TIME IS ALL WE HAVE, SO LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE NOW BEFORE YOUR TIME IS UP

September 3rd, 2010

In her poem When Death Comes the great American poet Mary Oliver makes the certain prospect of our death pose the question of how we will live out our lives:

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it is over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

Will you have lived as a timid visitor, simply observing life from the outside because you were too fearful to plunge in – or will you have committed,  lived fully and left your footprints here in this world?

Yesterday at lunch I attended a fascinating talk by Bonnie O’Brien Jonsson, M.S., who teaches MBSR (mindfulness based stress reduction), Buddhist meditation and a class for dying persons on how to live their last year. Bonnie said that life is poised on the fingertips of your intention. She asked each member of the audience to face another member and tell them what made him feel most alive and what he most wanted out of the life remaining to him. She reminded us that life makes no guarantees except for constant change up until the unknowable moment we die.

The past is gone and exists only in the form of a story. The future is not yet here and may never come. Bonnie reminded us that all the people who died in the 9/11 catastrophe showed up for work that morning believing they would be fine. They were in a state of complete ignorance that they were going to die that morning. Given that our death is certain but we never know when it will come, tomorrow or 30 years from now, what makes more sense – to live suffocated by the fear of dying (which causes us to withhold loving others, taking chances and being creative) or to live our unique purpose and “dance the wild dance” of those who know they won’t get out of life alive?

How do you live at work? Are you grateful for any of the time you spend at the office? Do you notice and appreciate any of what happens during the work day? Perhaps you’re like most lawyers out there. You start off by making a list of tasks which you regard as hard, tedious, unpleasant but essential. Then you rush through those tasks as fast as you can without coming up for air so you can experience the relief that comes from getting them done. You do this day in and day out. Then one day you’re old and gray and the doctor says you have heart disease or cancer. Not a pretty picture is it?

What keeps us back from making full use of our time and really living life? Is it because we are busy or are we busy because we are afraid and being busy distracts us from our fears? Bonnie, who has worked intimately with dying people for a dozen years, says it’s fear. Fear of what? Fear of dying, sickness, injury and pain. Fear of social rejection. Fear of breaking free of the story of one’s past that makes one a helpless victim and becoming responsible for oneself. Fear of trying and failing at a goal and making a fool of oneself. Fear of succeeding and then losing everything. Fear of succeeding and having to live with too many demands and expectations.

So how can we transcend fear and learn to take risks? Bonnie says it’s only by befriending our fear. Fear is an emotion. It will not kill us. It can be faced. The word courage comes from an old French term for heart. The heart is the seat of compassion. Bonnie says that having compassion for yourself is the key to facing and transcending fear.

She had everyone in the class do an exercise. First she had us close our eyes and call to mind an old fear. Next she told us to allow the fear to spread and feel all the sensations of the fear in our body, e.g. a tight abdomen. Then we were asked to trace the pattern of the fear in our body with our hands while having full compassion for ourselves. Bonnie suggested we use our hands to approach the anatomic area of our fear as if it was a puppy or a cute, helpless infant – by stroking it in a loving manner with a loving intention while silently murmuring reassuring words (may you be safe, healthy, happy, peaceful and at ease).

This exercise worked for everyone in the sense that it enabled us to face, endure, soften and reduce an old fear. If you engage in frequent practice of this exercise you may find it reduces the fears that are holding you back from risking change, living in the present moment and getting more out of life.

Yesterday evening I had the privilege of attending a talk given by Julia Butterfly Hill, the young woman who attained fame by sitting in a one thousand year old redwood tree for 2 years which forced a logging company to abandon its plan to cut down that tree and the grove in which it stood.

By coincidence (or was it synchronicity) Julia addressed the same issue. How can we commit ourselves to anything when we know we may lose, that we would feel terrible and even have our hearts broken? Julia said she learned from the tree to stay flexible and bend in life’s storms instead of being rigid and snapping. It boils down to attachment. If you are attached to the outcome of any endeavor (which means you make the value of your work and your happiness contingent on getting the result you envisioned), then you will keep on experiencing the fear of losing and you are setting yourself up for misery.

Few if any events in life happen exactly just when and how we want them. But if we learn to release our attachment to the result, then we can stay committed without the constant fear in our belly that makes us give up or never try in the first place. Julia ended her talk by saying her credo is to serve others for no reason. That is her shorthand way of saying that she serves others without attachment to the result she envisions. This enables her to stay loose instead of being tight (both figuratively and literally) as she serves.

