Stress and Cancer.

1. What is  stress? stress refers to the emotional and physiological reactions experienced when an individual confronts a situation in which the demands go beyond their coping abilities and they can easily become overwhelmed. Some examples would be a death in the family, financial crises, relationship issues and being told that you or a loved one have cancer or some other life threatening condition, these are major stress events but really anyone can become overwhelmed with anything out of their range of experience.

1. How does stress affect the body?  Apart from the emotional symptoms the body responds to stress by releasing stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. The body produces these hormones to help a person react to a situation with more speed and strength which eventually in todays world can be exhausting . Stress hormones increase blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels to aid the body to get away from a perceived threat they also increase inflammation and lower the immune system response which was proved beyond a doubt in 1975.The body did not evolve to handle long standing and consistent levels of stress and so we see the repurcussions physically . Chronic  stress increases obesity risk which also increases cancer risk , heart disease,depression and anxiety risk. Stress also increases blood sugar levels feeding cancer cells as they use 17 times more glucose than normal cells .Stress also can lead to addiction as a coping mechanism to feel normal leading to drug and alcohol overuse which also increases cancer risk.

1. Can stress increase a person’s risk of developing cancer? There are direct risks and indirect risks.Stress affects cancer risk indirectly by decreasing general immune response and increasing lifestyle risk factors like bad nutrition and alcohol and drug consumption but it can also affect them directly .Recent research suggests that the body’s hormonal response in response to stimulation by the nervous system  can directly alter important processes in cells that help protect against the formation of cancer, just one example of this would be DNA damage and repair. Stress limits an enzyme called telomerase which protects the telomeres or protective tips at the end on chromosomes and stops them from unwinding.  Studies have also  indicated that stress can affect tumor growth and spread in a negative way.  Scientists have suggested that the effects of stress on the immune system may in turn affect the growth of some tumours.

1. How do I reduce stress?  Stress is increased when a person does not have the ability to deal with life events appropriately, simply put they have never learned how.So from our experience the best way to deal with stress is to learn how and from an early age as possible..We cannot control or predict what happens to us in life, but we can govern how we react , process and deal with what happens to us.This is why some people with the same experiences will develop a high stress response  and some won’t. Once you understand how this reaction happens you are well on your way to controlling it for mental and physical wellness.

How to help people with depression and anxiety

by educating  yourself on the real stress cause  and learning how to upgrade thinking.

We are contacted daily by parents, partners and friends who have a loved one they wish to assist but are watching them spiral further down into depression ,anxiety and addiction and are desperate for ways to help them before they possibly hurt themselves. In many cases the person they wish to assist has yet to admit they have a problem and thinks they are successfully managing to keep it hidden, and although it is obvious to everyone around them they are yet to acknowledge the issue at all This is usually because they have spent time and money in the past and have been unsuccessful as well as being told by professionals that these states are incurable only manageable which is untrue. We have found the best way forward is to support and educate  these people in supporting roles to gain some momentum for change from the person exhibiting symptoms of stress, depression  and anxiety leading to addiction.

Our unique solution is educational so if a sufferer  is not ready for change yet  we teach the people around them as much as we can to support them until they are ready to do so.This works in two ways one it actually gives the people around them something to do and techniques that work eliminating feelings of doubt and hopelessness that are so prevalent when dealing with these issues. Two it show a person dealing with these issues that there is a third solution that they have not tried yet and so they cannot judge it in the same way as they haven’t attempted it before. It also shows them that the people around them are investing their time into finding a solution assisting to raise self worth and motivation for change, reducing isolation and feelings of being alone in this.Chipping away at the belief that this problem is to big to fix which is just not true it just needs the right solution applied.

