Yoga and Drugs (Part 3: anxiety)

1 Comment / detachment, Neuroscience, Science, yoga

Anxiety is something that yoga vigorously attacks. Anxiety is essentially a lack of presence and ability to act in the present moment due to the consequences of the past or expectations for the future. Yoga has been clinically proven to reduce anxiety and seems to be more effective than meditation in the scientific literature, but long-term studies are still needed for determining obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety attacks. I know people with PTSD that practice and they say yoga is life-changing for them. Long term clinical trials with strict controls are needed to really see the positive effects and long-term benefits of yoga on these symptoms.

Yoga forces concentration upon the present moment; it is nigh impossible to do handstands, arm balances, and back-bends without complete focus. Especially when you are pushing the limits of your own body, you need to give it the complete attention it deserves. Yoga trains the brain to ignore “what-if” situations, giving your mind the capacity to be completely present inside of your body. “What if my foot cramps?”, “What if my leg hurts?”. These no longer become possible because you are reacting to the feeling in your foot and leg rather than predicting an outcome.

But it’s not your fault that you are anxious. American society feeds on it, telling you about the things that you need to prepare for and all of the bad things that could happen to you and have happened to others. The news is an amazingly good example. They literally go around finding things to make you startled and uneasy so that you listen to their advice and keep watching. Commercials are another good one. They tell us what we need these things and that if we don’t have them, our lives will not be complete, happy, or fulfilling. American culture also tells us that we should be busy on our cell phones so that we look important, which leads to an inability to focus on what is actually happening in our lives. All of these sources lead us further away from the truth that is inside.

Really, peace and contentment is something that you cultivate and grow. The more time you spend being present, discerning feelings as they pass, and bringing yourself to a place of gratitude, the more ability you will have to over-rule anxiety. Being grateful that you are alive can help alleviate the anxiety over work, take time to consider the circumstances of your life and how lucky you are. It doesn’t come naturally and consumerism fights your ability to be content with what is.

It comes back to the dopamine, serotonin, and over-exciting the central nervous system. Anxiety is almost 100% created by a perception, but is accompanied by physical symptoms like muscular tension (which yoga definitely helps), problems with concentration (which yoga definitely helps), and fatigue/restlessness (which yoga definitely helps). People with symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder claim that yoga helps, though long terms studies have yet to be done on reducing obsession. One of the most debilitating symptoms of anxiety disorder is fear of death, which is one of the most important parts of yoga. In yoga, Shivasana, or final corpse pose is a meditation upon death and liberates the mind and soul into the present.

All of this comes back to yoga as a treatment option for anxiety, possibly more effective than any other for its symptoms. Being content with the present is about breathing and finding beauty in the small things around you, not buying cars and houses or throwing huge parties and getting wasted. Anxiety is fought by sitting still for a few minutes in the morning, taking a walk in the afternoon, and regular yoga practice will be sure to expedite anything you are already doing. The bliss of not worrying about anything comes from breaking away from the things that you think you need, and detaching from them. This is how the detachment taught in yoga is the ultimate freedom, especially from things such as anxiety.

This concludes the three-part section on psychiatric drugs and the clinically proven effects of yoga on DSM spectrum disorders of anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity.

References:

http://www.discovery.org.in/PDF_Files/IJS_20130101.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3768207/
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=09735666&AN=89437925&h=FMvHxKjTmtz2ZnN9F8GZqJYPqQStNO2S41uSObyls8nyYJ3beQRCe5czz87Mb6qI6jFBuo4SuiZrCSHKcPtlLw%3d%3d&crl=c
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1751-0759-8-1
http://chp.sagepub.com/content/18/1/15.short
http://www.ijsr.net/archive/v2i12/MDIwMTM1MTM=.pdf

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Yoga and Drugs (part 1: Depression)

1 Comment / Anatomy, Neuroscience, Science, yoga, yoga practice

Let me ask you a question. Do you think that the drugs out there are more complex than your body? The body is capable of healing itself, yet we are so quick to turn to products and outside assistance to fix us. My hypothesis is that depression cannot be healed by drugs, it can only be healed by the individual’s mind, though drugs can give the mind a bit of a jump-start. I recommend yoga as the best cure for depression, here’s why.

There are neurological reasons why yoga is incredibly good for your psychological functioning. There are four neurotransmitters (transmit nervous information via nerves) and one hormone (transmits chemical information via bloodstream) in particular that can provide us with tremendous insight into the neurological benefits of yoga. Please note that this is theoretical.

