Jeannie Beaudin, Artist and Author

“Mandala Sun”, by Jeannie Collins Beaudin

I love it when I see research that shows us how we can prevent a disease—especially an all-too-common one like diabetes. I just read this week that vitamin D is now thought to help decrease the chance that a person with pre-diabetes will progress to full diabetes. We’re always better off when we prevent illness, rather than have to treat it after it develops, so I thought I’d tell you about it!

So, this study is good news! People with diabetes are at higher risk of many conditions, like cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke), kidney disease, vision loss, foot problems (diabetes is the greatest cause of amputations in adults), and more. It’s not a disease you want to develop. Being diagnosed with pre-diabetes is a time to pay attention and make some real changes in your lifestyle.

Diabetes is a lifestyle disease

Diabetes is closely related to our lifestyle… your food choices, how much you exercise, heavy alcohol use, and carrying extra pounds increase your risk, along with factors you can’t control, like your family history, having had temporary diabetes during pregnancy, and just getting older. Smoking, excessive uncontrolled stress, poor sleep, and uncontrolled blood pressure can worsen potential complications if you do progress to full diabetes.

The study I read found that taking a daily vitamin D supplement of 1000 units or more reduced the chance of developing full Type 2 diabetes (the type that most commonly begins in adulthood, although increasingly it’s being seen in teenagers, sadly). Although Vitamin D didn’t appear to make a difference for those with average risk of diabetes, or those who were obese, it could be a good strategy to ask your doctor about if you’ve been told you are “insulin resistant” (meaning you need more insulin to handle the sugars in your diet), or that you have “pre-diabetes”.

The researchers couldn’t say for sure why vitamin D supplements didn’t make a difference in those who were very overweight but I have a theory that comes from my many years of studying hormones (vitamin D is considered a hormone, by the way). Like all hormones, vitamin D is fat-soluble so the body will store it in fatty tissues. Our vitamin D supplements are actually made from fish liver oils, because fish store their vitamin D in fats in the liver too. So, those with more fatty tissue will store away more of the vitamin D they ingest, leaving less to have an effect on the body. Remember, this is just my theory, yet to be demonstrated in research, but it holds true for other hormones. I don’t know about you, but I always like to understand the reason something happens…

Of course, vitamin D supplementation is just an additional strategy you can consider for a healthier future. A diagnosis of pre-diabetes is a signal to improve your diet (seeing a dietician can help) and to get more exercise (even a 30 minute walk every day can make a difference). Change is difficult, but remember that one small change each week can make a difference to your future. The good news is that pre-diabetes can be reversed in many people with just lifestyle changes… and now we know vitamin D can help too.

The Sunshine Vitamin

You may remember from my earlier blog, Is Your Body Dying for Vitamin D?, that vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin. Our bodies make vitamin D when our skin is exposed to sunshine, as much as 10,000 to 20,000 units in 30 minutes of sun. A session of 5 to 30 minutes 2 or 3 times a week, depending on weather conditions and skin type, is considered enough to supply a person with sufficient vitamin D during the summer. So, with summer coming up, at least here in the northern hemisphere, we just need to get outside for a short while before putting on sunscreen, which could block exposure to the vitamin producing rays of the sun.

During the winter months, depending on how close you live to the equator, it may be a good idea to supplement. Here in Canada, they recommend taking a vitamin D supplement from October until April, as the sun’s rays are not strong enough to help us produce enough of our own (plus we usually have lots of layers of clothing on when outside to keep warm, blocking the sun from reaching the skin!!).

Having enough vitamin D also helps the immune system to function, making it a factor in preventing and recovering from infections (including COVID-19), as well as reducing inflammation, aiding absorption of calcium from our diet (and thereby helping to reduce risk of osteoporosis), and reducing how much we feel chronic pain.

So, for all these reasons, get outside and enjoy those sunny days, and mark your calendar with a reminder to start an inexpensive vitamin D supplement this fall, available at any pharmacy!

References and More Reading:

Preventing type 2 diabetes with the “sunshine” vitamin?—McMaster Optimal Aging Portal

Vitamin D supplementation of 1000 IU or more per day may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in patients with prediabetes—McMaster Evidence Summary

Could Sunshine Be Good for You?—Jeannie Beaudin’s Blog

Sunshine, Viatmin D, and COVID-19…What’s the Connection?—Jeannie Beaudin’s Blog

Hola! I’m back after a wonderful 3 months in Costa del Sol, Spain this winter. I’m over the jetlag and busy setting up an apartment for our daughter, who is moving back home for a while as she searches for an affordable house to buy—a hard task these days, at least in Canada! I’ve been reading that multi-generational living arrangements are becoming more popular these days, and I can understand why. We’re enjoying having her here, sharing cooking, conversation, and ideas for what we’ll do next!

