Making and Breaking Habits

Habits are easy to form. Just look at everything you do every day on “auto pilot.” Some of our habits are good, healthy ones – others, not so much.

Habits can be formed by sheer repetition of actions. They can also be formed when the brain’s reward center is triggered by the release of dopamine. Actions or events we find enjoyable – including activities like smoking, overeating, gambling and even compulsive use of computers and social media – trigger dopamine release.

Both types of habits can become hard-wired in the brain. That makes them automatic, so we don’t have to consciously think about them.

Do You Pandiculate?

Have you ever watched a sleeping dog or cat wake up? What’s the first thing they do? They look like they stretch before even trying to get up. But that’s not really stretching – that’s pandiculating. Just about all mammals (including humans) pandiculate. And note that the animals repeat this motion many times during the day!

Webster’s Medical Dictionary defines pandiculation as “a stretching and stiffening especially of the trunk and extremities (as when fatigued and drowsy or after waking from sleep.” Pandiculating often includes a yawn.

Pandiculating could be better than stretching!

Are your adrenals tired?

You have two adrenal glands; they’re about the size of your thumb and sit on top of each of your kidneys.

The adrenal glands play a large role in human physiology. They secrete more than 50 hormones, some of which are essential for life. They help regulate blood sugar and blood pressure, help in protein and fat metabolism, support proper cardiovascular and gastrointestinal functioning and have a major responsibility in responding to stress.

When these tiny adrenal glands are subjected to a constant, even low level of stress, they can easily become overworked. Symptoms of adrenal fatigue (aka hypoadrenia) are non-specific; they are general in nature and are present in many conditions. There is no specific medical test for adrenal fatigue. That may be why adrenal fatigue is often overlooked until it has become severe. Doctors often do not acknowledge adrenal problems unless there is extremely little functioning (Addison’s disease) or way too much (Cushing’s disease).