So where to start? the first thing is to stabilise the environment, but try to do so without being invasive and always ask for consent. . Our guests are usually highly stressed and emotional, have spent a large amount of time effort and cash trying to solve their problem and are ridiculously  good at distracting themselves which is a common part of having stress ,depression or anxiety and especially addiction . If you cannot fix yourself  then the best you can do in the short term  is distract yourself which becomes a continuous cycle.So making sure a person has a good clean orderly home environment and gets some good wholesome food into them is pretty much a no brainer place to start, a persons external environment is a great indicator of an internal mental environment and one does affect the other.The next step is to get hold of new and relevant information as there is no point asking a person to try something they have tried unsuccessfully many times before all you will get is anger and despair as a response.Have a look at our book or better yet our external program here How to help people with depression anxiety and addiction.Once you really understand the true cause of these states your in a much better position to explain the information to others.

You might consider changing the home environment to reflect the principles we use here if possible.This would involve limiting communication and distractions. Turn off the phone and television for periods of time,use mindfulness meditation first thing in the morning for 20 minutes to calm the mind,or for 20 minutes in the evening to help sleep as well as going over the information in our book and educational packs daily to increase understanding and application. limit sugar wheat dairy soy caffeine  as many people have intolerances and reactions they are unaware of.Start daily vegetable juicing to increase natural nutrition and take 2-4 grams of EPA/DHA daily for brain food, exercise and stretch daily  to increase endorphins even if it is only for 20 minutes and make sure you get some kind of sun exposure every day for vitamin D.If you implement an environment of change and lead by example you will be surprised at how quickly the person you are worried about will start to consider committing to change, any change! because what they are doing is not working and being free from stress ,depression and anxiety is possible it simply needs the right information to be learned, applied and continued to be used for over 28 days for neural change to take place.

Holistic health retreat healing body and mind

What do we mean by a holistic retreat? one that treats the mind and body at the same time as its impossible to define where one ends and the other starts. An immersive program is best  that limits communication with the outside world set in beautiful natural surroundings with daily exercise delicious highly nutritious food and relaxation therapy which  is all designed to bring down a persons stress level simply so they can pay attention and take in new and relevant  information for mental and physical change long term.It also has the benefit of when they finish a program they leave  in a much better physical condition which has its benefits  but the whole process should be  about giving  mental room to process and reassess how they think, not only about their reality but about themselves, giving them a chance to like and love themselves again, increasing self worth, understanding stress and where their emotional symptoms leading to behaviour are coming from. To be able to be quiet in the mind and understand that life is a journey not a destination and it is about how we react to life rather than what happens to us.

So what if you cannot  do a long term program? well why don’t you start to change your environment at home to reflect holistic principles.This would involve limiting communication and distractions. Turn off the phone and gadgets, have an empty inbox policy or limit usage of email to certain hours in the day.use mindfulness meditation first thing in the morning for 20 minutes to calm the mind,or for 20 minutes in the evening to help sleep. limit wheat dairy soy caffeine and red meat as many people have intolerances they are unaware of.Start daily vegetable juicing to increase natural nutrition and take 2-4 grams of EPA/DHA daily for brain food,exercise and stretch  daily even if it is only for 20 minutes and make sure you get some kind of sun exposure every day for vitamin D.Switch to non chemical based cleaners like bi-carb and vinegar ( both work much better anyway and are cheaper )Read our book, take notes ask us questions and do the exercises over 28 days so that you know the information and have incorporated it into your neural net so that you USE the information.It is not enough to know what  we teach it must be APPLIED for real and lasting change to take place and then the search for new information must continue for your continued growth, there is no end to this.

There is an old saying ” you become in the future what you do today” so make a start, any start because taking responsibilty for your health mental and physical is everyones right.I hear from people all the time that the idea is overwhelming and there is so much to learn, well using an old parable How do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time!  you can do it all at your own speed, devote a portion of your day to learning and applying new things and you will not believe the culminate effect over time, not only to you but to everyone that comes in contact with you, just remember that everyone is learning and developing at their own pace, telling people what they should or should not do with their health is a sure fire way to become unpopular! just your example is sometimes enough!, Woody Allen once said “80% of life is just showing up” so why not show up for yours? and make your entire life one you would like to reside in.Food for thought and thanks for reading.