But I want to tell you about an interesting aspect of our winter in Spain…

This year, we travelled there with my sister and her husband who has problems with his memory. There are various ways memory loss can occur, and his doctors determined his is a vascular dementia, where decreased blood circulation to parts of the brain cause damage to memory centers. His Mom had received the same diagnosis years ago.

As a pharmacist, I learned about memory loss and how the symptoms often progress as time passes. But too many of us know about dementia firsthand, having experienced various types of dementias in family and friends, with Alzheimer’s Disease being the most common type. Before the trip, we had spent lots of evenings with my sister and her husband, sharing dinners and socializing. We noticed he could remember new information only briefly, while he could easily talk about the sports he played when he was a young man.

However, spending significant time with him every day for 3 months was still an eye-opener to the life my sister has been sharing with him for the past few years. Several times, my hubby voiced concerns about whether he could live with a dementia patient every day… all day long. I suppose we all do our best, for as long as we can manage it, and we marveled at my sister’s coping abilities and positive outlook.

There are many difficulties that can arise for someone with damaged short-term memory, especially when travelling—like worsening of symptoms from travel fatigue, confusion from changes in daily routine, disorientation from a change in surroundings, unfamiliar foods, decision-making over what to order in restaurants and, for travel companions, fear of them just getting lost in another country.

Here’s just an example…

I learned that, despite the need to explain things multiple times, showing respect for the person with dementia is very important. We all need and deserve respect, a basic human right. So, even after the 20th time he asked whether the mountain we could see from our balcony was Lutes Mountain, a landmark near his home, we needed to explain calmly that Lutes Mountain was in Canada, while we were in sunny Spain! Patience and politeness are necessary virtues when caring for a person with dementia. They don’t understand why you would be angry or impatient, with no memory of conversations that might have taken place just minutes before. Caring for a person with dementia is an exercise in controlling one’s emotions.

But his questions inspired us to find out the actual name of the mountain (part of the range of Andalusian Mountains). There was no point in expressing frustration that he’d already asked the same question, because we knew he remembered neither the question nor its answer. The funny thing was that none of us could remember the name of that mountain either, though we looked it up several times! The exercise created a little empathy in all of us.

The mountain is called Calamorro, by the way (I just had to look it up yet again!!). On a clear day, you can see from Gibraltar to Granada from its summit. In previous years, we’d taken the “teleferica” (cable car) we could see from our apartment balcony up the mountain, then climbed steps carved into the rock to the viewing platform at the summit. We did that excursion 3 years ago when we were all there together. The photo above was taken from the viewing platform at the top, looking toward Fuengirola in the distance.

Support for caregivers

Spending every day with someone with dementia is no small feat, although it does have its rewards. The emotional toll of controlling your feelings, not just anger and frustration, but also the sadness of gradually losing someone you love, are coupled with extra responsibilities, as the affected person gradually loses the ability to do their share of tasks in the household and requires more assistance. But keeping any disabled person in their home is a goal worth pursuing and is an achievement one can be proud of. My sisters and I had done this for our mom, who passionately did not want to go into a nursing home, keeping her in her apartment until she passed away at age 91. It’s something we can feel good about.

The Alzheimer’s Society suggests it’s a matter of balance between the quality of life for the caregiver and that of the affected person. The caregiver needs to respect and satisfy their own needs while considering the preferences and emotions of the person they are caring for and understanding what those are for them, especially as communication becomes more difficult. It’s always desirable to keep the person in their home with familiar surroundings as long as possible, but that is contingent on the caregiver’s continuing ability to give adequate care and cope with their situation.

Support can make a significant difference to the wellbeing of those living with someone with dementia and their ability to continue in this role. This support can come from friends and family members, from professional support workers, or through information from organizations dedicated to educating caregivers both about dementias and how to deal with them on a daily basis.

I think it also helps for caregivers to educate friends and family, not only about what to expect, but about what their needs are and how to best satisfy them. Those of us on the sidelines are often willing to help but don’t really know what is best to do. Communication is key, as always, and asking what support is needed and offering to help is important.

Points to remember

People with dementia are individuals and need to be treated with respect, dignity and compassion, while maintaining their privacy and safety. It’s important to consult the person about their likes, dislikes, and opinions, but they may need assistance in completing the action that has been decided upon.

