The Fascinating Human Brain- Part 7: The Happy Hippocampus

You're going to love this one! :)

The hippocampus, remember, is the part of your brain that is in charge of memory, space and navigation, and what we call "executive function"--planning, reflection, and inhibition/thinking about the consequences of your actions ahead of time.

In other words, it's pretty darn important.

In the last posts, we learned that stress, anxiety, depression, and pain all causes the destruction of neurons and the shrinking of the hippocampus, and that certain anti-depression meds can stop the shrinkage and cause its growth.

One of my professors, Len Matheson, who specializes in clients with brain injuries, developed the following exercise called the Happy Hippocampus. It's something YOU CAN DO daily to promote the healthy grow of your brain and help yourself grow in an area of weakness at the same time.

I've shortened this from a blog post on his website.
Check out his website for a full explanation of this and other exercises you can use to promote healthy brain function!

"The Happy Hippocampus Exercise is deceptively simple and is much more influential than you will first appreciate. It works gradually to write an autobiography that conforms to how you want to be. It has these simple steps:

Every day for the next month, pick three episodes[1] that demonstrate a behavior you want to develop, in this case ways in which you were more courageous today than you were yesterday. Use a note pad to help keep track of this during the day.

Write a few words on the note pad that will be episode cues, reminding you what you did to demonstrate the behavior you want to develop, in this case, courage.

As you get ready for bed each night, review the note pad to refresh your memory about the three episodes.

After you go to bed and just before you drop off to sleep, pray a gratitude prayer, thanking God for your family and your other blessings.

After your gratitude prayer, recall the episodes and allow them to be the last information that you process before you fall off to sleep. If you have to keep thinking through these episodes, that’s fine, just stick with it until you drop off to sleep.

If you awake during the night, use your episode cues again to help get you back to sleep. Recall these thoughts in place of any thoughts that awakened you, especially if they were troubling thoughts.

Several important things are accomplished by the Happy Hippocampus Exercise. Let’s review what is accomplished by using courage as our example, helping you to develop more courage as a personal resource.

Remember that earlier information in the Hippocampus gets pushed out by later information. Since the most recent information in your Hippocampus is the three examples of how you were more courageous during the day, this information will hang out in the Hippocampus longer.

The longer the information about you being more courageous sits in your Hippocampus, the more likely it will be to be distributed to other parts of your brain. This helps to make the information into memories. Memories are chunks of information that are resistant to loss and help to influence how you think about yourself. So, by giving your Hippocampus three thoughts about how you were courageous during the day, you are developing new memories that have to do with courage.

As the information about you being more courageous sits in your Hippocampus, it distracts your brain’s attention from how you didn’t act courageous during the day. This is an extremely important point. None of us is perfect and we all have some things each day that we do well and some things that we don’t do well. If you select episodes that describe your courage, another part of your brain can stay silent, the amygdala. This is important because the amygdala is responsible for processing information about threats and shortcomings to get you ready to defend yourself. If you go to bed and your last thought is about how you weren’t courageous, it will trigger your amygdala, causing your body to go on alert. Although you may still go to sleep because you’re exhausted, your sleep won’t be as restful.

When you wake up in the middle of the night worried about a problem, the discomfort you feel is your amygdala getting you ready to defend yourself. Unfortunately, the amygdala doesn’t fully appreciate that you need a good night sleep and that there is nothing to be done about that traffic ticket or unpaid bill until the next day. Fortunately, the neurochemicals that your amygdala has triggered only last for about 90 seconds. As long as you don’t keep thinking about what is worrying you, after 90 seconds, you will be ready to go back to sleep. So, as an alternative to thinking about your worries, use those 90 seconds to get up and go to the bathroom and go back to bed and choose to think about your three Happy Hippocampus episodes from the prior day. You might have to throw in another gratitude prayer, but this will definitely be more helpful in getting you back to sleep than lying in bed obsessing about that traffic ticket or unpaid bill and feeding your amygdala threatening thoughts. We’ll talk later about how to get along better with your amygdala.

Recent research has shown that the brain actually grows new neurons in two locations. Guess what? The Hippocampus is one of the areas! Right now, reading this blog and learning about the Hippocampus is actually causing stem cells in the Hippocampus to start growing new neurons. In about 3 weeks, the neurons that are being born right now will be fully mature and ready to go to work for you. So, if you stimulate new neurons and every night for 3 weeks keep working on courage, guess what happens? Right! Those new neurons are going to work to preserve your more-courageous self-image. We could call these your “courage neurons” because if you keep processing information about how each day you act more courageously, those neurons become part of your God-wired brain, with you as the co-author. Pretty neat!

