anticipating Berlin

Tags

anticipation, Dublin, mental-health, psychology, seratonin, well-being

In three weeks I’ll be heading to Berlin and I can’t wait for the adventure to begin. But while I was sitting flicking through my Berlin Travel Guide and sipping tea from my big red mug, I couldn’t help but wonder about anticipation and what it’s purpose may be.

After all, we have all had an exciting feeling in the pit of our stomachs, a bubbly sort of joyful turmoil, when looking forward to  something or someone. And we have all been let down, the joy turning into a sigh of exasperation and a “what-ever” expression changing our smiles and giggles into a visible disappointment. So why do we build up our hopes when we know how easy it is to crush them in an instance?

A study done by the University of Colorado showed that negative anticipation increases what we remember about a situation. For instance, if you are afraid of speaking in public but know you have to stand up and present something at a certain time, the longer you spend thinking about all the bad things that could happen, the stronger your memory of this negative experience will be. Obviously this creates a cycle of bad thoughts towards dreaded situations.

The reason behind these increase memories seems to lie in the activation of both the amygdala (responsible for processing memories and emotional reactions) and the hippocampus (consolidates both short and long term memories and spatial navigation). So when we are expecting something bad to happen our amygdala forms emotional memories about the feelings we have and the hippocampus stores them away into our memory banks.

But what about positive anticipation why do we squirm with joyful foreboding and bounce around in delighted expectations?

After scouring the internet I couldn’t find any concrete answer. However it does seem to be clear that when we think happy thoughts, look forward to something, our brain produces more serotonin and decreases cortisol. This means our stress-levels go down and our sense of well-being goes up. So maybe when we dwell in our excited anticipation even the NOW becomes a better, happier and more interesting place. This obviously means that even if we are disappointed, we’ve already had a good time.

With all that in mind I am going to take my bike for a spin in the sun and phantasies about my month in Berlin and all the promises it holds of unknown adventures.  Dublin in the sun is the nicest place to be and mingled with happy anticipation it creates wonderful cocktail of a perfect day.

taking a break

Tags

brain, brain functions, breaks, health, life stress, mental health issues, mental-health, miscellaneous, random, stress, stress research, well-being, work stress

It’s only been six weeks since the Christmas holidays but I need a break. I find myself yearning for a few lie ins, yearning for time to myself, visions of beaches flitting across my mind and daydreaming of running away and leaving my day-to-day behind.

Luckily for me next week is reading week, breaking up the term into two and giving me a week to catch up on corrections and de-stress for a few days. However I may only be swapping work-stress for leisure -stress as I will be off to Germany for a few days on Friday.

But even though I will be exchanging running from class to class to running from relative to relative and entertaining students to entertaining my one-and-a-half-year old nephew, I am removing myself from my daily routine, distracting myself from my work-life stress.

And while I still will be  daydreaming about a sunny isle and a cocktail with and umbrella in it, I am giving my mind a much needed break from dealing with my every-day stress. Funnily enough this is not only important for our well-being but for how we cope with stress.

Research has shown that our brain functions better when we allow it to relax after work. This is down to something called hormesis, a term used to describe the correlation inducing stress and then allowing an adequate time to relax. In sport this means you workout, put stress on your muscles followed by a period of rest, allowing your muscle to grow and strengthen.

The same thing applies to our brains. Studies have shown that neurons, those tiny building blocks that make up our nervous system, become more resistant if we apply the same idea. Periods of stress followed by periods of rest allow them to strengthen and help them ward of diseases like epilepsy, migraines and even dementia. Interestingly the thing that puts stress on neurons is something we do anyway, to more or less success, THINKING.

But to encourage the hardiness we need we also need to take breaks. Of course the most desired way of doing so is to pack a bag and fly away but since we don’t have enough possibilities to do so we are often left with more  affordable mini-break options. Sleep is one of them, since when we wander off into dreamland our brain can relax and recharge, but even reading a book, watching a film or investing time in our chosen hobby gives  the brain enough distraction from stress and strengths our nervous system. We just need to remember to keep taking those all important breaks.
So with Friday only two sleeps away I will just hold on to my tea-breaks for now and hope that my week long break will be enough to gear me up for the rest of the semester. With the words of the Roman poet Ovid

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.

retro passion

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80s, coffee, collecting, hoarding, mental health issues, mental-health, miscellaneous, OCD, photography, psychology, retro

I am a collector, always have been, probably always will be. As a little girl my collections where stationary, pens and cats, as a teenager I had a passion for flavoured teas, multicolored scarves and fairy-tales. Now I don’t really have any one collection, although my shoe ornaments seem to be sprinting ahead, but I love a good find in a charity shop or a flea market rummage. Anything retro or a little off-beat can make my heart beat faster,  a smile spread involuntary from ear to ear and a warm glow steep  throughout my body. I think they call it a buyers rush, but for me it’s the joy of finding something with a story attached to it.

