April 28, 2021

A Rabbit Story

Can kindness help determine who gets sick and who stays healthy?

A powerful example of the impact on health due to caring kindness and loving relationships comes to us from research conducted in 1978 by Dr. Robert Nerem and his research team. The goal was to establish  the relationship between a  high-fat diet and heart health. Their research population was New Zealand white rabbits who shared an identical gene pool. This limited the research variables. The experimental group of rabbits was fed a high-fat diet, and over several months were monitored for blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol levels.

As expected, many of the rabbits in the high-fat diet group showed a buildup of fatty deposits on the inside of their small blood vessels, but the unexpected finding was that a significant number of rabbits in this same group had as much as 60% less buildup of fatty deposits in their blood vessels! How could this be? Was there an intervening variable that the researchers hadn’t known about?

The experimental design was thoroughly examined with no answer. Eventually, the scientists turned their attention to the research staff made up primarily of post-doctoral students. Could the answer be there? Was it possible that a staff member had done something to influence the results? It was finally discovered that every rabbit who experienced significantly fewer fatty deposits in their blood vessels was cared for by one researcher who had a very kind and caring personality! After feeding her group the required fatty diet each day, she then petted, cuddled, and talked to each rabbit. Besides the food, she gave them love and kindness.

The experiment, tightly controlled for every variable, was repeated, and the same results were produced. The rabbits who were cared for by the kind and caring researcher had significantly higher health outcomes. This study found its way into the very prestigious journal Science.

The results of the study have recently found new life with Dr. Kelli Harding’s new book The Rabbit Effect. Dr. Harding  discusses the invisible factors that greatly affect our health and wellness and concludes, “Ultimately what affects our health in the most meaningful ways has as much to do with how we treat each other, how we live, and how we think about what it means to be human!” (The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Healthier and Happier With The Groundbreaking Science of Kindness by Kelli Harding, MD, MPH)

Who can question that kindness and love in our relationships, true friends, a purpose for living, and a healthy environment have a huge impact on our health, wellness, and longevity?

March 18, 2021

Improve Your Odds of Staying Well!

Is your heaviest life burden the thoughts in your head? The impact of your perceptions and personality on your health and wellness is huge!

In this blog, I  share with you what has been discovered about the way you see things, how you explain what happens, how much control you feel over your life, and even certain aspects of your personality. These insights can improve your odds of getting and staying well. Your health and wellness is greatly affected by your explanatory style.  Explanatory style is  the way you see (perceive) or explain the things that happen in your life.  It is the way you talk to others and to yourself about the events in your life. This is particularly crucial  in the way you interpret your own successes or setbacks. Your conclusions influence whether you become optimistic or pessimistic. But explanatory style is bigger and more complex than simple optimism or pessimism since it also governs the way you respond to things.

Your explanatory style has three important dimensions:

1. It determines whether you see a particular event as fairly isolated or whether you think similar things will keep happening.
2. It determines whether you think you have influence or control over what happens to you.
3. It determines whether you think a repeated event will always turn out the same or whether the outcome can be changed.

Impact on Health?

Explanatory style has a great influence on your physical and mental health. If you believe you are in good health and are able to prevent health problems, this is a more powerful predictor of your health than a physician using laboratory tests. 

A pessimistic explanatory style weakens the immune system and frequently leads to depression. Conversely, an optimistic explanatory style positively stimulates the immune system , sends positive signals to the body, and positively engages your body’s own healing system! How is that possible?

 The hypothalamic center of the brain (attitude) is directly wired to the immune system. Your optimistic explanatory style creates better mental well-being and makes you less prone to mental health challenges such as anxiety and mood disorders.

Another important factor is internal versus external locus of control. This refers to where you think your personal control originates; do you control you, or do outside forces control you? Locus of control can be changed to stronger internal control. 

Your personality also has a major impact on your health and wellness. Certain personality characteristics can help you become disease-resistant or disease-prone. The “hardy” personality allows you to cope successfully with stress and experience less illness. You can do a number of things to  increase your hardiness and  stress resilience, and take you up the path of optimal wellness.Find out much more on this wellness topic in Chapter 3 of MIND BODY SPIRIT: The Triple Bond of Optimal Wellness, available as an eBook or an audiobook at Amazon.com. Printed copies are deeply discounted for a limited time on my website, resilienthealthdiscovery.com for just $7 and $2.95 shipping, while supplies last.

