与抑郁情绪谈判 Emotions are Negotiable _ How we can control Mood through our Physiology

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Thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. In the middle of the night, Hans Spaans finds himself being overwhelmed by cramps slowly tightening up the muscles in his arms, back, thighs and calves until his whole body is a knot of pain, and he's practically paralyzed.

So, what is the strategy he uses to deal with these Parkinson's symptoms? He buries his face into his pillow, and begins yelling a string of curse words.

Hans had found that putting himself into a rage somehow gave him strength. The furious shouting works him up enough to get to his feet and he would then continue the fit by kicking a couple pillows around.

And then, as the anger faded away, so did his cramps and he can suddenly move freely. This case, featured in Scott Carney's book "What doesn't kill us," is a rare instance where anger can be helpful.

Somehow, channeling this strong emotion had substantial physiological effects on Hans. The connection between emotions in the mind and the state of our body is apparent in the fact that mood disorders like anxiety and depression are often associated with other disorders like irritable bowel syndrome, heart disease, chronic pain and chronic fatigue.

Last time, I discussed the "theory of constructed emotion" which says emotions are not simply triggered by things happening outside your body, your brain also takes into account data from inside your body and compares that against your past experiences to create an emotion. This means that we have two avenues for controlling our emotions.

We can't always control what's happening outside of our body, but we can change the software in our head. The other strategy, which we'll be focusing on today, is changing what's happening inside your body.

Going back to Hans, his strategy was effective, but the anger was self destructive and was breeding resentment in him. So, what did he do instead?

His new, more effective strategy involves deep breathing and taking Cold showers and ice baths. Something about the cold would shock his body enough to break through his Parkinson's symptoms without having to work up a fit of rage.

Some research has found that there is a loss of noradrenaline neurons in the brain in Parkinson's patients. And, interestingly, Noradrenaline, also called norepinephrine, is one of the neurotransmitters released when you are exposed to the cold.

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