Can she pull this off all the time? No. Julia said part of being human is slipping back into attachment. She knows she’s getting attached when she experiences rage or cynicism. Julia copes with the unconscious process of re-attachment by doing her best to stay mindful and monitor her thoughts and feelings. Then she can consciously choose to let go of her attachment and usher in freedom and inner peace. In the tree Julia could only enjoy the tree, the birds, the sky, and the clouds, in a state of non-attachment to the result of her fight with the logging company. Through practice she spends much more of her time in a state of non-attachment (serving for no reason), but her life is still a bit of a see-saw, because she sometimes get re-attached.

I hope you will take away something useful from the example and the advice of these two wise women. Don’t let fear of fear or fear of suffering hold you back from living your best life. Work on releasing your attachment to results. If the fear keeps coming up, then have compassion for yourself and use Bonnie’s exercise of patting and stroking the part of your body that is tight and clenched while breathing and wishing yourself well.

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SCIENTIFIC LINKAGE OF SOCIAL REJECTION AND PHYSICAL PAIN PUTS THE INCIVILITY CRISIS IN A NEW LIGHT

September 2nd, 2010

When someone disturbs, annoys or otherwise ill-treats you, do you call him a “pain,” a “pain in the neck,” or a “pain in the ass?” Is there any truth to these expressions? The answer is yes according to C. Nathan DeWall, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Kentucky, and Gregory Webster, Ph.D., at the University of Florida. In the July 2010 issue of Psychological Science they published their research into the connection between social rejection and physical pain. Remarkably taking the equivalent of a Tylenol for 3 weeks reduced self-reported social pain from being rejected.

The researchers conducted two experiments. In the first one volunteers took either a 1,000 mg. acetaminophen pill or a placebo pill every day and kept a diary in which they reported their social pain. The subjects who took the acetaminophen reported substantially less social pain.

In the second experiment volunteers took either a 2,000 mg. acetaminophen pill or a placebo pill everyday for 3 weeks. At the end of the 3 week period all participants played a computer game designed to elicit feelings of social rejection while a functional MRI scanner monitored their brain activity. The MRI showed that acetaminophen reduced neural responses to social rejection in brain regions associated with distress from social pain (the anterior cingulate cortex) and from physical pain (the insula). 

This simple yet remarkable experiment showed that a drug designed to reduce physical pain managed to reduce the pain of social rejection. Dr. DeWall says the study shows that social and physical pain centers may overlap in the brain and rely on some of the same behavioral and neural mechanisms. Dr. Webster said the experiment showed that the physical and social or emotional pain systems are inherently linked and it makes sense, because if someone is hurting you, you want to know about it and get away.

What does this mean for us? Clearly the old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” isn’t true. When lawyers exchange rude, insulting language which conveys contempt they aren’t just “pissing each other off” (to use another bodily expression) they are causing each other social, and perhaps also, physical pain. Do you live with headaches, neck aches, stomach aches or other aches which have no apparent cause? These could be coming from your law practice.

In life we get back what we give. It’s called karma. When you’re unreasonable and downright hostile to other lawyers, they will treat you the same way. If you’re reasonable and civil to other lawyers, they will act the same towards you. One way guarantees social stress, muscle tension, and very possibly physical ailments, while the other invites peace and calm even in the midst of strong disagreements over legal issues. You get to choose the way.

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A GRAPEFRUIT A DAY CAN KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY

September 1st, 2010

The bitter flavor of grapefruit comes from the flavonoid naringin which is converted by the body into an anti-oxidant substance called naringenin. Yaakov Nahmias, Ph.D., at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and  Martin L. Yarmush, M.D., Ph.D., at Harvard Medical School, teamed up to study how naringenin affects the metabolism of fat and sugar in the body. Their research was published in the online science journal PLoS the last week of August 2010.

The good news from these researchers is that naringenin activates a family of small proteins called nuclear receptors which cause the liver to break down fatty acids and increase insulin sensitivity. Thus naringenin naturally reduces lipids and sugar in the blood helping to fight obesity and regulate blood sugar in diabetics. Dr. Nahmias said that naringenin puts the body in a fat busting state typically induced by long periods of fasting. He added that it does what the Atkins diet does without many of the side effects. Dr. Nahmias hopes that one day grapefruit extract could be used in the treatment of high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

If you are concerned about your weight or the risk of diabetes, then help yourself by consuming grapefruit everyday. You can buy whole grapefruits that you cut up, jars of precut grapefruit sections in water rather than sugary syrup or unsweetened grapefruit juice. To take the bitterness out of the grapefruit juice you can blend it with orange juice or add a natural sweetener like agave, stevia or truvia (which contains stevia). Remember that table sugar, brown sugar, honey, corn syrup and maple syrup will raise your blood sugar. I don’t recommend artificial sweeteners.

