Articles by Michael Logan on ArticleSnatch.com

Intimacy in Relationships

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 22:12:49 -0500

Intimacy in relationships early on, according to Helen Fisher,Ph.D., is a function of three systems in the reward center of the brain activating, the lust, love, and romance centers, which are governed by androgens, dopamine, and oxytocin. For those of you who remember your first love, I know you can remember how powerful those hormones were and are. We could not stand to be apart from our beloved and our beloved would giggle at our bad jokes and poetry, we would talk for hours on the phone, (I know I am dating myself with that one), ect. There is an evolutionary purpose to the intimacy in romantic love relationships, and that is to make the possibility of progeny greater, and keep the parents close to ensure the child's survival, but romantic love as we know it in those early months is not designed to survive. And so at some point we either get used to the level of dopamine in our brains, or it goes away, and we wake up next to someone who may be a bit of a stranger now. **End Summary** Topics: intimacy in relationships]]> marriage counseling questions]]> catholic marriage counseling]]> intimacy relationships]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Improve Listening Skills

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:45:26 -0500

Improve listening skills is an extraordinary skill to develop, which pays great dividends in personal relationships. The one downside that I have discovered is that if folks get a sense that I can do this, and because so few of us do it well, I am invited to listen and listen and listen, even when my four year old daughter is demanding my attention. So listening well demands that I be able to set boundaries ("Can you excuse me for a moment, my daughter is setting fire to the cat..., I'll be right back.") But improving listening skills can be done. When I am teaching my domestic violence education groups, I teach listening skills by modeling, and by discussion. But the first step in listening in to make a mental commitment to doing just that. The next step is to realize that listening is a dynamic process, and I will get distracted, day dream, ect, and actually not hear, and that the process is retrievable with a question to repeat. **End Summary** Topics: improve listening skills]]> listening skills]]> living thoughts]]> counseling skills]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Seniors Exercise-Aging Gracefully

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:34:13 -0500

Aging Gracefully - With Seniors Exercise There are many reasons that senior citizens should exercise on a regular basis, but the main one is that it helps to increase your overall health and ward off life-threatening diseases - especially those associated with aging. Simply put - exercising helps us age more gracefully. Almost everyone knows the sort of problems we face when aging - slower metabolism, bone loss and stiffness in joints, muscle loss, balance problems, less endurance and heart and lung problems. We all want a quick fix to aging, such as injections and facelifts or a pill we can take to halt or reduce the aging process. But, in reality, regular exercise is the only thing we can do for ourselves that will increase our overall health and well-being. Exercise can help us maintain the ability to do things we love and to accomplish everyday tasks that we need to do rather than depending on someone else. Even if you're a very out of shape senior citizen, there are simple exercises you can do that will make you feel better and enjoy your life. **End Summary** Topics: seniors exercise]]> senior exercise]]> senior exercises]]> senior exercise routines]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

What is Your Favorite Positive Feeling?

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 02:01:13 -0400

What is your favorite positive feeling? These days, I think I will take contentment, and a sense of quiet pride. And that feeling comes from looking back over the last 30 years at the effective choices of my life, choices that did entail hard work, but paid off. I did not always take the easier, softer way, sometimes I took the road less traveled, and made it through. I have learned a great deal about the inside of me, and how I operate emotionally. While I am feeling content at this moment, all I need to do to create a feeling of shame is remember some crazy episode from my youth, or even as a parent and I can change the feeling of contentment to one of embarassment or even shame, over a memory where my emotions were too strong for what the child had done. The very cool thing that I have learned is that I can change my thought to change my feeling. **End Summary** Topics: positive feelings]]> positive feeling]]> positive emotion]]> positive emotions]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Domestic Violence and Child Abuse

