Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy and Sports Massage in New Mills, High Peak

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Costa

Is it even worth becoming a non-smoker?

Sometimes my clients ask me : "I have smoked for over half my life, and am worried I’ve done irreparable damage to my body. A t this point, is it even worth quitting?"

 

 Hmmm... Let's see .... After 20 minutes your blood pressure drops to a level close to that before the last cigarette. The temperature of your hands and feet increases to normal.

After 8 hours the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

After 24 hours your chance of a heart attack decreases

Within 3 months your circulation improves and your lung function increases up to 30%

After 1 year the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.

After 5 years stroke risk is reduced to that of someone who has never smoked.

After 10 years the lung-cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker’s. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decreases.

After 15 years the risk of coronary heart disease is that of someone who has never smoked

Sooo, what do you think? It is worth isn't it?

How can I speed up my metabolism?

It’s not unusual to hear people blame their weight gain on a slow metabolism.

They’ve cut down on calories and take regular exercise yet they’re still not losing weight. The only other possible diagnosis, they expertly conclude, is a slow metabolism.

What is a slow metabolism? How does it affect your weight and can you do anything to speed it up?

Professor James Timmons, a metabolism expert from Loughborough University, gives your metabolism a closer examination.

What is metabolism?

Metabolism describes all the chemical processes that go on continuously inside the body to keep you alive and your organs functioning normally, such as breathing, repairing cells and digesting food. 

These chemical processes require energy. The minimum amount of energy your body requires to carry out these chemical processes is called the basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Your BMR accounts for anything between 50% and 80% of your body’s daily energy requirements depending on how active you are. A ‘slow metabolism’ is more accurately described as a low BMR. 

There are many BMR calculators available online. Look out for BMR calculators using the Harris-Benedict equation, which is the most widely used method for estimating your BMR.

Read more: http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/how-can-I-speed-up-my-metabolism.aspx

How to Lose Weight

You might read now what you have been reading everywhere else. However, you wouldn't read this article if you didn't want to lose weight. So, you may ask "what is the secret to lose weight?" and I will say "There is no secret!". 


However the golden rules are (and will always be):

• Eat plenty of vegetables to keep you fuller.
• Eat light meals at lunch time and vegetables soup at supper.
• It is recommended to drink approximately eight glasses of water a day.
• Exercise often. The best methods of weight loss tends to be from cardio exercising because it burns calories and keeps it burning after your workout. You should also add strength training for your muscles. 
• Exercises also helps speeding your metabolism.
• Stay away from quick loss diet schemes. Any program that promises you more than two or three pounds of fat loss a weak is not healthy especially on dieting alone.
• Your weight loss should not be tracked every day. This can be discouraging and you can back track if you are not where you would like to be.

 
The key to safely and effectively lose weight is to get more exercise and eat less hence avoiding the 'plateau'. 

It is advisable to lose one or two pounds a week, so you need to burn approximately 500 calories more than you eat daily. 

You need to cut out excess starches (white bread) and salt. This helps you to loose water weight because you reduce your fluid retention as well as control your blood pressure.

What Are Effective Weight Control Methods?

 
Weight control is important once you get to the weight you want. You can easily gain the pounds back. The key again is to stick to a plan.

• Stress can lead to nervous conditions, which can change your hormones and slow your metabolism. So, REDUCE your stress.
• Keep a food journal. Your food journal should include information such as when you eat if you did so because you were hungry or possibly bored or nervous. Identify what types of food you crave at that moment. Keep note of everything you eat. Make yourself accountable.
• I know that sometimes is hard to get started: it all depends how motivated you are...
  So why not getting a partner? Chances are if you start a weight control plan with a friend or family member you two can keep each other accountable. Join a gym or get a few exercise DVD’s. Set up a time at least every other day to meet and exercise.

The most important rule: allow yourself to take personal responsibility of your life and health!! Change your habits!!

Depression... Does it hide among us?

You may know someone who is depressed and not know they’re depressed. People expect someone who is depressed to cry a lot, stay in bed all day, mope, or sound like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. But depression isn’t always this obvious.
 
Some people can totally fake it. They can smile and laugh; they can act like everyone else, even while they are in excruciating emotional pain inside. Occasionally people who can do this end up killing themselves, and no one can believe it. People who can act like they’re not depressed may not confide in anyone. Usually they find a way to spend time alone crying or letting down the facade and then go back to acting when they have to be with people. I’ve had clients who lived with their families and only found time to cry after everyone went to sleep, and only in the bathroom. The rest of the time they were acting like someone who wasn’t in pain. On top of the pain they already feel, acting happy is emotionally exhausting, and having this secret is isolating. So, faking it can even increase the depression.

