Daniel Plan 3/9/17: How to Deal with Stress

Welcome back! 

Yesterday was a long discussion, so I plan on keeping it shorter today. 

I hope you find the whole physiology of sleep as interesting as I do. It helps us to make some better choices about bedtime and stress management. As such, today I want to talk about stress management

“Chronic stress can attack you at any stage of life. When chronic stress hits you or someone in your circle, everyone suffers. You’ve heard of the trickle-down economy theory; there’s also a trickle-down stress theory. When the boss is stressed out, everyone at work is stressed out. When your spouse is stressed out, everyone in the family is stressed out. Stop the trickle-down effect and calm stress.”

— The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life

Here are a few strategies to calm some of that stress.

For starters, pray on a regular basis

“Decades of research have shown that prayer calms stress and improves brain function...The benefits of prayer go far beyond stress relief. Studies have shown that it also improves attention and planning, reduces depression and anxiety, decreases sleepiness, and protects the brain from cognitive decline associated with normal aging.”

— The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life

Most important, prayer allows us to grow in relationship to God.

“God wants us to think deeply on His goodness and loveliness This is Biblical meditation. The Bible says “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15) You need to regularly, repeatedly put aside time to quiet yourself and refocus your thoughts on the greatness and power of God.”

— The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life

The second stress management technique is prioritization.

Forget about the past, and while you're at it don't focus on the future so much. Figure out what needs to be done today and work on that. We spend such an inordinate amount of time rehashing the past and worrying about the future that we ignore the only thing that is really in our control, the present. If we would spend more time being present, we would find more joy and less stress. Put first things first and do not dwell so much on distractions.

The third strategy is to listen to music.

In particular, listen to uplifting music that reminds you of God's truth and calms your mind.

Last, but not least, consider calming supplements.

There are several that can help calm the neural pathways in your brain including the following: B-vitamins, L-theanine (found in green tea) and GABA, which has a calming effect on anxiety.

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“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

— 1 Peter 5:7

Blessings

-Noel

Daniel Plan 3/8/17: Fight or Flight...and the Power of Sleep

Hello again! 

Thanks to all who have been supportive of this message and, to all those who will use it in the future, best wishes for success! 

Doing this version of the Daniel Plan has been particularly helpful for me. It is really making me take a hard look at how much I am allowing God to be the leader in my life. Often times, the answer is not enough.

Alright...lesson time.

When we let ourselves be the driving force in life the result is almost invariably stress. I talked a little about it a couple of days ago but I want to spend some more time exploring the physiology of stress and the ways to overcome it.

Stress is a part of everyday life, in the form of either negative stress or positive stress. Negative stress would include things like illness, a death in the family, caring for a sick relative, divorce, losing a job, of filing bankruptcy. Positive stress could include the birth of a child, getting a new job, marriage or going to college.

Often these things will activate the fight or flight mechanism in the body. During this process, we undergo a predictable set of reactions: our heartbeat increases, our pupils dilate, the blood vessels in our big muscles dilate (so we can fight or run away), and the blood vessels around our digestive organs shrink. 

All of these reactions are the result of the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) being released by the adrenal glands. These same glands release cortisol, which recruits protein from the large muscles and converts it to glucose for energy, once again to fuel fighting or running away. If this fuel is not used,l it is stored around the midsection as potential energy.

So, in theory, we could say "I'm not fat...I just have a lot of potential energy."

Insert laughter here :)

These reactions are meant to be short term. Once the threat is over, the body should go back to balance. Unfortunately, it seems that modern life puts many of us in this fight of flight state repeatedly and that stress becomes chronic. It can affect, not only our belly but our brain and other organs as well.

“Chronic stress harms the brain. It constricts blood flow, which lowers overall brain function and prematurely ages your brain. A series of studies looked at long-term exposure to stress hormones, especially cortisol, and its effect on brain function in varying age groups. The older adults with continuously high levels of cortisol performed worse on memory tests than older adults with moderate-to-low cortisol levels. The older adults with high cortisol levels also had a 14 percent smaller hippocampus, the area involved with memory. The hippocampus is part of the stress response system and sends out signals to halt the production of cortisol once a threat has vanished. But when the number of brain cells in the hippocampus is depleted, it no longer sends out this signal, which results in the release of even greater amounts of cortisol.”

— The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life

Chronic stress can lead to adrenal fatigue or even exhaustion.

There are three tools, however, that can lead us out of that state. They are: sleep, increased protein intake and stress management techniques.

Today, I want to talk briefly about sleep.

When we are in the midst of our day to day activities our brains are in what is called a beta state. The accompanying brain waves are irregular and high frequency. As we relax, our brain waves shift into an alpha state, in which the brain waves are more rhythmic and lower frequency. During this state, the brain starts to release serotonin, which is the gateway chemical to sleep.

Sleep occurs in waves at about 90 min intervals. You go through stages 1-4 with 4 being the deepest and most restorative sleep. Fat burning hormones are most active during sleep phase 4 sleep, which usually takes between midnight and 4 AM. The sleep cycle then goes back up to 3, and then to 2, and finally back to 1. Up to the point of return to phase 1, the sleep is governed by the hormone serotonin. 

Interestingly, when you hit phase 1 a different hormone, norepinephrine, takes over and we experience REM sleep. REM stand for rapid eye movement and it is the sleep phase from which you typically remember your dreams. It is a shallower phase of sleep and occurs more frequently toward morning. Often phase 4 sleep only occurs in the first couple of 90 min cycles. An excess of norepinephrine from stress can keep us from getting into the deeper phases of sleep. 

Anyway, that's all for today. Going forward, we will talk more about the tools for stress management. In the meantime...sleep well.