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:43:05 -0400

The statistics indicate that when one parent, typically the male, is abusive to the other parent, the children are more likely to be abused as well. What the statistics do not indicate is that even if the child is not actually struck or harmed, simply living in a household where there is lots of fear or tension, a household where the parents cycle through the cycle of violence for example, is damaging to the child's attachment process and actually changes the brain, sensitizing the child to fear. A person who has learned that he/she cannot protect themselves(and is therefore helpless) is more likely to resort to violence as a tool to exert some control in their lives, which can leave someone seriously injured. I have a number of articles in my office of young boys who have been killed or seriously injured trying to protect their mothers, so this is a serious issue. Lots of current research in domestic violence is indicating that a problem in the attachment process, which happens in the first two years of life, can lead to the inability to form secure adult relationships. **End Summary** Topics: domestic violence and child abuse]]> dometic violence counselor]]> domesic violence counseling]]> domestic violence cycle]]> domestic violence solutions]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Learned Optimism

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:23:16 -0400

Learned optimism learned fast. I believe very much in the concept of learned optimism. I got a chance to start over about 30 years ago, and am still muddling along, albeit with more health and contentment and wealth than I had then. (Cross your fingers on that last one, given our current economic woes). I have tried out a whole bunch of tools that I thought might enhance the process, and some of them do. If I have learned one thing, it is that I must repeat the words or thoughts that I want to have so that I get the feelings that I want, very frequently. (For example, "May this work be for the good of all, seen and unseen" or "the attitude is gratitude". My human brain, with its human orienting response, will attend to a bunch of different sensory cues in very rapid succession, any of which can take me to my 'learned fears" from my childhood. So paying attention to my thinking is a prerequisite for moving quickly through the process of learned optimism. **End Summary** Topics: learned optimism]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Recovery From Drug Addiction

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:17:09 -0400

I am glad folks are curious and searching for information on recovery from drug addiction. Recovery is an emotional, physical, cognitive, and spiritual process, and happens inside forever, once the commitment to such a powerful change is made. It is wrenching to change all those habits at once. Eventually though, with new programs installed in your brain and habits established, it is possible to maintain a maintenance regimen. External changes like a new job, or a new car, or a new relationship are sometimes used to measure drug addiction recovery, because there are only feeling and thinking metrics to judge the internal process, until one has some experience with that internal process. After hitting your bottom, most folks are not sure how much credibility they can place in their own thoughts and perceptions, since those are the thoughts and perceptions which got them into trouble in the first place. So perhaps the first step is the physical detox, which can take some time depending on the drug of choice. At this stage, supervision by a medical expert may be very important. **End Summary** Topics: recovery from drug addiction]]> addiction and mental health]]> addiction and mental health]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Anger Management Techniques

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:35:03 -0400

Anger management techniques must be implemented in 1/18th second. That is about twice as fast as you can blink your eyes, which takes perhaps 1/10th second. If that seems impossible to you, remember that you have done this hundreds of thousands of time, at least you have if you are my age, 59. Breakdowns in our ability to manage the interior feeling part of our experience can be deadly, and are at best mean spirited. So what techniques or tools does Mike the Counselor advocate to manage anger? Well, knowledge is important, so there are definitely some didactic tools you need to be aware of. Those might include the works of Albert Ellis, and his Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy. Likewise, Aaron Beck, and his work called Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. I use Doc Childre's heart rate variability biofeedback with my court ordered anger management clients, and I am very partial to Les Fehmi's Open Focus materials. The later two are biofeedback tools. Heart rate variability biofeedback is a tool that allows you to learn how to manage the time between your heart beats. I also use the work of Paul Ekman,Ph.D., on facial expressions. **End Summary** Topics: anger management techniques]]> anger management videos]]> anger counseling]]> anger management tips]]> anger and stress management]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Exercise Over 50 For Your Brain

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:26:07 -0400

Exercise over 50 is mandatory. That is if you want the best possible brain. Of course, you are exercising for buns of steel, but there are some unexpected side effects, because exercise makes for steel axons and dendrites that snap shut like traps. Maybe you have been reading about the emerging field of brain fitness, and are curious, because you have had a moment or two where you were talking and couldn't recall the subtly nuanced word you needed, and you thought, "Damn, hope that isn't Alzheimer's Disease starting!" Well, according to the brain fitness folks, our brains will generate replacement parts daily if we take care of the pillars of brain fitness, and we can keep the connections between neurons very strong if we challenge them with novel learning experiences. That is called neuroplasticity, and the growth of new neurons is called neurogenesis. No one knew that we could grow new neurons until about 15 years ago. Brain fitness is the result of taking care of what the brain fitness folks are calling the pillars of brain fitness, and the most important of those pillars is physical exercise. **End Summary** Topics: exercise over 50]]> exercise over 60]]> brain nutrition]]> brain neuroplasticity]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Help for Your Panic Attack