I noticed on our trip that, although a decision about what to order was made ahead of time when eating in a restaurant, in the confusion and stress of ordering it was easier for him to just order what everyone else was having, resulting in a meal that wasn’t what he wanted. Knowing when to help to ensure needs and desires are met, while continuing the person’s independence, can be a balancing act for caregivers.

Experts recommend focusing on abilities even though they will change over time, rather than losses, as much as possible. Sometimes this means finding new activities and hobbies, keeping in mind that new skills would be difficult to learn. My sister tells me that her hubby is enjoying gardening this spring, something that he used to do out of necessity but wasn’t previously a major interest. I’ll want to share some of my tomato seedlings with him!

Meanwhile, I’ll need to remind myself to check in with my sister more often to see what I can do to make her life easier, less stressful, and more fun…

Additional reading:

Quality of Life–Alzheimer’s Society

We know now that COVID is here for the long haul. Moving toward our “new normal” is a gradual process that we need to do carefully. Normal life includes vacations and many of us crave travel, but how can we do this safely? Just like at home, we can stay safer if we know what to do and stick to pandemic safety rules.

My hubby and I (both retired) love to spend winter in Spain and, after much consideration, we decided to go this winter. We made it here safely … even did a rapid test 3 days after arrival just to be sure we didn’t catch the virus during the trip (probably the riskiest part of travelling). So, what’s it like to travel during a pandemic that’s winding down? What are we doing differently to stay safe?

I think the most important factor is to remember that there are still lots of opportunities to catch the virus, especially with the newest variation, Omicron, being so contagious. We do things differently at home to prevent infection, and it’s no different when travelling. We still need to do everything we can to reduce our risk. And our vacation expectations need to be a little different…

Be vaccinated (it’s required!)

First, I wouldn’t consider travelling if I wasn’t fully vaccinated, with a booster. The last thing you’d want is to end up in hospital, especially in a foreign country. But being fully vaccinated drastically reduces the chance you’ll need medical services and, knowing this, many countries (including Spain) require proof of vaccination before you come. I think the most complicated part of getting here was filling out the online form to get the required “QR” code for entry into Spain. We printed ours and loaded them onto our phones, as they can be requested at any time, and there are fines for not being able to produce your QR code!

We also checked into hospitalization insurance, just in case. It turns out we’re triple protected: Spain (and many European countries) have automatic insurance coverage for tourists, we have our private insurance, and our provincial Medicare also reimburses medical services at their usual rate.

Know the conditions at your destination

As well as checking international COVID maps and information, we also monitored a local Facebook group for expats living in the area we are staying in. It was great to be able to ask questions about conditions and rules and see photos of the streets and venues. As well, we communicated with people from Canada who had visited Costa del Sol recently to get their impression of daily life here during the pandemic. From this we could see that it was not much different than at home. In fact, the rules are stricter, and compliance appears to be higher here.

Case levels are similar to those in Canada and hospital bed availability is better than the situation at home when we left, where lockdowns were being introduced because of the high demands on hospitals due to COVID infections. Still, we knew it would not be like our usual stays here. We need to behave differently, just like we do at home, to protect ourselves.

Wear a mask that fits properly

Masking is an important part of safe travel, but they’re like condoms… they only work if you put them on and ensure they don’t leak! 😊 Buy the best quality mask you can—we have N95s for higher risk situations, like planes and shopping—and medical masks for strolls on the Paseo Maritimo and walks in the neighbourhood. I tie the ear loops of my medical masks close to the mask and tuck in the sides to improve the fit, as suggested by the CDC, as they’re too loose to seal properly on my smaller face. I also staple the sides to keep them tucked in and brought a small stapler with me for this purpose.

Masks really do make a difference in the transmission of infection (as medical personnel have known for generations!) and both the quality and the fit of the mask are important. The mask isn’t working as a filter if you’re breathing through gaps in the sides.

To improve fit and comfort with ear loop masks, consider using a device to pull the loops toward the back of your head. This does 2 things: it pulls the mask more snugly to the face (reducing leaks), and it relieves pressure on your ears (which, as any nurse will tell you, can get sore after a few hours). This device can be a commercially made strip of plastic with hooks, or a headband or strip of fabric with buttons sewed on. I’ve even seen some cute, crocheted ones made by creative people. My hubby just took a loop from a used mask, tied the ends to the ear loops of the mask he was wearing, and pulled it behind his head (note photo above). Worked great!