Five of the primary molecules of the conscious nervous system:

GABA – primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in vertebrates (the nervous system’s primary function is to inhibit).
Dopamine – very active in conscious behavior such as: motivation, pleasure, cognition, memory, learning, fine motor control, and neuroendocrine control (hormones). This is possibly the most relevant neurotransmitter when we discuss waking consciousness, as dysfunction causes severe psychological illness.
Serotonin – regulation of cellular growth, healing, intestinal regulation, also pertains to mood, appetite, memory and sleep. 90% of our Serotonin is in our alimentary canal or gut. It is commonly targeted by anti-depressants and is popularly associated with happiness.
Epinephrine – both a hormone and a neurotransmitter that is activated with fight/flight mechanism. Basically ACTH starts a chain reaction that leads to mass spread of Cortisol and Adrenaline (another name for epinephrine) to activate with the entire sympathetic nervous system for the fight/flight. Adrenaline, though popularly thought to be the sole culprit behind this activation, is simply one piece to the puzzle.
Cortisol – a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex, activated in response to stress and increases blood sugar, suppresses the immune system, and aids in high level metabolic activity (breaking down fats, carbs, proteins). This is extremely important in maternal care and landmarks important events in youth and separation from the mother. Is likely key to psychological maturity and ability to cope with stress.

Now let’s talk about real life. Every day, when you wake up, you are actually shutting your brain down. It is more active when you sleep. GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, focuses you to see only what is in front of you, thank goodness. Now you are able to react to the current situation without distraction. But you also have memory and an abstract ability to plan, which is stored in the entirety of your body, not simply the brain. Then there are literally hundreds of thousands of the bodily processes that you are not aware of. Suffice to say that the waking brain is really filtering out a ton of crap for you to be able to react to the moment. This is GABA, inhibiting synapses that are constantly ready to fire, allowing us to get rid of the fuzziness and start to see clearly. Yoga increases the efficiency of this system, it allows for more focus and longer concentration.

Dopamine is your pleasure/reward system. Right answers get awesome candy right? This is the regulation of desire, craving, addiction, fine motor control, and most importantly learning. Yoga allows for vast improvements in learning and in the proprietary motor control system, which are key to the abolition of distractions, cravings, and destructive behaviors.

Serotonin works closely with dopamine, which is really used to regulate mood, memory, appetite, and sleep all of which are inter-related. Dopamine and Serotonin actually follow a very similar passageway in the brain which leads to believe that they are intertwined in the formation of habits, routines, pleasures, dislikes, and overall happiness. Quite literally, quality of life. Dieting and sleeping in a balanced manner will most likely lead to optimization of this system.

Epinephrine and Cortisol belong together. I just wanted to make the point that adrenaline (epinephrine) is just a small piece of ultra-intense consciousness during fight or flight. Epinephrine is one link on a huge chain that sets of throughout the body and ultimately causes a lot of wear and tear, especially if accidentally activated daily. Staying away from chronic stress and general overstimulation of your sympathetic nervous system is extremely important to longevity. Small doses are great and healthy, but all day, every day is too much. That’s why god took the 7th day off.

Overall, yoga vastly increases the efficiency of muscular systems, so it is likely that the entire nervous system is receiving incredible benefit. Replenishing 700 million lung alveoli with vast amounts of oxygen to travel into the bloodstream and throughout the body, cleansing muscles, sweat glands, and inner organs while simultaneously rebalancing hormones, neurotransmitters, and cerebral spinal fluid to bring about a centering of consciousness for reactivity to the present sounds pretty healthy to me. And we do it so that we can take each and every moment as it comes.

Some pharmaceutical drugs and what they do:

alprazolam – xanax – binds and potentiates GABA inhibitors, which causes massive relaxation in muscles and nervous system, which can help deal with panic attacks, but do not improve symptoms, simply masks them.

zolpidem – ambien – potentiates GABA inhibitors for sleep, easily can cause amnesia or hallucinations in overdose

fluoxetine – prozac – blocks serotonin from leaving your brain

sertraline – zoloft – blocks serotonin from leaving your brain

If you want to add to this list then please feel free in the comments. I’m going to jump into more about Serotonin and Dopamine in part two about Hyperactivity/Bi-polarity. Part 3 will be anxiety. What do you think is the neurotransmitter or hormone most responsible for happiness?

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Anatomy of the Ankle

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, Science, yoga

The ankle is the base and primary support structure for the lower body to rest upon. Ankles allow for agile mobility, massive weight support, and the repeated pressure of walking and jogging.

The primary bones and major support structures of the joint are: the tibia, the primary bone that connects the inside of the leg to the ankle and forms the shin; the fibula, the secondary lower leg bone that is on the outside, or is exterior to the tibia; the calcaneus, which forms the back of the heel; and the talus, which is the centerpiece between the calcaneus and the tibia.

