Published October 10, 2007 in the North Island Weekender

It is October 1st when I am writing this and on this date twenty two years ago I opened my naturopathic medical practice on West Broadway in Vancouver. As a child we used to visit the city every year, from our isolated town of Sointula, to go to the dentist and shop at Army and Navy. I remember driving down Broadway, marveling at the big city. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine myself having a business on that very same street many years later!

This being Thanksgiving, it is a time of year to step back and take a broader look to life, and say “Thank you”. “Thank you” to all those patients out there who have the faith in my ability to lead them on their road to health. “Thank you” to all of you who have taught me so much about medicine. With all your questions and your experiences I learn from you too!

Gratitude is a technique I teach some of my patients to help reduce their stress. When you are busy being thankful for the things in your life that are going well, the pain of those things not going well is diminished. It is well documented that patients undergoing treatment for cancer have much less pain and discomfort if they have a sense of gratitude. One of the techniques I suggest comes from Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book “Simple Abundance”, where she recommends keeping a gratitude journal. This means writing out five things that have happened to you that day for which you are grateful. Sure, sometimes it is hard to come up with five, but more times than not, you will find coming up with more than five easier and easier! I have been doing this now for over ten years. My favorite Engagement Calendar is made by the Self Realization Fellowship that I get from Save-On-Foods. I even have my husband doing it with me by email as well!

This is a stress management technique because you will find that the more you do this the more good things will happen to you. As you live your day you will find yourself saying “I can write about this in my gratitude journal tonight”. Good things beget good things and as Dr. Lupien, Ph.D states “If you change your mind, you can change your stress response”. I was very thankful to learn about Dr. Lupien and her research around stress and mental illness including Alzheimer’s and memory loss. Her acronym is “Stress, Don’t go N.U.T.S. She defines the four characteristics of stress as N= Novel or new situation, U=Unpredictable situations, T= Threatening to your ego or personality and S=Sense of control is diminished. When your doctor tells you to manage your stress better, patients leave frustrated because they don’t know what that means. The stress hormones affect the brain and cause memory loss, decrease in performance and loss of control of life situations. As stress escalates and people become more and more burned out they don’t know what is important anymore, they see stressors everywhere causing a fuzziness of the mind. Dr. Lupien in her work at Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montreal, Quebec teaches patients of all ages how to deconstruct stress using the N.U.T.S model. Ask yourself the four questions about the stress: is it due to a New situation, is it due to an Unpredictable situation, is it due to something Threatening your self image or ego or is it due to your Sense of lack of control of the situation. Once you understand what the stress is, then you can begin to reconstruct your stress and deal with it because now you know what the cause is. Check out her website www.douglas.qc.ca/stress.

What we don’t know we are afraid of. People’s biggest fear as they age is losing their memory and losing their mind. By 2020 stress related disorders like heart disease and depression will be the top two leading causes of disability in adults.

One of the first tips for stress management is to take time out every day. Take time away from the TV, from the computer and internet, from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Spend one hour being quiet, or taking a full hour for lunch, reading a real book, walking and expressing gratitude with your loved ones. We are very lucky to live in this part of the world. Stop right now and give thanks. For further ideas on stress management call the office and ask for Dr. Pincott’s 53 Stress Reducers.