Plan your food and drinks

But, of course, you can’t eat with a mask on, so planning for safer eating is a helpful strategy when travelling. We packed a lunch to eat in an isolated part of the airport rather than eating in one of the restaurants to reduce our risk. I even brought a few straws so I could drink on the plane by tucking it under my mask instead of completely removing it. I can’t say how helpful this strategy is, but I wanted to try everything I could.

On the transatlantic flight, they recommended eating quickly, in less than 15 minutes if possible, and I expect this advice came from studies that found exposures of less than 15 minutes resulted in lower rates of infection. They also suspended service of coffee and alcoholic drinks that are slower to consume and would have greatly increased the time passengers had their masks off. As well, planes were loaded from back to front to decrease contact between people. First Class now gives you the privilege of boarding last without having to pass by other passengers!

But on shorter flights I’d suggest eating and hydrating before you board and keeping a mask on the entire time.

Modify your activities

Lastly, we are being careful about where we go and what we do. Just like at home in Canada, we mostly eat at home. We haven’t used public transit or eaten inside a restaurant yet and may avoid these the entire time we’re here. When eating out, we choose a restaurant with outdoor seating (not possible back home in Canada this time of year!) and well-spaced tables. And, of course, there’s always “take away”, as they call it here, if you don’t feel like cooking, and lots of prepared foods are available to make cooking easier at home, not to mention the wonderful fresh fruits and veggies. There are many small apartments available here, reasonably priced even for shorter vacations, making it easier to cook at your home-away-from-home.

We decided that the purpose of our trip was to be outdoors, enjoying the sunshine and warm temperatures, and walking more than we would at home. Like many European destinations, we can walk to do all our errands—this is one of the things we love about coming here! We go home in better physical (and mental!) condition than when we arrived because of all the walking we do in the (almost always sunny) Costa del Sol. This will not be a sight-seeing trip… We’ll save that for another time!

Especially with short vacations, sticking to outdoor activities, enjoying the weather, and getting some exercise where you can stay distanced from others can still be a great break while making sure you’ll be able to make your scheduled return home. Of course, you can’t travel if you’ve caught the virus and even a mild infection can mean rescheduling flights, especially on a short trip. So, you’d want to use extra caution, for example, avoiding indoor public buildings, at least for the last 2 weeks before your return… which is likely the entire time on a shorter vacation.

Whether you vacation near your home or travel to another continent, your choices make a difference in your risk of getting a COVID infection that could ruin your holiday. Of course, I’m not advocating for everyone to hop on a plane next week but, if you do decide to travel, plan ahead and adjust your expectations for holiday activities. With vaccination, preparation and choosing your activities carefully, it’s possible now to have a safe, enjoyable vacation that’s good for your mental and physical health!

#SafeTravelWithCOVID #COVIDvacation

Well, we’re doing it… we’re flying to Spain next week. Or, perhaps I should say, we have tickets paid for and accommodations booked there. We won’t know until the last minute whether our flight is cancelled/postponed (our airline is cancelling a lot of flights!) Such is life during COVID. Are we brave or stupid? Maybe a little of both…

But I suppose we’re no different than the Olympic athletes who are planning to head to Beijing in February. We’ve weighed the pros and cons, and taken every precaution we can think of. On the down side, we are seeing in the news that many flights are being cancelled due to passengers changing their minds plus lack of staff (that aren’t sick or burned out) to fly the planes… not to mention the weather. Makes me wonder whether our 3-month winter in Spain may be cancelled at the last minute. But one consolation is that the wave should have passed by the time we’re due to head back. We certainly wouldn’t have considered going for a short stint of a week or two.

Why would we consider travelling during a pandemic?

The answer is, our trip was planned last spring when COVID was looking quite settled and it was paid for in November, just after I knew I was recovering from a 6-month-long painful condition but before the Omicron variant was identified. Although we are allowed one change for free, we don’t want to postpone our departure as some have done, since we want to have the option to come back early if we need to, for whatever reason. Of course, after we booked our tickets, the airlines added unlimited changes at no cost to entice travellers… too late for us.

So, our suitcases are packed, we’ve gotten our Euros, and everything is arranged. Our family thinks we’re crazy, heading off to spend 3 months on another continent during the 5th wave of the COVID pandemic. But things aren’t sounding any better here, with dire predictions for the next 4 to 6 weeks that the worst is yet to come.

Spain, in comparison, is believed to have hit its peak of the Omicron wave, and the area we’re staying in, Andalusia, has the lowest case counts in the country. Still, we’ll need to be careful.