January 20, 2021

Where’s your North Star?

Do you have a North Star in your life—a personal North Star? 

I have often looked up into the night sky ablaze with stars during a camping trip in the high Uintas. I discovered that Polaris, or the North Star, was always in the very same spot in the north pole of the heavens. It is always consistent and fixed in place while the northern sky moves around it. Travellers throughout the centuries like Columbus, the Vikings, and the Polynesians relied on it for direction as they found their way across the deep waters. 

So what does having a personal North Star mean? 

You and I are also travellers trying to find our way in life. We each need a North Star—not the one that lights up the heavens, but a personal North Star that lights the way for us to discover our purpose and mission in life.

Your personal North Star is your personal mission statement—the document that helps you focus and prioritize, that defines your life purpose. It is about finding what you love best. It’s the guiding light that keeps you firmly on track for fulfillment and success—a fixed destination you can depend on in your life as the world changes around you. It is the ultimate manifestation of  your potential for good and happiness and relies on the internal compasses already built into your body, brain, and spirit.

Gary Ryan Blair shared this North Star idea: “By setting your sights on your North Star . . . you give your life hope, meaning, and a powerful reason to make the most of it.” 

It is all about knowing who you really are, your incredible potential, and your unique sense of mission. Aristotle suggested, “Where your talents and the needs of the world cross lies your calling.” That is your mission, and when you discover it, you discover your personal mission statement.

Finding your personal North Star, your purpose and mission in life, helps you find your path to success, fufillment, happiness, and optimal wellness.

This important life message and other critical wellness concepts that help you strengthen your resilience, lessen stress, thrive with grit, and love life to the fullest are all found in our  new book A Better Tomorrow, available Spring 2021.

Dr. Keith J. Karren and Dr. Glenn Richardson

December 15, 2020

Do You Have INUKSUK  in Your Life?

Hello again from resilienthealthdiscovery.com. We wish you a wonderful Christmas season with real hope that Covid-19 will soon be a memory that has taught us much about what is really important in life.

I lived in frigid Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for two years and while there discovered the INUKSUK. These are man-made stone landmarks or direction finders created by the natives of the Arctic regions of North America to find their way on the barren tundra. The building and use of INUKSUKS has very ancient roots and is still practiced today.

We all need INUKSUKS or directions to pursue optimal health and wellness, developing within us the universal values of responsible free will, integrity, caring love, and continual growth. Healthy, well-balanced people seem to live with these four values as a core. The directors that aid us in developing these core values are the following four optimal wellness and stress-resilient principles:

1. A SENSE OF MEANING AND PURPOSE

Healthy people find meaning and purpose in the present, enjoy the process of creativity and growth, have a caring sense of mission, and have a clear vision of their potential.

2. A FEELING OF PERSONAL CONTROL AND EMPOWERMENT

A sense of internal locus of control or personal control moves you toward personal empowerment.

3. A SENSE OF ACCEPTANCE AND CONNECTEDNESS

This is the level of closeness we feel with others and has the potential of enhancing our quality of life.

4. A FEELING OF HOPE

Dr. Judith Rich may have defined it best: “ Hope is a match in a dark tunnel, a moment of light, just enough to reveal the path ahead, and ultimately the way out.”

You have it within you to live these four principles. In the late 1800s, the noted English poet William Ernest Henley lost one leg to complications of tuberculosis and was about to lose the other. It was saved by Scotland’s Dr. Joseph Lister who developed sterilization and became known as the father of modern surgery. Henley experienced much adversity and was an example of great resilience. Shortly after his leg-saving surgeries, Henley penned the masterpiece INVICTUS and inspired millions with “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” You are the master and captain of you as you pursue optimal health and wellness.

These principles are discussed at length, and many others, in our new book, A Better Tomorrow, soon to be released next spring 2021.

In the meantime, catch us with us by reading Mind Body Spirit and Resilient Journey so your read to make even more progress with A Better Tomorrow!

Dr. Keith Karren

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November 13, 2020

IS YOUR HEART FAILING YOU?

As we consider the present-day political climate and the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is little wonder that peoples’ hearts are failing them. Anxiety, depression, loneliness, and negativity seem to be rising with so much anger and hostility surrounding us. We are all searching for ways to cope. We often refer to the heart as the seat of emotion. How do we strengthen our hearts mentally and emotionally so they won’t fail us?

