EMOTIONAL HEALTH, MEMORY, ATTENTION AND SLEEP PATTERN

THEORETICAL PART

Relationships between emotional health, cognitive function and rest

Relationships between emotional health, cognitive function and rest

Sleep pattern and restSleep pattern and rest

Memory and attention Memory and attention

Emotions and healthEmotions and healthEmotions and healthEmotions and health

INTRODUCTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS Emotions and Health

Emotional Health and its importance Objectives of Emotional Health Emotional control and coping strategies Patterns and recommendations

Memory Functions of Memory Stages of the memorising process

Attention Influence of attention on memory Individual characteristics of attention Factors impacting on attention Types of attention Benefits of increased attention

Sleep and rest in healthy aging

► Emotional inhibition provokes disorders and diseases.► Anxiety is an element which aggravates disease.► Optimism increases the response of the immune system.► Anger (retained or expressed) (Permanent hostility) as a heart risk element.► Depression after a heart attack multiplies the risk of complications in the

following year.► Connection between stress (feeling of impotence/helplessness) and risk of

developing high-blood pressure.► Cicatrisation speed decreases in stressful situations.► Depression in young individuals is a risk factor for later hypertension.► Sadness and anxiety affect the immune system.► Social support in seropositive patients improves their vital signs.

FOUNDATIONSImmune SystemEndocrine SystemNervous System

Relationships btw… MIND

EMOTIONS EXERT AN INFLUENCE ON BIOCHEMICAL REGULATION

EMOTIONAL HEALTHEMOTIONS AND HEALTH

The people who are EMOTIONALLY healthy have control over…

Their thoughtsTheir feelings Their behaviours

They have good interpersonal relationships

They feel well with themselves

LEARNING

How to achieve it

Living experience Training

I. PERCEPTION, EXPRESSION AND ASSESSMENT OF EMOTIONS

III. UNDERSTANDING OF EMOTIONS

IV. REGULATION – MANAGEMENT OF EMOTIONS

II. EMOTIONS AT THE SERVICE OF THINKING

EMOTIONAL HEALTH

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

What for?

Physical health improvement

Prevention of disease risks

Protection against depression

Handling anxiety

Strengthening the self-immune system

POSITIVE EMOTIONAL STATES

► FLOW► HUMOUR ► INTELLIGENT OPTIMISM► RESILIENCE► ‘GAUDIBILITY’ (ENJOYMENT)► ….

EMOTIONAL HEALTH

EMOTIONAL HEALTH

OBJECTIVES

• Perceiving emotional health as a lifestyle that can be developed through knowledge and coping strategies.

• Identifying the basic emotional phenomena (emotions, feelings and states of mind).

• Developing healthy emotional habits.

• Applying the knowledge acquired to a healthy daily life (in the intra- and interpersonal context).

People with more emotional intelligence (EI) have a better well-being.

People with more emotional intelligence (EI) have a better well-being.

Anxiety and depression are reduced in people with more EI. (Davis,Stankov y Roberts 1998)

Anxiety and depression are reduced in people with more EI. (Davis,Stankov y Roberts 1998)

Capacities and strategies

to develop

Capacities and strategies

to develop

EMOTIONAL CONTROL: TO PREVAIL PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL

ALTERATIONS

1) Perceiving, feeling and being aware of our emotional state, without being overwhelmed or threatened by it.

2) Selecting the emotional thoughts to which attention is going to be paid with a view to act rationally.

3) Controlling the start of emotional alterations.4) Tolerating frustration.5) Showing serene attitudes before stress-inducing

situations. 6) Ensuring self-motivation to achieve feasible objectives,

regulating the state of mind

Characteristics of coping strategiesCharacteristics of coping strategies

Behavioural answers

Cognitive answers

Psyco-physiological answers

POSITIVE EMOTIONAL COPING STRATEGIES

1. Search for alternatives2. Emotional control3. Positive re-evaluation4. Search for social support5. Search for professional support6. Humour7. Suppression of distracting

activities8. Personal development

9. Religion10. Emotional expression11. Positive visualisation12. Emotional writing13. Behavioral avoidance14. Cognitive avoidance15. Holding back coping16. Waiting17. Mental disconnection

Some capacities suffer a continuous decline in the old age (Cabeza, 2001; Corral and Pardo, 2007)

The basic cognitive capacities which form the basis of most types of learning can be modified (Flavell, 1976; Feuerstein, 1980 and 1991).