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:09:13 -0400

If you're suffering from extreme anxiety, you'll want to know what sort of help for panic attacks is available so that you can choose the option that works best for you. Some people wait until the situation is dire to seek help. At first, panic attacks are disguised as just being excessively worried. Then you start to realize it's affecting your everyday life. You start avoiding going to public places. You anticipate a panic attack, which is like a vicious cycle because it sets it all into motion over and over again. When it comes to finding help for panic attacks, you can start with whatever you feel most comfortable with. Would you prefer to sit down with a licensed therapist and talk over your problems? This is one option and therapy is very helpful to many people. If you've tried that route, or the mere thought of it sends you into an anxiety attack, then you might want to try a solo option. You can utilize self-hypnosis or neuro linguistic programming (NLP) to offset your mind's current state and regain control over a situation when it arises. **End Summary** Topics: helpl-for-panic-attack]]> panic attack disorder]]> anxiety attack symptoms]]> anxieity attacks medication]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Is Stress Reduction Meditation Even Possible?

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:31:07 -0400

Is it even possible to do stress reduction meditation in a fast paced society where taking two twenty minute breaks to sit quietly and chant a mantra could cost you your job? While it may not be possible to do Transcendental Meditation as described above on the job, I do believe it is very possible to weave stress reduction meditation thoughts through the course of your day. I have watched folks in the addictions recovery community train themselves to create thoughts to gratitude or say the Serenity Prayer to themselves or out loud to change their feelings from overwhelm to calm. Prior to learning tools like the above, the one thing that always worked to make them feel good was a substance, but as I heard an anger management client say yesterday, one beer is never enough. Learning to weave thoughts of gratitude through the fabric of their thinking and to really feel the change in physiology that follows that is seen as gift. Relief from stress is just a thought away, and when you couple that with deep breathing, stress reduction can be available anytime anyplace. **End Summary** Topics: stress reduction meditation]]> biofeedback treatment]]> biofeedback therapy]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

What are Panic Attacks?

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:54:35 -0400

If you've been suffering from extreme anxiety that comes on suddenly and doesn't cause any real physical effects afterwards, then you'll want to be asking, "What are panic attacks and is this what I have, too?" A panic attack (also known as an anxiety attack) is an episode where fear surges through your mind and body. You will feel a combination of mental and physical symptoms that can last anywhere from a few minutes to an hour before easing. In severe cases, the person thinks they're having a heart attack and dying. That's because the adrenaline is coursing through your veins and causing your body to amp up its blood supply - so you feel a pounding of your heart, flushed skin, and other physical symptoms. People who get panic attacks frequently and have them over a long period of time may have panic disorder. This is a real medical condition - it's not something you just get over or lighten up about. **End Summary** Topics: what are panic attacks]]> panic attack disorder]]> panic attack help]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Emotional Intelligence Skills Happen Inside Your Brain First

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:37:06 -0400

Emotional Intelligence Skills involve brain fitness? According to Simon Evans, Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt, Ph.D., the answer is yes, and here is what they say. "1. Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Your brain controls your mood and your ability to handle stress and respond to challenges. It controls your ability to read the emotions of others and respond appropriately. Your emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the aspect of brain fitness that has a large impact on your self confidence, day to day mood and success in social environments, including career and family life. For the most part, a system in your brain called your cortico-limbic system is responsible for controlling your emotional intelligence, and like most systems in your brain, you can improve it with specific focus." First Emotional Intelligence Skill So if we follow the Evans and Burghardt line of thought, the first emotional intelligence skill to work on is taking care of your brain. That involves keeping your brain rested, fed, exercised, relaxed, and yet challenged with novel learning experiences. **End Summary** Topics: emotional intelligence skills]]> emotional intelligence skill]]> emotional intellligence activites]]> emotional intelligence children]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Stop Anxiety Attacks

