adrenal glands and supporting the manufacture of adrenal hormones which counteract the stress response. Pyridoxine (vitamin B6), which is required for the synthesis of several neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, GABA and dopamine.

6. Herbals Medicine:

   • Green oats - A nervine to ease tension, decrease stress and promote nervous system health.

   • Withania (Ashwaganda) - Adaptogen to help your body manage stress.

   • Liquorice - Help support HPA axis balance by impacting morning cortisol levels.

   • Ginseng - Adaptogen to fight against stress and fatigue, for increased endurance and memory improvement.

---

10 Winter Self-Care Tips to get you through the Colder Months

The winter months can be a challenging time both physically and mentally with your health. Self-Care strategies are needed to get through the colder months to boost immunity and support your mental health. Here are 10 Winter Self-Care Tips to get you through the colder months:

1. Get some Sunlight Everyday. The lack of sunlight can negatively affect our health and mood. Try to get some time outside during the daylight hours everyday. It will help to boost your mood and sunlight directly on the skin is important for vitamin D production.

2. Stick to Regular Eating Patterns. It is common for people to gain weight over the winter as they eat heavier food. Irregular or unhealthy eating can contribute to negative moods and poor immunity. Aim to keep to a regular eating pattern with meals with the focus on eating lots of vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale, and silverbeet.

3. Enjoy a Hot Bath. Great way to warm up and relax tense muscles. A warm bath make the blood flow easier and allow you to destress . Taking a hot bath or spa can improve immunity and relieve the symptoms of cold and flu.

4. Exercise. Going to the gym, a walk, or a yoga class can help boost circulation and lymphatic flow to remove toxins from the body. Exercise can be challenging in the winter as we can be tempted to isolate and hibernate. Set a goal to move your body daily.

5. Meditate. Winter is a good time to establish a daily mindfulness or meditation practice. Create a daily habit by starting a meditation practice at home for 5-10 minutes.

6. Breathe. Long deep breathing is so simple and so good to oxygenate the body. The lungs clear waste from the body. When we slow the breath down and breath from the diaphragm it calms the Nervous System to relax the body and mind.

7. Make a Cup of Tea. Herbal tea is a great way to therapeutically heal the body and create warmth within. My favourite is Yogi Tea with ginger, cardamon, peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon: https://goldenyogi.co.nz/blog/yogi-tea-recipe. This tea creates a lot of internal warmth and supports cleansing the body.

8. Listen to Your Body. If you feel like you are getting sick stay at home and take care of yourself. Make a big pot of vegetable or chicken soup and get some good quality rest. When you feel like you are getting sick start taking some more vitamin C to help clear the infection and boost immunity. Vitamin C in megadoses (1000mg / 3 x per day) relieves and helps with reducing the duration of cold and flu symptoms.

9. Read. Curl up with a good book in bed or on the couch. Quite often we get tempted to be on the phone or watching TV but reading books can be great way to relax. Simply opening a book and reading can change your mind and stress levels for the better.

10. Take a cold shower. While it may seem counterintuitive to hop in a cold shower when you are feeling cold but hydrotherapy has been used for hundreds of years to rejuvenate and boost circulation. Having a cold shower every day can improve skin problems, boost circulation, strengthen immunity, and allow you to feel more energised.

---

10 Essentials to Boost your Immunity Naturally

1. Eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole foods.

   For our immune system to function optimally it relies on nutrient dense whole foods. Majority of people are deficient in one or more nutrients which can lead to poor immunity and disease. Vegetables are the foundation for a healthy diet as they provide the body with essential nutrients like Vitamin C and antioxidants. We should aim for at least two fruits and 6+ servings of vegetables everyday.

2. Hydrate the body.

   Our body is made up to 60% water. Consuming adequate fluids supports the bodies functions for elimination of toxins. Dehydration can cause headaches and increase your susceptibility to illness. To prevent dehydration you should be drinking enough fluid daily to make your urine pale yellow. Aim to drink at least 8 cups of water or herbal tea throughout the day. Keep a bottle of filtered water with you at all times. If you struggle to drink plain water add cucumber, lime, lemon, or any other fruit into your water bottle for a little flavour.

3. Exercise

   It is best to exercise everyday to support the immune and lymphatic systems. Avoid over exertion like long runs especially when you are feeling rundown. Do a variety of activities to stay active like walking, swimming, jogging. cycling, yoga and any other fitness routines you enjoy. Aim for at least 150 minutes per week which is about 20 to 30 minutes per day.

4. Get adequate sleep

   Sleep restores and heals the body. The key component is deep sleep as this is the time where the body can do a lot of healing and repairing. Create a sleep routine to allow the body to have a set circadian rhythm. Aim to head to bed earlier before 10:30pm and aim to sleep 7 to 8 hours per night. If you struggle to get to sleep and have a busy mind try to incorporate relaxation and breathing techniques in the evening before bed.

5. The Trinity roots - Onion, garlic and ginger

   These provides a wide spectrum of anti-microbial properties to help the body fight Infections. These are known to treat the common cold and ward off viruses with their anti-viral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. Add these ingredients to soups, stir-fries, dips, and curries.

6. Stress Management - Yoga, Breathing, and Meditation

   Long-term stress promotes inflammation and reduces the immune cell function. When we have prolonged psychological stress or physical stress it’s suppresses the immune system. We can reduce stress through the use of meditation, exercise, yoga, mindfulness, and journaling. Create a daily practice to be consistent. Choose one stress management tool and aim to do 10 minutes daily. Little and often is more beneficial than once a week. These techniques will calm the nervous system and reduce your perceived stress levels.

