Pythagorean Self-awareness Technique for Stress Management and Self-Empowerment Related to Healthy Lifestyle in Healthy Volunteers: A Pilot Study

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Darviri Christina

University of Athens, Greece

: J Trauma Stress Disor

Abstract

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Coping with stress and making healthy choices become increasingly difficult for individuals with low self-empowerment. The goal of this pilot study was to assess a new technique dubbed "Pythagorean Self-awareness Technique" (PSAT), based on Pythagorean philosophy. This is a mental technique, performed twice per day, with three stages: sequential recall of daily events, primary contemplation on thoughts-emotions related to each event and the critical appraisal of the individual's attitude. A sample of 34 healthy volunteers (13 males, 21 females, mean age: 49, from 23 to 72 years old) attending this program for 8 weeks was assessed. We followed a heuristic approach by measuring various aspects of mental and physical health both prior and after the end of the program. Significant beneficial effects were categorized in terms of d effect sizes: medium (0.3 or below), moderate (0.3-0.5), high (over 0.5). High effect sizes were note for the following measures (in decreasing effect sizes): perceived stress (d=0.78), mental fatigue (d=0.74), negative emotions (d=0.70), sleep disturbances (d=0.68), emotion control (d=0.67), control of anger (d=0.66), self-control (d=0.64), management of self-emotions (d=0.63), scheduled physical exercise (d=0.63), pride (d=0.63), speed of cognitive tasks (d=0.58), cognitive fatigue (d=0.58), sleep onset (d=0.56) depression (d=0.55), self-awareness (d=0.51), daily routine (0.50) and dietary healthy choices (d=0.50). Moderate effect sizes were found for anxiety (d=0.49), guilds (d=0.48), restful sleep (d=0.47) and for systolic blood pressure (d=0.43). In conclusion, PSAT can be validated as a potent technique since it benefits both mental and physical aspects of health.

Biography

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Christina Darviri is Professor of Prevention and Health Promotion. Since 2008, she has been serving as the co-Scientific director with professor G .Chrousos of the MSc/PhD Program entitled "The Science of Stress and Health Promotion" at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece. She lectures on stress-related nosology, lifestyle and stress, efficient stress management and the overall connection between stress and health promotion. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in the field of stress. She has also supervised over 100 theses on stress, health and disease and published many books. She has been the principal investigator of many research projects, focusing on issues such as healthy longevity and how life style impacts stress resilience, as well as how to effectively auto regulate hypertension through stress management and health promotion. Her latest scientific project is a technique called "Pythagorean Self-awareness for Stress Management, Memory Improvement and Sense of Well-being”

Email: cdarviri@yahoo.com