Eve Glazier, M.D., MBA, and Elizabeth Ko, M.D., are internists and assistant professors of medicine at UCLA Health.
Q. My uncle had been feeling nauseous, so he saw his doctor. He figured it was a stomach bug. After getting an MRI, he was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.
He died just two months later. Needless to say, our family is in shock.
Is this cancer always so dangerous? Why is it so hard to diagnose?
A. Although pancreatic cancer accounts for just 3% of all cancers diagnosed in the United States, it’s the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Only lung and colorectal cancers take more lives each year. It occurs slightly more often in men than in women, and it rarely appears before the age of 45. About two-thirds of patients are at least 65 years old at the time of diagnosis.
Due to its five-year survival rate, which hovers in the range of 10%, pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality of all the major cancers. For individuals who get an early diagnosis, particularly when surgical removal of the tumor is possible, the five-year survival rate improves to about 30%. But due to a number of factors, catching this type of cancer early isn’t easy. To better understand why, let’s begin with a bit of anatomy.
The pancreas functions both as an organ and a gland. Its two main jobs are to produce enzymes that aid in digestion, and the hormones insulin and glucagon, which help maintain blood sugar control. It sits deep within the abdomen, just below the liver and behind the stomach. In a healthy adult, the pancreas is about 6 inches long and weighs just under 3 ounces. It’s flat and spongy and looks somewhat like a comma that has been tipped on its side. A rounded head tucks into the upper curve of the small intestine.
The gradually tapering body traverses the abdomen and ends near the spleen. It’s because of this location, surrounded and obscured by internal organs, that pancreatic tumors are impossible to see or feel during a routine medical exam.
Making diagnosis even more difficult is the fact that in its early stages, pancreatic cancer is usually a so-called “silent” disease and causes no symptoms. It’s only when the cancer has reached an advanced stage and begun to spread throughout the body that physical effects appear. Even then, they can be similar to those of other diseases and conditions.
One of the first symptoms of pancreatic cancer is often jaundice, which is a yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes. Other symptoms include abdominal or back pain, greasy stools, poor appetite, unintended weight loss and the persistent nausea that your uncle experienced.
Diagnosis typically begins with imaging tests, such as an MRI or CT scan, and is confirmed with a biopsy. Blood tests can be helpful in determining treatment options. Depending on the stage of the disease, treatment can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and, more recently, immunotherapy. There are no screening tests for pancreatic cancer at this time. However, research into developing techniques for early detection, as well as novel therapies, is ongoing. PAID POST by Mass General Brigham — Hacking the Immune System (nytimes.com)
Can Moving the Body Heal the Mind?
Jennifer Heisz, PhD (@jenniferheisz) / Twitter
Episode 145: Move Your Body, Heal Your Mind – The Fascinating Connection
Between Exercise and Mental Health with Dr Jennifer Heisz – Dr. Mike T Nelson
Ep. 111: Move The Body, Heal The Mind with Dr. Jennifer Heisz — Eat Move Think
Can Moving the Body Heal the Mind? In her new book, Jennifer Heisz video
In her new e-book, Jennifer Heisz blends personal experience, private expertise,
the latest and newest science about how exercise can enhance your psychological
well-being. Amazon.com: Move The Body, Heal The Mind: Overcome Anxiety,
Depression, Dementia and Improve Focus, Creativity, and Sleep: Heisz: Book.
When Jennifer Heisz was in graduate school, she borrowed a friend’s aged,
rusty road bike — and wound up redirecting her career. At the time, she was studying cognitive neuroscience but, dissatisfied with the direction of her work and her personal life, began experiencing what she now recognizes as “pretty severe anxiety,” she told me recently. Her friend suggested biking as a reprieve. Not previously athletic, she took to the riding with enthusiasm, finding it “soothed my mind,” she said.
That discovery convinced her to change the focus of her research.
Now the director of the NeuroFit Lab at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, she studies the interplay of physical and emotional health and how exercise helps stave off or treat depression, anxiety, stress and other mental health conditions.
“The effects of motion on the mind are just so pervasive and fascinating,” said Dr. Heisz.
That idea animates her new book, “Move the Body, Heal the Mind,” which details the latest science about exercise and mental health, as well as her own journey from inactivity and serial emotional slumps to triathlon training and increasing serenity.
Recently, I caught up with Dr. Heisz to talk about her book and what it can tell us about mental health, the benefits of gentle exercise, the strains of the pandemic years and how to choose the right workout, right now, to raise your spirits. Our edited conversation follows.
Can we talk about exercise and anxiety, which many of us are feeling these days?
