Dear Jane,

I have felt very unhappy for months. There are times when my spirits lift but only briefly. I tend to worry a lot and feel stressed and cannot see any joy in life. I am 30 years old, a female and a lecturer.

I have a lot on my plate work-wise. Yet I have few fixed working hours and some of my work can be done at home or at the library. I am involved in several tasks as well as having written a thesis and waiting for feedback.

I had a bad experience when I left my previous job eight months ago as I couldn’t give them notice. Physically I feel run down and long for free time; yet when I give myself time off I feel bored and unhappy.

I had a bout of pneumonia two years ago and tend to think about the possibility of a recurrence. Im also worrying about doing too much work and missing out on life — but then I worry about not doing enough!

I am not married and have no-one in my life. I have creative tendencies but they are not made use of in my work at the moment.

M.

Dear M,
Your letter gives a clear insight into the origins of depression. It’s all there!

Trauma. That bout of pneumonia. That bad experience when you left your last job.

Stress and suspense. Waiting for feedback on your thesis. A lot of work, unstructured so you can never feel quite sure that you’ve finished for the day.

Lack of flow. You are not using your creative tendencies. Your work is not bringing you joyful challenge and achievement. Your talents and skills are not being satisfyingly expressed

Lack of people in your life. We all need friends and intimacy, the feeling of being loved and needed.

Worry, worry and worry.

On top of this you may be physically in poor shape. Not enough good quality food, fresh air and exercise.

Every improvement you make, however small, in any of these areas towards the direction of life and fulfilment will make you feel better. A priority is to reduce the amount of time worrying. Pointless worry is corrosive.

(When your brain goes over and over a problem that it can’t sort out, the issue is recycled again in your dreams. The purpose of dreams is to resolve problems but these worries are not the sort of thing which are easily resolved. So you will be dreaming too much, and when you dream too much you wake up in the morning feeling as if you have left your headlights on all night.

Dreaming is the most tiring thing your brain can do. Up to a couple of hours is normal - indeed essential. But when you’re depressed you may dream for up to six hours - which is devastating. You wake with no energy to feel pleasure, interest, curiosity, excitement, motivation and get up and go.)

Worry also causes chronic low-grade stress. So not only is your sleep not refreshing, but many of your body systems are affected by stress hormones. No wonder you worry in case you’re at risk of another bout of pneumonia - because you will not feel completely healthy and you will have some strange physical sensations and aches and pains.

Your mental functioning is also affected by worry, stress, and over-dreaming. You will find that your ability to plan and make decisions, concentrate and remember things are all below par. Your mind does not seem to be working clearly. Instead of seeing things in perspective, you will find you have a tendency to see them in black or white - Everything is awful. I am a complete failure. Nothing will ever get better. It is all my fault. Such illogical, over-the-top thoughts result from depression, and of course because they make everything seem so hopeless, they make you even more depressed.

The worry half hour

The way forward is by keeping your worry under control. Set aside a ‘worry half hour’. Whenever worries come into your mind, you acknowledge them and say to yourself ‘I’ll think about this at 6 o’clock’ or whenever. This works better than trying to dismiss or fight against the worries. Work out what you’re afraid of and what is the worst that could happen and what you could do about it. Imagine you’re advising a friend, and treat yourself with the same realism and calm common sense you would use to help someone else.

Dealing with trauma

Depression always imroves when traumas are lifted. I use the powerful Fast Trauma Cure developed by the Human Givens counselling approach. In just one session, people can feel so much lighter and clearer. Otherwise look for an EMDR (NLP) practitioner. EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique, may also help … and has the advantage that you can do it for yourself.

Trauma and worry are two components of depression. Having unmet needs is the third. There are gaping holes in your life which need filling. People. And an outlet for your creativity. Start with finding interest groups, people you could have a cup of coffee with. Start by using your creativity on your environment, so that it’s pleasant and expresses your personality. Such things are not trivial. They are the building blocks of a good life.

Lastly exercise improves people’s mental outlook - even a brisk walk is a lot better than sitting on the couch worrying. And be sure to get good quality fresh food, and take two Omega 3 fatty acid capsules daily with a multi-mineral pill to insure basic physical health to support a better frame of mind.

Good luck.

Jane

Jane Firbank’s site, http://www.secretsofchange.com, has over 100 fascinating and helpful problem letter replies, plus scores of articles and book reviews.

Jane Firbank, BSc (Psych), HG Dip. GHR, is in private practice in London, England where she also regularly writes and consults on psychological matters for the Press, TV and radio.

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We all get stressed from time to time and knowing how to deal with it is a lesson that everyone needs to learn. So what causes stress and why is it so bad for me? There are many reasons to avoid being stressed, but there is one substantial element that can cause your body to become a fat gaining machine. That element is called cortisol.

