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List of Home remedies, which will help you minimize your chances of getting a heart attack

2013-10-16T13:27:00.001+05:30

Photo Credit : Flickr

The number-one killer for both men and women, heart disease is the result of the narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart with blood, oxygen, and nutrients. This process, called coronary artery disease, can generally be traced to a condition called atherosclerosis, the build-up of cholesterol-rich fatty deposits, or plaques, on the inside of arterial walls. As these deposits accumulate over time, the coronary arteries narrow to the point that the flow of oxygenated blood to the heart is impeded. (Arterial spasms — triggered by smoking, extreme emotional stress, or exposure to very cold temperatures — may also cause coronary arteries to narrow suddenly and dangerously.)

What are The risk factors, and how you can reduce that

Major risk factors for cardiovascular disease include cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and/or triglycerides, diabetes mellitus, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and poor nutrition. Prevention and treatment centers around these risk factors — and these approaches will help you lower risk for many other types of illness, as well as helping you feel great and have more energy overall.

1. No smoking.

Smoking has to be avoided in order to curb this risk.Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of cardiovascular disease in women, with more than 50 percent of heart attacks among middle-aged women attributable to tobacco. Risk of cardiovascular disease begins to decline within months of smoking cessation and reaches the level of persons who have never smoked within 3 to 5 years. So, Make a Pledge today and quit smoking now.

2. Low cholesterol level.

High blood cholesterol is a condition that greatly increases your chances of developing coronary heart disease. Extra cholesterol in the blood settles on the inner walls of the arteries, narrowing them and allowing less blood to pass through them to the heart. Aim for total cholesterol below 200 mg/dL; LDL cholesterol below 130 mg/dL and HDL above 35 mg/dL. Try to settle your Blood Pressure to 120/80 for ensuring safe levels.

3. Weight of your body

Obesity and sedentary lifestyles are epidemics in the United States that contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The prevalence of obesity has increased among both men and women in the United States in the past decade; currently about one third of adult women (or 34 million) are classified as obese. Also, 60% of both men and women get no regular physical activity. Obesity, especially abdominal adiposity, is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women.

4. Regular Exercise

Recent evidence suggests that even moderate-intensity activity, including briskwalking, is associated with substantial reduction of cardiovascular disease risk. These findings support the 1995 federal exercise guidelines endorsing 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity most days of the week, a program that should be feasible and safe for most of the population. Regular exercise and maintenance of healthy weight should also help reduce insulin resistance and the risk of non–insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, which appears to be an even stronger risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women than in men. Diabetes is associated with a threefold to sevenfold elevation in cardiovascular disease risk among women, compared with a twofold to threefold elevation among men. Approximately half of all deaths in patients with non–insulin dependent diabetes mellitus are due to heart disease.

5. Eat less saturated fat but more fiber

Diets low in saturated fat and high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fiber are associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Also, a recent study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal confirmed that eating fruits and vegetables, particularly green leafy vegetables and vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables, seems to have a protective effect against coronary heart disease. You may even think about moving toward more flexitarian or vegetarian eating habits: A vegetarian diet reduces the risk of coronary artery disease, and may even reverse existing coronary artery disease when combined with other lifestyle changes. A Mediterranean diet that uses olive oil can reduce the risk of coronary artery disease.

6. Avoid Trans Fat

Trans fatty acids have been linked to adverse lipid profiles and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. This includes most margarines. The role of other fatty acids, including monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and marine omega-3 fatty acids, remains controversial.

7. Consume Alcohol In Moderation, but try to avoid that

Moderate intake of alcohol is related to reduction of cardiovascular disease — but may raise blood pressure and increase risk of breast cancer. Early surgical menopause is linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, which appears to be negated by the use of estrogen therapy.

8. Have lots of risk reducing Vitamins

Antioxidant vitamin supplements, particularly vitamin E and homocysteine-lowering agents such as folate and B6, have promising roles in prevention of cardiovascular disease, but conclusive evidence may hinge on the results of several ongoing randomized clinical trials. When it is found in unusually high levels, homocysteine brings the same degree of risk as having high cholesterol does. The B vitamins, especially folic acid and B12, will drive elevated homocysteine levels down to normal, often without the need of any prescription medication.

9. Follow some new stress management tools

Poorly controlled stress may have an adverse effect on blood lipids. An attitude of hostility has been powerfully linked with a higher incidence of cardiac events, and cynical distrust has been associated with accelerated progression of carotid artery disease. Relaxation methods (meditation, breathing exercises), yoga, and stress management techniques are essential for preventing cardiovascular disease and coronary artery disease and for reducing the risk of recurrent cardiac problems. Meditation improves exercise tolerance and decreases electrical changes associated with poor circulation to the heart. Meditation has also been shown to lower cholesterol and reverse carotid artery thickening. Also consider acupuncture, which has been shown to help relax the myocardium and improve circulation.