Slowing down the deterioration of seniors’ cognitive capacities is a learning-for-health task that influences emotional well-being and favours health and quality of life among seniors.

Memory and attention are essential for everyday life.

Encouraging rest and refreshing sleep are key factors in this task.

IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING A GOOD COGNITIVE FUNCTION FOR

HEALTHY AGEING

Definition: Memory is the human capacity to store and retrieve information.

Functions of memory: Without it, we would be unable to cope in daily life because it takes care of:

Seeing Hearing Thinking Speaking What else can be done?

MEMORY

RECORDING STAGE

When information enters the brain; it is the entrance door through which information accesses our conscience.

The intervening processes are:

Attention Concentration Perception

STAGES OF THE MEMORISING PROCESS

CONSOLIDATION STAGE

We set in motion processes meant to consolidate or store information.

The intervening processes are:

Association of new/old information Categorisation Integration into previous information Memory is emotionally charged etc….

STAGES OF THE MEMORISING PROCESS

RECALL STAGE

When the stored information is retrieved

The intervening processes are:

Situational references Evocation Retrieval keys etc…

STAGES OF THE MEMORISING PROCESS

Definition:

“A system of limited capacity which performs information selection operations, the availability or alert state of which fluctuates considerably” (De Vega, 1993).

“Study of an individual’s capacities and limitations for the selection and processing of sensorial information about the environment” (Jahnke and Nowaczyk, 1998)

“It is a conscious attitude aimed at the observation of a thing” (Diccionario de Psicología, F Dorsch)

ATTENTION

The importance of memory processes:

It especially influences the recording stage. Therefore, it is one of the determining factors in the memory process.

Lack of attention prevents information from being registered, thus hindering consolidation and recall.

ATTENTION

Individual characteristics of attention:

Capacity: Extent to which the organism can pay attention to several tasks or processes simultaneously.

Attention-Conscience Connection: The extent to which the information to which we pay attention gets to our conscience.

Attentional filters: Ability to fix our attention before a number of predetermined stimuli.

ATTENTION

Factors impacting on attention: Overall psychological condition: it defines our state of mind

(worried, anxious, depressed…).

Activation level: how we are physically speaking (tired, awake...). Environment: it defines the place where we find ourselves (there is

a lot of noise or very little noise).

Motivation: it determines the degree of involvement in focalisation.

Habituation and fatigue: With the passing of time, attention decreases naturally. We cannot pay attention to something constantly without getting tired.

ATTENTION

Types of attention:

Selective attention: a process which gives priority to some piece of information over another.

Sustained attention: Persistence over time in the priority of observation for a piece of information.

Orientation reflex: Interest in the new information that is presented to us.

ATTENTION

Benefits of increased attention for our daily activities:

An increase in our capacity to remember, which implies an improved self-esteem and self-efficacy levels because we have more confidence in our memory.

An increase in the arrival of information from the world that surrounds us, which implies a stronger commitment to life because individuals are more aware of it.

ATTENTION

REST AND SLEEP WITHIN THE HEALTHY AGEING STRATEGY

Sleep: it is the state of uniform rest of an organism as opposed to the state of wakefulness.

Insomnia: Chronic absence of the ability required to be able to start or maintain sleep.

REM

Wakefulness

Phase I

Phase II

Phase III

Phase IV

Wakefulness

Hour

SLEEP PHASES

Sleep serves to refresh organisms after the wear suffered during the wakefulness period.

Its main objective is neurone restoration through the system of neurotrophins which promote neurone survival and restoration.

Sleep maintains and reorganises neural circuits, including the neuroformation of synapses that permit to modify the existing neural networks due to the effect of experience.

All this gives rise to adequate brain functioning and environmnental adaptation.

(Montes Rodríguez et al., Revista de Neurología. 2006)

REST AND SLEEP WITHIN THE HEALTHY AGEING STRATEGY

There is a relationship between the subjective quality of sleep and cortisol levels. A low quality correlates with high cortisol rates.

(Maldonado et al.C.Med.Psicosom.2004)

CORTISOL

CORTISOL CONNECTION

An abnormal cortisol secretion can lead the brain to increase its activity in two relevant areas:

The hippocampus and the amygdala.

In the case of the hippocampus, it can cause atrophy and permanent damage.

The hippocampus and the amygdala are crucial not only in stressful situations (fear, emotions, immunity) but also for their influence on superior functions of the brain such as memory.