Mindfullness meditation

“Mindfulness produces positive effects on psychological well-being that extend beyond the time the individual is practicing it. Over the last three decades mindfulness  practices have been increasingly incorporated into programs, to take advantage of these benefits. A large body of research has established the effectiveness of these mindfulness-based interventions in reducing symptoms of a number of disorders, including anxiety , depression , substance abuse , eating disorders , and chronic pain , as well as improving well-being and quality of life. Mindfulness  involves the development of awareness of present-moment experience with a compassionate, non- judgmental stance .It has been suggested that this process is associated with a perceptual shift, in which one’s thoughts and feelings are recognized as events occurring in the broader field of awareness”    Harvard Medical school Boston MA 2010

Palladium Private  is proud to use Mindfulness Meditation techniques and invites you to learn more by checking out Wikipedia 

Why do we function as a health retreat educational program for stress,depression,anxiety and addiction? I’m glad you asked!

Remember when you were a kid and you were at school and you were either cold or hungry,fixing  this became your priority and the possibility of taking on new information went straight out the window as your brain had prioritised what was in your best interest for long term survival (food or warmth). Our guests are usually highly stressed and emotional, have spent a large amount of time effort and cash trying to solve their problem and are ridiculously  good at distracting themselves which is a common part of having stress ,depression or anxiety. If you cannot fix it then sometimes the best you can do is distract yourself which becomes a continuous cycle.

So how do you deal with this for effective change ? An immersive program that limits communication with the outside world set in beautiful natural surroundings with daily exercise delicious highly nutritious food and relaxation therapy is all designed to bring down a persons stress level simply so they can pay attention and take in new and relevant  information.It also has the benefit of when they finish a program they leave us in a much better physical condition which has its benefits  but the whole process is about giving them mental room to process and reassess how they think, not only about their reality but about themselves, giving them a chance to like and love themselves again, increasing self worth, understanding stress and where their emotional symptoms leading to behaviour are coming from. To be able to be quiet in your own mind and understand that life is a journey not a destination and it is about how we react to life rather than what happens to us.

So what if you cannot  do a long term program? well why don’t you start to change your environment at home to reflect the principles we use here.This would involve limiting communication and distractions. Turn off the phone and television, have an empty inbox policy or limit usage of email to certain hours in the day.use mindfulness meditation first thing in the morning for 20 minutes to calm the mind,or for 20 minutes in the evening to help sleep. limit wheat dairy soy caffeine and red meat as many people have intolerances they are unaware of.Start daily vegetable juicing to increase natural nutrition and take 2-4 grams of EPA/DHA daily for brain food,exercise and stretch  daily even if it is only for 20 minutes and make sure you get some kind of sun exposure every day for vitamin D.Read our book, take notes and do the exercises over 28 days so that you know the information and have incorporated it into your neural net so that you USE the information.It is not enough to know what we teach it must be APPLIED for real and lasting change to take place.

There is an old saying ” you become in the future what you do today” so make a start, any start because taking responsibilty for your health mental and physical is everyones right.

Mental health issue or stress based disease?

When mental health issues arise the conventional approach is to do what the majority of people have been doing for the last 50 years when they have a serious health issue which is to see their trusted but overworked doctor who will then usually prescribe (within minutes) antidepressant or antianxiety medication and refer to a psychologist or psychiatrist who will then engage in talk therapy and more medication, labels will be applied (and rarely removed) lowering self worth and therapy will be ongoing for years confirming that there must be something wrong otherwise why would it take such a large amount of time and effort just to manage symptoms? Eventually if no relief is in site then a person will turn to short term solutions like drugs or alcohol simply for relief ultimately compounding these issues.

If a person does not respond well to conventional therapy they are often not given alternatives but are asked to repeat the process causing frustration anger and despair as they start to believe there is no solution and that they are fundamentally broken and have little worth. Not only that but if a viable alternative solution is put in front of them they may reject it as they have been told many times by many people including professionals that the condition they have is unfixable only manageable through session after session of describing their emotions combined with mind altering drugs and their side effects. They believe at a core level that they are unfixable and stop looking for solutions.