10. Herbs*

Ask your Health Professional about herbs and nutritional supplements that may be useful in preventing and treating cardiovascular disease, including:

Bilberry
Turmeric (curcumin)
Fenugreek
Ginger
Guggul
Ginkgo
Garlic (one garlic clove is roughly equal to 4 mg to 1 gram of garlic; a daily dose of 600 to 800mg may be recommended)
Onion
Vitamin B12
Folic acid (500 to 5000 micrograms daily may be recommended)
B6
L-Carnitine
Coenzyme Q10 (100 to 300 mg daily may be recommended)
Vitamin E (400 to 800 International Units daily may be recommended)
Magnesium (200 to 400 mg daily may be recommended)
Niacin (A typical oral dose of 100 mg, three times daily; may gradually increase to avg. dose of 1 gram three times daily, with a maximum dose of 6 grams. Extended release tablets: Dosing may begin with one 375-milligram tablet at bedtime and be increased by no more than 500 mg per four-week period, to a maximum of 2,000 mg, given as two 1,000-milligram tablets before bed)
Fish oils (6 grams daily may be recommended)
Soy (Isoflavones may be recommended)

*Please consult your Doctor before following any of the Herbs

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2013-10-11T16:38:00.003+05:30

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Alcohol Abuse

2013-10-11T15:36:00.001+05:30

ALCOHOL ABUSE is very common problem which can be seen almost everywhere, from your closet to other parts of the country.

This is because of western culture which has affected our civilization. But I cannot Blame any country or any part of the world for this degradation, rather i can say, If anything is happening to you, that's because of your own nature.

That's because, it's up to you, how you get the things and gets addicted to that. I want to share my own experience which I had in my past. I know a senior from my hostel ( in Ranchi ), He was very much addicted to all types of drugs, tranquilizers, alcohol, cigarette and many other things.

Each time, when he used to get some new name or some new brand, He used to get hyper to get that thing.
There came a time, when he was unable to stand properly, His parents came to know about this, they stopped sending him money as they knew that he would misuse those money for that addiction.

But, What happened ??? He started borrowing money from his friends and juniors for fulfilling his desire.
So, ALCOHOL ABUSE is worst then any other thing on this planet. It's my humble request to all of you who drinks and smokes, PLEASE QUIT SMOKING AND DRINKING TODAY.

Now, I know it's very difficult to quit smoking and drinking once you are addicted to this.

But I will share 12 Steps which you can follow to get rid of this Curse.

Here are those 12 steps with Image Description, Please Do follow these steps to make your life fulfilling.

First, anticipate that it may take many attempts to finally quit forever. A typical person may take fifteen years to recover from smoking and drinking completely and be back to normal.

Do not procrastinate! Start taking steps to quit as soon as you see this article.

Get rid of ALL forms of your addiction in the house. Throw away all the cigarettes immediately. Pour all alcoholic drinks down the sink, and rinse clean. (Or better yet, flush them down the toilet: you'll never get it back, and if you did, you wish you hadn't :)

Get rid of anything that reminds your of smoking or drinking, e.g. aftershave, mouthwash, cologne, burning things etc. It is better to dispose them to be safe, then to risk a relapse. If you're totally addicted to alcohol you'll drink ANYTHING with alcohol in it.

Stay FAR away from places where people smoke or drink. And avoid people that cause you to smoke or drink. Better yet, spend time with your kids, or your parents, spend as much time as possible with these people. If your parents and kids smoke and drink though... You're screwed.

Enlist the help of everyone you can find, tell them: no matter what, forbid you from ever smoking or drinking again.

It's been said, to get rid of ONE habit, replace it with another. Buy yourself something to to occupy your time, e.g. video games, TV, books, chewing bubble gums.

When you go to stores, avoid the cigarette checkout lane, and the liquor aisles. Do NOT ever visit a liquor store!!

Attend support groups, such as Alcoholic Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous, or just good old buddies who have also quit to share experiences.

Buy some fizzy drinks with lots of carbonation.

Eat a good balanced diet.

When your friends offer you some cigarette or beer, say no, and run out of there!

STOP DRINKING NOW !!!

Are you worried about your belly, Rub it and remove monthly Blues :)

2013-09-27T11:43:00.001+05:30

Ladies, we all know PMS is no treat. Instead of popping pills that cause wacky side effects-and that also muck up our drinking water-alleviate symptoms with a solution Mama Nature would approve:Buddha Nose Girl Balm.