Taking all precautions

So, we’ve taken every precaution we can think of to stay safe. We have N95 masks (recommended by the CDC and other authorities as the safest to use), we’ve checked the conditions at our destination repeatedly (including reports from people who have visited there recently), and we got our 3rd boosters before Christmas.

We’ve even been taking vitamin D (reported to be anti-inflammatory and essential for a well-functioning immune system) even though it hasn’t been proven to prevent COVID or reduce symptoms. Of course, we always take 2000iu every winter anyway, living in Canada where there’s not enough sunshine to make our own vitamin D in the snowy season, so that was a no-brainer.

New COVID treatments to use at home…

As you may know, I’m constantly reading medical news, being a retired pharmacist. I’ve been watching reports of a common antidepressant, called Fluvoxamine, being useful to reduce inflammation from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. And just last week, the highly rated British medical journal, the Lancet, published results of a study that found the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization of patients at risk of severe outcomes by about 30%, and up to 60% if taken for a full 10 days.

I’m healthy (or at least I’m getting back to my normal healthy self, now that I’ve recovered from the minor surgery that I waited months for because of COVID). Getting to a place that’s warm and sunny (and not icy!) will help me recover my usual strength and stamina. But we’re both over that magical age of 65 and my hubby is a heart patient, generally considered to be at higher risk I think he might be a candidate for Fluvoxamine preventive treatment, should he contract the virus. And they say we all will, vaccinated or not… vaccination just means you’re much less likely to end up in hospital or die from it.

So, here’s the deal (as one famous person likes to put it…) A 10-day course of Fluvoxamine 100mg twice daily is an inexpensive treatment that can make a difference in the outcome of a COVID infection for those considered at high risk of the severe version, if started within the first 7 days of symptoms. It won’t work as well as the far more expensive anti-viral treatments that are available or coming soon, especially if you’re already very ill, but it’s just one more thing that we can do now to help reduce hospitalizations. As a side benefit, since it’s also an antidepressant, I suppose it could help with what I call “COVIDosis”… that blah feeling that this pandemic has left so many of us with. Included in the side effects list, however, you’ll see drowsiness (or, strangely, sometimes insomnia), stomach upset (reduced by taking with food), or sexual problems (but who wants sex when they’re sick anyway?)

Another alternative to prevent lung inflammation is to use an inhaler for asthma, called Pulmicort, twice a day for 14 days. This treatment has fewer side effects while still targeting the lung inflammation that can make it hard to breath. The main side effect is an increased chance of getting a fungal mouth/throat infection called thrush. This can be countered by rinsing the mouth with water then spitting, or by brushing your teeth after using it.

This week, the government announced that our province is on the list of those at or very near hospital capacity and that we all should avoid being in contact with others as much as possible. Reluctantly they announced a 2-week lockdown here in New Brunswick. We all need to do everything we can to slow the spread of the virus to a pace that our heath care system can handle. Shortages in hospital staff have even resulted in less staff at our local clinic, so it makes sense to be making good use of these medications when it’s indicated to reduce the chance of needing acute medical care.

But sadly, it seems to be taking time for the word to get out about these treatments. This is very common in the medical system. Although research and distribution of new knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 infection is advancing more quickly than normal due to the severity of the disease, it always takes time for results of a published study to become policy.

Ontario is the first Canadian province to have added Fluvoxamine to its official list of options for treating COVID. I’m wondering how long it will take NB officials to do the same. Fortunately, Pulmicort is already recommended for COVID treatment (according to our local doctors’ office), and our local Nurse Practitioner was willing to prescribe it for my hubby and I to take with us, just in case.

Hospitalization is very expensive. The drugs they use in hospital to treat severe COVID are also very expensive. Ten days of Fluvoxamine 100mg twice daily or a Pulmicort inhaler is dirt cheap by comparison.

So, if you are diagnosed with COVID and have underlying health problems, like diabetes, heart disease or a poorly functioning immune system (for example, due to cancer treatment or medication you are taking) ask your doctor about taking Fluvoxamine or using a Pulmicort inhaler when you are first diagnosed. They both need to be started early (within a week of diagnosis) for best effectiveness.

Heck, if you’re over 65 like me, you’re already in a higher risk category. That’s why I asked for a course of treatment to take with me to Spain!

Weigh the pros and cons

So, I’m not trying to encourage others to travel right now but, if you’re going to (or have to) travel, I wanted you to know about some of the extra precautions you can take in addition to masks, distancing, hygiene, and reducing contact with others, whether you’re at home or elsewhere.