Others funnel their pain into anger and people see them rage, abuse, shame, or react with annoyance or irritation to whatever happens around them. They may or may not themselves know they’re depressed, but others often don’t guess how much devastating emotional pain they are in. People may fear them, despise them, or dismiss them as mean. It is very difficult to feel sympathy for someone who is hurting people, and it is difficult to see their vulnerability, so their depression goes unnoticed.

Still others are addicted to something, and the depression is obscured by the addiction. People with addictions spend most of their time and energy relating to the addiction. They plan to do it, anticipate doing it—these phases excite them and elevate their mood temporarily. Then they use whatever they are addicted to and it boosts their mood. But then the thrill wears off, and they are depleted by the effects of the addiction and may also feel remorse or shame, so the depression descends on them, pulling them down like a cement jacket. They begin the cycle again to try to feel better—plan and anticipate…. Their whole life is about running from depression, but it becomes centered around the more dramatic force of addiction, and the depression can be unrecognized.

 I am not saying that all addicts are driven by depression—depression can also be caused by addiction. But addiction can be a form depression takes that is not easy to identify as depression. I include eating disorders in this category. I also include people who work most of their waking hours.

Depression isolates people. Whether they are hiding from the world in bed, preoccupied with an addiction, pushing people away with anger, or keeping their real thoughts and feelings inside while pretending to be okay, people with depression usually feel very alone. 

Depression also has a built-in isolating fog quality that makes it very difficult to feel connected to people. Even when people feel safe to express exactly how they feel, it is very difficult for people who haven’t experienced a deep depression to understand how that feels. 

How can anyone who hasn’t experienced it understand a pain that is as intense as any open-heart surgery without anesthesia, with no cuts or bruises to show? How can anyone who hasn’t experienced it understand the complexity of pain that is not only unbearably intense itself but also complicated by many painful factors like the stigma of mental illness and the confusion of the fact that unlike other illnesses, depression causes behavior changes. People attribute behavior to the moral character of the person, rather than to the illness.

The pain is also complicated by the fact that depression attacks a person’s thoughts and feelings, rather than liver or lungs. Depression can cause a person to think she hates herself or is unhappy in her relationships. It can cause someone to believe everyone would be better off without him, or even that others would be better off dead. It can cause people to feel sad, angry, guilty, numb, or rageful, even when none of this is how they feel when they aren’t depressed.

So what can you do to help people you love who are depressed, if you can’t tell they’re depressed? Ask questions very kindly and listen to the answers very carefully. Empathize with their emotional pain—even if you have to guess at what it might be. Let them know you are there to listen and understand for as long as it takes, and you aren’t taking no for an answer. Of course if you aren’t trustworthy—if you judge them, or talk to others about what they tell you, or interrupt, get impatient, or misunderstand them, then it is better for them to talk to someone who can really listen without any of this. Being a reliable, trustworthy, patient, nonjudgmental listener is the best thing you can do in most cases with someone who is depressed.

A couple of caveats: I am talking about adults—children and teens require some variations. Also, addictions cloud the picture of depression and require their own, very different intervention. Nonjudgmental listening is still essential but may need to be combined with some firm boundary-setting and professional treatment for the addiction.

Source: http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/depression-hidden-symptoms-addiction-0814124

The Benefits Of Massage

What exactly are the benefits of receiving massage or bodywork treatments? Useful for all of the conditions listed below and more, massage can:

• Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion.
• Assist with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten maternity hospital stays.
• Ease medication dependence.
• Enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow—the body's natural defense system.
• Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.
• Help athletes of any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts.
• Improve the condition of the body's largest organ—the skin.
• Increase joint flexibility.
• Lessen depression and anxiety.
• Promote tissue regeneration, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks.
• Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation.
• Reduce postsurgery adhesions and swelling.
• Reduce spasms and cramping.
• Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles.
• Release endorphins—amino acids that work as the body's natural painkiller.
• Relieve migraine pain.

 
A Powerful Ally
 
There's no denying the power of bodywork. Regardless of the adjectives we assign to it (pampering, rejuvenating, therapeutic) or the reasons we seek it out (a luxurious treat, stress relief, pain management), massage therapy can be a powerful ally in your healthcare regimen.