The beeswax salve is all the rage among ladies in Japan, but it's now growing in popularity Stateside. Join the belly-rubbing craze and dab some on. It's organic; essential oils like sage, rose, and ginger encourage hormonal balance to keep our-and our water's-pH balance in check. Twenty bucks gets you a mighty cute and reusable, 1-ounce tin.::ecofabulous

HOW TO REMOVE WARTS NATURALLY WITH ASPIRIN AND COMMON HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

2013-09-27T11:41:00.003+05:30

Warts happen. Don't feel bad about it if they happen to you. They don't make you icky, they don't make you diseased, they don't make you anything bad at all. They're simply a normal thing that happens to skin and they happen at any age. However, thanks to our perfectionist standards of beauty, you have every right to want to get warts removed from your skin when they do pop up.

Before you go running to the drug store to get some over-the-counter medicine that comes in soon-to-be-trash packaging (and required the expelling of pollution during its production), why not try to rid yourself of warts naturally? You might have some things around the house that could help you get rid of your warts, believe it or not.

Here are some natural wart remedies you should try:

Aloe

Try rubbing some aloe over your wart and securing it against the wart with a band-aid.

Aspirin

Dissolve the Aspirin in water and rub the mixture all over the wart. Yum!

Baking Soda

Rub baking soda all over the wart. Do this 3 times daily.

Other things to try rubbing (and leaving) on the wart:

Banana Peel

Onion

Garlic

Lemon Juice

Glue

Chalk

Papaya

Pineapple

Potato

Tape

You'd be surprised at some of the natural things that can help to remove a wart if you just give them a try.

Breast cancer drug toxic to brain cells and central nervous system

2013-09-24T11:08:00.004+05:30

Researchers have revealed that the breast cancer drug tamoxifen is toxic to cells of the brain and central nervous system, and produces mental fogginess similar to "chemo brain."

Corresponding author Mark Noble, Ph.D., professor of Biomedical Genetics and director of the UR Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute, said that it is exciting to potentially be able to prevent a toxic reaction to one of the oldest and most widely used breast cancer medications on the market.

Although tamoxifen is relatively benign compared to most cancer treatments, it nonetheless produces troubling side effects in a subset of the large number of people who take it.

By studying tamoxifen's impact on central nervous system cell populations and then screening a library of 1,040 compounds already in clinical use or clinical trials, his team identified a substance known as AZD6244, and showed that it essentially eliminated tamoxifen-induced killing of brain cells in mice.

Noble's team first identified central nervous system (CNS) cells that are most vulnerable to tamoxifen toxicity. Chief among these were oligodendrocyte-type 2 astrocyte progenitor cells (O-2A/OPCs), cells that are essential for making the insulating sheaths (called myelin) required for nerve cells to work properly.

Exposure to clinically relevant levels of tamoxifen for 48 hours killed more than 75 percent of these cells.

The study has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

LOVE HORMONE... Let's see, how it works

2013-09-24T11:07:00.003+05:30

The hormone, oxytocin, could play a role in treating psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, a new study has revealed.

According to the study conducted by Dr David Cochran of University of Massachusetts Medical School and his colleagues, oxytocin is an important regulator of human social behaviors.

The study also revealed that the hormone can also be useful for treating certain mental health diagnoses, particularly those which involve impaired social functioning.

A growing body of evidence in animals and humans has revealed that oxytocin, probably most familiar for its role in initiating labor and breast milk flow in pregnant women, plays an important role in regulating social behaviors.

Based on these effects, researchers have suspected that oxytocin may be a common factor in certain psychiatric disorders. The reviewers analyze the evidence for oxytocin's involvement in specific disorders-including some early research on oxytocin as a potential treatment for these conditions.

"The evidence suggests a role of oxytocin in the pathophysiology of some psychiatric disorders, particularly those characterized by impairments in social functioning," Dr Cochran and coauthors wrote.

Though the preliminary nature of the currently available data precludes a clear understanding of the exact nature of the hormone's role, the study showed that proper clinical trials would be able to provide a better understanding of the extent and limitations of the clinical effects of externally delivered oxytocin.

The study was published in Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

Do you know, Microbes are sometimes Useful too...

2013-09-24T11:05:00.004+05:30

A new study has revealed that gut microbes may hold the key to deal with significant health problems faced by people in the world today.

Researchers of Oregon State University have found that problems such as autoimmune disease, to clinical depression, and simple obesity may in fact be linked to immune dysfunction that begins with a "failure to communicate" in the human gut.

Dr Natalia Shulzhenko said that the human gut plays a huge role in immune function and it is little appreciated by people who think its only role is digestion.

Shulzhenko said that the combined number of genes in the microbiota genome is 150 times larger than the person in which they reside.

She said that an emerging theory of disease is a disruption in the "crosstalk" between the microbes in the human gut and other cells involved in the immune system and metabolic processes.

Shulzhenko said that in a healthy person, these microbes in the gut stimulate the immune system as needed, and it in turn talks back.

She added that the increasing disruption of these microbes caused by modern lifestyle, diet, overuse of antibiotics and other issues is breaking down this "conversation."

The study was published in Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology.