Cortisol is produced in the body when it`s faced with stressful conditions. Kids, family, work, school can all become stressful if preventative measures are not taken. When there is simply to much work to be done in a days time than what seems that can be done, your almost guaranteed to become stress. Stress is not the only cause of cortisol: overtraining, lack of sleep, and undereating can also make your body produce this harmful chemical. When your body is in a catabolic state, which simply means that your body doesn`t have enough nutrients to repair broken muscle fibers, cortisol will enter your body and try impairing you.

Fat gain and muscle loss will be the main problems your body has. You should also expect to suffer other side effects such as your body not getting the adequate nutrients it needs to function. Stress will not only have a negative impact on your bodybuilding, but will have an impact on your everyday life. According to the Medical Encyclopedia, stess is often accompanied by physical symptoms, including: twitching or trembling, muscle tension, headaches, sweating, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, abdominal pain (may be the only symptom of stress, especially in a child.) Sometimes other symptoms accompany anxiety: dizziness, rapid or irregular heart rate, rapid breathing, diarrhea or frequent need to urinate, fatigue, irritability, including loss of your temper.

Controlling cortisol is easier once you plan to stop it. The most important thing you can do is try keeping stress to a minimum. Sure, this is easier said than done but finding ways to eliminate stress is a step toward keeping cortisol to a minimum. In the gym, make sure you don`t overtrain. Your body easily becomes stressed by doing this. Finally, you should be eating enough protein in your diet to repair damaged muscle fiber that are broken down from the result of your training.

There are many products available that keep cortisol levels at bay, but following these techniques can save you money in the long run. The more time you spend educating yourself on proper ways of doing things, the better your body will be. You can either pop pills expecting a miracle with your body or you can use a method that has worked for hundreds of years, hard work!

*http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003211.htm

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Many of us don`t have the luxury of being able to focus all of our attention on bodybuilding. Unless your getting paid by a sponsor or making some serious cash doing bodybuilding shows, you almost have to have a stable job to afford the necessities that are needed to having a good body. Assuming most of us work the typical eight hour job, how do we achieve balance between work, bodybuilding, and all the other things we deal with on a daily basis. This article was written for the bodybuilders who want to bodybuild as well as work a full time job.

When we come home from work, most of us feel to tired to even cook dinner, let alone exercise. Not only do we have to motivate ourselves to put down the remote and hop on the treadmill, but we also have to sacrafice some things for the sake of bodybuilding. We have to develop a balance between our jobs, bodybuilding, family, and our social life. Who wouldn`t rather go to a club with a group of friends instead of going to the gym putting yourself through an hour of torture? This is when dedication becomes very important.

When we bodybuild we already create a bit of discipline for ourselves so making sacrafices is just a part of the game. It`s going to become tougher to maintain that discipline when working a job full time because of all the added stress a job can do to you. You have to be able to persevere through all the obstacles. Once you do that, you will feel on top of the world once you achieve your fitness goals. Just don`t get cocky and have to restart the process all over again. Set yourself up with a goal to improve on the goal you just met and never become satisfied.

So how can you accomplish any of your fitness goals when your locked up a job eight to ten hours a day? It`s very simple! Get organized. Write down everything you can do to achieve your goals. You also need to write down everything that gets in your way of achieving those goals and always look for a way forward. If your job is manual labor where it is physically demanding then you should consider work as part of your training routine. That way you kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Find out how many calories you`ve burnt throughout the day working and replenish your glycogen stores during and after work. Then you can exercise some of the muscle groups you didn`t hit at work and you will feel good about yourself for making an attempt to better yourself.

You are going to have days where you feel overworked, stressed, and feel that everything in the world is coming down on you. These are the days when you should treat yourself to something out of the ordinary like a cheat meal or consider going out to the club with a group of friends. Just keep everything in moderation. You can can accomplish anything you want in life if you stick to your plan of attack and stay focused. Good Luck.

20 years old looking to become a writer

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Wrinkles are actually caused by changes that take place in the dermis, which is the lower layer of skin. The fact that this layer is underneath the epidermis means that skin care ingredients need to be able to penetrate deeper in order to affect the dermis which is responsible for wrinkles. The problem is: many of these skin care ingredients are not able to penetrate beyond the epidermis (top layer of skin) to affect the dermis.

The factors that contribute to wrinkles are: diet and nutrition, muscle tone, stress, habitual facial expressions, environmental pollutants, habits such as smoking, heredity, sun exposure, and lack of proper skin care. Most of these factors are under our control with the exception of heredity.

Skin care is one of those factors that are under our control. The daily use of proper cleanser, toner, anti-aging serum, and moisturizer for our skin type is essential. Products that can help stop the loss of elastin, collagen, and hyaluronic acid will aid in the prevention of wrinkles. Elastin, collagen, and hyaluronic acid are components of skin that decrease with skin inflammation and age.

Choosing products that contain ingredients that can actually penetrate to the dermis and help stimulate the skin to make its own elastin, collagen, and hyaluronic acid can have a positive affect on wrinkles. These ingredients include: retinoids, vitamin C, and copper peptide.

Author: Sheryl Armstrong http://www.skincaretek.com

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