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January 1, 2008

Slow and Steady...

My brother in law, Wayne, is a busy newspaperman living in Alabama on a diet consisting of a little too much barbeque, casserole, and other southern delicacies. Having lived in the South myself, I know how irresistible, and decadent, southern comfort food can be. Wayne also has a weakness for excellent wine and is the doting father of a three year old and a newborn. The result of all of these blessings is a happy man with a large belly.

Underneath his 50 extra pounds, there's a solid athlete dying to come out. Despite several remarkable attempts to overcome his circumstances and revolutionize his lifestyle, Wayne has been frustrated in his efforts to sustain change. Case in point--while we spent the week together with our respective wives' family in a cabin in Arkansas, Wayne would charge out the door for a run, coming back two hours later sweaty and grinning. The next day, he wasn't even sore. I've seen him do this before, most notably on previous Christmases in anticipation of the New Year and its opportunity--and pressure--to start anew. But despite, or maybe because of, Wayne's uncanny physical and mental ability to go from zero to sixty instantly, his efforts at change have tended to be short lived. He's supercharged and impatient. Not an unusual combination among achievers, but one that has a double edge.

We discussed Wayne's frustration and his desire to finally get, and stay, in shape. "Man, I tell you, Will, it is tough," Wayne confessed. "Every night, because of our visibility in the community, we get offers of free dinners, and it's all so good. We're so busy with the paper and the kids, that it's tough to resist these offers and equally tough to keep to a fitness plan." So he tries, all at once, to overcome his circumstances, but after a short while of two-hour runs or suddenly ascetic dieting, he's back to more familiar ways. Wayne's difficulty sustaining change is not due to weakness of discipline or lack of desire; he's just employing an approach that, given his circumstances, is not effective. Brain science has uncovered some of why our best efforts at personal transformation fail. Sudden changes of habit trigger a fight or flight response in us that is tough to conquer. So when Wayne, with great resolve, changes his physical behavior or his diet, his brain says, "whoa, fella, not so fast. I'm comfortable where I am and all this change is scaring me." The result is anxiety, which can manifest as fatigue, avoidance, and failure.

So Wayne and I are working together to construct a fitness plan that employs the Kaizen Approach (see previous blog entry) to change. The Kaizen Approach--a Japanese adaptation of W. Edwards Deming's Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) method--approaches large changes a little at a time, employing constant micro-efforts. Kaizen has been traditionally applied to corporations seeking to improve efficiency, but has recently been applied with great success to human behavior. Constant micro steps toward change tricks the amygdala into thinking that the change you're after is no big deal, so the fight or flight anxiety response is circumvented. The result is a much easier and more sustainable path to change.

Wayne will be writing a column on his Kaizen-style progress in his newspaper, which I'll link to in this blog. So we'll get to see how well the Kaizen Approach works!

Here are a few of the building blocks we're starting with for his tortoise-styled quest for fitness:

• I had Wayne pick an ambitious, but achievable goal...a goal that makes him a little nervous to keep him inspired and motivated!
o SELECTED GOAL: Run his first marathon in April
• I had Wayne break his goal into three possible outcomes: Bronze, Silver and Gold, so that there is flexibility, not rigidity, in his ambition.
o Bronze: goal that, with solid work, is well within Wayne's reach (banning sickness or injury).
 BRONZE GOAL: finish
o Silver: a solid stretch goal--something can achieve if his training is solid and his race day performance is strong.
 SILVER GOAL: undetermined
o Gold: a goal that would involve his best training, the achievement of all of his training benchmarks, and his best race day performance, plus a little luck
 GOLD GOAL: undetermined
• We will break Wayne's work down into daily micro-tasks...change will happen a little bit every day. My job at first will be to hold Wayne back!
• We will introduce areas of change one at a time. For now, Wayne gets to eat and drink as he normally does. We're focused right now only on introducing regular, moderate exercise. Diet can wait until exercise has become a comfortable fact of life. Too many changes at once will freak out the amygdala!