Now That's what we call Awareness... New HIV infections down 33 percent since 2001: UN

2013-09-24T11:04:00.001+05:30

Geneva: A UN report Monday said new HIV infections among adults and children were estimated at 2.3 million in 2012, down 33 percent from 2001.

New HIV infections among children have been reduced more than half from 2001 to reach 260,000 in 2012, while AIDS-related deaths have dropped by 30 percent since the peak in 2005 as access to antiretroviral treatment expands, Xinhua reported citing a latest report released by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Standard antiretroviral therapy consists of the combination of at least three antiretroviral drugs to maximally suppress the HIV virus and stop the progression of HIV disease.

In 2011, UN member states set a target of reaching 15 million people with HIV treatment by 2015.

The report said, by the end of 2012, 9.7 million people in low and middle-income countries were accessing antiretroviral therapy, an increase of nearly 20 percent in just one year.

Moreover, the World Health Organisation set new HIV treatment guidelines this June, expanding the total number of people estimated to need treatment by more than 10 million.

"Not only can we meet the 2015 target of 15 million people on HIV treatment, we must also go beyond and have the vision and commitment to ensure no one is left behind," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said in a statement.

Significant results have also been achieved toward meeting the needs of tuberculosis (TB) patients living with HIV, as TB-related deaths among people living with HIV have declined by 36 percent since 2004, the report said.

However, the report noted that slow progress was made in ensuring the respect of human rights, securing access to HIV services for people at risk of HIV infection, particularly people who use drugs, and in preventing violence against women and girls.

Besides, gender inequality, punitive laws and discriminatory action are continuing to hamper national responses to HIV and concerted efforts were needed to address these persistent obstacles to the scale-up of HIV services for people most in need, the report said.

And the Beat Goes On

2013-09-23T13:21:00.003+05:30

It has been said that music feeds the soul. It is also said that music is a universal language, understood by all. Music serves a number of purposes ranging from communication to simple enjoyment. Not only that, but research also suggests that music can play an important role in deterring and minimizing the affects of age-related cognitive dysfunctions.

Decades of research has implied a direct correlation between the development of neural pathways associated with not only hearing and feeling the sound and rhythm of music, but also the process of learning to play musical instruments.

Scientific research implies that brain development begins as early as the third week from conception and continues well into an adult’s twenties. The human brain is far more plastic during early development than in later life. So how might music relate to the development of the brain and cognitive neural responses of older adults?

Although there is little evidence to suggest that a fetus truly reacts to the sound of music, there appears to be a correlation between learning to play a musical instrument such as the piano and the development of spatial recognition perception in young children. The enhancement of neural connectivity associated with hand and eye coordination as a child learns to play an instrument suggests that musical training can have a long-term effect on the ability to process and understand the meaning and exchange of words.

Neurological deficiencies associated with the aging process describe a litany of disorders ranging from short-term memory loss to the slow decay of response time. Evidence suggests that the aging process reduces inhibitory neurotransmitter levels and dampens neural processing. Yet, further evidence reveals a link between previous musical training during childhood and a reduction in the degenerative neural processes associated with aging.

One particular study suggests that the nervous system is essentially changed in those individuals who had received early childhood training in music (for at least three years duration), and that these neural alterations continued into adulthood even if the training was discontinued (a minimum of seven years later).

Given this link, it could be that time reaction delays can be reversed through neural auditory training processes. A recent study theorized that cognitive training through auditory processes could re-establish — to some extent — age-related insufficiencies in temporal dispensation in the brain. And in turn, the associated plasticity of the brain could serve to encourage enhanced perception and cognitive abilities.

The study’s findings found that even short-term training induced neural plasticity in older adults in fundamental aspects of biological auditory processing. The results demonstrated that declines in neural temporal precision, normally associated with the aging processes found in older adults, were to some extent reversed. Improvements were also noted in short-term memory, processing speed, and sensitivity of speech.

Efforts such as these to understand the brain’s response to reduced inhibitory neurotransmitter levels and a reduction in neural processing as it relates to age-related dysfunction has led to research the possible role that music can and does play in slowing and possibly reducing these outcomes. It may be that music feeds a lot more than just the soul.

References

Anderson S, Parbery-Clark A, White-Schwoch T, & Kraus N (2012). Aging affects neural precision of speech encoding. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32 (41), 14156-64 PMID: 23055485

Anderson S, White-Schwoch T, Parbery-Clark A, & Kraus N (2013). Reversal of age-related neural timing delays with training. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110 (11), 4357-62 PMID: 23401541

Pujol J, Vendrell P, Junqué C, Martí-Vilalta JL, & Capdevila A (1993). When does human brain development end? Evidence of corpus callosum growth up to adulthood. Annals of neurology, 34 (1), 71-5 PMID: 8517683

Skoe E, & Kraus N (2012). A little goes a long way: how the adult brain is shaped by musical training in childhood. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32 (34), 11507-10 PMID: 22915097

Image via Rick Lord / Shutterstock.