Experts estimate that upwards of ninety percent of disease is stress related. And perhaps nothing ages us faster, internally and externally, than high stress. While eliminating anxiety and pressure altogether in this fast-paced world may be idealistic, massage can, without a doubt, help manage stress. This translates into:

• Decreased anxiety.
• Enhanced sleep quality.
• Greater energy.
• Improved concentration.
• Increased circulation.
• Reduced fatigue.

Furthermore, clients often report a sense of perspective and clarity after receiving a massage. The emotional balance bodywork provides can often be just as vital and valuable as the more tangible physical benefits.

 
Profound Effects
 
In response to massage, specific physiological and chemical changes cascade throughout the body, with profound effects. Research shows that with massage:

• Arthritis sufferers note fewer aches and less stiffness and pain.
• Asthmatic children show better pulmonary function and increased peak air flow.
• Burn injury patients report reduced pain, itching, and anxiety.
• High blood pressure patients demonstrate lower diastolic blood pressure, anxiety, and stress hormones.
• Premenstrual syndrome sufferers have decreased water retention and cramping.
• Preterm infants have improved weight gain.

Research continues to show the enormous benefits of touch—which range from treating chronic diseases, neurological disorders, and injuries, to alleviating the tensions of modern lifestyles. Consequently, the medical community is actively embracing bodywork, and massage is becoming an integral part of hospice care and neonatal intensive care units. Many hospitals are also incorporating on-site massage practitioners and even spas to treat postsurgery or pain patients as part of the recovery process.

 
Increase the Benefits with Frequent Visits
 
Getting a massage can do you a world of good. And getting massage frequently can do even more. This is the beauty of bodywork. Taking part in this form of regularly scheduled self-care can play a huge part in how healthy you'll be and how youthful you'll remain with each passing year. Budgeting time and money for bodywork at consistent intervals is truly an investment in your health. And remember: just because massage feels like a pampering treat doesn't mean it is any less therapeutic. Consider massage appointments a necessary piece of your health and wellness plan, and work with your practitioner to establish a treatment schedule that best meets your needs.

Source: http://www.massagetherapy.com/learnmore/benefits.php

Weight-Loss... becoming a non-smoker... old habits, but how can you overcome them?

Our automatic thoughts can help to keep us stuck in old habits and emotions which are often not the best habits and emotions for us. However, if we become more aware of the impact of automatic thinking on our lives, we will have more options and change will be easier.

Teaching someone to see their own thinking patterns is like teaching a young gardener how to identify a rare type of plant. The gardener needs lots of examples of what the plant looks like and they also need to know where it usually lives.

For instance, some people may think: 

What caused the weight problem

"I don't understand why I am overweight. I don't stuff myself all day".  
"I may have slow metabolism"

What to do about the problem and what this "solution" will be like

"My life is busy and difficult enough already, I can't cope with losing weight at the same time"
"Losing weight will be awful. I will have to go running and do aerobics and go to the gym the whole time"

And many other thoughts such as:

- Thoughts about what you "can" or "can't do" or
- Thoughts that happen "on the spot" whilst trying to lose weight or stop smoking or 
- Thoughts about yourself...

Being able to "catch" or spot an automatic thought is a hugely useful skill, but it is not easy or straightforward - like the new gardener trying to spot the rare plant - it takes practice.

However one can try to pinpoint the most important automatic thoughts such as:

What was going through my mind just before I started to feel this way?

What does this say about me? What does it say I can/can’t do?

What does this mean about me? My life? My future?

What am I afraid might happen?

 

Once those automatic thoughts have been spotted, we may choose to question/challenge them:

What is the evidence for these thoughts? What is the evidence against it?

What are some other ways of thinking about this situation?

Am I blaming myself for something over which I do not have complete control?

Am I always thinking that things will go badly?

Am I exaggerating how bad things would be if they did go wrong?

Ok, so... you may ask me, is that all? I am afraid not... this is only a glimpse of what I use to help/empower my clients to overcome their eating/smoking habits. I employ other techniques such as Hypnosis, CBT and NLP to find out the reasons for those thoughts and behaviours. 

This is not aimed to be "a" guide but it helps those people out there wanting to either lose weight or stop smoking as well as start thinking differently about their habits.


As I mentioned before, our automatic thoughts can help to keep us stuck in old habits and emotions, however it is never too late to start the process!