Posted 23 May 2010 — by Todd
Category Diet
One of the first scientifically rigorous demonstrations of the benefits of hormesis was a 1934 study of calorie restriction (often abbreviated “CR”) in laboratory rats, conducted by Mary Crowell and Clive McCay at Cornell. They found that reducing the calories of rats by 30-50%, supplemented with adequate micro-nutrients, could almost double their lifespans. Later studies found continued lifetime extension with calorie restriction up to 65%. In addition, the rats remained energetic and youthful in appearance, with greatly reduced incidence, and delayed onset, of age-related diseases. This same phenomenon has been observed in a variety of other animals.
Studies on calorie restriction in primates or humans are as yet inconclusive. Controlled primate studies only started in the late 1980s and have yet to be completed, although the preliminary indications are very promising. And in humans it is more difficult to conduct controlled studies for both ethical and compliance reasons. An additional factor to consider is that animals raised post-weaning on calorie restricted diets typically have much smaller adult body sizes that animals not restricted in their eating. Because of the social and physical implications of this consequence, advocates of calorie restricted diets for humans advise that they be started only upon reaching adulthood.
Whether or not a restricted calorie diet extends the human lifespan, the evidence is becoming overwhelming that a nutritionally complete diet with reduced calories has the potential to greatly improve our health, particularly as we age. But is it practical and possible for humans to happily adhere to such a diet?
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Tags:
alternate day fasting,
autophagy,
BDNF,
caloric restriction,
calorie restriction,
Calorie Restriction Society,
Clive McCay,
CR,
CRON-diet,
fasting,
Hormesis,
intermittent fasting,
Jay Phelan,
Mary Crowell,
mitohormesis,
Okinawa diet,
Roy Walford,
weight loss
There is a remarkable psychological theory that explains the paradox of why so often our pleasures turn into problematic addictions and, conversely, why our stressful experiences frequently lead to sustained good feelings and even happiness. This under-appreciated theory was developed in the 1970s by behavioral psychologist Richard Solomon of the University of Pennsylvania. He published his theory and findings in 1980 in the journal American Psychologist, as a seminal paper, “The Opponent-Process Theory of Acquired Motivation: The Costs of Pleasure and the Benefits of Pain”. Solomon’s theory has been verified experimentally with animals and humans, and reflects a sophisticated understanding of the physiology of the nervous system. It provides a framework that has been used to explain behaviors and emotional experiences in areas as diverse as addiction, thrill-seeking, love, job satisfaction, and cravings for food or exercise. I believe it can also explain the psychological benefits of cold showers that I have described in a separate post here, and why these benefits increase with time and repetition. I would urge followers of this blog to read Solomon’s paper, via the above hyperlink. It provides many important insights regarding how to effectively and reliably use challenge and stress to increase mental and emotional resilience, while maximizing your motivation and enjoyment in doing so. In this post, I will explore Solomon’s theory in some detail, and suggest some practical strategies for how to enhance pleasure and satisfaction in everyday activities, while avoiding the addictive side of pleasure.
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Tags:
addiction,
cold showers,
color perception,
cravings,
depression,
endorphins,
Ewald Hering,
habituation,
hedonic adaptation,
hedonic reversal,
homeostasis,
Hormesis,
inhibition,
interstimulus interval,
mood,
opponent-process theory,
pain,
pleasure,
Richard Solomon,
Stoicism,
stress,
thrill-seeking,
tolerance,
withdrawal
One of the most difficult challenges to overcome in life is getting out from under the grip of an addiction, whether it be drug, alcohol or nicotine dependency, a food addiction or eating disorder, or compulsive activities such as gambling, shopping, pornography or Internet addiction. Taken to the extreme, addictions can become highly self-destructive, antisocial or criminal activities such as self-mutilation, kleptomania, or pyromania. At the other end of the scale are ordinary activities, such as exercise or work, which in normal degree are healthful but when excessive can become addictive. There are also minor compulsions which might best be considered bad habits rather than addictions, such as nail biting, hair pulling and the like. Broadly speaking, an addiction can be any habitual behavior which takes over one’s life, interferes with social relations and personal achievement, and threatens one’s autonomy. There are many ideas about what addiction is and how to treat it, but unfortunately success rates are low and relapse rates are high. However, there is a recent approach to snuffing out addiction based on the emerging sciences of neuroplasticity and behavior modification, which holds out the promise of lasting change. The approach is called cue exposure theory, and it goes against the conventional wisdom. I will discuss it after first reviewing the more conventional approaches. And I’m going to do something else unusual at the end of this particular blog post: I will apply this methodology to an “addiction” of my own and follow my progress in the Discussion Forum associated with this blog.