Uncontrolled Blood Pressure, Genetic Risk, and Alzheimer’s Disease

2013-09-23T13:20:00.004+05:30

A new article published in JAMA: Neurology demonstrates a link between genetics, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular problems.

There continues to be a large focus within dementia research to understand the link between heart health and brain health. This also is a growing area of research not only because most societies are aging (i.e., the average age of the population increases as people live longer and have fewer children) but also because many societies struggle with increasing obesity rates. Obesity and heart disease are strongly linked.

In addition, it has been well-established that people who have higher blood pressure are at greater risk of cognitive decline in old age and at greater risk for developing dementia. Such decline or dementia are believed to be caused, at least in part by, acute or chronic changes to the white matter of the brain. These changes are typically called small or silent strokes by physicians and are visible on magnetic resonance images (MRI) or CT scans. Due to the prevalence of white matter disease in dementia, diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease have been updated within the past few years to focus more on the role that cerebrovascular disease plays in the Alzheimer’s disease process.

In terms of genetics, the best-verified risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease relates to the apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE) genotype. Individuals who have two copies of the ApoE4allele have up to a 12-fold increase risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.

In order to officially diagnose someone as having Alzheimer’s disease, a postmortem pathology examination must be performed on the brain with results demonstrating the presence of groups of proteins called beta-amyloid (plaques) and what are called tau-driven neurofibrillary tangles (basically a twisting and changing of part of the internal structure of neurons – brain cells). While confirming the presence of these plaques and tangles requires pathological dissection, a type of brain scan called positron emission tomography (PET) imaging can be used to look at amount of beta-amyloid plaque build-up in living people.

What the researchers wanted to investigate is whether there is a link between having high blood pressure, the amount of beta-amyloid plaque people without Alzheimer’s disease have, and genetic risk (ApoE4). The researchers found weak and non-significant evidence that people with at least one ApoE4 allele had more plaque build-up in their brains as did people with hypertension. More importantly and significantly, those who had both genetic (ApoE4) and vascular (hypertension) risk had significantly more plaque in their brains. Further analyses showed that people without controlled high blood pressure were the ones who had the most plaque in their brains, on average. Again, the study population included middle-age and older adults without dementia at time of study participation.

What this study demonstrates is that middle- and old-aged people without cognitive difficulties who have genetic risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (ApoE4 alleles) and who have high blood pressure show much more Alzheimer’s pathology in their brains. Much of this difference is driven by people who do not have well-controlled high blood pressure, meaning that if people have genetic risk of Alzheimer’s disease but do a good job of controlling blood pressure (keeping it under 140/90) do not have much more Alzheimer’s pathology than those without genetic risk and without (or with controlled) high blood pressure.

In summary, middle-age adults who have genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and who do not control high blood pressure are likely at much higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life than those who keep blood pressure under control.

References

Rodrigue KM, Rieck JR, Kennedy KM, Devous MD, Diaz-Arrastia R, & Park DC (2013). Risk Factors for ?-Amyloid Deposition in Healthy Aging: Vascular and Genetic Effects. JAMA neurology, 70 (5), 600-6 PMID: 23553344

Image via Juan Gaertner / Shutterstock.

Autism Across the Ages

2013-09-23T13:19:00.003+05:30

The cause of autism is not completely understood, but several risk factors have been identified that are associated with its occurrence, including advanced age of both mothers and fathers. Now, a new study reveals that advanced age of grandparents may also predispose children to autism.

The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, evaluated multiple generations of people born in Sweden since 1932. The researchers obtained parental age and grandparental age at the time of birth for nearly 6000 children with a diagnosis of autism and an additional 31,000 control cases. A significant association was found between older grandfathers and childhood autism. Men who fathered a daughter after the age of 50 were 1.79 times more likely to have a grandchild with autism, compared with men who fathered a child between the ages of 20 and 24. Men who fathered a son after the age of 50 were 1.67 times more likely to have a grandchild with autism.

The authors concluded that the risk of autism may develop over generations, owing to genetic mutations or alterations in male sperm cells that are passed on to offspring. Possibly, these alterations remain silent in the first generation of offspring, but will get passed on to future generations where they interact with other risk factors or environmental conditions until a disorder manifests itself.

Several studies have reported the link between advanced parental age and autism in children, but this is among the first to link grandfathers with a risk of autism. Men who fathered children after the age of 50 were 2.2 times more likely to have a child with autism, according to an analysis by some of the same researchers as the grandparental age study. Similarly, mothers who had children after the age of 35 were 1.31 times more likely to have a child with autism. A separate study reported that the risk of autism increased significantly with every 10-year increase in maternal and paternal age.