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:18:11 -0400

Some people mistakenly believe that before you can stop anxiety attacks, you have to pinpoint the reason you're having one in the first place. That's not always true. You can invest in some anxiety attack treatments that lessen the frequency or eliminate these episodes completely before you discover why they started happening. It's not uncommon for people to never gain a true understanding of why they've been suffering from panic attacks. Sometimes they just start happening and you can't tell why. Life seems to be going well. Your relationships are smooth - and suddenly you're encountering extreme episodes of anxiety. In order to get to the root of an anxiety attack, you might have to spend months of one on one interaction with a licensed therapist. Instead of waiting for that to happen, why not find a solution that eases the symptoms or helps you put an end to panic attacks for good? There are prescribed medications and natural (organic) herbal medicines that can alleviate or eliminate the physical symptoms. These include a heartbeat that races, unusual sweating, a sense of doom (or death), dizziness, nausea, and sometimes chest pain. **End Summary** Topics: stop anxiety attacks]]> anxiety attacks causes]]> anxiety attacks medication]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

The Heart Beat of Anxiety Relaxation

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 07:00:49 -0400

Anxiety relaxation sounds like it is impossible to do, at first reading, doesn't it? But the search term anxiety relaxation probably refers to how to relax from anxiety, and I can offer some experience there, having dealt with (and I am still dealing with) a heightened startle response and hypervigilence since I was six years old. In fact, my children, once they learned that Daddy was really funny looking when surprised by a loud noise behind him have taken great delight in inducing a startle response by sneaking up behind me and yelling and then running away. My first antidote for my ever present over vigilence was ethyl alcohol which works fast and works every time used. However that medication comes with some serious side effects, and I do not recommend it for your anxiety relaxation. What I can recommend after years of trying out various tools, like Transcendental Meditation, Chi Gong, EEG Biofeedback, heart rate variability biofeedback, bio-dots, handwarming biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, Open Focus, physical exercise, sweat lodges, binaural beat tapes, neurolinguistic programming, (after all, I am a counselor) is the heart rate variability biofeedback tool which includes Open Focus and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy components. **End Summary** Topics: anxiety relaxation]]> anxiety depression]]> anxiety attacks treatment]]> anxiety attacks on children]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

What is Your Level of Cognitive Reserve?

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:51:07 -0400

Not sure about you, but this 62 year old brain needs all the cognitive reserve it can get. So perhaps you are wondering what cognitive reserve is before you order some for yourself? "In 1988 a study published in Annals of Neurology reporting findings from post-mortem examinations on 137 elderly persons unexpectedly revealed that there was a discrepancy between the degree of Alzheimer's disease neuropathology and the clinical manifestations of the disease. This is to say that some participants whose brains had extensive Alzheimer's disease pathology, clinically had no or very little manifestations of the disease. Furthermore, the study showed that these persons had higher brain weights and greater number of neurons as compared to age-matched controls. The investigators speculated with two possible explanations for this phenomenon: these people may have had incipient Alzheimer's disease but somehow avoided the loss of large numbers of neurons, or alternatively, started with larger brains and more neurons and thus might be said to have had a greater "reserve". This is the first time this term has been used in the literature in this context. **End Summary** Topics: cognitive reserve]]> neuroplasticity exercise]]> neuro plasticity]]> neurogenesis]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Anxiety Attacks in Children

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:44:07 -0400

Anxiety attacks in children happen more often than you might think. Unlike adults, who can articulate what they're feeling and know to seek assistance in order to deal with it, children don't. So often, their anxiety is left untreated and they try to cope with it themselves. Parents need to understand and learn to recognize the signs of this condition so that they can get their child the treatment they need. Understand that there can be several different manifestations - subheadings if you will - of anxiety that all fall under the same main heading. Children can experience what's known as normal anxiety. They worry about what their future holds. Through the eyes of a child, the adult world can be a very scary place. They can hear things on the news that frighten them. Experiencing the death of a classmate or a family member can leave them not knowing how to deal with fear - the fear of not understanding fully what happened and the fear of worrying if it's going to happen to them too. These are normal worries. Love and reassurance can help your child deal with this kind of anxiety. **End Summary** Topics: anxiety attacks in children]]> anxiety attacks information]]> anxiety attack depression]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Natural Herbs for Anxiety