So when I was searching for an 80s inspired dress for my Pretty in Pink night out, I couldn’t believe my luck when I spied a bright red coffee pot and jug of the same era. The white Nescafe logo on red and simple lines are true to it’s early eighties origins and even though I don’t really drink coffee I think it is the perfect accessory for any breakfast table.

But while I was looking for the perfect place to store my newly washed crockery a thought occurred to me, when does collecting become hoarding? At what point does your attachment to things grow too strong, leaving you helpless and unable to part with the inanimate?

A British study from 2012 showed that a third of all adults collect something, but only  between 2-5% are actually hoarders. And while the world seems fascinated with this phenomenon, Hoarding, Buried Alive (my guilty pleasure) is now in its third year and 5th series, not many of us know very much about the condition.

The American Psychiatric Association is currently revising their  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, renaming it DSM-5 when it is published later this year. In it the association will name six criteria to help diagnose hoarders, hoping that this will create more awareness for the illness and encourage people to come forward.

Since many of us seem to have a passion for collecting here is a boiled down list of the newly defined hoarding criteria:

• Hoarding leaves the workplace and home so cluttered that it is rendered unusable and unlivable.
• No matter what the actual value of an item the afflicted is unable to discard or part with it.
• Discarding items causes extreme stress and persistent anxiety, encouraging the afflicted to save items.
• The individual experiences clinical stress and impairment in social, work and other areas of functioning, including maintaining a safe home and work environment
• Dementia is not the cause of this impairment, nor or any other medical conditions
• The hoarding is not part of another psychological disorder such as major depression or OCD

Through this list hoarding is now a stand-alone disorder, no longer attached to OCD. The authors of DSM-5 believe that hoarding can occur even without the obsessive compulsive side.

However since there is still no “diagnostic” criteria for collecting, making it hard to see when it begins to overlap with hoarding, I think for now I will just hope that my passion for retro is still within the boarders of ‘normal’. And as long as I can still see my floor and have space to put things away I think I am safe.

 

think pink

Tags

beauty, couples, cupid, fashion, film, friends, love, mental-health, miscellaneous, pink, relationships, style, Valentine's Day

The world seems to have fallen into a paint bucket, a pink and red one at that. An explosion of pastel pinks and fuchsia reds has given birth to lovesick window dressings all in honour of cupids  hay-day and his empty quiver.

But for other singletons like myself Valentine’s Day doesn’t always feel quite as cheery and the sudden need to devour whole selection boxes of chocolate may fill the hole in our bellies but not in our hearts. However the benefits of being single means you don’t need to sit in overcrowded  busses protecting roses or stand in line for a love-themed dinner out.

A survey done by Psychology Today two years ago shows that 40% of people, regardless whether they are single or not, have negative feelings towards Valentine’s Day. This could largely have to do with how advertisers and marketing experts have shaped the way we perceive the day. Knowing that everyone is tugging at our pockets to get their share of this 14 billion dollar industry, which is suppose to celebrate the day of Love, may turn sweet to sour.

And then there are our expectancies which are bound to be disappointed. The petrol station flowers instead of the bouquet of red roses, the box of Cadburys not Belgian truffles,  the silver bracelet instead of that longed for diamond ring. Somehow our hopes get shattered turning us from lovers into haters, even if only secret ones.

The best thing to possibly do is to re-frame the situation. Remember that Valentine’s Day is NOT a test on your relationship, nor does it mean that you are doomed to eat chocolate on your own for the rest of your life. And since it is always better to smile instead of frown, put on those pink shades and give Valentine’s Day a positive spin. Think pink, not grey or blue , but a much more happy hue!

PS: look at the shoes Kay Thompson is wearing at around 2.20min, they are on my “want-list”

reading into it

Tags

atmosphere, c.s.lewis, friends, literature, mental-health, miscellaneous, quotes, reaing, thinking, writing

I came across a question the other day that made me stop and think. It was just five words and a question mark, but it opened up a whole world of ideas.

But what is actually reading? The answer may seem simple and straight forward, reading is the skill of seeing, understanding and interpreting written words. But is that really all it is?

The more I thought about it the more I realised that reading is so much more and doesn’t actually need the written word at all. We don’t just read words, we read people and their actions, situations, atmospheres, pictures and sometimes even clouds.