Advanced age of fathers and grandfathers has also been linked to other psychiatric diagnoses. For example, the risk of schizophrenia for offspring doubles when a man fathers a child after the age of 55. Children of maternal grandfathers who fathered children after the age of 55 have a 2.79-fold risk of schizophrenia.

The current study highlights the complex nature of autism and how it develops. The increased risk of autism identified by this group is still small, but it suggests that fathers’ and grandfathers’ lifestyle and reproductive choices can affect future progeny. Of course, many factors affect the health of a genome, and simply having old parents or grandparents should not be the only factor that limits the decision to have children. But, findings such as these remind us that the circle of life is not a perfect, unbroken system. The genome is a living, changing entity that evolves and adapts to environmental conditions, disease, and lifestyle exposures to affect, if not our own future, the future of our descendants.

References

Croen LA, Najjar DV, Fireman B, & Grether JK (2007). Maternal and paternal age and risk of autism spectrum disorders. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 161 (4), 334-40 PMID: 17404129

Frans EM, McGrath JJ, Sandin S, Lichtenstein P, Reichenberg A, Långström N, & Hultman CM (2011). Advanced paternal and grandpaternal age and schizophrenia: a three-generation perspective. Schizophrenia research, 133 (1-3), 120-4 PMID: 22000939

Frans EM, Sandin S, Reichenberg A, Långström N, Lichtenstein P, McGrath JJ, & Hultman CM (2013). Autism risk across generations: a population-based study of advancing grandpaternal and paternal age. JAMA psychiatry (Chicago, Ill.), 70 (5), 516-21 PMID:23553111

Hultman CM, Sandin S, Levine SZ, Lichtenstein P, & Reichenberg A (2011). Advancing paternal age and risk of autism: new evidence from a population-based study and a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies. Molecular psychiatry, 16 (12), 1203-12 PMID:21116277

Sandin S, Hultman CM, Kolevzon A, Gross R, MacCabe JH, & Reichenberg A (2012). Advancing maternal age is associated with increasing risk for autism: a review and meta-analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 51 (5), 477-4860 PMID: 22525954

Brotherly Love? Sibling Bullying Is Underestimated

2013-09-23T13:18:00.001+05:30

The day my second son was born, a nurse — who had raised two boys of her own — offered advice: “When they get upset with each other, let them fight it out. They won’t kill each other.” She also added: “Just make sure they fight outside, so they don’t get blood on your carpet.” Fights between siblings, even physically violent ones, are expected –- and accepted –- in society, but is this attitude appropriate and healthy? A new study reports that sibling bullying is under-recognized, and it can have serious adverse consequences for mental health and overall well-being.

Researchers from the University of New Hampshire interviewed nearly 3600 adolescents aged 10 to 17 years and caregivers of children aged 9 and under. The interviews were conducted as part of the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence, and the study, published online by the journal Pediatrics, is one of the first to use a nationally representative sample to address the occurrence and consequences of sibling bullying.

Each child in the study had at least one sibling under age 18 living at home. Participants were asked if the adolescent or child had been bullied –- defined as physical assault, property victimization, or psychological aggression –- by a sibling in the past year. They were also asked if the adolescent or child experienced anger, depression, or anxiety in the previous month.

In all, 8% of the adolescents and children experienced at least two types of bullying. Children who were even mildly physically assaulted had higher levels of mental distress than adolescents who were assaulted. Outcomes did not differ between groups for other types of bullying. Any type of sibling aggression predicted worse mental health.

Despite society-wide efforts to stop bullying at school and online, very little attention is paid to sibling relationships. A small survey of 27 sibling pairs reported that 78% of children reported being bullied by their siblings, and 85% reported being perpetrators of bullying at some point. Another study reported that as many as half of all siblings are bullied every month and up to 20% are bullied every week. Involvement in sibling bullying increased the risk of involvement in school bullying, and children involved in both school and sibling bullying were 14 times more likely to experience behavioral or emotional problems compared to those involved in bullying in one or no settings.

Those who love us the most can hurt us the most, and this is markedly true in relationships with siblings. Siblings will almost undoubtedly experience rivalry, jealousy, anger, and resentment at some point in their childhood and adolescence. But, these feelings should be managed by healthy communication and emotional outlets. Parents can promote and support positive sibling relationships, rather than tolerating violence or hostility that can lead to negative mental health consequences and decrease the well-being of children and the entire family.

According to the authors of the current study, parents should act as mediators in cases of sibling bullying, as well as teach and model constructive conflict resolution skills. So far, my boys haven’t spilled any blood on my carpet, or elsewhere. That I know of.

