Coping with the Recession

The numbers do not look good. This prolonged recession with its home foreclosures and layoffs is taking its toll on America’s collective psyche.  As a result, 20% of all visits to the doctor today are for anxiety disorders like panic attacks and generalized anxiety disorder. More disturbing is the fact that the National Suicide Hotline received 120,000 more calls in 2009 than in 2008. Many were from laid off workers, who are four times as likely as those with jobs to report symptoms consistent with severe mental illness (SMI) 

What can you do to avoid becoming a statistic? For starters, focus on what you have, not what you don’t have or might have lost. Count your blessings if you still have a job and a house. Start appreciating the little joys in life that made you happy as a child. Finally, cherish every important relationship you have.

To help you cope and make you more resilient here are five surprising strategies that will help you maintain cognitive health and increase your brain’s ability to defend itself against severe mental illnesses.

1)     1. Regulate your blood pressure - This is the most important thing you can do. Decades before memory and thinking problems appear, high blood pressure creates microscopic scarring in the brain. High blood pressure seems to damage tiny arteries that supply blood to white matter, which destroys the ability of nerve cells to communicate with each other. To see a list of high blood pressure warning signs, go to http://www.emedicinehealth.com/high_blood_pressure/page3_em.htm . High blood pressure is known as the “silent killer’ because it has few symptoms and is often not diagnosed until someone is in danger of a heart attack or stroke. Have your blood pressure measured at a local pharmacy. See your doctor immediately if you have symptoms and/or elevated blood pressure.

2)     2. Keep your teeth and gums in good health - Gum disease can be a major contributor to all sorts of illnesses because bacteria leach into the bloodstream. People with gum disease also have worse mental functioning than those whose gums are healthy, according to a U.K. study of more than 6,500 adults.

3)     3. Play games – Release the inner child in you and learn how to have fun again. The right games challenge your mind and help it create more of those all important neural pathways.

4)     4. Take time out to laugh - You can counteract stress—and roll back psychological aging—with laughter. Even the anticipation of a good laugh decreases the stress chemicals cortisol and epinephrine by 39 percent and 70 percent, respectively, say researchers at Loma Linda University.

5)    5.  Eat some eggs - The ideal breakfast is an egg, according to Larry McCleary, M.D., author of The Brain Trust Program. The incredible edible contains B vitamins, which enable nerve cells to burn glucose, your brain's major energy source; antioxidants, which protect neurons against damage; and omega-3 fatty acids, which keep nerve cells firing at optimal speed.