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:06:16 -0400

You can take natural herbs for anxiety instead of relying on synthetic medicine to treat your needs. The body has an incredible ability to heal itself and naturopathic medicine is treatment that taps into the body's own healing system in order to cure ailments. This is one of the reasons that the body responds to bacteria by spiking up the temperature. The resulting fever helps eradicate that bacteria. In relation to anxiety, herbs are used to calm and soothe the emotions. One such herb used to soothe and calm is chamomile because it is a relaxant. It's safe for long term use and carries health benefits which is one of the reasons you can find chamomile tea on an aisle inside of most grocery stores. Chamomile works by relaxing the muscles so the tension and stress you feel when anxiety hits is soothed away by this herb. Because it has sedative qualities, it can also be used to help battle the insomnia that is so often associated with stress. St. John's Wort is another one of the natural herbs for anxiety. This herb hails from Europe and is used to naturally treat insomnia, anxiety, feelings of jitteriness and depression. **End Summary** Topics: natural herbs for anxiety]]> anxiety attacks information]]> anxiety depression help]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Need Information on Anxiety Attacks?

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:44:01 -0400

If you or someone you care about is suffering with anxiety attacks, information that can help them and you as you support them is available. Most people would say that anxiety is only a feeling and nothing more. While it's true it is a feeling, there's a bit more to it than that. Anxiety is what we experience when we feel stressed. Anxiety isn't a bad emotion. We can feel this way when we have a flat tire and need to get it fixed. We can get anxious when we know we have to go to the dentist and we can have anxiety when we need to get to work and we're end up getting stuck behind rush hour morning traffic. So when does anxiety become something that we have to face and deal with? When we reach the point where the fear becomes overwhelming, possibly irrational, and leaves us unable to function. More often than not, anxiety goes hand in hand with a physical reaction. Anxiety shows up and we feel it in our body. **End Summary** Topics: anxiety attacks antidote]]> anxiety attacks treatment]]> anxiety attacks medication]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Positive Cognitive Aging

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:05:09 -0400

Cognitive aging at the age of 62 can result in some scary feelings, a little worry, a little fear, because these days my vision or my memory is not quite what it was, and so on. If you are my age, 62, then I am sure you and Bill Clinton feel my pain. I grew up with the neuroscientific model that we had all the neurons we were going to have and all the brain circuitry that we were going to have by the time we were five years old or so, and that we would slowly lose those neuronal assets until we ended up in 'the home' staring vapidly at a fish tank. That model is still so ingrained that at first blush I forget that we have made some wonderful discoveries about the human brain in the last few years, like the brain grows new neurons throughout the life span, so there are replacement parts available. That is right, my cognitive aging does not need to describe a slow descent into Alzheimer's. The process of growing new new neurons is called neurogenesis, and it can be encouraged. Positive Cognitive Aging But there is a catch, of course. **End Summary** Topics: cognitive aging]]> exercise aging]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Reducing Stress and Anxiety

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:38:10 -0400

Taking steps for reducing stress and anxiety in your life will not only give you serenity but can add years to your life, too. Stress puts both your body and your mind under strain. Short-term stress (called eustress) can't be helped and we all have to make it through stressful situations. Let's avoid distress, though. But living in a stressful situation, whether it's a relationship or a job, isn't healthy for your body. Anxiety is often stress that accumulated and has now reached the stage where it must be dealt with in order for you to have the calmness back in your life. There are so many things that cause us stress, which leads to anxiety. The worst thing that anyone can do is to ignore stress. Picture chronic stress like an oversized beach ball in the ocean. You use a lot of mental energy to push that ball down below the surface so you don't have to deal with it. But the force of the water and the air in the ball will always bring it back to the surface. Such is the way with stress. **End Summary** Topics: reducing stress and anxiety]]> cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety]]> anxiety attacks information]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Anxiety Depression Syndrome