JH: Exercise is extremely beneficial for reducing anxiety. At the end of every workout, in fact, you typically get a brief reprieve from anxiety, due to neuropeptide Y, which increases with exercise. It’s a resilience factor. It helps soothe the anxious amygdala, which is the part of the brain that recognizes danger and puts us on high alert. For the last few years, with the pandemic, our amygdala has been on hyper-alert, setting off an almost constant stress response. This chronicity of stress starts to make our minds really fearful and you wind up with constant anxiety. Exercise, by up-regulating neuropeptide Y, helps soothe the anxious amygdala, dial down the fear and hyper-vigilance and keep us calmer.
Any particular type of exercise?
JH: The really nice thing is that light to moderate exercise, like walking, is enough. Research from my lab shows this kind of exercise reduces anxiety immediately after your workout and then, over time, if you keep exercising, it reduces anxiety even more and for longer. It looks like about 30 minutes of this kind of exercise three times a week is good. Walking, cycling, swimming, dancing — a wide variety of activities work.
What about more intense workouts?
At her Ontario workout laboratory, Dr. Heisz has found that exercise is directly tied to lower depression and anxiety. Credit…Narisa Ladak for The New York Times
JH: You need to be careful with really intense exercise and anxiety.
If you’re feeling anxiety, you’re already under stress. High-intensity exercise is also a kind of stress. But our bodies only have, in general, one stress response. So, during intense exercise, you add extreme physical stress onto the stress your body already is feeling and it might all become too much. Right before the pandemic, I was training for a triathlon and doing a lot of high-intensity workouts. But once the pandemic started, I was feeling so much emotional stress, I couldn’t finish those workouts. So, I backed off. What I would tell people is that, when you’re already feeling stressed-out, prolonged, intense exercise may not be the right option.
What would you recommend people do instead?
JH: Aim for exercise that feels comfortably challenging, so your heart rate is elevated but not racing. For a lot of people, that would mean taking a brisk walk around the park or the block.
Does exercise help in the same ways against depression?
JH: Classically, depression has been blamed on a lack of serotonin in the brain, which antidepressants treat. But for some people with depression the drugs don’t work well, probably because serotonin is not their problem. Many of us who study depression now think their problem may involve inflammation, which is linked to stress.
The inflammation starts to damage cells in the body, inducing an immune response and increasing inflammation, which can then get into the brain, affecting mood.
For those people, exercise may be the medicine they need, because it helps fight the inflammation. In studies, when individuals who haven’t responded to anti-depressants start exercising, they usually see significant reductions in their symptoms.
Harvesting Happiness: Exercise the Wonder Drug: Move the Body, Heal The Brain with Dr. Jennifer Heisz & Caroline Williams on Apple Podcasts
Related:
Why you need to stretch. .
How incorporate running
into your exercise regime.
How much exercise are we talking about?
JH: One study that looked at frequency, or how much exercise you need to combat depression, compared 150 minute of moderate to vigorous exercise a week, which is the standard exercise recommendation for physical health, with a quarter of that. And both groups benefited the same. So, it looks like the exercise prescription for mental health is less than that for physical health, which is kind of nice.
In terms of helping to potentially combat depression, do you think the exercise intensity matters?
JH: It might. We conducted a study a few years ago with healthy students who were facing high-pressure final exams. Some of them rode stationary bicycles moderately three times a week for 30 minutes and others did shorter, more-intense interval cycling.
A third group didn’t exercise at all. After six weeks, the students who hadn’t worked out showed symptoms of fairly serious depression, which had come on shockingly fast, and presumably from their academic stress.
Light to moderate exercise reduces anxiety immediately after your workout and then,
over time, if you keep exercising, reduces anxiety even more and for longer.
Walking, cycling, swimming, dancing – a wide variety of activities work.
The students who had been exercising moderately, though, were less stressed out than they had been at the start of the study and their bodies’ inflammation levels were lower. But what’s really interesting to me — is that the intense exercises showed symptoms of increased stress, both physical and mental. So, it does look as if moderate exercise may
be the most beneficial for mental health.
You talk frankly in your book about your own bouts of anxiety, stress and obsessive compulsive disorder, including after the birth of your daughter and, later, your divorce. Did exercise help you cope?
JH: It’s the key. Mental illness can happen to anyone, even people who seem to be handling things well. For me and many other people, life transitions, like divorce and childbirth, can be especially challenging. After my divorce, I really needed something
to redirect my life. And I knew how potently exercise, as a stimulus, alters the brain. Someone mentioned triathlons. I was still biking then. So, I added in the running and swimming.
FILE — A workout routine at Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York, Dec 8, 2021.
Experts say you can get, and stay, motivated to exercise by bundling your incentives,
being flexible, getting some support and being sure to stay on track. (Keith E Morrison/
The New York Times)
And qualified for the World Championships?
JH: Eventually, yes. But it took years. Then the championships were delayed by
the pandemic and now I’m out of shape and will have to start training all over again.
