Hi,
A belated Happy Easter. I hope you were able to relax over the weekend and spend some quality time with friends and/or family. Harry and I went to Phillip Island for a couple of nights with a group of friends. On Friday most of the guys spent the day on their motorbikes whizzing around the Racing Circuit. Ergh. They loved it. A bit too much adrenalin for my liking. Thankfully everyone was in one piece at the end of the day…. and they were on a high!
Before I talk more about that I want to let you know that we have a SPECIAL OFFER through the School Holidays. When you book a 60 minute Relaxation Massage, Reflexology, Crystal Light Bed or Reiki or Kinesiology Session we’re offering a $20 GIFT VOUCHER to spend on anything your heart desires from our shop. You might like to try our famous Top to Toe Treatment with a 30 minute Indian Head Massage and 30 minutes of Foot Reflexology, It’s exquisite! If you have kids who are happy to sit quietly they’re welcome to wait in our reception area and hook into our WIFI for an hour.
And if you missed the email about the results of our Kinesiology and Anxiety trial take a look HERE. We were extremely impressed with the results and so far we’re getting similar results from our Medical Intuitive Sessions with Kara Kovacs. More on that next week. Our next trial is on Eating Disorders. If you or someone you know is anyone suffering from Anorexia or Bulimia and would like to be involved please complete the Questionnaire HERE and we will contact you. This project is looking at a combination of Reflexology and Reiki as a support for sufferers. Our Reiki Master and Reflexologist, Etsuko Constable, has already worked with one young woman with excellent results.
Now back to motorbikes. One of the interesting things about extreme sports is that it creates a total escape from everyday life. The faster and/or more dangerous the sport the more it brings you right into the present moment. You need to be fully alert to what’s happening and you definitely can’t be thinking about other things. It’s a very powerful way to escape from the usual day to day stresses or worries. You certainly can’t be riding a motorbike at 200 plus kph and thinking about the quote that’s due on Tuesday or the bills that haven’t been paid yet. You have to be totally focussed on the NOW. It’s like mindfulness on steroids and it can be addictive. I personally prefer my mindfulness to be much more stationary.
Whether you’re white water rafting, bungy jumping, sky diving or motor bike riding the process of feeling fear and overcoming it creates a potent combination of adrenalin and dopamine. Dopamine is a brain chemical that creates euphoria. You’ve probably heard of dopamine in relation to Parkinson’s Disease and its effect on our co-ordination. It also acts as our reward hormone. It’s released when we win on the pokies, go on a shopping spree, when we have sex or eat chocolate. It turns on our motivation circuitry and makes us want to repeat the activity. This neurotransmitter plays a big role in addiction. If levels are low, people will experience fatigue, lack of motivation and more prone to addictions. It potentially related to why some people have an addictive personality. Its not their personality at all its their dopamine levels.
I did a little research about how to increase dopamine levels without risking your life or gambling your life savings and here’s what I discovered:
- Massage Studies show that cortisol, the stress hormone decreased by 30% and dopamine and serotonin increased by 30% with regular massage. Sounds like a great reason to book an appointment with one of our massage therapists hey?
- Meditation Daily practice of certain types of meditation can increase the activity in parts of the brain that are related to dopamine production. When practised routinely Meditation can become quite addictive.
- Brain Wave Entrainment Using pulsed light stimulation to increase brain wave frequencies can lead to increased dopamine. Did you know we have a Light and Sound Meditation Machine for Brain Wave Entrainment at Simply Natural? Call us to book a 30 minute session for $50. It’s also fabulous for sleep, concentration, focus and memory.
- Eating Less Chronic calorie reduction and eating foods that contain L-Tyrosine like whey isolate, eggs, seaweed, grass-fed beef, and fatty fish improve dopamine levels. Within reason, eating less also increases your lifespan which has got to be a good thing.
- Goal Setting and Achievement Crossing things off your “To Do” list will give you a burst of dopamine. Those highly effective and organised achievers that you know are frequently giving themselves a shot of that feel good hormone. It’s probably not a bad addiction to create.
- Physical Exercise Consistent exercise over a long period of time can boost dopamine levels. This doesn’t happen straight away but many people become addicted to exercise after a period of time. It seems that the physical activity needs to be for at least 30 minutes. This increases endorphins as well as dopamine. By the way if you know anyone with Parkinson’s Disease take a look at this amazing video on the effects of bike riding! www.facebook.com/Robert.TanSB/videos/10153446178568621/
- Sleep It appears that prolonged sleep deprivation reduces dopamine. My guess is that all those parents with young children who are seriously sleep deprived are low in dopamine
- Sunlight There’s evidence that exposure to sunlight also helps increase dopamine. Don’t you just love those simple, natural therapies?
It stands to reason that all these things will help increase your energy levels, motivation and optimism even though they won’t give you quite the thrill that racing your Moto Guzzi around the Phillip Island Circuit would. Sitting in the sun or getting a massage sounds very doable to me. And who wouldn’t want to get enough sleep or crave exercise?
Of course if your batteries are very flat you might need a bit of help creating some of these changes in your life. That’s what our Practitioners are for. Did you know that Reiki or Kinesiology are really effective treatments for insomnia? And Hypnosis can help you break old addictions and create new healthy habits surprising easily. We also offer a 5 week Mindfulness Meditation Course and an extensive range of Massage therapies. How amazing is it that you can actually change your brain chemistry with a weekly massage?
There are also a number of supplements which can increase dopamine levels. Certain amino acids are the building blocks of dopamine and they work in conjunction with specific vitamins. Our Naturopaths can actually test your dopamine levels along with 5 other key neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) with an easy urine test. The results take about 2 weeks to come back. Testing allows your Naturopath to accurately prescribe what you need to get your mojo back.
That’s all for now,
Have a great week,
Alison Burton
Health and Happiness Guru