 

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GRUDGE-BASED LEGAL PRACTICE IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH

August 31st, 2010

Have you noticed that some lawyers become easily incensed and keep lashing out over some perceived incident that you regarded as innocent?How many times have you encountered another lawyer who howls with outrage over something that you or your client said or did and openly vows to exact revenge during litigation in whatever ways he can pull it off without violating the law? Lawyers who operate on grudges seem to draw power from them as if a squirt of grudge worked like jet fuel. Are you ever guilty of this?

Holding grudges and burning with anger has a physiologic cost and damages your health. Holding a grudge elevates heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension. It increases pain for people already in pain. Holding a grudge is known to cause insomnia, anxiety and depression. It may appear to produce a short term gain, because you feel powerful when you indulge outrage against opposing counsel, but it produces a long term loss of health. While jet engines can be cleaned or even replaced it’s not so easy with your cardiovascular system.

Living in a state of anger against other people increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and lowers life expectancy. A recent study at Johns Hopkins Medical School which tracked 1,337 male medical students for 36 years following medical school, found that students who became angry quickly under stress were 3 times more likely to develop premature heart disease and 5 times more likely to have an early heart attack. The American Heart Association says that women also suffer increased heart attacks from anger.

Forgiveness is a decision to let go of bitterness, resentment and thoughts of revenge. It is based on understanding the negative effects of grudge holding on your own health and wellbeing. To forgive you don’t have to condone, excuse, justify or accept the act done to you. But you do have to forgive the person who did it. You have to stop hating that person for hurting you. Forgiveness sometimes leads to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you. Whether it does or doesn’t help you see the other in a softer light, forgiveness effectively lessens the grip of anger on you and helps you focus on the positive parts of your life. It melts away preoccupation with hurt and revenge. Forgiveness brings peace and it’s the state of peace that enables you to go on with your life and to enjoy your life. Forgiveness reverses the adverse physiologic effects of grudge holding, increases your health and wellbeing and makes you more optimistic.

To avoid practicing law in a grudge-based way that is bad for your cardiovascular system make an effort to be more patient, gentle and accommodating with other people. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with their objectives, arguments or tactics or let them walk all over you. What it does mean is finding a way to relate to others in a more relaxed way instead of the seethe and snap way.

Try always to remember that your opponent is under pressures and has worries just like you and that these can lead him to say or do things which can irritate or offend you. Law school has no courses in diplomacy. It rewards highly competitive people. Too many law firms and clients think the most aggressive lawyer is the best lawyer instead of prizing tact, intelligence and persuasion.

Try to remember that under the aggressive persona there lays a human being who is trying to support his family and who has fears about losing the case, losing face and maybe losing his job. Try to remember that a person with these fears can become agitated, anxious and unpleasant without meaning to be. Can you find anything about your opponent that you like or share in common? Is it possible to tone down the rancor and lighten things up with some humor?

At the end of the day the only person burdened by a grudge is the grudge holder. The person who hurt the grudge holder is typically not even aware of the grudge and he certainly isn’t harmed by it in any way. Grudge isn’t voodoo. You can’t hurt another person by holding one. You only hurt yourself and the people who have to practice law with you and live with you. If you are going to practice law in a non-grudge based way it can’t be by a mere surface pretense. You have to be sincere. Meditation is a great way to get into and stay in this mode of relating. 

          Two sources of information on how to release a grudge and forgive are the Mayo Clinic website (which has a series of articles on this) and Dr. Fred Luskin’s website www.learningtoforgive.com

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ENJOY PEOPLE MORE AND REDUCE STRESS BY RELEASING JUDGMENT

August 30th, 2010

In our professional lives as lawyers and in our personal lives as regular people we tend to see others through the lens of judgment, dividing them into human kinds, some worthy of spending time with and getting to know and others not. Why is that we are so ready to find some strangers promising candidates for inclusion in our social world yet equally ready to disdain, reject and distance ourselves from other strangers?

This weekend I got to observe and experience this process while on a trip with my 9 year old son Elliott, my friend Bruce and Bruce’s 10 year old son Diego. The four of us live in the Bay Area. On Friday night we drove to a cabin on Alpine Lake in the Sierra Mountains. Saturday we spent the day trout fishing with lures, power bait and worms. The scenery (a mountain lake at 8,000 feet elevation) was beautiful, but the trout weren’t biting because it was quite cold and windy for a late August day. Instead of eating pan fried trout in our cabin as we had hoped, we settled for some tasty pizza at the nearby Bear Valley ski lodge which was open for mountain bikers and hikers.