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:09:12 -0400

Anxiety depression syndrome won't discriminate according to sex, age, race or religion. Anyone can get it but not everyone takes the all too important steps to get treatment for the condition. While women are more likely to struggle with the condition, men can too, but women usually recognize that something is wrong enough that they need help. Many men try to work through it on their own and are slower to seek assistance. The trouble begins when people try to pass what they're experiencing off as being normal even when the feelings linger. It isn't uncommon to have a wide swing in emotion - from sadness to joy, from anxiety to feeling blue. What separates a more serious condition from the normal is when the feelings just won't go away. If you have a life event and you feel stuck in that event or you battle a depression that sticks with you, it's not likely to go away all on its own. If that sounds like something you or a loved one has in your life right now, it's time to make an appointment with the doctor. **End Summary** Topics: anxiety depression syndrome]]> anxiety attacks information]]> anxiety attacks medication]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Emwave Personal Stress

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 08:52:11 -0400

Does emwave cause personal stress? The answer is no. The emwave is the name for a powerful heart rate variability biofeedback stress reliever, based on research on the heart's own sophisticated nervous system. I have been using this technology personally and professionally since 2000. I was doing EEG biofeedback in the late '90s and participating in a list serve for EEG brainwave biofeedback providers maintained by EEG Spectrum when I first heard of the emWave technology. Some of the EEG folks were raving about heart rate variability biofeedback and its impact on their clients, and since I am always searching for new tools for myself, I decided to check into it. I discovered that a hospital nearby, in St. Charles, Illinois was providing heart rate variability biofeedback trainings to the general public, and their entire staff had trained on the this tool. I was impressed that that this one tool was the stress relief tool of choice for an entire hospital, so I took the training, and got to do the heart rate variability biofeedback process in front of the entire workshop, and found that the tool was easy to use, and understand. **End Summary** Topics: emwave personal stress]]> emwave pc stress relief system]]> emwave personal stress reliever]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Anxiety

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 00:06:49 -0400

Cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety is therapy to break the cycle of wrong thinking. It gives a person back control, educates and changes the way certain patterns or way of life have been lived. From childhood or through traumatic events, we learn a set of coping skills that can become coping mechanisms. This type of treatment has been shown to be very effecting in treating anxiety and helping patients understand why they do what they do and how to change it. When a person feels fear, the body will react as if that fear was real. So if you feared that wind whipping through the trees would make them crash down around you, your body would release adrenaline in response to that fear. Now if you were actually in danger, that adrenaline could give you a burst of energy that could make you flee from the harm in order to protect yourself. That's a healthy response. An unhealthy response is living in anxiety because of what does not take place. For example, you fear getting fired. It hasn't happened, but you worry about it. Not an every now and then worry but an all the time worry. **End Summary** Topics: cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety]]> anxiety behavior syndrome]]> anxiety attacks treatment]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Coping Strategies for Anxiety

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:29:05 -0400

Can following a strategy based on the pillars of brain fitness help you cope with anxiety? Absolutely, and not only do you cope with anxiety, you grow new neurons. Not sure about you, but when it comes to brains, I think bigger is better. So what are the pillars of brain fitness and how can I implement them? Those pillars are; physical exercise, nutrition including lots of omega 3 fatty acid and antioxidants, sleep, stress management, and novel learning experiences. If you have a lot of stress in your life, learning coping strategies for anxiety can help you manage that stress. While some of the strategies cannot replace the care of a doctor or the relief some medications can give, these steps are ones you can begin right away. The first step in handling anxiety is to make sure you spend some time every single day doing something fun. Laughter helps to loosen the tight bands of stress in the body and can help you relax. Whatever it is that you find joy in doing, seek that out. **End Summary** Topics: coping with anxiety attacks]]> panic attack help]]> panic attack treatment]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing. http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com