December 4, 2023
Literature Review
1) High resting cardiac vagal tone or control, CVC, is associated with more flexible emotional responding to external stressful stimuli. With regard to vagal changes the evidence shows us that stress will decrease CVC . (Balzarotti et. al. 2017)
Being relaxed and not stressed out is always associated with better cellular physiology. CVC is a marker of relaxation and thus emotional control. Whenever you find yourself emotionally dysregulated, there is a good chance that your vagal tone is off. Work to meditate, exercise and relax which will increase CVC and help you cope.
2) Continuing on the same theme. This study from Dr. Huberman's lab notes that brief structured box breathing and meditation reduces systemic stress, however, breath work is superior. "Daily 5-minute breathwork and mindfulness meditation improve mood and reduce anxiety. Breathwork improves mood and physiological arousal more than mindfulness meditation. Cyclic sighing is most effective at improving mood and reducing respiratory rate." "Controlled breathwork practices have emerged as potential tools for stress management and well-being...three different daily 5-min breath- work exercises compared with an equivalent period of mindfulness meditation over 1 month. The breathing conditions are (1) cyclic sighing, which emphasizes prolonged exhalations; (2) box breathing, which is equal duration of inhalations, breath retentions, and exhalations; and (3) cyclic hyperventilation with retention, with longer inhalations and shorter exhalations. The primary endpoints are improvement in mood and anxiety as well as reduced physiological arousal (respiratory rate, heart rate, and heart rate variability). Using a mixed- effects model, we show that breathwork, especially the exhale-focused cyclic sighing, produces greater improvement in mood and reduction in respiratory rate compared with mindfulness meditation. Daily 5-min cyclic sighing has promise as an effective stress management exercise."(Balban et. al. 2023)
Here is a youtube video demonstration of this simple technique to reduce stress. I highly encourage this training relaxation technique for all children and their parents to reduce vagal sympathetic tone. This is very akin to the 4-7-8 breathwork technique that reduces CVC.
3) Emotional granularity is a verbal representation of an affective experience, a process by which Individuals differ in their ability to create instances of emotion that are precise and context-specific - the positive, of which, is emotionally healthy with a converse negativity as well. People who have a higher positive emotional granularity state are happier and less prone to mood dysregulation. They are more capable of handling stress. (Hoemann et. al. 2021) "Emotional granularity is the level of specificity that characterizes verbal representations of an affective experience. When asked to report how they feel, some individuals use emotion words like “happy,” “excited,” “sad,” and “angry” to represent highly differentiated experiences. These individuals are higher in emotional granularity, and report their emotional experience in more precise, differentiated terms, using discrete emotion labels like happy, sad, angry, etc., in a way that captures the distinctiveness in these words. Others represent their experiences in more global terms. These individuals are low in emotional granularity: they reported their experience in global terms, using discrete emotion labels to communicate only the most general of information (typically, pleasure and displeasure). They use words like “angry,” “afraid,” and “sad” interchangeably, not distinguishing between discrete emotion terms." (Yen Tan et. al. 2022)
Interesting science that shows very concrete ways the brain biologically responds to experience. Giving it context and precise word meaning is granular and healthy. Moving through the emotion is healthy. We have learned so much about the lack of feeling and emotional understanding around experience that our culture has had as the baseline ethos. It is a good thing that we are learning this and growing emotionally as a society.
4) "Circadian rhythm disturbance is a common feature of many psychiatric disorders. Light is the primary input to the circadian clock, with daytime light strengthening rhythms and night-time light disrupting them. Therefore, habitual light exposure may represent an environmental risk factor for susceptibility to psychiatric disorders. We performed the largest to date cross-sectional analysis of light, sleep, physical activity, and mental health (n = 86,772 adults; aged 62.4 ± 7.4 years; 57% women). We examined the independent association of day and night-time light exposure with covariate-adjusted risk for psychiatric disorders and self-harm. Greater night-time light exposure was associated with increased risk for major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, psychosis, bipolar disorder, and self-harm behavior. Independent of night-time light exposure, greater daytime light exposure was associated with reduced risk for major depressive disorder, PTSD, psychosis, and self-harm behavior.... Avoiding light at night and seeking light during the day may be a simple and effective, non-pharmacological means of broadly improving mental health." (Burns et. al. 2023)
That says it all. Get to bed early, wake up early and enjoy the light of day. Add this to a competent food intake regimen and most mood issues will slowly fade away. Oh, and limit social media/screen time.
Dr. M