(Fraser. 2007)

REST AND SLEEP WITHIN THE HEALTHY AGEING STRATEGY

HIPPOCAMPUS AND MEMORY

The hippocampus seems to be involved in the formation of memory, not in its storage.

It seems to play an essential role in the formation of new memories associated to autobiographical experience or memory.

HIPPOCAMPUS IN 3D

The hippocampus forms part of a more complex system, that of the medial temporal lobe which grasps declarative memory (different memories which can be invoked explicitly, like semantic memory, characterised by the storage of specific data such as proper names)

HIPPOCAMPUS AND MEMORY

Angle circumvolution

Callused body

Lateral ventricles

Hippocampus Cerebellum

Fourth ventricle

Third ventricle

The hippocampus stops having a crucial role in the passage from the memory formation period to the memory consolidation period.

Damaging the hippocampus causes difficulties in the formation of new memories and the processing of spatial information.

(O´Kane et al. Hippocampus. 2004)

HIPPOCAMPUS AND MEMORY

SLEEP: HIPPOCAMPUS-CEREBRAL CORTEX CONNECTION

CONSOLIDATION

NEURAL NETWORKS

Central fissure

Motor cortex

Parietal lobe

Occipital lobe

Frontal lobe

Somatosensorialcortex

Lateral fissure

Temporal lobe

Visual recognition

Vision

Smell

Basic movements

Precise movements

Emotions, conduct

Knowledge, memory

Language(Broca’s area)

Hearing

Language (Wernicke’s area)

Muscle and balance coordination

Formix

Hippocampus

Amygdala

LATERAL VENTRAL

Amygdalae

Hippocampus

Formix

Emotional memories can be formed instantaneously, partly because the hippocampus acts comparing the outer world as it is collected by sensorial systems with the representation that the brain has of that same world.

A sudden change in a situation causes the hippocampus and amygdala to start working together to build conscious memories of the events. (Fraser. 2007)

HIPPOCAMPUS AND EMOTIONS

CORTISOL INCREASE AND MEMORY

The glucocorticoid cascade hypothesis suggests a significant relationship between the cumulative exposure to high levels of these substances (such as cortisol) and the deterioration in the functioning of memory due to atrophy of the hippocampus, an area that is essential for explicit memory as a conscious or voluntary recollection of previous information.

(Csernansky et al. Am.J. Psy.2006)(CORTISOL)

GLUCOCORTICOID CASCADE

HYPOTHALAMUS

HYPOPHYSIS

ADRENAL GLAND

GLUCOCORTICOIDS

CEREBRAL CORTEX

Both the increase in the activity of the hypothalamus adrenal hypophysary axis and the lack of sleep cause the same effect through the glucocorticoid cascade.

Therefore, lack of sleep, the same as emotional tension, impacts similarly on cognitive deterioration with effects such as the loss of certain types of memory and emotional health problems (among others).

(Lupien et al. Psychoneuroendocrinology.2005)

REST AND SLEEP WITHIN THE HEALTHY AGEING STRATEGY

CORTISOL CONNECTION IN SENIORS

In elderly people, cognitive deterioration is produced both by the long-term exposure to cortisol values and by current high levels, thus confirming the hypotheses of memory deterioration due to chronic exposure to these glucocorticoid rates.

Montes Rodríguez, C.M.; Rueda Orozco, P.E.; Arteaga Urías, E.; Aguilar Roblero, R.; Prospero García, O. : De la restauración neuronal a la reorganización de los circuitos neuronales: una aproximación a las funciones del sueño. Revista de neurología, ISSN 0210-0010. Vol. 43, No. 7, pp. 409-415. 2006

Maldonado, E.F.; Carranque, G. C. Med. Psicosom. No. 69/70. pp. 9-13. 2004

Lupien S.; Fiocco A.; Wan N. et al. Stress Hormones and Human Memory Function across the lifespan. Psychoneuroendocrinology 30(3): 225-242. 2005

Carskadon M. A;Brown E. D;Dement WC Sleep fragmentation in the elderly: relationship to daytime sleep tendency .Neurobiol.Aging. 321-7. 1982

Soler A. (2008) Una perspectiva psicosociobiológica aplicada a la Geriatría preventiva: salud, calidad de vida y edad biológica. Doctoral Thesis. 455-493

Greene G. (2008). Review of “Insomniac”. N.Engl.J.Med 359:13.1412-13 September 2008.

REST AND SLEEP WITHIN THE HEALTHY AGEING STRATEGY

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