On Sunday we spent our day in and near the little town of Murphys named after the town’s founder John Murphy who made 1.5 million in the Gold Rush, married a survivor of the bad luck Donner Party and left to become mayor of San Jose. The town and its immediate surroundings are a mix of  old settler culture; small business people who are staunchly Republican; organic farmers; wine makers; olive oil makers; gourmet chefs; motorcycle clubs whose members ride Harleys and sport Harley Davidson clothes; and good ole boys who rekindle memories of the Dukes of Hazard.

Just before hitting town we stopped at Quayle Pottery. This is farm/winery which makes its own clay, glaze and pottery on the premises and sells modeling clay to local schools. The owner’s daughter Dolores invited us in and showed us around their clay making operation, pottery studio and vineyard. We got to hang out with the farm’s pet geese, a small flock of Chinese geese with black beaks and large, black horn-like protuberance sticking up out their foreheads. These geese were not only tame but downright friendly. They helped the farmer out by eating the weeds in his garden. One of the geese was named Gaggle. Dolores held him in her arms like a small dog, petted him and stroked his long s-shaped throat. She invited us to pet him and we did. It was great fun. Elliott got to see that country folks could be surprisingly kind and interesting and that just because a town has a lot of McCain-Palin bumper stickers on the cars doesn’t make it a cold or hostile place.  

In the afternoon we went zip lining on the grounds of Moaning Caverns. The young men who helped us on and off the zip line were tall, lanky college age guys sporting long hair, unkempt beards and tattoos. They were nice, friendly guys with good senses of humor who cracked us up with their jokes. We asked what else we could do for fun before we went home and we were told about Natural Bridges, a place a few miles away where a creek had cut a grotto out of the limestone. We drove over and had a blast. Once you get in the creek you can swim into, through and out the back of a cave with a tall roof. The depth of the water in the middle of the cave is over six feet. The cave was covered in stalactites and stalagmites displayed in many shapes, sizes and colors. The stalactites were dripping water into the creek below. The water felt freezing and must have been in the 50s.

The people sitting around the creek or enjoying the swim through the grotto were a mix of families and bikers with big arms and lots of tattoos. There were some picnic tables near the grotto. One of them was occupied by a very loud, boisterous group of bikers. They were drinking beer from cans, smoking, joking and laughing uproariously. My son and I overhead one of them say, “There’s nothing in the whole world I like more than to have a beer, smoke and shoot something.” Elliott turned and looked at Bruce and I. He said, “I just can’t imagine anyone thinking that way.”

From Elliott’s perspective this guy had just landed from outer space and expressed a form of logic which did not compute here on Earth. The problem was that Elliott was surrounded by other people who felt the same way as the speaker. Not only that but all of them were human beings just like Elliott who were just as entitled as he was to enjoy the sunshine, the air, the creek, the Grotto and the picnic tables. This started a discussion about tolerance, and the need for us to see commonalities in people rather than stop at the obvious differences which seem to divide us.

Bruce and I are both love to take long bicycle trips, but never ride motorcycles. The people we ride bikes with under our own leg power wear Spandex with names like CSC and Credit Agricole. They like wine and cheese and love to ride bikes in groups in the countryside. They fantasize about riding in France or Italy. The bikers wear black leather with names like Iron Spartans and the Forgotten Ones. They like chips and beer. They like to ride everywhere including multi-lane highways where they can go faster than cars. We asked Elliott if bicyclists and bikers are really that different.

Don’t both of them love riding in the countryside with friends in the sunshine? Don’t both of them love a certain style of clothes bearing names that have a certain sound? Don’t both have their own lingo, their own heroes and their favorite snacks? Bicyclists love to fly down hills after a tough grind uphill. What if bicyclists got a chance to ride a motorcycle? Wouldn’t they likely enjoy the speed and the steering in turns? What if bikers got a chance to ride a fine road bike and experience the challenge and camaraderie that goes with a tough group ride ending in a communal feast? Wouldn’t they enjoy it? It became pretty easy to imagine that we could all exchange places and it might be fun to do so. Suddenly the other side didn’t seem so alien or so objectionable.

Before driving home to the Bay Area we ate in town at a local cantina because the boys wanted burritos. The friend tortilla chips and salsa were incredible. The food was tasty, filling and cheap. The young waitresses, all high school girls, were super friendly and gave us good suggestions for menu selections. Bruce and I began to philosophize about the difference between seeing a place as tourist and spending time in a place in an open-minded, open-hearted way that connects you with its people.

You don’t have to leave your country, your state or your region within a state to be a tourist. It’s very possible to see strangers in your own city, your own neighborhood and even your own block from the eyes of a tourist.  A tourist sees strangers as colorful alien beings with a different way of life whose customs and mannerisms range from the quaint/pleasant to the disturbing/grotesque. When you choose to see strangers as other people, then the surface differences that come from where people live and how they earn their money begin to dissolve and you are able to accept and appreciate them. At that moment their differences become interesting and intriguing and a source of celebration rather than a reason for dismissing them as weird. The critical factor is releasing judgment. When you can release judgment you will enhance your relationships and reduce your stress at the office and at home.