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Tags:
abstinence,
addiction,
Alan Marlatt,
Alcoholics Anonymous,
alcoholism,
backsliding,
bad habits,
bulimia,
CBT,
classical conditioning,
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,
cold turkey,
cravings,
cue exposure,
deconditioning,
dopamine,
drug addiction,
eating disorders,
gambling,
reinstatement,
relapse prevention,
renewal effect,
response prevention,
self-control,
smoking cessation,
stop smoking
In any area of self-improvement, a common complaint is that we often reach a plateau and get stuck there, failing to make progress towards our goals. This often leads to frustration and abandoning our resolutions. One person who understood this well and offered sage advice on how to handle the plateau was George Leonard, who recently passed away at age 86. As an author, fifth degree black belt aikido master, and a giant in the human potential movement of the 1960s and 70s, Leonard’s passing brought to mind his little gem of a book that I first read in 1991: Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment. It is a self-help classic that has grown in stature with time, but it is so much more than that. The ideas in this book made a strong impression on me the first time I read it, and it has never been far from my mind. I picked up the book again this week to take another look and realized how much wisdom it holds, and how pertinent it is to the topic of getting stronger, and persisting through plateaus. It is a very short book, but powerfully succinct, with profound lessons about the path to mastery in any field. Read More
Want to experience the benefits of hormesis very directly? Take a cold shower! And don’t just try it once, make it a habit and take cold showers daily. I have been doing it daily for the past six months and am loving it!
As one form of hydrotherapy, the health benefits of cold water therapy are numerous. Cold showers provide a gentle form of stress that leads to thermogenesis (internal generation of body heat), turning on the body’s adaptive repair systems to strengthen immunity, enhance pain and stress tolerance, and ward off depression, overcome chronic fatigue syndrome, and stimulate anti-tumor responses.
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Tags:
adrenaline,
breathing,
cold shock,
cold showers,
cold water,
colds,
depression,
fat loss,
heart rate,
hydrotherapy,
immune,
immunity,
mood,
stress inoculation,
thermogenesis,
thyroxine,
weight loss,
winter swimmers
Posted 28 Feb 2010 — by Todd
Category Diet
A number of recent weight loss methods have been developed that explicitly recognize a close relationship between flavor and appetite. These methods include:
- Flavor-calorie dissociation as advocated by Seth Roberts in his Shangri-La Diet
- Sensory-specific satiety, as advocated in David Katz’s Flavor Point Diet
- Tastants, another approach to sensory-specific satiety, as advertised in Alan Hirsch’s Sensa Weight-Loss Program.
- Odor inhalers, a third approach based on sensory-specific satiety, as described in Alan Hirsch’s book Scentsational Weight Loss, and marketed by him as ”diet pens” offered by SlimScents
At first, some of these approaches appear to be mutually incompatible. The Shangri-La theory argues that strong or familiar flavors enhance appetite when they become associated with caloric foods. The other three approaches, by contrast, claim that intense flavors or aromas suppress appetite, based upon the principle of “sensory-specific satiety”, whereby an increase in the intensity of a single flavor or odor induces satiety. However, on closer examination, all of the above theories are consistent with one another, as I will try to show. Furthermore, they each provide some useful clues about how to achieve a long term weight loss and relief from hunger cravings by paying attention to the role of flavor and other food cues. Finally, as I will attempt to persuade you, only one of the above diets is truly a type of Deconditioning Diet that can lead to long term, permanent reduction in appetite, based on the principles of Hormetism.
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Tags:
Alan Hirsch,
appetite suppression,
classical conditioning,
cravings,
David Katz,
deconditioning,
Diet,
fat loss,
flavor,
Flavor Point Diet,
Flavor-calorie association,
Gary Taubes,
ghrelin,
hunger,
insulin,
leptin,
neuropeptide Y,
odor inhalers,
Sensa,
Seth Roberts,
Shangri-La Diet,
SlimScents,
tastants,
weight loss
Do adaptations to stress exposure show up as changes in blood chemistry or heart function? The answer appears to be “yes”. In his Newsweek article “Lessons in Survival”, Ben Sherwood reported on a very interesting study of elite Army Airborne and Special Forces soldiers that probed the differences between those who could and could not endure an extremely stressful 19-day mock-prisoner-of-war camp. The Resistance Training Laboratory, located at a secret location near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, subjected participants to sleep deprivation, blaring music, semi-starvation and — worst of all — intense interrogation techniques used by enemy forces during WWII, Korea and Vietnam. ”The goal is to simulate hell on earth like the Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam or Al Qaeda’s torture chambers,” according to Sherwood. In another test of mettle, at the Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center in Florida, trainee divers were put through stressful routines such as being thrown into a pool with their hands and feet bound, and underwater ocean swimming from 3 miles offshore to a target on shore.
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Tags:
autonomic nervous system,
DHEA,
Dr. Andy Morgan,
Fitness,
heart rate variability,
HRV,
Intellewave,
metronomic heartbeats,
Navy divers,
Navy Seals,
NPY,
Resistance Training Laboratory,
stress inoculation,
stress management
Posted 15 Jan 2010 — by Todd
Category Fitness
One of the best explanations of the use of “stress oscillation” for increasing physical and mental toughness can be found in the works of James E. Loehr, an athletic coach turned corporate consultant. Loehr worked with star athletes such as tennis legend Monica Seles and Olympians such as speed skater Dan Jansen to improve their performance and bounce back from defeat to become tougher and more resilient. Loehr’s insights are well summarized in two books, “Stress for Success” and “The Power of Full Engagement”, the latter co-authored with Tony Schwartz.
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