References

Ensor R, Marks A, Jacobs L, & Hughes C (2010). Trajectories of antisocial behaviour towards siblings predict antisocial behaviour towards peers. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 51 (11), 1208-16 PMID: 20584100

Menesini E, Camodeca M, & Nocentini A (2010). Bullying among siblings: the role of personality and relational variables. The British journal of developmental psychology, 28(Pt 4), 921-39 PMID: 21121475

Skinner JA, & Kowalski RM (2013). Profiles of sibling bullying. Journal of interpersonal violence, 28 (8), 1726-36 PMID: 23348680

Tucker CJ, Finkelhor D, Turner H, & Shattuck A (2013). Association of sibling aggression with child and adolescent mental health. Pediatrics, 132 (1), 79-84 PMID: 23776124

Wolke D, & Skew AJ (2012). Bullying among siblings. International journal of adolescent medicine and health, 24 (1), 17-25 PMID: 22909908

From Superstition to Psychological Anarchy

2013-09-23T13:16:00.004+05:30

Skinner was able to produce superstitious behavior in pigeons by rewarding them arbitrarily for no particular behavior. These pigeons had, in the past, learned that reinforcement was contingent upon behavior — similar to human beings — who learn, for example, that pay is contingent on work or that friendship is contingent on some loyalty. Do superstitious beliefs result from mental acts that are primitive in their use of reason?

Can superstition truly be considered a behavior, when it mainly involves unobservable mental rather than physical action? Perhaps, but we do understand that superstition in people involves firm mental associations between behavior and belief. Belief is not generated scientifically. It has arbitrary emotional components, for example. An athlete wearing his “lucky socks” at a baseball game emerges with superstitious behavior due to the fact that this “luck” regarding his socks is perceived by the athlete, even when it is based upon chance rewarding of chance behavior.

There are intentional mental acts that could be defined as behavior if the definition of behavior did not generally imply action that is observable by the five senses. Cognitive theorists would agree that mental acts, as constituted by thought, are covert behavior.

Reason does not determine belief. People may believe whatever appeals most to them, with little thought of rational aspects or consequences of belief. Perception — implicated in belief — involves mental skewing of information that is derived from sensory experience. While perception is not fact, it continually impacts belief and is always an interpretation of sensory experience. It is the baseball player’s perception of his situation and the circumstances that entail “luck”, for example, that constitute his basis for belief. Very few people — perhaps none — have consistent belief systems which represent a world view.

Like Skinner’s pigeons, it’s the individual’s perception of sensory information derived from the environment that results in superstitious belief. The Heisenberg principle postulates that an individual’s observation of the world may change how the environment “responds” to him or her. It’s an interesting idea that our perceptions shape our reality and our perceptions can alter what we see.

Psychosis and delusions, in particular, that are reinforced by chance events, amount to something similar to cultivation of superstition as defined by Skinner, but with recognition of a cognitive element. Psychotic ideas or delusions can find arbitrary “responses” from the environment. Superstitious behavior, based upon faulty cognition and beliefs, are common.

Punitive experience, such as delusional thought, is not reinforced and, in fact, may be punished. In terms of the psychotic individual finding evidence for his delusions in his environment, there exists a rational problem in that this perceived “evidence” is not rewarding, and, due to its punitive qualities, it should not persist.

But, although delusional experience may not produce observable rewards, some aspects of delusional experience are rewarding: delusions of grandeur, erotomanic delusions, delusions of reference, and even delusions of persecution. Such delusions can allow one to feel a sense of importance, and this may be rewarding to individuals who may feel sidelined from society.

There exists the reality that the schizophrenic will receive punitive experience based on his own perception of the world. However, vigilance and awareness of danger in one’s environment can be reinforced through belief that such vigilance, constituted at times by paranoia, renders one safer.

It’s worth remembering that there is a visceral and automatic quality of delusions and hallucinations. Behavior, in a strict sense of that which is observed by one’s senses, may differ significantly from the “behavior” represented by automatic thoughts or delusions and the visceral experience of hallucinations.

Much psychotic experience and delusional material are based upon primitive understanding of the world, leaving little basis on which a schizophrenic might understand his false sensory experience. Indeed, to be told that what you seem to sense is not reality is terrifying. Delusions can be punitive, leading to learned helplessness and perhaps even to reduced frontal lobe activity, but the effort to find reinforcement while adhering to delusional perspectives may be compelling, if only in that the psychotic individual may feel that he will be able to “prove’ the legitimacy of his perspective, and thereby earn respect that is not forthcoming as he remains in the shadow of stigmatization as a “psychotic” individual.

Clearly, this implicates labeling and stigma as they are associated with mental illness. If mentally ill psychotic individuals were not denigrated by others in society, perhaps there would be less of a need in these affected individuals to “prove” that they can be understood, that they can legitimately receive empathy and can feel themselves to be human beings. The consequences of alienation are emotionally destructive, and prescribed for the mentally ill at this time is a kind of psychological anarchy on the level of the self. Clinicians may be able to discern in this an initial attitude in treating psychotic individuals compassionately and therapeutically.