For us, I know we’ll have a healthier lifestyle in Spain, being able to walk outside in the sunshine and we’ll have lots of fresh fruits and veggies available. If we do go to a restaurant, we will be eating outdoors. How could you go wrong eating the Mediterranean Diet in the Mediterranean? Of course, we’ll have to resist stopping into those wonderful panaderías with their fresh-baked goodies… at least some of the time!)

View from my home today…

Snow and a raging wind have kept us mostly inside here for the past several days. I could have sworn there were planes circling over our house all night last night–such a strong, loud wind. A storm surge has also meant I’d be better off with skates if I wanted to walk to the beach in front of my home… We’re feeling lucky that we haven’t lost our power! It’s enough to start anyone thinking about “getting out of Dodge” to a place where it’s easier to spend more time outdoors, right?

Anyway, wherever you are, stay safe! Like everyone else, we’re trying to learn to live as safely as possible with this disease that they’re saying will be with us for a while longer…

References:

COVID-osis – Midlife Health Blog, Jeannie Collins Beaudin

Common asthma drug cuts COVID-19 hospitalization risk, recovery time – Oxford study — Reuters

Effect of early treatment with fluvoxamine on risk of emergency care and hospitalisation among patients with COVID-19: the TOGETHER randomised, platform clinical trial – The Lancet

#COVIDtreatment #FluvoxamineForCOVID #PulmicortForCOVID

How many times have you said (or heard someone say) something was awesome? But was it really?

What is awe anyway?

Centuries ago, awe was a word to describe fear toward divine beings. Merriam-Webster defines it now as an overwhelming emotion that is a combination of wonder, respect, and sometimes dread that is inspired by authority, by the sacred or sublime, or by fear (or some combination of these). It’s the feeling you get in the presence of something vast that challenges your understanding. Think of it as revered respect mixed with fear or wonder…. An all-consuming emotion.

So, saying a tasty meal was awesome is an exaggeration most of the time (although I guess you could be in awe of some cuisine…). So much for our popular expressions!

But real awe is something worth striving for. True awe makes us feel small and unimportant, but in a good way. It’s those times when you’re experiencing something larger than yourself, or your ordinary level of experience, and it forces you to change your understanding of the world. Unless fear or a dangerous situation is involved in creating awe, it is most often an amazing (truly awesome!) experience with positive effects on us.

People describe the emotion with words like wonder, amazement, surprise, or transcendence. It can be inspired by other people, nature, music, art, architecture, religious experiences, the supernatural, or even your own accomplishments. We can feel awe from looking at the night sky, marveling at the birth of a child, or from everyday events, like a flower blooming or witnessing a stranger do something kind for a homeless person.

Increased experiences of awe are also linked to more life satisfaction, increased humility, better mood, less feelings of materialism, and more sceptical of weak arguments (and misinformation!). It can make us better people socially, too—more generous and cooperative than those who experience other emotions (shown in a study setting).

Awe can change our perception of time, making it seem more expansive, and encourages us to appreciate the present. It tends to make us feel small and inconsequential but, at the same time, very aware of ourselves and our place in the universe, with increased connection to others and a part of something greater than ourselves.

And awe is good for our health…

A 2015 Canadian study found that experiencing awe was a predictor of lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines (the chemicals that damage the lungs in severe COVID). The researchers suggested their results could provide an explanation for how positive emotions can improve our health… and how negative ones can damage it when chronically elevated!.

Scientists have even measured what happens in the brain when we are in awe. Our “default mode network” (the connected parts of the brain that fire up when we’re day dreaming, in “auto mode”, or thinking about ourselves) becomes less active. This slow-down also happens during meditation, states of flow, and on psychedelic “trips”. Note that the default mode network is also more active when we’re lonely, depressed, or dwelling on unpleasant experiences from the past.

During these pandemic times, when we’re not travelling, going to art galleries, and just staying home more doing our same routines, our default mode networks may be working overtime… creating inflammatory cytokines that could be damaging our health.

So, how can we get more awe into our lives?

The first thing to do is to start noticing awesome things that are already there that we are ignoring. You know how they say to “take time to smell the roses”? Awe comes in different intensities, and they all count toward building a more awesome life.

Turning off distractions that keep you from noticing the awe around you also helps you to see it’s there. Turn your attention outward and be open to inspirations. Just like starting a gratitude journal can help you feel more grateful (and happier), paying attention to awesome things around you, even little ones, can make your whole life more awesome.

According to Dacher Keltner, psychologist and researcher, writer and founder of the Greater Good Science Center at University of California, Berkeley, here are 8 ways to find more awe in your life:

1. Look for and appreciate moral beauty, courage, and talent in your fellow human beings. Nature and the spiritual are important sources of awe, but so are people, from those who achieve greatness through their acts or talent, to the simple but special acts that people do in your community.

