anticipating Berlin

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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

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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.

a silent tear

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crying, emotions, feelings, health, mental-health, miscellaneous, random, tears, well-being

I stayed in last night, content to tidy away Christmas, put it back into it’s box. As I wrapped, packed and stowed I listened to music and drank a glass of deep red wine. But my flighty mind got distracted by hidden thoughts and forgotten memories and suddenly a silent tear fell.

I had to stop and take a moment to figure out why, without any warning, a wave of sadness had washed over me. As the tear rolled down my cheek a second followed, then a third and in a jingle-bells a steady stream of tears was escaping from my eyes.

Emotions are tricky things and while I tried to figure out what it was that I was actually feeling I discovered a plethora of loneliness, missing my dad, frustration over not achieving my goals, lost hopes and dreams. But as the tears flowed I slowly felt better and I remembered what I knew about tears.

Tears are quite wonderful drops of water as there are three different kinds: reflex, continuous and emotional. Reflex tears are the kind that clears out any little particles that may distract or obscure our view. Continuous ones are produce in an endless stream to lubricate our eyes and even nose.

Now while reflex tears are made up out of 98% of water and continuous ones contain lysozyme, an enzyme that breaks down bacterial cells, an anti-bacterial fluid that protects our eyes and nose from infections, emotional tears actually contains stress hormones.

This means that when ever we are sad,angry, stressed, afraid or any other emotional state that causes tears to well up in our eyes, we are shedding stress hormones and other toxins. In addition to this crying stimulates our endorphin (feel-good hormones) production.

Crying is good for us,  tears help us heal and allow our body to get rid of hormones that disrupt our inner equilibrium. Tears heal the heart and body and allow us to bypass depression. So while tears can’t fix a situation they help us calm down, our breathing and hearth-rate slows down when the tears subside, leaving our hearts soothed and more at peace.

A few silent tears shed late at night may have left me red-faced, snot-nosed and a little breathless but hopefully also a little bit more capable to tackle what the future holds.  But whatever may happen I wholeheartedly agree with Antonie de Saint-Exupery

It is a secret place the land of tears

More tearful information:  Biological Role of Emotional tears (NY Times), The Health Benefits of Tears (Psychology Today),