The Amazing Possibilities of Neuroplasticity and NeurogenesisYou may have heard the phrase “neurons that fire together wire together.” This short phrase summarizes the synaptic plasticity theory of learning described by Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb in his 1949 book The Organization of Behavior.Hebb explained how the connections between neurons (brain cells) change as a result of [...]
The Medical Mystery of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Myalgic encephalomyelitis/Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) has long been dismissed as being a psychological condition. Due to a lack of understanding in the medical community, in the past it has taken people years to get an official diagnosis, if they get a diagnosis at all. A 2015 report [...]
Chronic Tension in Facial Muscles Can Keep You Stuck in Stress and EmotionsIf you've ever watched the TV show Lie To Me, you know that people automatically express their emotions through their facial expressions, whether they want to or not. Our nervous system is hardwired to contract our mimetic muscles (facial muscles) in certain patterns [...]
Dopamine: Why We Always Want What We Don't Have Dopamine is commonly thought of as the “pleasure” chemical in our brain, but the reality is that dopamine makes us want things—and often inhibits our ability to enjoy them. A fascinating new book by Daniel Lieberman and Michael Long called The Molecule of More describes [...]
The Latest Wonder Drug Is Free, and It's All Around Us Screens have taken over our lives, and we've reached a point in our existence where we need a doctor to tell us to get outside. A study done in the mid-1990s showed that we spend about 87% of our time in enclosed buildings, [...]
When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection “If you can't say no, your body will do it for you.” You may have experienced coming down with a cold after a period of high stress. You've worked long days, not slept enough, and put your needs last—and as a result, your immune system [...]
How Your Sleeping Position Affects Your Posture, Proprioception, and PainAside from where you work, the place where you probably spend the most time is your bed. If you suffer from any type of musculoskeletal pain or tension, especially in your neck, shoulders, back, or hips, you should consider how your sleeping position might be contributing [...]
Why Body-Centered Therapies Help Heal Post-Traumatic Stress About one-half of adults in the U.S. experience at least one traumatic event during their lives. It might be a violent attack, accident, military combat, natural or human-caused disaster, or physical, verbal, or sexual abuse. People who have experienced trauma, whether or not they get diagnosed with [...]
How to Take Care of Your Knees for the Long Haul Knee pain is one of the most common types of chronic pain that people experience, and it's no wonder why—our knees support the weight of our body throughout our entire lives! And while the U.S. population is getting older and more overweight, rates [...]
What causes Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), and how can you reduce or eliminate your symptoms? Restless legs syndrome (RLS; also called Willis-Ekbom Disease) is a condition that causes uncomfortable or unpleasant sensations in the legs, often described as creeping, crawling, itching, tingling, pulling, throbbing, or painful. People with RLS feel an irresistible urge to [...]
Do you have joint hypermobility, and can Clinical Somatics help? Generalized joint laxity (loose joints throughout the body) is fairly common, present in between 20% and 30% of the population. This hypermobility can occur in the absence of a systemic disease that affects connective tissues, like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or Marfan syndrome. While joint hypermobility [...]
5 Incredible Stories of Self-healing and Transformation We have an incredible ability to heal ourselves, beyond what science can currently explain. I am fascinated by stories of people who have found ways to cure themselves of incurable conditions. In this post I'll tell you about five of my favorite books on self-healing from aplastic [...]
Creating Your Vision and Action Plan for 2020 It's that time of year! The beginning of a calendar year inspires us to create new intentions and take action toward achieving our goals. I was very lucky to work for lululemon athletica for nine years, and one of my favorite parts of the job was [...]
The Telomere Effect: Taking Control of Your Cellular Aging I just finished reading The Telomere Effect by Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn and Dr. Elissa Epel, and it was enlightening. The authors' discoveries about how telomeres (the endcaps on our chromosomes) affect cellular aging are a major advancement in our understanding of health and longevity. Blackburn and [...]
Figuring out the Cause of Your Chronic Neck Pain Why is neck pain such a pain in the neck to get rid of? First, the muscles in your neck adapt to any postural imbalances you have in the core of your body. If your lumbar or thoracic spine is out of alignment in any [...]
Good vs. Bad Stress: The Critical Difference Between Challenge and Threat When we're faced with a potentially stressful situation, we automatically and subconsciously ask ourselves two questions: First: Could this situation cause me harm or loss, or is there potential benefit? Second: Am I capable of handling this situation? This is the transactional model [...]
How Gratitude Changes Your Brain and BodyThere's a trend in recent studies on human health: Mom's advice is proving to be the best medicine. When your mom told you to eat your roughage, go outside and play, stop staring at the TV, and get a good night's sleep—she may not have understood the underlying science, [...]
Why Whiplash Turns into Chronic Pain Whiplash is one of the most common acute injuries that results in chronic pain. Since many cases go unreported, we don't know exactly how often whiplash occurs. Some sources estimate that up to 3 million people suffer from whiplash in the U.S. every year. Studies show that at [...]
New Research on How Stress Affects Inflammation, Neurodegeneration, the Gut Microbiome, Cancer Treatment, and RelationshipsStress is a particular passion of mine—I love learning how to reduce negative stress, and I'm fascinated by the ways stress affects our health. This is the first in a series of posts I'll be writing about stress in the coming [...]
How to Even out the Imbalances in Your Body Scroll down to watch this video on Youtube We all have imbalances in the patterns of muscle tension between our right and left sides; that's because of how we use the dominant side of our body differently than our non-dominant side. These imbalanced muscular patterns [...]
