MIND & BODY AFTER 50
Self-Care for Recovery from Childhood Trauma
Self-care is evidence of psychological health -- when people are psychologically healthy, they just naturally include self-care as part of their lifestyle.
But people can also purposefully decide to develop their self-care -- they want to take better care of themselves.
Intentional self-care is a great way to actively improve your psychological health. It's especially important for survivors of childhood maltreatment.
What is ‘self-care’?
> Definition from Oxford Languages (Oxford Engli…
Scandal of Sleeping Pills
The over-use of sleeping pills is a medical scandal. And it’s a scandal that’s especially harmful to women 50+. A survey from the American CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) [1] showed that nearly 14% of women over 45 took sleeping pills on most days of the previous month.
For decades, medicine has known about serious risks associated with sleeping pills — even while many trusting women have damaged their health with these drugs.
Since at least 2002, various research studies ha…
Childhood Maltreatment
Recently I’ve noticed that many women scientists are investigating children's neglect & maltreatment. These scientists seem motivated by compassion, and they openly call for better prevention and treatment. They’re inviting us to fully understand the problem so that it can be changed. That motivation inspires their science.
Here’s more of their research findings:
About the Children
In science, child abuse/neglect is termed “adverse childhood experiences” [ACE], or “childhood maltreatment”. …
Continuing Effects of Childhood Maltreatment
Here's more from the science investigating childhood maltreatment. I respect all the feedback you've sent. This is a most important problem.
Some have written, recalling early abuse, loneliness. You say, “I just want to forget.”
Some wonder about recovery. “It was so long ago, what can I do now?”
Note: Scientists & clinicians use various labels/definitions: child ‘abuse’, ’trauma’, ‘childhood maltreatment’, ’childhood adverse experiences’, etc. For practical purposes, such labels are int…
Mindfulness & Positive States of Mind
Thank you for telling me about your experience of optimism. I'm smiling with you in this. We all appreciate our positive states of mind, don't we? It's such an important question. How can we support our happiness?
Even though outer problems may continue (they often do!), we want practical, realistic ways to develop positive states of mind from within. Self-care for our inner world.
But is that really possible? What is truly effective? How can we support our natural capacity for positive st…
Mindfulness is linked to Optimism!
Optimism has an important role in ‘mind-body’ medicine. Research shows optimism is a mind-state that can directly affect both physical and psychological well-being. For example, a doctor could rightly encourage her patient to develop a more optimistic attitude to protect the health of her heart -- or to extend her longevity.
Here’s a 2021 study that has more good news about optimism. It also shows that optimism is linked to mindfulness!
In 2020/21, psychologists from a Dutch university inte…
Too old to learn mindfulness?
Are you wondering if it's too late for you to learn mindfulness? I've been asked that many times during my years teaching MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction). Here's what I've seen.
Age is not an obstacle to mindfulness. In fact, some wise teachers say that happiness in ageing increases with mindfulness!
Curious? Please check out the video (4:40 min).
And see below a summary of research described in the video.
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“This article examines mental and physical …
Is poor sleep a cause for mental health problems?
Here's surprising new research published recently in 2021. It shows that poor sleep can be the cause of mental health problems!
This is a new perspective. Until recently, medical science usually considered a person’s poor sleep to be a part of their mental health problem. Poor sleep was a symptom, caused by the mental health problem.
But this study considers that poor sleep can sometimes be the cause of a mental health problem, not just a symptom.
That's extra significant because sleep an…
How's Your Sleep?
Do you have sleep problems? If you’re saying ‘yes’, you’re certainly not alone!
Women often experience disturbed sleep during the perimenopausal years, and, by the age of 60, almost half say their sleep is a problem, at least from time to time.
Usually, this is just occasional sleeplessness — maybe caused by a work deadline, or a noisy neighbour, or a headache, or too much coffee, etc. etc. The woman feels tired, but, eventually her mind-body rebalances, and she’s back to regular restorati…
Why you want plenty of sleep!
Sleep scientists used to be mild-mannered folks.
They usually stayed in the background, busy measuring brain-waves and lecturing at the university. They wrote scholarly articles to be read mainly by fellow-scientists -- and the occasional medical student like me, years ago.
But recently, that’s changed.
Modern sleep scientists now speak out publicly, sounding the alarm. They say our society suffers from chronic sleep deprivation. We risk serious health problems in the years ahead.
The sle…