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PARTNER UP WITH A WORK BUDDY TO MAKE MORE ACCURATE, LESS STRESSFUL DECISIONS

August 27th, 2010

Lawyers have to make a steady stream of decisions every day. These range from the small (whether to interrupt an activity to take a call) to the hugely consequential (whether to reject a final offer of settlement and go to trial). When it comes to making big decisions do you trust yourself above all others and make them alone or do you consult a colleague? If you make them alone you pay a price. What price? You may be sacrificing accuracy without the objectivity a colleague can provide, and you are certainly incurring more stress. When you make decisions alone you are completely responsible for them even though you may be missing something that a colleague might have seen.

The old saying that “two heads are better than one,” turns out to be largely true. In a study published in the August 2010 issue of the journal Science neuroscientists Bahador Bahrami from UCL (University College London) and Chris Frith from Aarhus University, Denmark, explored the relative accuracy of collective vs. solo decision making on a low level perceptual task. The task involved detecting a very weak signal on a computer screen, one that was so weak there could be legitimate disagreement as to whether the signal had occurred or not.

What the researchers found was that for two observers of nearly equal visual sensitivity, two heads were definitely better than one, provided they were given the opportunity to communicate freely about their perceptions. Their accuracy did not depend on getting feedback from the researchers. Simply being told by the researchers which one of them was right did not increase accuracy. But when one observer with good visual sensitivity was paired with another observer with poor visual sensitivity, two heads performed worse than one because the person with poor visual sensitivity influenced the person with better sensitivity to make the wrong decision. The researchers concluded that the optimal conditions for making a perceptual decision (did I actually see something or not?) are having a partner of comparable visual sensitivity and being able to freely discuss your perceptions with each other.

It’s logical to assume that making a complex legal decision would follow the same model. If so, then two heads are better than one provided you select a partner of comparable intellectual capability who is given access to the same information you have, and you communicate freely with each other regarding your perceptions of the data. Following this model of decision making can increase your accuracy and lower your stress at work.

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CHRONIC ALCOHOL DEPENDENT DRINKING DISRUPTS CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS CAUSING INSOMNIA AND DEPRESSION

August 26th, 2010

Human beings have a 24 hour biological rhythm cued by changes in daylight called a circadian rhythm. The mammalian clock that regulates our sleep-wake cycle lies in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. Temporary disruption of circadian rhythm by international flights causes a combination of insomnia and fatigue known as jet lag.

Every 24 hours we not only show changes in wakefulness, but also in body temperature, hormone production, brain waves and feeding behavior. Many tissues in our body have circadian clock genes. These genes must be expressed properly in the form of transcription and clock proteins for us to survive. Their appropriate expression is a key for people to sleep well, stay healthy and maintain a good mood. In order to operate properly these genes must have sufficient messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid) to manufacture certain proteins.

It has long been known that people who drink heavily on a chronic basis have problems with insomnia and depression. Researchers Ming-Chyi Huang and collaborators at Taipei Medical University and Taipei City Hospital wanted to know if this was related to depletion of messenger RNA in their circadian clock genes.

The researchers recruited 22 male patients diagnosed with alcohol dependency and 12 healthy control subjects. Study of their blood samples showed markedly lower baseline levels of messenger RNA in the circadian clock genes of the AD patients. The study also showed destruction of normal circadian clock gene expression in the AD patients. Reduced circadian clock expression did not normalize following early alcohol withdrawal treatment. Researcher Sy-Jye Leu said this shows that chronic AD has long term damaging effects on the expression of circadian rhythm genes. Their finds were communicated early on 8/24/10, but will be published in full in the November 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

For alcoholic lawyers in denial it’s important to realize that continuing to drink is tampering with your very genes and altering the basic circadian rhythm that sets the time for normal, healthy changes in sleep, waking, brain waves, hormone production, body temperature and hunger. Research from Dr. Joseph Takahashi of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute came out on July 13, 2010, indicating that chronic disruption of circadian rhythm can cause diabetes by impairing the ability of the pancreas to release insulin.

If you’re a lawyer with an alcohol problem who is still in denial, then it’s high time you sought treatment.

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CURB ELECTRONIC SCREEN USE TO PREVENT BRAIN OVERLOAD AND ENHANCE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

August 25th, 2010

On 8/24/10 Matt Richtel (the Pulitzer Prize winning technology journalist from the NY Times) spoke on NPR about the hazards of over-use of screens for our brains and our relationships. In the 1960s the only screen in our lives was the TV in our living room, except for occasional trips to the movie theater. Now we not only use computer screens at home and office, but we carry portable screens around with us wherever we go on our mobiles, blackberries and I-pads. They have become ubiquitous.