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Today's Bible verse:

“
In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

— Psalms 4:8

-Noel

Daniel Plan 3/7/17: F.A.I.L. First Attempt In Learning

Greetings!

We are going back to Romans today.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

— Romans 12:2

The Greek word at the root of transformation is metamorpho. It is the process of changing states and is the root word for metamorphosis. In that process, a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. It is no longer earthbound and stuck crawling around, but instead can fly and no longer thinks of itself as a caterpillar.

Assuming butterflies have thoughts, that is :)

There is a war between the thoughtful part of your brain that knows what you should do and the pleasure centers that want gratification now. There are a number of ways we distort our thoughts, among them being:

• overgeneralizations- "I'll never change"
• thinking with your feelings- "I feel like a failure"
• predicting the future- "I can't do this forever"
• blame- "everybody in my family is like that"
• denial- "I can quit whenever I want, I just don't want to"
• focusing on the negative- "I only lost eight pounds"

It's been addressed before, but God uses failure to educate us. As we dig deeper into the Focus section of the Daniel Plan, it's important to remember that because He teaches us through failure, changes will likely unfold gradually over the course of not only the Daniel Plan's 40 days, but throughout our lifetime.

This plan is the only the beginning and the trajectory won't always continue upward. 

Moving on.

What is your motivation?

Motivation is the reason a person has for acting a certain way. I've found in my own life, that my motivations seem to come from two different perspectives: to attain benefits and to avoid negative consequences.

I want to attain the benefits that eating healthier has to offer and avoid the negative consequences that come with eating donuts all day long, namely diabetes, weight gain and possible comparisons to Homer Simpson.

Attaining the benefits and avoiding the consequences, for me, is about brain power and action.

Think about your health and learn to become mindful, intentional, and purpose driven. You'll need a healthy brain and a renewed mind to do that.

-Noel

Daniel Plan 3/6/17: Let Christ do the Heavy Lifting for a While

What are you thinking about?

Paul tells us in Philippians:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

— Philippians 4:8

How much time in our lives is spent thinking of things that are less than this? If you're like most of us, it's a lot of the time. I have had to cut out a number of TV shows lately because their content is just too disturbing. Most of the news falls into that same category. We need to find positive messages for ourselves and our family.

We all, too often, are living stressed out and as a result are at the mercy of stress hormones in our bodies.

“Brief surges of stress hormones are normal and beneficial. They motivate you to do a good job at work, study hard, or pay your bills on time. Those short bursts of adrenaline and cortisol are not the problem with stress. The problem is that for many of us, the stress reactions never stop. Traffic, bills, work, school, family conflict, not enough sleep, health issues, and jam-packed schedules keep us in a constant state of stress. Take note that it isn’t just the bad stuff in life that can cause stress. Even happy events, such as having a baby or getting a promotion, can be major stressors.”

— The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life

Over the long term though, stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline harm the brain.

“Living with stress on a daily basis makes you more likely to have issues with your weight for a number of other reasons. For examples, chronic stress usually goes hand in hand with a lack of sleep. That pumps up cortisol production and throws appetite-control hormones out of balance. That should explain why you feel as if health flies out the window during stressful situations. So it’s no surprise that you overeat, crave sugary treats, and store more fat.”

— The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life

Oftentimes we can't change the sources of stress in our lives. What we have to do is find a way to change our reaction to those stressors. Once again Paul gives us a guide in the same passage of Philippians:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

— Philippians 4:6-7

That sounds pretty good doesn't it?

My prayer is that you would turn to Christ with your troubles and fears and let Him do the heavy lifting for a while. 

The world is too heavy to all be on your shoulders.

May the peace of God fill your hearts!

-Noel

Daniel Plan 3/1/17: The Dirty Secret that Gyms Won't Tell You

Hi folks! 

The time keeps sliding away. We've already hit the first of March, yet it seems that the year has just begun. Today is the last day that I will cover the fitness section of the Daniel Plan.

I want to go back and elaborate on several aspects I hit on when I first introduced this module.

The first is planning. It's a harsh but simple truth: if you don't make time for exercise you won't do it with regularity. Keep in mind that people respond and function better with exercise at different times of the day. For instance, I am a morning person and like to get in a long walk with the dog to start my day.

Whatever your time is, put it in your planner or commit to it in another way, but each week evaluate how you did and try to balance your schedule to allow for your fitness time.

Second, chart what you have done and try to gradually increase your reps or distance. Your body will become accustomed to what you are doing so mix it up, and try to find something else that you can enjoy as a physical challenge.

I want to digress here to talk about something that I think is important, and something you probably weren't aware of.

Most people assume that when they are working out they are burning calories (which is true) of fat (which almost always isn't!). So let's look at this a little more closely. If you recall our discussion about blood sugar, we said that cells always use sugar (specifically glucose) for fuel.

The body designed by God, the master engineer, would never use a more difficult mechanism (fat metabolism) to provide fuel when there was a simpler one available. This simpler mechanism is the sugar in the blood and the reserve of glucose stored in the liver as glycogen. Recreational athletes seldom get past these available stores of energy to tap directly into fat burning, contrary to what advertising and gym membership salesmen would have you believe.

Most fat burning actually takes place in response to increased activity levels during the deep phase of sleep particularly between midnight and 4AM the night after a workout. It is crucial to both be asleep at these times and not have excessive insulin activity (say as the result of a big dessert) during these times. It is important to note that the body will NOT burn fat in the presence of insulin for the reason listed above. Namely, if there is already fuel available, why switch to fat burning?

Something to think about and factor into your scheduling and planning.

Keep at it! If you don't quit you can't lose!

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Daily Bible verse:

““For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.””

— Jeremiah 29:11

-Noel