Helix presentation jan 2015 a unique approach to stress management for executives

Jesse Hanson, Clinical Director Helix Healthcare Group

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To develop a deeper understanding of our automatic response to stress and its impact on mental wellness.

To understand how neuroscience has influenced our approach to stress and anxiety.

To learn about effective mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques.

To adopt tools to create new, healthier pathways in the brain.

Today’s Components

Causes and Effects of Stress

Therapeutic Techniques

Methods for Stress Reduction

Stress-Reduction Exercises

Individual Well-Being

Under Pressure?

But what exactly is stress?

Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension caused by internal or external triggers

VS.

Work Related Stressors

Life Stressors

• Heavy workload or too much responsibility • Working long hours • Unclear expectations of work, or no say in the decision-making process • Being insecure about your chance for advancement or risk of termination • Presentations • Client demands and expectations

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Managing family responsibilities The death of a loved one Divorce Loss of a job Increase in financial obligations Getting married Moving to a new home Chronic illness or injury Emotional problems Taking care of a sick or elderly family member • Traumatic event

Cognitive

Emotional

•Negative impact on memory •Clouds and/or impairs judgment •Negative thoughts and self-perception •Difficulty concentrating and organizing

•Increased irritability •Anger and agitation •Overwhelmed and inability to relax •Short temper •Enhanced Anxiety •Relationship challenges at home and work •Ineffective communication

Physical

Behavioural

•Digestive and gastrointestinal symptoms •Increase in frequency and effects of colds •Rise in heartbeat, cardiac risks

•Poor eating habits •Decreased motivation for exercise •Sleep disturbance •Isolation •Self-destructive coping behaviours (smoking, drinking, drugs) •Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)

“Neurons that fire together, wire together.�

Chronic stress can shrink the medial prefrontal cortex.

These brain alterations affect the way we interact, learn, remember, make decisions and accomplish goals.

Cortisol can kill, shrink, and stop the generation of new neurons in a portion of the brain called the hippocampus.

Stress can increase the size and activity of a portion of the brain called the amygdala.

SYMPATHETIC

PARASYMPATHETIC

High blood pressure

Low systolic blood pressure

Fast heart rate (pulse)

Slow heart rate (pulse)

Dilated pupils

Constricted pupils

Tend toward dry mouth

Tend toward increased saliva

Cold, clammy hands/feet

Warm, dry skin (hands/feet)

Quick reflexes

Normal or slow reflexes

Anxiousness

Relaxed

Excessive sweating

Calm, even disposition

High energy, low stamina

Low – normal energy, high stamina

Digestive problems

Can digest anything

Mind often races

May tend to laziness or depression

Excess muscle tension

Relaxed muscles

She is now free of her digestive issues and has not been hospitalized since

As she learns to heal early life stressors, she becomes better at handling current stressors

53 Year old woman diagnosed with Crohn's Disease

He examines her present day and early childhood stressors

Traditional medical world calls her condition "idiopathic"

Dr. Mate’s research shows that digestive issues are stressrelated and stresscreated

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Consider two examples when you experienced “stress” What were the physical and emotional indicators that told you it was time to intervene?

What did you do to manage the situation? Did it work?

Professional

Physical

Emotional

Response

Family/Personal

Where Our Awareness Typically Begins

You have a choice

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Harvard studied two groups: One was given the task of playing piano scales for 2 hours daily for 5 days.

The other group was given the task of merely thinking about playing the exact same piano scales as group one.

Scans showed that the same region of the brain had expanded in the volunteers who merely thought about playing.

VS

#1

•BREATH

#2

•POSTURE

#3

•BODY THERMOMETER

#4

•TENSION RELEASE

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The instruments vibrate in a way that activates the right and left brain in a back and forth pattern called binaural frequency, which is essential for healing and theta brain states.

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