There are probably several answers to that query, but one of the most powerful answers is to rely upon and strengthen our spirituality. What is spirituality really, and how do we strengthen it? When the majority of us think of or hear the word “spirituality,” we think of religion and churches. Religion is an organization that includes particular doctrines, beliefs, ecclesiastical practices, or systems. Religion can help us become more spiritual, but spirituality is more than religion. What, then, is spirituality?

The word spirituality comes from the Latin word  spiritus which means “breath,” “life,” or “source of life.” It describes the connection between man and all sources of life: a divine being, the earth, the environment, the cosmos, nature, animals, and other human beings. Spiritual health or well-being involves achieving oneness with all sources of life and focusing on the energy of life that invites healing and wholeness. Think of spirituality as an internalized religion, connected to your inner wisdom.

I love this quote by Meenu Rathorne: “Religion is a bridge to the spiritual—but the spiritual lies beyond religion. Whenever you hear or read anything of a spiritual nature that moves you or touches your soul, you are not learning something . . . you are remembering what you have always known. It is a gentle awakening.”

How can increased spirituality help us during this difficult time?  Consider the traits that come with spirituality: love, faith, hope, a sense of purpose, meaning to life, and commitment. These lead to improved health and wellness through a strengthening of an internal locus of control, enhanced self-esteem, and a sense of connectedness to others and to a higher power. Practices associated with spirituality  (prayer, contemplation, or quieting the mental storm, meditation, etc.) reduce pain, anxiety, and depression. Spirituality reduces the production of stress hormones and improves brain structure and function.

Spirituality involves faith, which has a strong connection to good health and healing (think placebo effect). A key component of spirituality is altruism—the giving of yourself out of a genuine concern for the welfare of others. That refers to unselfish, benevolent love. Altruism boosts physical and mental well-being and healing, happiness, health, and longevity. It is a stress reducer and increases immune strength.

Yes, this is a difficult time, but increased spirituality will help us to survive and thrive through it all. For more information on spirituality and well-being, refer to Chapter 6 of Mind Body Spirit: The Triple Bond of Optimal Wellness, by me, Keith J. Karren—softcover books are available at resilienthealthdiscovery.com and online at Amazon.com in eBook and audio formats.

—Dr. Keith J. Karren, PhD

October 27, 2020

LONELINESS

Are you lonely? If so, how does loneliness affect your health and wellness?

The famous Harvard educated expert on stress, spirituality and the mind/body connection, Dr. Joan Borysenko, gave us this powerful statement concerning loneliness:

“To be isolated is the greatest tragedy for a human being

and the most generic form of stress.”

Are you feeling lonely in 2020? Well, you’re not alone. Studies conducted over the past several months are telling us there has been a 20 to 30 percent rise in loneliness due to Covid-19-mandated social distancing. Loneliness is a pandemic in its own right, increasing and being more fully exposed by the pandemic.

Risk factors for loneliness include age (the elderly and adolescents), gender (men), marriage (widowed and divorced), income (low income), and family structure (lonely parents). Neuroscience indicates that loneliness is a biological cue just like hunger and thirst. In the pandemic distancing of today, it is as if we are all very thirsty (lonely) but told the water isn’t safe to drink!

The tragedy is that people who are chronically lonely have a 26 percent greater risk of dying. Dr. James Lynch states, “Loneliness is the greatest unrecognized contributor to premature death in the United States.” This may come in part from poor stress coping and consequently having large amounts of the hormone cortisol surging through the body, suppressing immunity.

So what can we do about it?

—Don’t let Internet “friends” take the place of living, breathing human beings.

—Develop quality relationships.

—Volunteer to serve.

—Serve those in your neighborhood, church group, etc.

—There are many other ideas that I share in MIND BODY SPIRIT: The Triple Bond of Optimal Wellness. (Get your paperback copies on our website or eBooks and audiobooks online as Amazon, Audible, iTunes, Apple Books, and more.)

Increased social support in your life increases your self-esteem. You experience less anxiety and depression. It gives you greater purpose and meaning, and you live longer! 

I conclude with the wisdom of Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, BYU professor of psychology and neuroscience.

