MindBodySpir.it

You and how trauma affects YOUR Brain/Mind

You will have some trauma throughout your life.

It may help to know how it may affect your brain/mind so that you can maybe stay ahead of

the repercussions from that trauma.

There are different effects

PTSD

Depression

Those are just 2 ways trauma can affect us but it affects your amygdala, which is an almond

shaped mass located deep in your inner brain:

Increases your arousal and autonomic responses associated with fear

Activates the release of stress hormones

Engages your emotional response

Decides what memories are stored and where they should be placed around the cortex

Applies feeling, tone an emotional charge to memory when strong emotional content remains connected to

connected to a visceral experience

Next to the amygdala is the hippocampus that is responsible for the formation, organization, storage, and retrieval of memories.  Technically, it converts them from short-term to long-term, sending them into the appropriate parts of your outer brain for storage

and retrieval of memories.  Technically, it converts them from short-term to long-term, sending them into the appropriate parts of your outer brain for storage

term, sending them into the appropriate parts of your outer brain for storage

Trauma, however, hijacks this process; the hippocampus is prevented from transforming the memories from being properly integrated so that their effects dimish, n some cases when the hippocampus function is suppressed it has been shown to shrink.

memories from being properly integrated so that their effects dimish, n some cases when the hippocampus function is suppressed it has been shown to shrink.

hippocampus function is suppressed it has been shown to shrink.

Lastly, the prefrontal cortex located in the front, the outer most layer of your brain contributes two important elements of recall:

two important elements of recall:

After trauma a few things can occur:

Your lower brain processes responsible for instinct and emotion override the

Inhibitory strength of the cortex so that the cortex cannot properly stop inappropriate

reactions or refocus your attention

Blood flow to the left prefrontal lobe can decrease, so you have less ability for language,

memory and other left lobe functions

Blood flow to your right prefrontal lobe can increase, so you experience more sorrow, sadness

and anger.

When a traumatic event triggers our internal alarm system, the body goes into fight, flight, or

freeze and here is what Dan Siegel, MD says that there are two key chemical reactions to

trauma and know how trauma affects the brain an enhance our interventions better, and I

would say individually it would help us to recover quicker from trauma.

If there is childhood trauma it can lead the brain to be wired for fear.

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk says that one can change the connections and activations in the brain.

But, I do believe that is easier said than actually done after any trauma, whether you are

young or old.

One of the things that can be done after trauma is neurofeedback, which can actually help

people rewire the wiring of their brain structures.  Yoga may not cure after traumas but yoga

makes a substantial difference in the right direction.

YOU and how the sun affects your mind

Sunlight has a profound impact on your mental health.  Out of 19

environmental factors, the only one correlating to higher levels of

distress was the amount of time between sunrise and sunset.

An estimated 20 percent of American are affected by seasonal

affective disorder(SAD) each winter.  What differentiates SAD from

regular depression is that full remission occurs in the spring and

summer months.

The complex stimulus of sunlight can affect your mood and

mental health through a number of mechanisms, including affecting

your Vitamin D, serotonin, endorphins, nitric oxide levels and

mitochondrial energy. According to a paper published in the

Journal Dermato-Endocrinology, a large number of molecules

found in the different layers of your skin absorb and interact with

ultraviolet rays producing a number of complex and synergistic

effects.

Sunlight also regulates your circadian rhythm, light therapy has

been shown to be effective against depression, both SAD and

non-seasonal major depression.

Vitamin plays an important role in mental health, so if fall and

winter months leave you feeling blue, you would be wise to add

vitamin D to your supplement protocol.

Regular exercising has been found to work better than

antidepressant drugs.  In fact, it is one of the most powerful

strategies available to prevent and treat depression and boost

your mood.  Exercise works by helping to normalize your insulin

levels while simultaneously boosting “feel good” hormones in your

brain.  Researchers have also discovered that exercise allows

your body to eliminate kynurenine, a harmful protein associated

with depression

Avoiding processed foods Foods have an immense impact on

your mood and ability to cope, and eating a diet of fresh, whole

foods will best support your mental health

Gut health also influences your mental health – take a good

probiotic and eat fresh and organic foods as much as possible.

