That sore boob thing

A few months ago I reported my experience of finding a lump in my breast and being told by the radiographer that I was one of those women with lumpy breasts.  It’s not harmful, there’s little you can do to change it so live with it, she said.

But not long afterwards I found myself writing a piece for Marie Claire about the things we can and can’t blame on PMT (agro-ness and near narcolepsy in the week before yes, low sex drive throughout the month, maybe not).  Turns out – as most of us know – lumpy breasts is one of them.  But in fact, there are some things you can do to minimise the pain (and we are talking serious pain, anytime someone hugs you a little too hard which in Kevin – my husband – the big Irish brute’s case is most of the time).

In fact, up to to 70 per cent of us will experience the breast pain, tenderness and maybe a benign lump as I did at some point in our lives and for most, this will relate to hormonal changes taking place in the fortnight before our period.  Mine certainly does, like clockwork.  The breast glands get swollen and retain fluid as your body prepares itself for a possible pregnancy.  As progesterone is up, this hormone encourages the body to retain fluid so if you eat a diet high in salt or caffeine, tenderness and soreness may get worse as breasts retain water at this time.

Breast pain and tenderness can also be helped pre-period by wearing an extra supportive underwire bra and by avoiding salt pre-period to lessen any fluid build up in the breasts.  If you have cysts that are getting bigger or are painful your doctor may advise you to have them drained, but if they are small, don’t hurt and are not getting bigger (as in my case) this is probably not necessary.

I spoke to Dr Nicholas Panay, gynaecologist and the UK’s leading authority on PMS and he said that for monthly breast tenderness and pain there is good evidence that taking Evening Primrose Oil or Starflower Oil has been proven to alleviate symptoms, but you need to take it for around three months to see a difference.  I have been taking three a day of Holland & Barrett’s Evening Primrose Oil 1000 mg a day for about four cycles since and the problem has all but disappeared and even the little cyst that panicked and drove me to the doctor in the first place feels like it’s gotten smaller.  For more help contact the National Association for Premenstrual Syndrome

Stressed? Cranky? Switch on Classic FM

Today I walked in the door feeling decidedly bleugh.  Hungry, tired, cranky, over it.  I switched on Classic FM, as one does when one is middle-aged, whether one likes it or not.  Like a gift, the duet from The Pearl Fishes came on.  If you’re not familiar with it, you will recognize this sublime piece of music .  Here is a link to Andrea Bocelli doing the tenor bit and Bryn Terfel doing the baritone.  It will give you an aural orgasm.

What does all this have to do with anything?  Well, here’s the thing.  Less than 30 seconds after it began, my mood magically transformed – POOF! – just like that.  I was dancing around the kitchen and had forgotten the work drudge that had caused my bad mood.

So what is going on?  Classical music soothes anxiety quickly.  Researchers at Monash University played panicky subjects Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major (another one you will recognize) three times and found stress-induced anxiety, heart rate and blood pressure decreased virtually immediately.   In The De-Stress Diet, we report that classical music stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of your brain that is responsible for clearing up the mess after you’ve been under a heap of stress.  It’s literally your head’s built-in spa – or rehab centre (depending on exactly how much stress you’ve been under).

There is a clear neurological reaction to listening to music, Dr Catriona Morrison, a psychology lecturer at the University of Leeds told me recently.  Classical music in particular can quickly relax the nervous system she says.  But rather than having it on the background you need full attention, so take five minutes when you feel stressed, close your eyes and immerse yourself in the sound.  Bach is particularly calming, she says, but music from the Baroque or Romantic era (such as Rachmaninoff) may have a relaxing effect by emotionally engaging the listener.  I just love listening to Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody and taking some deep diaphragmatic breaths.  The simplest stress antidote around.  Got to love the You Tube!

Here’s a link to an interesting (though old) paper rounding up various studies into to applications of music as therapy for the geeks

The New No-Will Willpower

I read recently in that great knower of all things,  Jonathan Cainer’s column that this weekend is a good time to re-establish commitments to our original resolutions.  Something to do with Chinese New Year and knowing him, the moon.  So, I am taking this chance to tell you about the new rules of will power which I discovered while writing The De-Stress Diet.  It’s nothing short of changed my life and I believe that keeping them in the back of your mind for whatever you have resolved to do more or less of in 2012 will help make it all feel like more fun and less of a struggle.

Most of us associate it with iron will and a fun-less existence but scientists are unlocking new secrets behind self-control and discovering it comes not from trying harder through gritted teeth but regularly giving ourselves a break.  The two big  players in this field, Roy Baumeister and Kelly McGonigal have written new books (see below) that came out in December and January and they have devoted much of their academic lives to discovering the real secrets of self control.  And they’re not what you think.