“My hope is that what we are going through will help people recognize just how important our relationships are, not only for our emotional well-being but for our physical well-being. The pandemic has given everyone a small glimpse into what it is like for a small percentage of the population that is already chronically isolated, that was already homebound. Hopefully we can not only gain greater empathy, but recognize the urgency for solutions.” _{Deseret News, October 25, 2020}

Dr. Keith Karren

October 14, 2020

GRIT AND GROW

There’s no question, we are living in a difficult time. The majority of us have had our lives disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and political turmoil, not to mention hurricanes, massive wildfires, earthquakes, and more! 

Those disruptions are filled with change, stressors, challenges, adversity, and opportunities. How are you handling it all in your life? Is your resilient nature helping you live in a healthy, balanced way? You may be asking yourself, “How do I know?”

What is resilience anyway?

Resilience is the set of skills, the innate force within your soul, that enables you to look these disruptions right in the face. Resilience empowers you to thrive through adversity, challenge, and opportunity. Resilience gives you the grit to grow, become wise, progress, and increase your coping capacity every time your life is disrupted. 

Becoming a stronger and better person through resilience is a choice you make, and that choice of living a resilient life will result in many personal benefits.

—When you feel anxious, resilience brings calm and serenity.

—When you encounter stress, resilience helps you embrace it as a springboard for growth.

—When you are afraid, resilience channels the energy of fear into the power of courage.

—When you face adversity, even tremendous adversity, resilience brings strength beyond your normal capacity.

—When you experience discouragement, resilience brings peace and hope.

A great quote from Eric Greitens says, “We all need resilience to live a fulfilling life. With resilience, you’ll be more prepared to take on challenges, to develop your talents, skills, and abilities so you can live with more purpose and joy.”You deserve to be more resilient! Let us show you how with our book, Resilient Journey: Turning Difficulties into Diamonds. That journey will give you increased happiness, peace, and wisdom. 

Take this time to explore the resilience in your life,

Keith and Glenn

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September 30, 2020

SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH

If you’re more spiritual what are you more likely to do?

What is spirituality anyway? Is it being religious? If roughly half of Americans attend religious meetings and half don’t, are the more religious healthier? Does spirituality, or lack thereof, impact your health in any big way? 

Well, let’s answer these questions one at a time and then draw conclusions.

1. If you are more spiritual, you are more likely to . . .

The Fetzer Institute recently reported in their study “What Does Spirituality Mean to Us?”  that their major finding was  “those who connect with a higher power are more likely to be active in their community by volunteering, donating and voting. “ These are characteristics of altruism. People talk about connection between the outer and inner world “and with others in the community.”

2. What is spirituality anyway?

 The word spirituality comes from the Latin word spiritus, which means breath, life, or source of life. It describes the connection between humans and all sources of life: a divine being, the earth, the environment, the cosmos, nature, animals, and other human beings. Spiritual health or well-being involves achieving oneness with all sources of life and focusing on the energy of life that invites healing and wholeness.

Physician and author Deepak Chopra said: “Spirituality is the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love, and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight, and focused attention.”

Meenu Rathore adds: “Religion is a bridge to the spiritual, but the spiritual lies beyond religion.” There are many similarities between religion and spirituality but also many differences. For greater understanding of this, I refer you to MIND BODY SPIRIT: The Triple Bond of Optimal Wellness, Chapter 6, How Spirituality Affects Your Health.

3. Does spirituality really impact your health?

 Spirituality can and does have an influence on physical health and that influence is often dramatic! The reason why can be attributed to the traits that come along with spirituality: love, faith, hope, a sense of purpose and commitment, all five of which lead to good health through an internal locus of control, enhanced self-esteem, and a sense of connectedness to others and to a higher power.

Spirituality is associated with life satisfaction, marital satisfaction, and a sense of well-being, all of which have been shown to increase immune system strength , reduce stress hormones, and contribute to positive health practices associated with spirituality, such as prayer, contemplation and meditation, reduction of pain, anxiety, and depression. To understand more about spirituality, how to strengthen your personal spirituality, and the five spiritual practices that will transform  your health and wellness, read Chapter 6 of MIND BODY SPIRIT: The Triple Bond of Optimal Wellness by Keith Karren, PhD.

Dr. Keith Karren, PhD; Photo by Volodymyr (Vladimir) Nikulin (thank you, Vlad)

 

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September 18, 2020

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August 22, 2020

August 13, 2020

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August 6, 2020

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July 17, 2020