The final and very important point I’d like to make is that you are not only thinking about being more courageous in the Happy Hippocampus Exercise; you are gradually changing your behavior. It’s probably going to be difficult to find three episodes from your day in which you were more courageous than the day before, at least at first. Without these episodes, the exercise won’t work. Don’t try and fool yourself by pretending to be more courageous. Being courageous takes practice and requires skill. You develop the skill to be courageous gradually, learning how to better handle people and situations that used to baffle you or intimidate you. You can’t just think it and do it. You actually need to take opportunities each day as they come along and practice being more courageous in ways that are likely to be successful, but feel risky. Research has shown that “fake it till you make it” is not only ineffective, but can also cause problems. We’ll talk about this more in another blog entry that is titled, “White Lies and the Devil”.

So, that’s the Happy Hippocampus Exercise. It requires that you be thoughtfully intentional, looking for opportunities each day to develop an aspect of yourself that you value. The opportunities have always been there, now that you are looking for them, they will become more obvious. Once you recognize an opportunity, you can choose to use it or not. There will be plenty of opportunities, so choose with thoughtful intentionality.

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The Fascinating Human Brain- Part 6: Pain and Learning to Listen to Your Body

High levels of pain have a similar effect as anxiety and depression on the neurochemicals of your body. Pain causes high levels of stress hormones to be produced, which causes neuron destruction and the shrinkage of the hippocampus.

Of course pain, like anxiety, can be adaptive. Contrary to deeply-engrained Western belief that anesthesia is the best answer to pain, it is the gift of God to alert you to something wrong. And the something wrong isn't that you need Ibuprofen. In fact, children who are born with a rare condition where they are not able to feel pain quickly die, because pain is protective. (Check on this fascinating book for more on this topic!)

Here's a challenge. The next time you have a headache, before you pop the pills, stop and think. If you really believe that we as humans are to live as WHOLE PEOPLE with minds, emotions, bodies, spirits, etc... which are connected and chopped up into pieces, then how would that impact your headache? Your immediate Tylenol solution demonstrates that you MAY NOT believe that after all, but rather live segmented life applying a drug-only solution to a perceived physical-only problem. What else might be going on?

-Tense muscles in your back/neck?
-Because you only got 4 hours of sleep last night?
-Because you woke up three times worrying about your marriage? (your kids? your mortgage?)
-But you tell yourself you're supposed to trust Jesus, so you bottle up your anxiety?
-Because growing up in your family, no one ever talked about struggles or fears?

or is it something else?

-straining muscles in your face?
-because you just got off the phone with your mother?
-because she called to lovingly remind you to make sure to send a present to your nephew?
-even though you are 45 years old and when is she going to stop treating you like a kid?

or maybe...

-you went to bed at 2 am after playing video games?
-because you really wanted some time you could consider your own?
-because your boss told you on the way out the door at 7pm that if you wanted to be considered for management, you were going to have to be willing to make some sacrifices...
-but there's an internal tug of war. You're ticked your boss doesn't get your life... and you've always considered yourself a family guy, but now you're feeling guilty because part of you feels overwhelmed at home and really WANTS a good excuse to come home after the kids are already in bed?

What? You have a headache? Shocking.

The scenarios go on and on and on.

BTW, I'm not against Ibuprofen or Tylenol. (And I'm certainly not against trusting in Jesus--just against a false reality that uses spiritual platitudes to ignore the reality of suffering and longing for what is not yet.)

But you can see why Tylenol isn't going to cut it. And I can guarantee that many of your headaches are meant to point you to awareness of something going on inside you that's far more than just physical.

The Fascinating Human Brain- Part 5: Anxiety

Anxiety, in contrast to fear, is a vague, diffuse feeling of worry or apprehension. (Fear, in that sense, is much more manageable than anxiety, because it is specific, and thus something you can directly address.)

Intermittent anxiety is normal and adaptive. For example, if you tell a lie and worry about covering it up, then hopefully you will feel the anxiety and not do it again. But an ONGOING state of anxiety is toxic to your body.

When you are anxious, your brain goes into a hyper alert state. This produces the stress hormones, especially cortisol, that I talked about earlier. The effect of these chemicals causes the roughening of the walls of your arteries, which causes excess stuff to STICK to them. Thus, there is a HIGH correlation between anxiety and coronary artery disease.