The primary tendons and ligaments (ligaments connect bones, tendons connect muscles and bones) of the ankle are the Achilles tendon, connecting the back of the calcaneus to the gastrocnemus, the calve muscle. There are arrays of tendons all along the top and bottom of the foot, with the primary nerve canal running on the inside of the ankle and through the arch of the foot. There is a significant amount of fascial tissue and softer tissue inside of the ankle socket to allow for greater surface area through pressure.

Here is a great video to get an overview of ankle functionality that is really well done and illustrated: Ankle Anatomy

We still have a little detail to add about the arch of the foot and the ankle’s spring like functionality. Here is a good look at the springing action of the ankle. We’ll cover the arch of the foot in our foot anatomy post 🙂

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Shoulder Anatomy and Physiology

Leave a Comment / Anatomy, Science, yoga

Human Shoulder Anatomy

Understanding shoulder anatomy can help to avoid injury, promote rehabilitation, and can assist you in using the joint optimally. Please let me know if you have questions about this article in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

The human shoulder is a powerful and large anatomical structure. The hinging ball and socket joint allows for vast gains in momentum over short periods of time and is relatively versatile. The shoulder anatomy allows for many types of throwing, fine motor movement down to typing, powerful grasping, hefting objects, climbing, combat, quadruped movement, etc. The shoulder also has a large range of motion; however, this makes the shoulder prone to injury.

Bones of the Shoulder

The shoulder joint is relatively loose. There are three main bones of the shoulder: the collarbone, shoulder-blade, and the upper arm bone. These are known as the clavicles, scapula, and humerus, respectively. The shoulder blade also has a bone called the caracoid process which connects to the biceps at the front of the arm and an upwardly angled bone called the acromion that connects to the Clavicle (collarbone) via the CA ligament.

Ligaments of the Shoulder

There are large amounts of ligaments and tendons in the shoulder joint, because of its versatility, stability, and strength. As you can see, the three bones of the joint are combined together with vast arrays and webbings of ligaments that allow for the large range of motion while keep the joint stable. Honestly, the joint is so complex that using words to describe it become somewhat useless. So here’s a huge blown up picture for you to look at in awe of how fucking amazing your shoulders are:

Muscles of the Shoulder

All of the deep ligaments that you see above are supported by muscles tissue. The muscles that make up the rotator cuff are the infraspinatus, supraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres. There are also three deltoid muscles on the head of the humerus, the rhomboids that connect the shoulder to the spine and the traps which connect the shoulder and neck, and provide support for the shoulder blades.

The infraspinatus muscle runs along the scapula (shoulder blade), covering the back of it over the teres minor muscle. The teres minor connects the outer arm with the outer lower edge of the shoulder blade. The supraspinatus connects the head of the humerus (arm bone) to the inside edge of the scapula articulating underneath the clavicle (collarbone). The teres major connects the outer clavicle with the back of the humerus; it is more superficial and larger than the teres minor. The subscapularis muscles run on the inside of the shoulder blade, but is not connected to the rib cage which is part of what allows the shoulder blade to have such a broad range of motion. Over all of these muscles are the deltoids, which are the most superficial shoulder muscles. They are separated into anterior, lateral, and posterior sections.

Nerves of the Shoulder

The nerves of the shoulder are also complex; consider that the fine motor function of typing must travel from your spine to your fingertips through the intricacies of the shoulder joint. You also have a very responsive feedback loop between your eyes and hands, which travels within the shoulder and into the forearms and fingers.

There are three primary nerves in the arm that run through the interior of the joint and connect to the digits (fingers).

The radial nerve provides innervation to the dorsal muscles of the arm: triceps, extrinsic extensors of the hands, as well as sensory innervation to the back of the hand, except for the pinky and half of the ring finger. It originates from the brachial plexus, carrying fibers from the ventral roots of spinal nerves C5, C6, C7, C8 & T1.

The ulnar nerve provides innervation to the back of the other three fingers, including the thumb. It also provides the majority of the innervation of the forearm and head of the bicep. The ulnar nerve originates from the C8–T1 nerve roots (and occasionally carries C7 fibers) which form part of the medial cord of the brachial plexus, and descends on the posteromedial aspect of the humerus.

The medial nerve provides innervation for the inside of the thumb, pointer, middle, and half of the ring finger. It also innervates the lateral and inferior portions of the forearm. The median nerve originates from the lateral and medial cords of the brachial plexus, and has contributions from ventral roots of C5-C7(lateral cord) and C8 & T1 (medial cord).

Here is a final picture of the brachial plexus to assist in visualizing how the nerves flow down the arms.

This concludes my article on shoulder anatomy; please write any questions below!

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