2. Move in unison with others. Moving together with people, whether dancing, playing music, cheering the same team, or even walking with a friend, helps strengthen social ties and can elicit awe.

3. Get out in nature. Try a 15-minute “awe walk” in a natural setting, looking for patterns in your surroundings, shifting your awareness to what’s around you. Nature is amazing both on a vast scale and a miniature one.

4. Listen to or create music. Ever experienced “chills” from a beautiful or moving piece of music? This is a form of awe that we can tap into easily, with digital music and a set of headphones, almost any time. Making music, especially with others, combines awe-inspiring music with synchronized movement with others… doubly awesome!

5. Appreciate art or cinema with stunning visual elements. While we can enjoy art and films at home through our computers, experiencing it in larger form at a gallery (or at least on a big screen TV) is more awe inspiring. Immerse yourself in the detail and appreciate the talent that created it.

6. Seek out a spiritual or religious experience. Ritual and prayer can be profound sources of awe, as can nature, science, yoga, or meditation. It’s the type of experiences that you personally find spiritually meaningful that are most likely to result in awe. Even recalling or writing about the experience later can renew the feeling of awe, along with its health benefits.

7. Consider big ideas. The process of wrapping your head around a concept that’s new to you is called cognitive accommodation, and it’s a key part of awe… changing your understanding of the world or some part of it. Whether it’s finally understanding an intricate piece of poetry, or (like Descartes and Newton) being so awed by rainbows that you were inspired to learn the physics of light, wonder can lead to discovery which can evoke awe.

8. Witnessing life and death. I can clearly remember seeing each of my 3 children when they were first born… truly awe-inspiring moments for me. I was in such awe of what we had created, I spend hours just looking at my first-born. He was so awe-inspiring… and still is! If you’re a parent too, stop for a moment and remember those first hours with your child. Perhaps you’ll feel the awe again too. And grandkids are even more awesome! But for me, sadness at losing loved ones overwhelmed any awe I might have experienced. However, the awe can come from remembering how they enjoyed life, things they achieved, the love they shared…

I’m sure you can think of other everyday sources of awesomeness in your life, and if you look around with awe in mind, you’ll find more. Share your awe in a comment… maybe you’ll inspire others (and me too)!

And just a final note about psychedelic drugs. Once considered too dangerous and banned from use, this class of drugs is being researched again in controlled settings for use in mental health. Researchers describe the effect of a guided psychedelic experience as creating an effect similar to awe, with feelings of being connected and “one” with the universe, a smallness of self, and dissolution of ego. In Canada, these drugs are being researched and approved for end-of-life issues, treatment resistant depression, anxiety, addiction, PTSD and more. Interestingly, a single treatment can have long term results. The US, however, has not yet approved this type of treatment, although I have read some drugs in the class have been approved for research. You can read more about this in the references below and in my blog “Old Drugs, New Research” https://jeanniebeaudin.wixsite.com/author/post/2019/07/20/old-drugs-new-research published on July 20th, 2019.

References:

How to experience more wow—Psyche

Default Mode Network—Psychology Today

What Is Awe—Greater Good

Old Drugs, New Research—JCB blog about psychedelic drug research

Psychedelic Therapy in Clinical Settings—Mindcure

Dacher Keltner—Wikipedia

#CreatingAwe

We start out in life being curious about everything… a child’s favourite question is often “why?” But over time many of us lose our curiosity for some reason. “Why?”, asks my inner child… (I think I’m curious about curiosity!)

As adults, we can tend to feel that we already know all that is necessary. We are the “experts”, the “grown-ups” who’ve been doing the same stuff for years. Admitting that we could learn more about a topic or delving into something new makes us feel vulnerable and inadequate, and who wants to feel that? Two of the greatest factors in shutting down curiosity are thinking we know everything already and having an unchecked ego.

Of course, we never completely lose our curiosity… we just don’t exercise it as much as we age. But that’s something we can change!

What exactly is curiosity anyway?

Curiosity is defined as a strong desire to know or learn something, to acquire knowledge, information, understanding, and skills. It’s considered an emotion as well as a behaviour, an “itch” that needs to be satisfied as well as a driving force behind much of our development as humans, motivating many of our societies’ greatest advancements.

While animals also display curiosity as a natural exploratory behaviour when confronted with something unfamiliar, the emotion of desiring knowledge for its own sake is considered uniquely human.