The amygdala, as I shared before, is that part of your brain that is responsible for your fight/flight response. If your amygdada isn't calmed, then your hippocampus starts to shrink, which in turn makes your amygdala less and less controllable. It becomes a downward spiral.

Last time I mentioned with depression that certain anti-depression meds help preserve and heal the hippocampus. The hippocampus CAN and WILL rebuild, if it's not under high levels of stress, but it takes time.

As a counselor with a highly anxious client, helping involves much more than just calming them. Highly anxious people usually have a deeply engrained way of dealing with stressful things in their life that they need your help to see. But oftentimes, a person cannot begin to be reflective until you help them develop physical ways of calming themselves. But see how necessary it is to understand the neurology of that, if you are going to help them?

Yes, I've been playing with the background again.
It needs a face lift. But I got tired of looking and went back with an old standard.
Something summery. Something playful. Something bright and whimsical and free.
I'm working on it....

The Fascinating Human Brain- Part 4: Depression

Is there a physical reason for depression?

YES!

How about a spiritual component? an emotional component? a relational component?

Yes, yes and yes.

As WHOLE people who cannot be divided into parts, the mind, the body, the will, the emotions, the spirit, etc... all come into play when something in us is not right. And this is equally true with depression.

But in the BRAIN, what happens in depression?

Neurologically speaking, depression happens where there is impoverished neurochemical communication in the brain.

Neurochemically, depression is caused by a lack of seratonin (the most common), dopamine, or norepinephrine. (Again this is a super simple explanation!)

Did you know that there are some natural sources of seratonin out there? This is not a "cure", but God put natural seratonin replenishment resources in our world! You can find seratonin naturally in TURKEY, MILK, and OATS. (But Rye, FYI, decreases seratonin.)

What else happens in depression?

The hippocampus shrinks. The hippocampus is the part of your brain responsible for MEMORY, as well as executive function (i.e. planning, reflection) and the place where a lot of neurogenesis happens.

Did you know that in clinical studies with rats (this is so new that human studies have yet to be completed), that giving anti-depressant medication causes the hippocampus to GROW? In other words, taking anti-depressant medication isn't just to make the person "feel better." It actually STOPS the death of neurons and improves memory functioning.

I would never suggest that medication ALONE, (or eating oats!) is the answer for a depressed person. As I stated at the beginning, ALL the parts of a person need to be addressed.

But why would you ignore the physical and not do what you could to help a person's brain do its job to help them heal?

The Fascinating Human Brain- Part 3: Stress

Yesterday we mentioned that the brain changes and new neurons are formed ALL THROUGHOUT the lifespan.

Today I want to expand on the effects of STRESS.

Your amydala is your fight-flight center. It is good for you--when you perceive danger, your body produces cortisol, which raises your heart rate, respiration and blood pressure that enables you to RUN AWAY if you are threatened.

Like I said, cortisol is adaptive in a sense, because it enables you to get stuff DONE. Cortisol levels are highest in the body from 5-7 am-- time to get a move on!

But cortisol is also a killer. The highest incidence of heart attacks also occurs between 5-7am, when cortisol levels in the blood are high. Cortisol is meant to give you a BOOST of energy. But when cortisol is released continually (i.e., you are in a very stressful job, or you have a very stressful home life, or you never REST, or you have that kind of hyper-active fear responsive brain I talked about last post) it can be deadly.

In a person who is not highly anxious, cortisol levels DROP as you go throughout your day.

And, did you know that God gave us a special neurochemical, oxytocin, which counter-acts the effect of cortisol?

And how do you get oxytocin? Oxytocin is released during sex, during positive touch (like cuddling with your sweetie or a relaxing message), or even just bonding activities with a good friend.

And fascinatingly, the levels of oxytocin are highest during BIRTH and stimulates the mother's body to start nursing.

In other words, a little love from your sweetie CAN reduce your stress level. And as your mother was your first sweetie, God designed our bodies this way so that babies get a HUGE dose of lovin' as soon as they are born!

But what if you don't have a sweetie? Can you reduce your stress level?
After just 20 minutes of good exercise, your kidneys will wash cortisol out of your system.

I told you, this is fascinating.

The Fascinating Human Brain- Part 2: Can the Brain Change?

Can the brain change?

