Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Harry L Campbell
Biofeedback Resources International, USA
Keynote: Does breathing really help you relax? Technical evidence
Time : 10:00-10:40
Biography:
Harry Campbell has worked in the biofeedback field since 1984. His experience is in providing biofeedback equipment for measuring EMG - muscle tension, skin temperature, respiration, heart rate - HRV, EEG - Neurofeedback - brain wave activity, and blood pressure for stress management, rehabilitation, physical therapy, performance enhancement, educational, and substance abuse applications. He also has experience in training health care professionals in the use of biofeedback equipment as well as working with patients and clients. He is currently seeing clients in the Bronx, NY. He supplies biofeedback equipment and training to the military and Veterans Administration through our GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract.
Abstract:
For thousands of years people have been using breathing techniques to relax for health, mental, and spiritual purposes. How many times someone tell someone else to take a deep breath and relax when they are getting stressed or upset? Respiration Biofeedback is a tool to help measure the mechanics of breathing. It detects movement of the abdomen and or chest to show the speed and depth, and location of breathing. HRV (Heart Rate Variability) Biofeedback uses computerized technology to measure the changes in Heart Rate which can greatly affected by changes in breathing. Capnograph Biofeedback measures the changes in expired CO2 which also can be greatly affected by changes in breathing. This presentation will discuss these modalities and how they are used to show people how to use something that is under their control, their breath, to affect their nervous systems in a positive way to improve their physical and mental health, and performance. Some clinical symptoms this is applied to include anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and panic.
Keynote Forum
Esther Louise Sabban
New York Medical College, USA
Keynote: Stress: The good, the bad and the ugly
Time : 11:00-11:40
Biography:
Esther Louise Sabban, completed her PhD and postdoctoral training at New York University Medical Center. Currently, she is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Director of Laboratory of Stress-Related Disorders at New York Medical College. She is past-president of the Catecholamine Society and Secretary/Treasurer of Endocrine and Metabolism Section of American Physiological Association. She has published over 160 peer reviewed articles, and co-authored 4 books on molecular and neuroendocrine aspects of stress. She is currently on the editorial boards of American Journal of Hypertension and of Stress and is a handling editor for the Journal of Neurochemistry.
Abstract:
The talk will begin with a historical prospective on stress and its definition that brings us to the modern concept of allostasis, or adaptation through change. The major molecular and physiological changes in response to stress will be discussed, specifically the immediate catecholaminergic response, in the brain and periphery, and the activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. Differences in mechanisms in response to acute and chronic stress need to be considered and subsequently how these are associated with the increased propensity to various diseases, with specific examples and some new treatment strategies. Specific influences on stress response, from early life experience, genetic and epigenetic differences and gender influence the response to stress and their consequences. The talk will end with an overview of some of the important questions that need to be addressed in the field of stress.
Biography:
Mette Mouritsen has been working as MD for 25 years. The last 14 years she had a traditional public, medical clinic in general medicine, every day meeting frustrated people with symptoms, diseases and existential problems. She started to train Mindfulness in 2006 and this brought me further on to a 4 years psychotherapeutic study in integral psychotherapy, it brought her so much insight and valuable tools. A kind of a self-healing process, she started to facilitate groups with my clients after daily work. The primary “tool she used in the groups was mindfulness, to bring relaxation, calmness, and focus, and then she just kept an openhearted space in the room together with the other group members.Now her primary work is with people with stress, individual and in groups. Stress is a wonderful word, it opens doors to discover, whatever may trigger the stress reaction in the body-mind. She uses her knowledge as a doctor, mindfulness instructor and psychotherapist. It really brings the possibility to integrate the aspects of the body-mind and spirit.
Abstract:
Stress is a worldwide problem that seems to have emerged and on the way to peak in this century. Nevertheless it may also change our lives, in a positive direction, when we learn to balance it. Almost everyone knows about stress, either from themselves or from others, and yet the stress experience is very individual, although it is triggered in the same way. What is behind these seemingly contradictions? What great gifts might be hidden behind stress? Why do we increasingly stress, and why do we get stress related diseases? How may we all contribute to reduce stress? I hope that during the congress we may support each other in becoming wiser on these opening questions. I will initiate with my experiences and propositions.
Keynote Forum
Christina Darviri
University of Athens, Greece
Keynote: Shaping the future of stress science: The experience from Greece
Time : 12:20-13:00
Biography:
Christina Darviri is a Professor of Prevention and Health Promotion and since 2008, the Scientific Coordinator of the MSc entitle “The Science of Stress and Health Promotion†at the Medical School of the Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She lectures on stress related nosology, lifestyle and stress, efficient stress management and the connection between stress and health promotion overall. She has been the principal investigator of many research projects focusing mainly on healthy longevity and how life style impacts stress.
Abstract:
Chronic noncommunicable diseases (CNCDs) have a major impact on both the individual and the society. Cardiovascular disease followed by cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes type 2, are the four main causes of morbidity and mortality in the modern world, and negative life style choices, such as an unhealthy diet, a sedentary life, and the abuse of tobacco and alcohol are key risk factors for all the aforementioned diseases. Interestingly, only recent has biomedical research highlighted the catalytic role of stress in the CNCDs epidemic. Of course, people under stress, are less likely to comply with interventions aiming at a healthier life style while stress itself can be a triggering, permissive, and/or causal factor for most chronic diseases. Also, quite often adopting an unhealthy life style is a nonadaptational way to cope with stress. The psychoneuroendocrinology of stress is a fascinating, rapidly developing scientific field. The pertinent research has already yielded apt evidence of several neurohormonal mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of CNCDs. Furthermore, brain imaging studies have disclosed the fundamental role of stress-related brain areas in lifestyle decision making and psychiatric nor somatic diseases. For the past 8 years, we have been running a postgraduate course entitled “The science of Stress and Health Promotionâ€. For the first time, a medical school program offers the opportunity to its students and the public to fully understand the concept of stress, in terms of neurophysiology and endocrinology, as well as the mechanisms and pathways through which stress impacts on health and disease. Students learn how to clinically assess and measure stress and to design and implement an effective stress management program in different populations and settings. Our research has shown that an effective stress management program entails fundamental aspects of daily living, such as diet, exercise, regularity of sleep and eating and several stress coping techniques. The program in over 40 published studies has shown the effectiveness of such an approach in reducing stress in children and adults and in people suffering from various diseases, such as depression, asthma, diabetes, breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, dementia, and obesity/metabolic syndrome, as well as in people with sleep quality problems, tobacco addiction, gambling, etc. We have recently implemented a holistic stress management intervention for essential hypertension. In this prospective two-armed study we found beneficial effects of stress management both for blood pressure control and lifestyle modifications.