Month: December 2010
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For Boredom
Boredom Enthusiasts Discover the Pleasures of Understimulation (WSJ). “Brace yourself for five piping-hot minutes of inertia,” said William Barrett. Then he began reciting the names of every single one of 415 colors listed in a paint catalog: damson dream, dauphin, dayroom yellow, dead salmon…and on and on and on. Mr. Barrett’s talk was titled, “Like…
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On Insomnia
An essay by Elizabeth Gumport at This Recording. It is impossible to describe insomnia to people who are sound sleepers. These are the people who trust that getting in bed will be followed by falling asleep, as surely as night follows day; these are the fearless people. Sleepless people are a very different breed…
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Stress Tool: Stress Pen
Smart Pen Detects, Helps to Reduce Stress (Psych Central). Move over smart phones, a new device — a pen — is said to measure if an individual is stressed-out and provide individual biofeedback for assisting self-regulation. Researcher and designer Miguel Bruns Alonso has developed a pen which can measure the stress levels of the person using it,…
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Anxiety Tips
Techniques can ease fear, anxiety (Wisconsin Rapids Tribune) A technique called “mindfulness” also helps reduce anxiety and is all about keeping our minds in the present moment. Sometimes, we spend so much time thinking about the past or worrying about the future that the present day goes by without our mind spending any time in…
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Office Anxiety
Learning to Tame Your Office Anxiety (New York Times). One of the most common treatments for anxiety is confronting it, since facing such situations head-on will ultimately reduce your fear and discomfort. Because most anxiety is focused on the future, try to catch yourself having negative thoughts and think about them rationally, says Lauren Rose,…
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Living Without Fear
From NPR: Doctors at University of Iowa have been studying a female patient they call “SM” for more than 20 years. SM has a damaged amygdala, a part of the brain. As a result, she doesn’t experience fear. Daniel Tranel explains what doctors have learned from SM and how that information might be useful.
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Stressed Out? Just Age
Stress Management and Empathy Improve With Age (PsychCentral) Emerging research suggests older people are better at seeing the positive side of a stressful situation and are better than young adults when empathizing with the less fortunate. This better management of mental processes holds true even though older people may become emotional when confronted with poignant…
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Unemployment Stress
Job-loss stress? Not as bad as you might think, says a study. The researchers divided the participants into four groups based on their life satisfaction reports. The largest group (69 percent) reported a relatively high and stable level of life satisfaction before losing their jobs. These people were more likely to be negatively affected at…
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Stress and Emotional Eating
Healthy Eating: Maintain Your Weight Despite Holiday Stress (Judith Beck). Talking yourself out of emotional eating using CBT. “Negative emotions are uncomfortable but not dangerous. I don’t have to “fix” them. I’ve had lots of times when I’ve felt very upset, but I haven’t eaten. I’ve never exploded or lost control. The worst thing that…
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Dental Anxiety
Does going to the dentist make you anxious? You’re not alone. 1 in 5 women suffer extreme fear of dentists: Patients were asked to rate the level of anxiety they would feel for various dental situations, including the need to go for dental treatment, sitting in the waiting room and waiting to have a filling. 30%…