23. February 2010 by John Schinnerer.

“The Purpose of Boys”

Join us for the first

SRVHS Book Club Discussion Group

with San Ramon Valley High School dad

Dr. John Schinnerer

March 3^rd, 10^th, 17^th, and 24^th

SRVHS Career Center

7 - 8:30PM

Free of charge

Ever wonder why boys are more adventurous, more physical, more rambunctious? Why are they more aggressive? And how do they come to understand and express strong character and values?

Michael Gurian, author of “The Purpose of Boys,” presents an easy-to-read but compelling examination of how our boys are “hard-wired”—the unique brain chemistry and hormones of boys, along with their inherent developmental and learning differences, that impact how they behave, learn, and formulate their character and sense of purpose.

“Boys” provides parents and other adults who interact with boys a comprehensive look at how our young men develop their identity, their sense of meaning and purpose in our culture and world. Gurian provides practical suggestions that will benefit parents and adults that interact with boys of all ages.

What if you only have girls?  What if you don’t have any children?  Parents and adults are encouraged to read “Boys” and join in discussing this revealing look at boys because they will become the men who shape our lives, country, and world tomorrow.  The book looks specifically at boys, but addresses how they are “opposite” in the ways in which girls experience and develop, so you can pick up tips on girls too!  In addition, boys and young men are classmates and friends, neighbors, employees at local businesses and, hold on—boyfriends to our young ladies!!

The book beings with early childhood development of boys, so Book Club discussions, while focusing more on “tween” and teen boys, will provide insights on younger boys, so parents and adults of all ages are encouraged to join the conversations!!

Questions?

Contact Robin Kelley, kelleyview@msn.com or Alyson Colton, alyson@coltonfamily4.0rg

“Boys” is available on line and through our local booksellers. The SRVHS Parent Resource Library has a small number of copies for checkout.< -->

Posted in Optimal Human Functioning, San Ramon CA, Danville CA, Emotion & learning, Emotion & Athletics, Alamo CA, Parenting adolescents, SRVHS, Parenting workshop, National speakers, Raising optimistic children, Happiness, School age bullies, Guide to Self, Dr. John Schinnerer, Parenting, Emotional mind, Hope, Men's emotions, Anger Management, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

23. February 2010 by John Schinnerer.

A first of kind study was released this past week by The European Society of Cardiology showing that individuals who experience positive emotions more frequently are less likely to succumb to heart disease (as compared to those who feel positive emotions less frequently or less intensely).

They sent out the following news release regarding the study which appears in European Heart Journal.

Don’t worry, be happy!  Positive emotions protect against heart disease

People who are usually happy, enthusiastic and content are less likely to develop heart disease than those who tend not to be happy, according to a major new study published today (Thursday 18 February).

The authors believe that the study, published in the Europe’s leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal [1], is the first to show such an independent relationship between positive emotions and coronary heart disease.

Dr Karina Davidson, who led the research, said that although this was an observational study, her study did suggest that it might be possible to help prevent heart disease by enhancing people’s positive emotions.

However, she cautioned that it would be premature to make clinical recommendations without clinical trials to investigate the findings further.

‘We desperately need rigorous clinical trials in this area. If the trials support our findings, then these results will be incredibly important in describing specifically what clinicians and/or patients could do to improve health,’ said Dr Davidson, who is the Herbert Irving Associate Professor of Medicine & Psychiatry and Director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Medical Center (New York, USA).

Over a period of ten years, Dr Davidson and her colleagues followed 1,739 healthy adults (862 men and 877 women) who were participating in the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey. At the start of the study, trained nurses assessed the participants’ risk of heart disease and, with both self-reporting and clinical assessment, they measured symptoms of depression, hostility, anxiety and the degree of expression of positive emotions, which is known as ‘positive affect.’

Positive affect is defined as the experience of pleasurable emotions such as joy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm and contentment. These feelings can be transient, but they are usually stable and trait-like, particularly in adulthood. Positive affect is largely independent of negative affect, so that someone who is generally a happy, contented person can also be occasionally anxious, angry or depressed.

After taking account of age, sex, cardiovascular risk factors and negative emotions, the researchers found that, over the ten-year period, increased positive affect predicted less risk of heart disease by 22% per point on a five-point scale measuring levels of positive affect expression (ranging from “none” to “extreme”).

Dr Davidson said: ‘Participants with no positive affect were at a 22% higher risk of ischaemic heart disease (heart attack or angina) than those with a little positive affect, who were themselves at 22% higher risk than those with moderate positive affect.’

‘We also found that if someone, who was usually positive, had some depressive symptoms at the time of the survey, this did not affect their overall lower risk of heart disease.’

‘As far as we know, this is the first prospective study to examine the relationship between clinically-assessed positive affect and heart disease.’

The researchers speculate about what could be the possible mechanisms by which positive emotions might be responsible for conferring long-term protection from heart disease. These include influence on heart rates, sleeping patterns and smoking cessation.

“We have several possible explanations,” said Dr Davidson. “First, those with positive affect may have longer periods of rest or relaxation physiologically. Baroreflex and parasympathetic regulation may, therefore, by superior in these persons, compared to those with little positive affect. Second, those with positive affect may recover more quickly from stressors, and may not spend as much time ‘re-living’ them, which in turn seems to cause physiological damage. This is speculative, as we are just beginning to explore why positive emotions and happiness have positive health benefits.”