Omega -3 fats. -cod-liver oil and also B12 will help

Your mental health is body health and spiritual health all interact

with each other and have to keep all balanced

Stay strong and be courageous and brave

Having any kind of garden can help you and your health

There are a lot of wonderful ways that any gardening can help in YOUR health

Listed below are just some of the wonderful reasons to do any kind of gardening but in my lifetime I have had acres of garden with a neighbor and we canned beans, made ketchup, froze peas, grew jalapenos in Iowa, grew beets, and my Dad tried to grow celery in my garden.  We planted lots of potatoes and even did corn.  But now I do container plants – have beautiful tubular begonias and some other flowers but because my condo does not get enough sun I cannot do vegetable or fruit.

Gardening can reduce risk for stroke

Burn calories

Reduce risk of heart disease

Decreases the likelihood of osteoporosis

Stress buster

Improves one’s health

Making meaning out of our life

Enables us to enter the “zone” also known as an altered state of

Consciousness

Means of survival If necessary

Digging in soil has actual health and mood boosting benefits

Improves relationships and compassion

Lower risk of dementia

Strengthens your immune system

Here are some more reasons to play in the dirt:

Get enough vitamin D

Play in the dirt

Getting grounded – EARTHING

Stress relief

Eat vegetables

Getting exercise

There are so many reasons to plant and care that there is NO REASON NOT TO HAVE SMALL OR LARGE GARDEN

Other reasons:

Sense of responsibility

Be nurturers

Keeps us connected to other living things

Helps us relax and let go

Working in nature release happy hormones

Reminds us to live in the present moment

Reminds us of the cycle of life, and to come to terms with that most universal of anxieties; death

Can allow us to vent anger and aggression

Allows us to feel in control

Gardening is easy

Gardening is good for children and gives all the benefits for

Children as it does for adults.

Love sitting on my deck and enjoying my flowers.

Earthling and gardening is so good for YOU – you do not need to spend hours doing either but spend some time for a lot of health benefits for SELFhood.

Some more good reasons to garden:

Self-esteem

Heart health

Hand strength and dexterity

Brain health and Alzheimer’s risk

Immune regulation

Depression and mental health

Gardening can strengthen YOUR immune system, dirt also

contains a natural antidepressant called Mycobacterium vaccae.

According to research, this particular antidepressant microbe

causes cytokine levels to increase, which in turns boosts the

production of serotonin.  The research as conducted by Bristol

University and University College London.

As we age, gardening helps to stimulate the brain.

Gardening helps in physical exercise, social interactions,

cognitive learning and reducing risks of dementia for people in

their 60s and 70s.

YOU and Immanuel Velikovsky

He wrote great books in the universe, he did all his research.  I

have in my library most of his books and have read them.  I also

have the book written by his daughter who was also a Ph.D. and

wrote about what her father went through mentally when he his

work was rejected, ridiculed and had a hard time getting them

published.

His work has proven to be factual and true – after 40 years of

being disparaged

I also have the book his daughter wrote about her father having

been through those hard years.  Dr. Ruth Velikovsky Sharon is a

psychoanalyst.

Because there were high-level educators that dismissed his work

over the years it took it toll on Dr. Velikovsky mentally.  His

theories from his research all have been proven to be true and

factual.  One of his theories is that the temperature of Venus is

very high and yet the educators were saying it is the same

temperature as earth.  Now we know that Venus temperature is

very high.

The educators and researchers who maintained that what

Velikovsky was not correct but they would only be proven wrong

as our space travel over the years has proven Dr. Velikovsky

correct and those educators and researchers have been made to

look like the uneducated people they are.  Carl Sagan even went

along with the criticism of Dr. Velikovsky.

Never giving up over the years it caused great depression for Dr.

Velikovsky..  We all want our work and research, maybe not to be

glorified but appreciated by our colleagues and equals.

It was never ending and never did end for Dr. Velikocvsky, even

after his death.  I can still see some reviews that there are still left

over non-believers and it breaks my heart after all that has come

out and from all the space travel that has proved his theories

correct

Always know that when YOU challenge the prevailing views and

theories that there will be fallout.

Harvard’s head of the department of Astronomy dept. went after Dr.

Velikovsky for the rest of his life.  Never reading his material, just

not wanting to believe in another thesis because then all they

were teaching would be considered wrong.

I find Dr. Velikovsky a giant among men who have done research

after research for years and years and writes about it only to have

their peers dismiss their work is disturbing that they would not try

to verify the thesis, they disagreed with.  And made a brilliant

mind

into a depressed mind over years and years.

Read Dr. Vilikovsky’s books, at least 1 or 2 and enjoy his journey

of research from cultural myths to reality.