So while I enjoy the written word as a form of communication, a tool to learn and understand and as pathways into my imagination with it’s endless stream of stories I think I may possibly read a lot more unwritten things then I am aware of.

I read the the weather before I get dressed, I read my students and the atmosphere in the class room, I read strangers behaviours around me, I read between the lines of what my friends tell me, I read their feelings and even read my own moods, wants and needs.

Of course I get it wrong sometimes, just like little spelling mistakes in a word can change it’s whole meaning, so can little signs, feeling and ideas change how you view what is right i font of you. But most of the time, like that sentence in a book you misunderstood, you don’t notice your error till further down in the book or situation.

However no matter how often I misread something the lure of reading always pulls me back in, no matter if it’s books or the world around me. Like C.S. Lewis once said:

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me

caught cheating

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cheat, cheating, education, mental-health, society, students

People cheat, we fudge the scores to win in games, we pretend we have trained for 40 min when it really was only 35min, we sneak that piece of chocolate into our mouths even when we are the only one who cares. We basically take short cuts to make life easier or more pleasant for ourselves. And as long as we just deceive ourselves and no one gets hurt it may not be a big deal.

But when a student cheats it’s a different matter. Of course we all know that students cheat, in fact studies show that more than two thirds admit to cheating on exams, homework and assignments. And interestingly enough people with history of plagiarism as students are more likely to cheat on their partners, defraud on taxes and not follow the rules in workplaces later in life.

When I discovered that a student handed in an assignment that had been copied and pasted I not only felt lied to, but was all so annoyed over the fact that he thought I wouldn’t notice.  Now I am left with the decision over what to do and I am very unsure.

On the one hand I want him to learn a lesson, teach him that every action has consequences, something he will hopefully take on board and remember later in life. And on the other hand I don’t want to be too harsh, as he is only a second year student and the main reason behind cheating is feeling too much pressure.

However as cheating does change how a person views right and wrong, I think it better to fail him on the one paper, talk to him about the reason why and hope it makes a change. After all I believe that honesty is too valuable to throw away and the only way you can succeed in life is to be truthful to who you are, not cheat no matter how high the temptation and always remember there is a right and wrong.

soup weather

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cooking, food, healthy-living, mental-health, miscellaneous, quotes, random, soup, thoughts, weather

After yesterdays downpour and wet-knicker experience I made myself a pot of hot vegetable soup. As I sat and spooned the steaming hot combo of vegetables and mushrooms into my mouth I watched the rain beat against the window.

As the wind made a plastic bag dance down the street I felt content, the hot soup in my belly making me feel safe and warm while the stormy, wet weather played havoc with the world outside. And even though my soup is not pretty to look at, the mixture of beans, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms all mashed together became an unsightly greeny-brown, it tastes wonderful, the perfect food for a wet and windy day.

The weather has gone from bad to worse today and because I have to brave the blustery storm in a little while I am thankful that my pot of soup is heating up on the stove. A little bowl of comfort food will help to keep me warm and brighten my spirits for the afternoon of teaching.

So while it may not be the perfect weather for a walk, it definitely is the perfect weather for soup, comfort food and healthy all in one. And if a spoon full of sugar is the perfect antidote to anything bitter, a spoonful of soup is the best cure for the wet-weather blues.

And as Ludwig van Beethoven said so kindly:

Only the pure of heart can make a good soup

delightful daffodils

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daffodils, flowers, mental-health, miscellaneous, nature, photography, random, thoughts, yellow daffodils

Over the last few weeks I have been watching the tips of my daffodils emerge from the earth in my planter and are growing steadily every day. There is something promising about the way spring slowly surfaces, fresh green peeking up from the dirt.

Due to our mild winter and wet weather it seems that spring will be arriving early this year, delightful daffodils leading the way into warmer (hopefully) sunnier weather. But because impatiences is my middle name, okay it’s Bethna, I went out and bought my self two bunches of budding daffodils.

Over night the buds have exploded into lovely yellow daffodils, making me smile this morning. It’s not really surprising that the little bouquet improved my mood, after all studies have proven that looking flowers at triggers happy emotions in our brains, natures antidote to depression and anxiety packed into brightly coloured, fragrant  blossoms.  But flowers do more than just make us feel better, they give us a positive outlook on life, leaving us with a more satisfied, content feeling about ourselves.

Basically flowers make us happy. Maybe that is why we bring them when visiting people in hospital or when we are invited to dinner. We want to share our happiness with others, make them feel better and lighten the atmosphere.