Screens keep us in touch with supervisors, co-workers, clients, family and friends. They are fun and entertaining. But, says Richtel, we need to think carefully about the costs of using screens in certain situations. When you’re trying to combine one activity with “information jiggling” the result may be failure at both. Texting while driving has been shown to cause a level of impaired reactions equal to being drunk. Even hands free cell phone use while driving can slow reaction time by just enough milliseconds to cause a collision. On my way back from the store this morning to buy milk a young man glued to his cell phone walked in front of my car against a red light and a red “Don’t Walk” signal. Lucky for him I wasn’t using a cell phone too. 

Car shows this year are displaying new models with 10 inch screens on the dash that allow the driver to see restaurant reviews, album covers and a variety of other content. If you feel compelled to buy this sort of car please protect yourself, your car occupants and others on the road by having your passenger read this stuff. Keep your eyes on the road.

Richtel wants us to ask whether our hunger for a constant stream of data in our lives has helped or hurt us. There is abundant research to show that our brains slow down and make more mistakes when processing more than one task. Two is difficult but three is a fiasco according to research published in the April 2010 issue of Science by Etienne Koechlin, a professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.

Although people believe they are great at multi-tasking, our brains were not designed to track and digest the sheer amount of information we are getting from screens. If our ancestors had to read and respond to emails on their cells phones while deciding whether or not to run from a saber tooth tiger, we probably wouldn’t be here. Although we don’t have saber tooth tigers anymore, compulsively checking your email and flipping your attention back and forth from email or texting to what you should be focusing on makes it hard to do anything well. How many lawyers have you seen at MCLE seminars scanning and replying to emails on their laptops when they were supposed to be listening to a lecture that could prevent malpractice?

Richtel says you may think you’re spending quality time with your kids while checking and responding to text messages on your phone, but you’re not really present and you’re not really listening to them. He finds it disrespectful. He also worries that parents who do this are teaching their kids to devalue others in the same way. I’ve noticed that these days a play date for 9 year old boys involves both boys sitting faced in opposite directions hunched over their video game players.

To probe the full effects of frequent screen use Richtel accompanied a group of neuroscientists to a very remote corner of Utah on a camping trip. The rule of the expedition was that no one could bring any type of screen be it a PC, hand held device or mobile phone. Half of the group was made of  believers (those who were convinced e-screens were bad for focus and concentration) and half of skeptics (those who thought the value of constant access to information outweighed any problems associated with e-screens).

Richtel says that after 3 days with no e-screens everyone felt more relaxed. Their sense of urgency had faded. They took longer to answer questions. They slept better. When Richtel came home from that trip he banned cell phone use whenever he spent time with his son. He also took himself off Twitter. Simplifying your life in this day may mean eliminating some possessions, but it can also mean less time on e-screens.

As a technology based culture we have crossed a line. There is no going back to the old days. Screens are here to stay and they will continue to play an essential role in our work and home life. There’s no doubt they can be very helpful, especially GPS systems for finding our way while driving to a destination. But, we need to exercise some caution here. Richtel advises that each of us needs to find the line between technology informing us and from technology distracting us, impeding our productivity and even undermining our health. He points to research at Stanford showing the screen use can become addictive and that some heavy users of video games lose the ability to filter out irrelevant information.

Richtel says that many young people feel bored or even socially invisible if their mobile phone isn’t ringing or vibrating with a new text message. Thus they carry around tension until their device springs to life. It’s a sort of Pavlovian response. Just as Pavlov’s dogs waited eagerly for the bell to eat, many teens and twenty somethings wait eagerly for the dopamine blast they get from a ring of their cell phone. This is opposite of mindfulness – a state of relaxed, non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. Mindfulness is associated with mental health and happiness, whereas chronic tension can lead to anxiety and depression.

Richtel says it boils down to the idea of nourishment. Some foods, like Twinkies, are bad for us and others, like broccoli, are good for us. The old belief that all computer use is good for us has been disproven. I think it’s reasonable to say that a lot of the email we scroll through and read is junk, and that we could all live well with fewer text messages. Mental nourishment is one way to address this issue. Another way is through the concept of life balance. What is the best way to spend your time? Do you believe that having an undisturbed conversation with your spouse and kids is important? Do you believe that having an undisturbed walk in the park is important? Do you believe that quiet time for meditation, life reflection, prayer or even napping is important?  Then balance out your life by spending less time on e-screens.