There are two emotional systems at work in the brain when we talk about self-control: our impulses and our powers of reflection.  The impulsive self makes fast associations between a choice we face and how it will make us feel.  It scans our environment for quick forms of pleasure and reward.  For example, the vending machine equals chocolate equals a sugar hit of quick energy. Our reflective self on the other hand is more concerned with planning, reasoning and long-term goals, such as making a decision to lose weight or get healthy.

If you ever feel in two minds when faced with a tempting something/someone-or-other it could be an emotional battle between your impulsive and reflective self. The two systems compete for control over our reaction or response to some want be that hunger, lust, rest or whatever.   Now, studies have found that when we’re under stress or have been doing hours and hours of tough mental work, our reflective self is weakened and our impulsive self is more likely to take over our response, making us less likely to choose what we know will make us feel better long-term and more likely to choose the instantly gratifying quick-fix.  Even if we know full well we might not feel better about our choice tomorrow, our impulsive self renders us less likely to care.

What Baumeister’s people  at Florida State University have now found is that mental strain and stress sap the energy your reflective self requires to help you make healthier choices about your behavior.  In short, your reflective self functions best when you’re rested and relaxed.  When you’re stressed and exhausted, your impulsive self seizes the opportunity to take over.  According to this theory, the mental strain you’re under makes it less likely you’ll be able to resist quick-gratification behaviours, like the vending machine or pub once the task at hand is over – most of know that feeling.  It’s your impulse system at work.  What strengthens your reflective system though, is regular deep rest, relaxation and recovery, during stressful times as well as after they have passed.   Here’s a taste of new secrets of self control :

WILLPOWER IS A MUSCLE THAT CAN BE BUILT UP In Baumeister’s studies, they found that anything you tried to exert self-control over from giving up chocolate to swearing less was difficult at first but invariably got easier as time went on and you continued with the new behavior.

…IT CAN ALSO BE TIRED OUT They call this ‘ego depletion’ and say that when we are tired out and exhausted is the time we’re most likely to get out of control and reach for anything we can find because the impulsive self takes over and weakens our resolve.  It’s why I – totally exhausted and working into evening many nights – might inhale a Galaxy Bar when in a perfect world I (apparently) don’t eat carbs or sugar..!

YOU CAN SURF THE URGE McGonigal in particular found that the brain responses (dopamine pathways usually) responsible in addiction and craving are pretty powerful urges but one thing could actually interrupt these brain responses which she calls ‘Surfing the urge’ a specific craving busting technique based on mindfulness (more on that in coming posts).

‘It’s sounds awfully American but loving your body with all its fat and its flaws is the best way to find the will to change it, not trying to hate it enough to make it change – no-pain, no-gain is offiicially last decade’ 

FLIPPING YOUR GUILT = EFFORTLESS RESISTANCE Again McGonigal found that when dieters were taught ways to lower their body shame and hatred they ate less, indulged less in binges and emotional eating and more in healthy behaviours and exercise.  It seems the self-hate that many ‘no pain no gain’ diets and exercise regimes keeps the body’s threat system in full tilt and makes it pump out the stress hormones that keep the impulsive self kicking strongly and make it far less likely that we can stop and reflect enough on decisions we’ve taken to lose weight or get healthy.  It sounds awfully American but the research shows that loving your body with all its fat and its flaws is the best way to find the will to change it, not trying to hate it enough to make it change.

DON’T SPOIL FOR CHOICE Baumeister’s research found that the more choices we have the less will power we could exert because of a thing called decision fatigue that makes you less likely to be able to exert self-control.  The more decisions we have to make the more tired we get, the more tired we get the less self-control we can exert (for the reasons explained in the intro).    So, eliminating unnecessary choices and decisions from our lives could be an easy way of increasing our willpower muscle.

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, STROKE YOURSELF This one is about how we treat ourselves when we blow things.  Many of us may fall for the ‘What the hell’ effect of having a donut and feeling we’re a total screw up and finishing the whole packet, then feeling guilty as hell.  But the new psychological field of Compassion Therapy focuses on self-compassion and shows the more compassion we show for ourselves the less likely we are to do that and instead to learn from the experience and correct it and simply see it as what it is, a little blip in an otherwise healthy lifestyle.

Find out more in : Roy Baumeister Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength , Kelly McGonigal The Willpower Instinct

Make willpower more effortless with: Anna Magee and Charlotte Watts The De-Stress Diet,  (I know I am always pimping my new book but after being on it for 12 months I have finally found diet peace and that is saying something!)