She said that most successful interventions for depression include increasing positive affect as well as decreasing negative affect. If clinical trials supported the findings of this study, then it would be relatively easy to assess positive affect in patients and suggest interventions to improve it to help prevent heart disease. In the meantime, people reading about this research could take some simple steps to increase their positive affect.

‘Like the observational finding that moderate wine consumption is healthy (and enjoyable), at this point ordinary people can ensure they have some pleasurable activities in their daily lives,’ she said. ‘Some people wait for their two weeks of vacation to have fun, and that would be analogous to binge drinking (moderation and consistency, not deprivation and binging, is what is needed). If you enjoy reading novels, but never get around to it, commit to getting 15 minutes or so of reading in. If walking or listening to music improves your mood, get those activities in your schedule. Essentially, spending some few minutes each day truly relaxed and enjoying yourself is certainly good for your mental health, and may improve your physical health as well (although this is, as yet, not confirmed).’

In an accompanying editorial by Bertram Pitt, Professor of Internal Medicine, and Patricia Deldin, Associate Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, both at the University of Michigan School of Medicine (Michigan, USA), the authors pointed out that, currently, no one knew whether positive affect had a direct or indirect causal role in heart disease, or whether there was a third, underlying factor at work, common to both conditions. Nor was it known for certain whether it was possible to modify and improve positive affect, and to what extent.

‘Randomised controlled trials of interventions to increase positive affect in patients with cardiovascular disease are now underway and will help determine the effectiveness of increasing positive affect on cardiovascular outcome and will provide insight into the nature of the relationship between positive affect and cardiovascular disease,’ they wrote.

‘The ‘vicious cycle’ linking cardiovascular disease to major depression and depression to cardiovascular disease deserves greater attention from both the cardiovascular and psychiatric investigators……..These new treatments [to increase positive affect] could open an exciting potential new approach for treating patients with known cardiovascular disease who develop depression. If Davidson et al.’s observations and hypotheses stimulate further investigation regarding the effect of increased positive affect on physiological abnormalities associated with cardiovascular risk, perhaps it will be time for all of us to smile.’

Notes:

[1] ‘Don’t worry, be happy: positive affect and reduced 10-year incident coronary heart disease: The Canadian Nova Scotia Health Survey.’  European Heart Journal. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehp603.

[2] ‘Depression and cardiovascular disease: have a happy day - just smile!’. European Heart Journal. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehq031

We may as well add this to the growing mountain of research documenting the tremendous potential of positive emotions (currently there are more than 65,000 studies documenting the positive impact on optimal human functioning of happiness, life satisfaction, subjective well-being, and positive emotions). Think of it as a matter of degree and frequency that we’re trying to increase. It’s not a black or white issue in which positive psychology is saying you have to be happy all the time. That would be absurd. Rather, the idea is to increase the amount of time (as well as the intensity and duration) you spend in positive emotional states such as contentment, relaxation, curiosity, awe, pride, love, joy, laughter, hope, amusement and so on. And positive emotions is just one of the areas covered by positive psychology.

Have a tremendous day!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Positive Psychology Coach

Author of the award winning ‘Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought’

Follow John on Twitter at @johnschin

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Posted in National speakers, Emotion & learning, Danville CA, Science of love, Hope, Resiliency, Mindfulness, San Ramon CA, Executive coach, Awe & Elevation, San Francisco Bay Area, Alamo CA, Self-compassion, Meaning-making, Optimal Human Functioning, The human brain, Men's emotions, Creativity, Life coach, Guide to Self, Dr. John Schinnerer, Measuring emotions, Realistic optimism, Managing stress, Happiness, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Managing Sadness, Alexithymia, Anger Management, Managing Anxiety, Emotional mind, Emotional management, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

23. February 2010 by John Schinnerer.

A new study from my alma mater, University of California at Berkeley, shows that a one-hour nap can significantly restore your mental capacity, make you more intelligent and clears out old information to make way for new learning.

On the other side of the coin, the longer you go without sleep, the more we lose mental clarity and become increasingly foggy.  As any new parent knows, interrupted sleep makes one grouchy, irritable, and what’s more, poor sleep makes one less able to concentrate effectively.

When I was in college, I had classmates that would pull all-nighters to cram for finals. I never pulled an all-nighter,  partly because I just couldn’t operate the next day without sleep. The study from UC Berkeley showed a marked difference in the learning ability of students who pulled an all-nighter versus those who got their z’s in. Remarkably, those students who studied all night without sleep showed a 40% decline in their ability to learn new facts due to a shutdown in their hippocampus, a brain area associated with fact-based learning.

The hypothesis which is gaining support from research is that the hippocampus eventually becomes overloaded and sleep gives it a chance to empty itself out, similar to deleting your junk mail  folder in Outlook. Space is freed up so it can be used in new, more constructive ways.

For more information and the full article, please click here.

Have an incredible week!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Positive Psychology Coach

Bay Area, California

Posted in Sleep research, San Ramon CA, Memory and recall, Optimal Human Functioning, San Francisco Bay Area, Alamo CA, Danville CA, Emotion & learning, Guide to Self, Life coach, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Consciousness, National speakers, The human brain, Dr. John Schinnerer | Print | No Comments »