Here at Palladium we thought there has to be a better way. We looked beyond the emotional symptoms of depression and anxiety and the behavior of addiction to find the cause. We asked what if the actual root cause of these emotional states was actually in the mindset or in layman’s terms the way a person incorrectly deals with stress and pressure and ultimately measures their worth? What if it wasn’t about what happened to a person but how they interpreted it? What if the solution was educational Not chemical? And over the last ten years we found some interesting answers.

We found that a person is not born with a set of stress management techniques and ways to measure their worth highly. Like a blank canvas They learn how to do this by watching and learning from those they trust around them and this makes up the way they interpret their normal world for the rest of their life. This can also make it hard for them to see the problem as this has always been the way they deal with stress, how are they to know any differently or as we say here at Palladium, “ how can you know what you do not  know?”

We found that people with stress based disease states had learned to measure their worth solely on their environment and the achievement of goals. They measured this  by what they earned, their appearance or what they owned, or even by the opinions of others as examples. When things decreased in these areas their self worth would crash, as this was the only way they knew how to measure their worth. Thinking that the goals in life that would define them as successful are unachievable they naturally think there is no point having goals at all and the apathy and emotional symptoms of depression set in.

We found that emotions are a by-product of thinking not a cause. To change the way you feel you must ultimately change the way you think. Describing your emotions doesn’t actually change the thought process that created them. Educating a person about the way they interpret their reality and measure their worth does. Without drugs and with long-term success.

Or lets think of it in another way. We have evolved to have emotional pain for exactly the same reason we have physical pain. There is something that is threatening our survival that needs our immediate attention. The difference from physical pain is that emotionally what defines a threat must come from our mindset or how we view and interpret our world and measure our worth. Changing this can literally change our entire emotional landscape, relieving depression and anxiety and massively increasing self worth.

Fixing depression

I am asked frequently how we define depression and how we go about trying to fix it. Well, our starting point is that everybody in life has goals. They may want to get married, have two children, finish their law degree, go and become a solicitor. As long as life goes to plan, people do not develop depression. If every day, you got up and made a plan and it all happened, you would never develop depression.

But that’s not how life works as we all know. That lovely wife unfortunately went off with our best friend. All of a sudden, we had to replan our lives. The cause of stress is always life not going to plan.  Once we start to understand stress, we start to demystify it. We do not feel that we are crazy, we understand that we are stressed.

Stress is experienced in different ways. We feel life is not going to plan, or potentially may not go to plan. Or we could feel literally on the wrong path. Or we should have, would have, could have done something different.

We are always lamenting something.

When things go wrong, part of us thinks: maybe we deserve it. Maybe the fault’s in us. Maybe we’re not as sharp as we thought we were. Eventually we always blame ourselves partly when things go wrong. Part of it always relates to self-esteem. The average human being sets goals, and when things go wrong, it undermines his self-esteem.

The logical thing to do when something is affecting us negatively is to stop doing it. A person who has major things in life go wrong decides to stop making goals. That way, he won’t feel worse. But unfortunately we can’t stop having goals because depression is when we do not have any goals.

Depression is when someone has no belief in the future. The reason is society teaches us to set your goals and achieve them. It’s a success model. Get our life right.  We are always boasting about our achievements. But we may decide, we are not going to have any goals any more, because we feel worse every time we do not achieve a goal.

How do we fix depression? We have to give the person another reason to have goals beside achieving them. How many big picture goals will I make this year? Fifty to 100? We will be lucky to achieve 20. The other 80 will be fantastic learning experiences. We define myself by my learning, not my achievement.

We work on the basis that people can learn to live better and  to regain their equilibrium. That’s the nub of our approach. I suggest that if you know someone who is suffering depression that you get in touch with us. We are here to help,