Curiosity improves performance

Increased curiosity as a young toddler predicts better school performance. And being more curious in later years helps to keep your mind sharp as you age… better aging performance, you might say. Lifelong learning, reading, and writing has been shown to slow mental decline by one-third… those who rarely read or write were found to decline 48 percent faster compared to average. “Old age starts where curiosity ends” wrote José Saramago.

For most of us, our curiosity starts to decline as early as age four. When we know a little about a topic, it’s easy to feel like we know it all… essentially, you don’t know how much you don’t know! But the more we learn, the more we realize how much more information there is on any given topic, and the more curious we become.

If you know nothing about a subject, it’s also less interesting because it’s harder to understand and follow new concepts and information you encounter. Our brains like associations… that’s how we remember and understand.

So, the best way to become curious is to keep learning new things. Your brain starts to associate new facts and ideas with ones you learned before, helping you to remember and observe more than you would otherwise. Think of it as having more “hooks” to hang information on, more ideas you can integrate and tie together for more meaning and interest.

Where do you start?

Well, just spending time cruising the internet doesn’t help increase your curiosity or make you smarter, in spite of the wealth of information in the cyber world. It’s very easy to spend hours just scanning mundane social media. But, instead, use your internet time to look up information on things that interest you. Dig deeper into subjects that catch your attention, and you just may discover that there’s a lot to learn about the topic.

The internet makes is easy for us to seek out expert opinions. The key is checking your source… who posted it? I’ve used the internet for years to look up scientific studies, often finding the complete original published study, by using Google Scholar (the branch of Google that delves into scientific literature). I’ve found a few newsletters from trusted sources that feed me information regularly, often starting me off on a new tangent that ends up here on my blog. I like to find several sources on the same topic, though, to compare opinions on the subject and expand what I’m learning. One article is never enough!

In the world of health (one of my main interests, being a pharmacist), websites of universities, governments, and large reputable healthcare facilities (like Mayo Clinic) are often my trusted go-to’s. In addition to information-packed websites, many universities now offer free online university-level courses that anyone can sign up for, known as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). So, if you really want to become an expert, the information is there for the taking. Your only commitment is your time. But 90% of those who sign up never complete the course. So, it’s not just about access to information, but more about your curiosity, interest, and drive to learn. So, perhaps you’d need to scale up your curiosity before you tackle a MOOC…

An easier way to delve into a subject, is to buy a book or two on it. Nothing like spending a few hours “listening” to someone who was so curious about a subject they learned enough to write an entire book on it! Back in the years I was doing hormone consultations with women, I bought at least a dozen books, and benefitted greatly from the experience and learning of the experts who wrote them, adding to my knowledge base with each one. Eventually I followed their example and wrote my own book, integrating what I’d learned from so many sources with what I’d learned while working with my clients.

Better relationships

Being curious is also one of the best ways to show you’re interested in other people and what’s happening in their lives. Curiosity is a deeply social quality—it shows you care (although one doesn’t want to over-do it and fall into the “nosey” category…).

Neuroscientists have noted that the same part of the brain is activated when curiosity is aroused, as with romantic love. Couples who look for novel and interesting activities were found to be significantly more satisfied with their relationships and to feel more romantically about each other. The brain finds curiosity—and its satisfaction—rewarding at a very basic level.

But one of the best things about developing and satisfying your curiosity, is that you will become a more interesting person. Curiosity is a rabbit-hole where one thing leads to another. You never know where you may end up… and some suggest you may also find that your finances, health, and relationships improve at the same time. Being curious can lead to a better, richer, higher-quality life!

The famous scientist, Richard Feynman, said “everything is interesting if you go into it deeply enough.” He also said, the best way to learn is to explain the subject to someone else in a way it can be easily understood. To give a clear explanation, you need to learn and understand the subject very well. I think that’s what I try to do whenever I write, whether it’s a journal article, book, or this blog! To find things to write about and to write well, I needed to become curious.

So, here’s to finding ways to become more curious and making time to satisfy that curiosity! It’s all about asking questions, when? why? how?, and satisfying your “itch” to find the answers.

What piques your curiosity? Let me know and maybe I’ll become curious about it too…

References and further reading:

This is the Most Fun Way to Make Your Life Awesome—Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Curiosity: Why It Matters, Why We Lose It and How to Get It Back–Forbes

Curiosity—Wikipedia

The ‘Why’ Behind Asking Why: The Science of Curiosity–Knowledge@Wharton

Old Age Starts Where Curiosity Ends–Exploring your mind

José Saramago–Wikipedia

#Curiosity #LifeLongLearning