Flowers also have specific meanings, in the case of the humble daffodil they symbolise hopefulness, faith, honesty, truth and forgiveness. No matter how harsh and unforgiving a winter has been, the daffodil returns every yea, faithfully and full of promise.

My new morning delight, promising to make my day start with a smile

thousand thoughts

Tags

distarctions, distrcated, mental-health, miscellaneous, random, thoughts

Today I am struggling to find just one thought to ponder on. My mind is flitting here and there, glimpses of ideas that then run and hide again catching my attention of a flicker of an eyelid.

While I at times I enjoy my restless mind, as it takes me on adventures and makes unexpected discoveries, today it is a little frustrating. Not only are the thousand thoughts running through my brain distracting me from the many tasks on my list, they are making me restless, fidgety and even a little bit nervous.

The up-side to this marathon of thoughts is that it reminds me of information long forgotten. If by coincidence or an ironic trick my mind is playing on me , I remembered something about how the mind works and why we only have a limited amount of attention span each day.

When our brain is concentrating on a specific task it uses up a measurable amount of glucose. As we go through our day our resources deplete and it takes more and more effort to focus. Decision making, discipline and creativity are high-energy tasks diminishing our supply of glucose fast. This flow of glucose is stopped whenever we are distracted and used for other things, like musing over the weather, deciding if it’s time for another cup of tea or if the phone rings, an email pings or a text messages bleeps.

One study from 2005 even showed that we lose more than 2hrs each day by being distracted. When we start a project it takes  about 11minutes before a distraction pulls our attention away and it takes another 25 minutes for us to refocus and continue with what we were doing, if we go back to the original task in the first place.  And because our mind is jumping around, playing tag with the latest distraction, steadily depleting our glucouse supply, we need longer and longer to focus on new projects as the day goes by.

The only thing we can do to contract being pulled away from the task at hand seems to be by switching of anything  that can distract us and allow our mind to just deal with what is in front of it. This may sound simple, but in the age of double screening and multi-tabbing most of us find it nearly impossible to do.

And our brains really don’t help, as the lure of the new always piques our curiosity, our mind always picking the new over the old. The reason for this is that the medial prefrontal cortex, located behind our forehead, activates when we are not doing much. This part of our brain is responsible for thoughts about ourselves an other people, it deals with our inner dialogue and emotions. It is also part of the “default network” in our brains, that part of our mind that tends to wander and create independent thought. So when we are concentrating on doing the task at hand there is a part of our mind that flicks the on-switch and allows our thoughts to go for a stroll, distracting us, whether we like it or not.

As the day grows shorter and my mind is still playing hopscotch, maybe I should go for a walk and hope my brain will be too played out tomorrow to cause too many distractions.

 

 

 

 

 

disorganised desk disco

Tags

desk, health, Irritable Desk Syndrome, mental-health, messiness, miscellaneous, paperwork, work

I normally like starting the week with a tidy desk and a new to-do-list. But this morning when I sat down in an attempt to step back into the real world an array of messiness greeted me with a wicked grin.

Somehow putting Christmas back into the box took much longer than anticipated and I completely forgot to sit down and take an hour to organise the space I spend so much time in. The clutter this morning made my smile fade into a sigh and now I have to spend a hour or so digging through paperwork, unopened letters and creating a list to guide me through the week.

I have always known that a messy desk delays my thoughts but what I didn’t know is that there is actually a name for this “Irritable Desk Syndrome” (IDS). A study done by the corporation NEC-Mitsubishi shows that 67% of office workers spend more and more time at their desks every day and 40% hate the clutter that surrounds them, leaving them unmotivated and frustrated, but “can’t be bothered to do anything about it”.

It’s not surprising that in an open-plan office most also feel affected by the messiness on co-workers desk or that many bosses are influenced by how an employees desk looks. It seems, like on dates, appearances matters.

But the disorganisation of your desk is the cause of three other big issues: it can cause back and neck pain due to bad posture, it can lose you or your company money as things get lost in the piles that can cause delay and replacement fees, but the biggest issue by far is that it is  a breeding site for bacteria.

As a messy desk is rarely cleaned, wiped down and disinfected it can be the home to up to 400 times as many bacteria as a kitchen table. The main hazard sources seem to be the telephone (no surprise there) and the keyboard. The scary fact is that if they are not regularly wiped down the bacteria living on the surfaces multiply at a merry rate of 19-30%  a day.

So with all that in mind and a shuddering look at my own disorganised desk I think I’ll just log out for a while and file, clean and trow out excess paperwork, I’ll even put on a  CD and have a desk disco to start of the week.