7. Supplements

   Studies indicate that the following supplements strengthen your bodies immune system:

   ⁃ Vitamin C. Taking 1000 to 2000 mg of vitamin C can reduce the duration of colds and boosts your immune system to recover from infection.

   ⁃ Vitamin D. When we are deficient in vitamin D it may increase your chances of getting sick. Our main source of vitamin D is sunlight on the skin, however, during winter we may need to supplement to get adequate vitamin D.

   ⁃ Zinc. Supplementing with 50 mg per day is known to reduce the duration of the common cold.

8. Herbal medicine

   The following herbs will enhance the immune system:

   ⁃ Astragalus

   ⁃ Echinacea

   ⁃ Elderberry

   ⁃ Andrographis

   ⁃ Goldenseal

9. Reduce sugar intake

   Eating or drinking too much sugar reduces the immune system function and the ability to fight off infection. Research shows that consuming 75 to 100 g of sugar can hinder the body is immune function. The suppression of the immune system starts as soon as 30 minutes after the consumption of sugar and can last up to 4 or five hours!!

10. Eat more fibre.

    Fibre is key for proper elimination of toxins through the digestive system. We need a Combination of soluble and insoluble fibre. Soluble fibre mainly comes through fruits like bananas mango avocado. This type of fibre helps to form soft stolls. And insoluble fibre is the more stringy rough fibre which comes mainly through leafy greens and vegetables. Fibre helps to move waste through the digestive system and maintain bowel movements daily.

Why Every Stressed Person Should Try a Gong Bath

Why every stressed person should try a Gong Bath

When you are feeling stressed-out the best way to unwind and relax is a Gong Bath to let go of the tension from the body and mind. Gong meditation is a unique type of sound practice that creates vibrations to bring healing and therapeutic benefits to the body and the mind. Sound therapy has been used for a long time to bring healing to the body as disease comes into the body when we are vibrating at a non-optimal frequency. Gong sound therapy has been practised for thousands of years and belongs to one of the oldest Southeast Asian musical instruments. The origins may be traced back to the second millennium B.C. In Chinese history, gongs are mentioned around 500 A.D.

Gong bathing can help reduce stress and liberate emotional blockages. Scientific research suggests sound therapy prompts damage human DNA strands to repair themselves. Music therapy is the most mainstream form of sound therapy and been shown to relieve a number of health problems. It is now frequently offered in clinical settings like hospitals and clinics. The sound of the gong reaches the body on a cellular level encouraging integrated healing of the body, mind, and spirit. When the gong is played properly it produces a whole spectrum of harmonics that are based on pressure waves of sound, which vibrate the energy meridians in the body. The sounds of the gong can recalibrate the physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies, and raises the frequency of your electrical magnetic field (the aura) that surrounds your body.

A gong meditation is practised laying on your back and all you need to do is rest in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. The gong usually starts softly and progressively the volume increases. The gong sound is changed frequently to avoid producing a fixed monotonous rhythm. The first brainwave state to be reached is alpha. Alpha brainwaves are associated with creativity and feelings of relaxation. This state is followed by an influx of theta waves. Theta waves are associated with deep meditation, hypnosis, and REM sleep. The sounds from the gong can be very loud. The best way to embrace the gong is to surrender, relax, and let go. The gong is your guide and you will ride the waves of the sound current to a deep relaxing state.

Erin O’Hara, Founder of Golden Yogi

If you are interested in finding out more about Gong Baths, we have some exciting workshops coming up - including Gong Bath Training with Methab Benton.

GONG BATH & YOGA NIDRA WITH MEHTAB BENTON

Master Gong Practictioner Training

Winter Motivation & Inspiration

Over the winter months our natural tendency is to slow down and hibernate from the cold. It is important to keep our bodies moving so we stay healthy. When we exercise and move our body it helps to boost circulation of blood and lymphatic flow through the body, and makes us feel happy.  

Your lymphatic system needs exercise to work. The lymphatic system is known as the guardian system to remove waste products from the body.  Unlike the circulatory system pumping the blood around the body, the lymphatic system has no pump so relies on us moving our body to stimulate this system.  Whenever we move our muscles we are helping the lymphatic system move lymph fluid through the body. To remain healthy it is important that the body is removing toxins and waste products efficiently from the body.

Exercise keeps us happy. It is hard to stay motivated to keep active over the cold winter months when the circulation is sluggish. When we feel sluggish we generally have lower motivation and do not feel like exercising.  Exercising regularly will benefit both our body and mind to keep you feeling great over the winter. The hardest part about exercising is having the motivation to get to a yoga class, the gym, or out for a walk in the cold. To keep motivated it is best to create an exercise routine for yourself.  Once we start and our blood flow starts circulating we generally feel great!

Write yourself a weekly exercise schedule. This will help you to stay on track. Try to aim to do something most days as little and often is a lot more achievable than doing big long sessions.  Set goals for the week and make them achievable for yourself so you can succeed with the plan. Aim for 20-30 minutes per day.

Yoga keeps you happy & healthy 😀Yoga is great to move your body but also stimulate the glandular system to keep you healthy.  The Nadi Energy channels are like an energy highway system through the body and these energy channels link to the glands. Yoga postures create angles and shapes to pressurise the Nadi channels and stimulate through the glands in the body. Healthy glands are important for your health, immunity and regulate your mood.

With less natural sun light there is a higher incidence of depression and low mood over the winter months. Yoga and meditation helps boost your mood so you can feel happy. The important glands for happiness are pituitary and pineal glands. These glands regulate our neurotransmitters to allow us to feel happy and balance our mood.

By Erin O'Hara