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BERRIES HELP YOUR AGING BRAIN AVOID ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE BY CLEANING DEBRIS AND TOXINS

August 24th, 2010

It has long been known that the polyphenol anti-oxidants found in fresh fruits (especially berries) and in nuts protect the brain from inflammation which can cause degenerative brain disease and from the build-up of arterial plaque which can cause stroke. Now we are hearing of a brand new mechanism by which eating blueberries, strawberries, acai berries and walnuts can protect the brain from degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

The news came at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society the week of 8/23/10 from Shibu Poulose, Ph.D., where Dr. Polouse presented a research paper on how consuming these berries and walnuts helps the aging brain clean its own  house. Dr. Poulose is a molecular biologist with the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging in Boston

The human brain is composed of neurons (cell bodies with long myelin sheathed axons that form synapses with adjacent cells) and glial cells or glia. The glia perform many tasks including the removal and recycling of cellular debris and toxic substances that build up in the brain. This process is called autophagy. As the human brain ages the glia become less able to perform this role, and the risk of degenerative brain disease goes up accordingly.

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is found in brain cell membranes and synapses. It plays a role in the formation and repair of synapses and also in synaptic plasticity (the modification of synapses in response to learning new information or practicing a skill). APP gets broken down into various substances including the protein beta amyloid. One hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease is the build up of excessive amounts of beta amyloid protein in the brain, something which reduces APP formation and eventually kills off brain cells in the hippocampus, the part of the brain which encodes memories.

Could nourishment from eating berries and walnuts re-invigorate aging glia and help them remove and recycle biochemical debris before it accumulates in amounts which cause degenerative brain disease? In prior research Dr. Polouse showed that rats fed for 2 months on diets containing 2% high-antioxidant berry extract showed a reversal of age related deficit in nerve function on tasks involving learning and memory.

In his current research he wanted to find out if berry extract could stimulate the autophagy function of mouse brain glial cells. Dr. Poulose created cultures of living mouse brain cells. When he inserted berry extract in these cultures he found that the berry extract inhibited the action of a protein which shuts down the autophagy process allowing it to proceed in normal fashion. Since the mouse brain and human brain are incredibly similar, the indications are that consuming a diet rich in berries could help prevent degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. Dr. Poulose recommends eating fruits and vegetables with deep red, orange, or blue color which have plentiful anthocyanin antioxidants.

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HIGH SENSITIVITY TO SOCIAL REJECTION TRIGGERS INFLAMMATORY DISEASE – LEARN TO MODIFY YOUR RESPONSE TO SOCIAL STRESS

August 23rd, 2010

Some people love to speak in public, while others fear it worse than death. Some people are energized by the prospect of a job interview and march in with confidence, while others fear the worst and blow it because they are self-conscious and ill-at-ease. Some people are able to take a “no” in stride and enjoy the dating process, while others make excuses to avoid asking people out and crumble when they reach out and receive a no. 

People in some occupations get ignored or hear “no” more than others. Lawyers are right up there with telemarketers and people selling life insurance or financial investment products. Our legal system is set up to be adversarial. It exists to process disputes between two sides that want different outcomes, hold to different positions and make opposed arguments. Whether it’s a motion, a trial or a negotiation, lawyers constantly hear no. It gets frustrating, irritating and discouraging to keep hearing no from opposing counsel. It can be downright depressing to hear no from a judge or jury. Some lawyers are said to have a “tough hide,” and they are able to shake off rejection and defeat. But not all lawyers are emotionally bullet proof. Some of them are quick to perceive rejection and hate the feeling.

What goes on in the bodies of people who are extra sensitive to social rejection? That’s what psychologist Shelly E. Taylor, Ph.D. and psychoneuroimmunologist George Slavich, Ph.D., at UCLA wanted to find out. They recruited 124 people (54 men and 70 women) and put them throw two stressful social situations. In the first they had to prepare and deliver an impromptu speech and perform difficult mental arithmetic in front of a socially rejecting panel of raters wearing white lab coats. Mouth swabs were taken before and after the test to determine if changes had occurred in two biomarkers for immune system response marked by increased inflammation – greater release of tumor necrosis factor-a and interleukin-6 (IL-6).

In the second test 31 of the participants underwent an MRI brain scan while playing a computerized game of catch with what they believed were two other real people. For the first half of the test the game was between three people, but midway through the game the other two players excluded the participant and played on their own causing the participant to feel rejected.

On MRI some of the subjects showed greatly increased activation of two areas of the brain known to respond to social stress, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insula. Those very same subjects showed greater increases in tumor necrosis factor-a and IL-6 as a result of their lab test facing the stern, frowning panel of raters in white lab coats.