But that’s something to look forward to, really. What I find is that, in times like these, there is solace in exercise. In the peaceful moments after a workout, hope is alive.
You feel like the world is right again. And that’s really special.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Can Moving the Body Heal the Mind? – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
By Gretchen Reynolds © 2022 The New York Times
Related Posts: In the News: Jennifer Heisz on the mind-body connection and the brain’s role in exercise – Brighter World (mcmaster.ca) — Mental Health is Physical Health | Original Strength
BodCast Episode 122: Move The Body, Heal The Mind With Jennifer Heisz, PhD Original Strength Bodcast podcast (player.fm)
BodCast Episode 122: Move the Body, Heal the Mind with Jennifer Heisz, PhD by Original Strength Bodcast (anchor.fm)
How to get the jump on mental health issues, and dementia | TheSpec.com
Embrace your fears: Anxiety can have benefits if you…
Can certain foods really stave off dementia and…
‘Friend guarding’ is a normal impulse, but jealousy…
1. Stress to The Body = Memory Loss
Traumatic Experience & Anxious Moments
2. Grief is both a universal and a personal experience. Individual experiences of grief vary and are influenced by the natural reaction & sense to loss.
3. Depression is a common mental disorder. Globally, it is estimated that
5% of adults suffer from the disorder. It is characterized by a persistent sadness
and a lack of interest or pleasure in previously rewarding or enjoyable activities.
It can also disturb sleep and appetite. Tiredness and poor concentration are common.
Depression is a leading cause of disability around the world and contributes greatly to
the global burden of disease. The effects of depression can be long-lasting or recurrent
and can dramatically affect a person’s ability to function and live a rewarding life.
The causes of depression include complex interactions between social, psychological and biological factors. Life events such as childhood adversity, loss and unemployment contribute to and may catalyze the development of depression.
Psychological and pharmacological treatments exist for depression. However, in low- and middle-income countries, treatment and support services for depression are often absent or underdeveloped. It is estimated that more than 75% of people suffering from mental disorders in these countries do not receive treatment. Depression Memory Loss and GABA — This Inexpensive Amino Acid Cured My Depression. (PressReader.com).
4. Sense of Loss of Control: A Mental Health Challenge Doing Whatever Possible to Keep Control in Your Grasp. When you fear the loss of control over your life, you may do… When It’s Impossible to Control Our Circumstances.
There will always be things in our lives that we can’t control.
One of the key signs of neglect in a relationship is when a woman breaks down and cries when discussing issues with her partner. If she is crying when she talks about her feelings of being ignored or unappreciated, she has reached a point where she feels entirely neglected, as if she has to beg for affection.
100 Sad Being Ignored Quotes, Sayings, Images and Status Message (therandomvibez.com)
5. Life Shattering Experience – Search (bing.com)
How to Survive When Your Life Is Shattering: Psychology Edition.
“Resilience is defined as an individual’s ability to properly adapt to stress and adversity”. Whether you’re the world’s most intelligent man, most successful woman, or most positive person in your family of friends — we all experience heartache and adversity.
6. Lack Enjoyment and Laughter in Your Laugh:
7. Covids Impact on the Brain Imperial College – Search (bing.com)
Covids Impact on the Brain – Search (bing.com)
8. Managing Anxiety Depression and Stress – Search (bing.com)
Stay balanced in the face of stress and anxiety with our collection of tools and advice.
Sometimes you need to be a tiger to gather strength to go after what is important
in your life. Don’t be afraid to fail. Just pick yourself up and make it happen!
It’s your journey
9. Don’t grow com·pla·cent.
[kəmˈplās(ə)nt] ADJECTIVE
showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one’s achievements:
“you can’t afford to be complacent about security”
10. Chronic pain causes memory loss in adults. People with pain have a faster rate of cognitive decline over time than people without pain. Older people who suffer from persistent pain may experience a faster deterioration of memory and a greater risk of dementia as they age compared to peers who are not in chronic pain, a recent study suggests.
First, bring calm and clarity into your life with these 10 tips.
Next, identify what you are dealing with: Is it worry, anxiety or stress?
Consider a mental health day. Here is how to make the most of them.
Stress is unavoidable in modern life, but it doesn’t have to get you down.
Struggling with anxiety? Tap into your feelings of discomfort and also
turn them into a resource.
This guide can help you keep it all in check.
Yoga for stress and anxiety – Bing video
Shopping Cart Therapy – (bing.com)
Learning More About Search Results for Lyme Disease (solitarius.org)
Also Search Results for Cannabis Oil | Cancer Quick Facts (solitarius.org)
Does moderate drinking protect our heart? A genetic study offers a new answer
| THE YANGON TIMES
How War in Ukraine Roiled Facebook and Instagram – News07trends (universalpersonality.com)