The Kaizen Approach to change has been shown to work in lots of personal areas--exercise, addictions, diet, etc.--that people often find hard to change despite (or because of) an intense desire to do so. I'll upload the articles on Wayne's progress as they are published so that you can see Kaizen in action!

Posted by Will Laughlin at 5:02 PM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

January 14, 2008

The "Real" 411 on Marijuana

I have been inundated with information about "Weed" over the last decade working with teens and families. I decided to seek out facts from experts that would assist in my filtering between the true and the false. Marijuana is such an ingrained obstacle for our teens, many parents just assume they will be asked to partake and many believe experimentation is just a part of growing up. Marijuana has moved from secret citizenship to a media symbol with today's teenagers. It is mass marketed on clothing, magazines and music. There is an entire award winning, cable series based on the selling and smoking of marijuana by a suburban mom. A parent myself, I decided to share with you what I found to be the "real" 411 on marijuana.

Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States and it has been around as early as 10,000 BC per newscientist.com. The main active chemical in marijuana is THC.

Marijuana is a mixture of dried leaves and flowers of Cannabis sativa, a hemp plant. There are hundreds of slang terms for this drug including "pot," "herb," "weed," "boom," "Mary Jane," "gangster," and "chronic." It is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint or a nail) or in a pipe or bong. In recent years, it has appeared in blunts. These are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and re-filled with marijuana, often in combination with another drug, such as crack. Some users also mix marijuana into foods or use it to brew tea.

The short-term effect of marijuana use include: problems with memory and learning, distorted perceptions, difficulty in thinking and problem-solving, loss of coordination, increased heart rate and anxiety. Smoking five joints a week is equivalent to smoking a whole pack of cigarettes a day which leads to lung and respiratory problems, wheezing, chest cold and a bad cough.

Long-term use can increase the chances of tissue damage and lung cancer and also causes changes in the brain similar to those caused by heroin and cocaine.

Several studies have linked marijuana with poor school performance. It is harder to concentrate and retain information when a person is smoking marijuana. 60% of teenagers in drug treatment programs are there because of marijuana.

Marijuana itself does not lead a person to take other drugs; people take drugs to get rid of unwanted situations or feelings. The drug only masks the problem for a while. When the high fades the problem or unwanted situation returns, more intense. This is the reason why people turn to stronger drugs to hide from their problems.

Marijuana, under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), is classified as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

Between October 2004 and January 2005, there were 1,777 Federal offenders sentenced for marijuana-related charges in U.S. Courts. Approximately 94.9% of the cases involved marijuana trafficking. Between January 2005 and September 2005, there were 4,396 Federal offenders sentenced for marijuana-related charges in U.S. Courts. Approximately 95.8% of the cases involved trafficking.

If you would like to learn more about the true facts of marijuana please log on to stopaddiction.com

I hope you find these true facts provided by Narconon as helpful as I do.

Be well,
Michael Behmer MA, MFT
Vive, Inc.

Posted by Michael Behmer at 9:08 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 15, 2008

Secret Languages of Teens

Are you a bit freaked out by your teen's use of secret code, whether when IMing or texting? You're right if you think that this code is, in part, designed to keep you in the dark. In some cases, this secrecy is actually just a functional way for your child to establish boundaries and do their job as a teen--to seperate and create their own identity. On the other hand, if your child is involved in high risk behaviors, this secrecy can prevent you from doing your job as a parent--to provide safety for your child.

Be assured that secret languages are nothing new. Ememberay igpay atinlay? The web and phone technology, however, allow for a very powerful type of secret networking that can be hazardous for young people who are easily influenced, or who are drawn to high risk behaviors. The following link to an article by ABC News offers a balanced look at teen code, along with some practical resources for parents.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2820582&page=1

Posted by Will Laughlin at 12:33 PM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)