Dr. Slavich said this study confirms the very close relationship between mind and body and helps elucidate some of the neurocognitive pathways involved in inflammatory response to social stress. According to Dr. Slavich this is important because frequent or chronic episodes of inflammation in response to the mere perception of social stress can increase the risk for asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and even depression.

Why would the human brain trigger the release of inflammatory proteins via the immune system when it perceives social threat or rejection? Dr. Slavich said that social ostracism in the cave man days meant death because you would have to hunt and defend yourself alone in a world full of dangerous predators and hostile bands of competitors. Thus social ostracism goes hand in hand with anticipation of physical injury and the activation of the immune system before the injury occurred could have some survival value.

What can people do to control their response to situations in which they anticipate or perceive social rejection? Dr. Slavich suggested that you question your belief that people are rejecting you. If there’s no solid evidence it’s true, then you can dismiss the belief and relax your tense mind.  For example if someone doesn’t return your call it’s not necessarily because they don’t like you. It may be that they are away from the office, incredibly busy that week, just plain disorganized or overwhelmed by all the emails and calls they get.  

There are many ways to reduce the negativity and intensity of your response to social stress. Sometimes the answer is skills training. If your greatest fear is public speaking then enrolling in your local Toastmasters club will really help, because Toastmasters has helped tens of thousands of people from all walks of life (including new immigrants with little English) to overcome their fear of public speaking and become confident, effective public speakers. The typical charge to belong is just $100 per year.

In most situations it boils down to your perspective. If your self-esteem is always on the line and it rises or falls with the result of every encounter you have with another person, you’re in deep trouble because none of us can control how other people respond to us and when we attempt to do this we’re perceived as manipulative. If you’re over-focused on something you regard as a defect you won’t be able to connect with others with a feeling of comfort and ease. Do you see yourself as too short, too bald, too fat, too ugly or too something? Do you hate your nose or your accent? Are you terribly self-conscious about the no-name law school you attended or the fact that you have a family member who is much more successful than you?

Are you constantly worried that you might not make partner? Do you evaluate every decision and every interaction with others in terms of how they affect your potential for partnership? Do you live in fear that others may discover something you’re ashamed over? Do you actively try to hide it? Whatever it is (be it a current problem with binge drinking or the imposition of professional reprimand twenty years ago) the fear of discovery is going to make you jittery around others and make you curious as to whether they know your dark secret.

There are two methods for dealing with such anxieties which can free you to interact with others less stressfully. One is to learn self-acceptance. There are many fine books and CDs which teach self-acceptance. I have written a number of blog articles on this topic using such concepts as self-compassion and self-forgiveness. The other method, which I want to talk about here, is self-forgetting – the process of realizing the self is a fiction and letting it go.

Eckhart Tolle (author of The Power of Now) is a leading exponent of self-forgetting in the popular media. While I have certainly enjoyed and gained a lot from reading his books and listening to his lectures on CD, much of my understanding of self-forgetting comes from Tarthang Tulku the Buddhist Lama who founded the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley, CA.

Tarthang Tulku says that the mind clothes itself and renders itself tangible to itself in a purely mind-created projection it calls the self. The self is like a magnet which attracts stories – stories which the mind has spun to make sense of its experiences in the world and stories which others have proffered to mind. Whether you define yourself your own way or you have allowed others to define you (such as your parents, teachers, professors, spouse or boss), either way you are placing narrow, artificial limits on your being and you are shaping the way you perceive and interpret events and situations. Depression is the difference between what you believe you should have accomplished and what you have accomplished.

If your self is a victim in your story than you’re likely to be on guard against rejection, disappointment and victimization. When you meet someone you analyze his every word and scrutinize all his facial micro-expressions for approval/disapproval. If your self is a conquering hero it’s all great until you suffer a long series of small defeats or one big humiliating disaster. As of August 2010 Tiger Woods (arguably the greatest golfer who ever lived) can’t make a golf shot, because the self he constructed with the help of PGA Tour, the press, and his fans has been shattered. Whether you’re a goat or a hero in your own story you’re loading yourself with stress because you’re always waiting for mistreatment and abuse or because you’re always working hard to stay on top.

If you confuse being (the state of existing in the present moment as a being) with having a self, then your focus is not on living in this moment but on how the self is faring (well or ill) and you are lost in tension-riddled comparisons between your self, your past and future selves and other selves. 

Tarthang Tulku recommends daily meditation to release the self and come back into the state of pure being unconditioned by stories about who we are, why we are, what we must do and so forth. He says that meditating in this way leads to compassion for all beings and unity with all beings – a condition of existence in which fear of others (social stress) cannot exist. I have been meditating in this way and making progress along this path.  I commend it you.

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