In the 70's-80's-into the 90's, it was pretty much accepted that once you pass adolescence, the brain stops developing beyond new memories. You better hold onto whatever neurons you have, because that's all you get!

But ongoing research now indicates this is simply not true. The brain is capable of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. That means your brain can MAKE new neurons throughout your life span, and your neural pathways are malleable!

The brain rewires by patterned USE... in other words, you form habits that your brain sticks with. This is simple picture of why addictions of all kinds happen and are extremely hard to break.

It is also now accepted that brain rewiring and neurochemical change happens as a consequence of meaningful interpersonal relationships. What?

That's right, COMMUNITY is key for your brain to function well.

What are other key factors for your brain to function in a healthy way?

Good nutrition...
Consistent exercise...
Did you know that 20 minutes of good exercise washes stress hormones out of your system?

Adequate sleep...
Minimal exposure to stress...
Did you know that the stress hormone cortisol KILLS neurons?

Isn't this fascinating??

The Fascinating Human Brain- Part 1

After a week of recovery from one of the most intensely busy seasons of my life, I'm starting to write again. In fact, I feel like there is so much that I've been wanting to process as I crystallize the things that I've been learning this year. I'm hoping to put together some nuggets that help me sync this learning for good! What is true about people? about problems? about change? and about the counselor?


I'm going to start with the function of the BRAIN in human change. Why? I was reminded during my Psych Disorders class this semester that I decided to be a neurologist when I was in the 3^rd grade. WHY? Because I had a childhood seizure disorder, so I decided to learn about the brain for our 3^rd grade science project. I found it fascinating then, and even more so now! To understand about how God designed the brain to function, and how the physical parts of us factor into understanding human problems, is critically important if a counselor is going to help people.

Your LEFT brain handles language and inductive reasoning, while the RIGHT brain handles our sense of self in physical and interpersonal space (including emotions, self-awareness, and creativity.)

But what happens when you experience PAIN when you are young? (As we all do?) Physical or emotional pain? Many people adapt (neurologically speaking) in one of two directions. Excuse this highly simplified explanation!

1. Your brain shuts down the function of your emotional capacities (the right side) in an effort to help you FEEL LESS. You become highly rational and logical but lose much creative ability. You are living largely out of the LEFT, logical side of your brain.

Have you ever met someone like this? (Or maybe you ARE someone like this?) They are very rational but cannot seem to feel much? Maybe they had a difficult experiences in childhood, but they say it was no big deal? Their brain has adaptively shut down much of the creative, emotional, self-aware functions of their brain.

2. Your brain becomes FLOODED with emotions. (Your right side is hyperactive.) Your fight-flight center is stuck “ON” and you are highly responsive to any perceived fear, danger, and concerns over health and safely

Have you met someone like this? (Or maybe you ARE someone like this?) They are fearful and anxious, and logical reasoning doesn’t seem to calm them? Maybe they had difficult experiences in childhood, and they did not have a safe place to make sense of their fears, and their brain assumed ongoing, hypervigilent, personal responsibility to keep them safe.

This is why INTEGRATION of the two sides of your brain is critical. God designed us to be both logical, reasoning, thinking people and emotionally responsive, self-aware, creative, people.

The good news is that the brain is highly ADAPTIVE and able to CHANGE! More on that to come.

Kathryn is 8!

On Sunday afternoon after Jim returned, we had Kathryn's American Girl 8th Birthday Party Extravaganza! I had a lot of help getting ready for it from GG and Da (who spent the week helping with the girls so I could finish finals before Jim's return), and we had a great time!



















The girls brought their favorite doll, and as soon as they arrived immediately began consulting over their dolls...














We had a granola relay, in honor of Kirstin's Honey making game (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you can become initiated the world of American Girls online!)













A drawing game, in honor of Samantha's Sketchpad















...and made necklaces for our dolls.















The dolls need their beauty rest while the girls are preparing their jewelry...























Then we opened presents...




























Had cake...

































Aunt Julie saved the day at the end when I'd run out of games with 30 minutes left! (Originally it was going to be an outdoor party but had to scrap the outdoor games due to rain...) Each girl introduced their doll. It was a big hit!















What a fine looking groups of gals!














K has many friends back in China she wishes could have joined us that day!! :(

GG, Uncle Jeff, and cousin Emma



















Jim and his dad














K and her doll, matching outfits compliments of Nana!



















some K shots...






































K & her friend Sharli



















That's my big 8 year old! Mommy loves you!