There perhaps exists a need in schizophrenics for validation. If schizophrenics were more consistently validated and less damaged by the societal grip of stigma, there might be a lessening in the amount of delusional, albeit superstitious, beliefs held by this group in general.

How to talk to a parent who has lost their child

2013-09-18T10:46:00.004+05:30

The soul destroying agony of your child dying is only truly known and understood by those who have endured it. Four years on, I still glance down at my daughter's grave in disbelief. Visiting my child’s grave is surreal. It’s almost like I’ve vacated my body and I’m watching someone I don’t know standing there putting flowers down.

Is this really my life?

Only a parent understands the powerful bond you have with your child; that absolute undying love you have and that monumental desire that roars like an open fire inside you to protect that child at all costs. It is openly said that a parent will lay down their life for their child, but it is not until you have your own that you truly understand these fierce emotions. Parenting is wearing your heart on the outside of your body. Whatever you imagine it might be like to have your child die, multiply that by about a trillion and you’re probably not even close.

On the surface it appears society is accepting of this unbearable sadness and people are supportive and open to talking about it. However, in my situation, I’ve been surprised by people’s genuine kindness and empathy as much as I’ve been repeatedly shocked and disappointed by their lack of it. It’s necessary for bereaved parents to be able to talk openly. I’ve found it’s the only thing that dispels the trauma.

Sure, friends and family have been supportive, but it seems there is a mandate for how long their unwavering support, patience, understanding, concern, and empathy lasts. The truth is, the situation is so unbearably sad that it becomes too emotionally draining on the other person.

The realization that they can’t fix your sadness sets in, the frustration builds because not even they can see an end in sight, then gradually it starts to impede on the happiness in their life. They haven’t lost their child so why should they spend all their time feeling sad about yours?

I will, for the sake of all the other parents out there with empty arms, write 10 things I wish people knew about the loss of a child. Maybe one of my points will make a difference to a bereaved parent’s life.

1. Four years on I get up every day with the exact same sadness I had the day Ella died. The only difference is I’m more skilled at hiding it and I’m much more used to the agony of my broken heart. The shock has somewhat lessened, but I do still find myself thinking I can’t believe this happened. I thought that only happened to other people. You asked how I was in the beginning yet you stopped, why? Where did you get the information on what week or month was good to stop asking?

2. Please don’t tell me that all you want is for me to be happy again. Nobody wants that more than I do, but it’s something that can only be achieved with time. On top of that, I have to find a new happiness. The happiness I once felt, that carefree feeling, will never return in its entirety. It also helps to have the patience and understanding from loved ones.

3. Please don’t say "I want the old Sam back!" Or, "I can see the old Sam coming back!" Sam’s not coming back. This is who I am now. If you only knew the horror I witnessed and endured, you would know it’s not humanly possible for me to ever be the same person again. Losing a child changes who you are. I’ve been told my eyes look haunted.

There is nobody that misses the “old Sam” more than me. But I’m mourning two deaths here; my daughter’s and my former self.

4. If you chose to acknowledge my daughter’s birthday or the anniversary of her death on the first year, it’s terribly gut wrenching when you didn’t bother to acknowledge the second or third or fourth. Do you think any subsequent birthday or anniversary is not as sad for me? It also says to me in very big neon lights that you’ve moved on and forgotten about my daughter.

5. Please stop with the continual comments about how lucky I am to have my other children, particularly my daughter. Do I say this to you? Then why say it to me? I’ve buried my daughter, do you seriously think I feel lucky?

6. It’s not healthy to cry in front of the kids? You’re wrong. It is perfectly healthy that they see I’m sad over their sister's death. When someone dies, it’s normal to cry. What would not be normal would be for my children to grow up and think “I never even saw my Mom sad over Ella’s death.” That would paint me in a light that would tell them it’s healthy to hide your emotions when obviously it’s not.

7. I have four children I don’t have three. If you want to ignore Ella as my third child because she’s dead go for it, but don’t do it for me. Four not three.

8. There are still some days, yes four years on, that I still want to hide away from the world and take a break from pretending everything is oh so wonderful and I’m all better. Please don’t assume I’ve thrown in the towel, or worse, actually be so thoughtless as to wonder what’s wrong with me. I still know I’ve married the catch of the century and my children are gorgeously divine and I have a beautiful house, but I’m grieving.

It’s mentally exhausting, especially raising three young children and on top of that maintaining a strong and loving marriage. Unbeknownst to you, I’m dealing with not just my own grief, but my beautiful husbands' and my two boys'.

It would be nice if you congratulated me on the state of my family because keeping it together, stable and happy, has been hard work.

9. I did notice. To the friends and family that found the entire death and dealing with my sadness all too hard and held secret events behind our backs that were lied about, stopped inviting us to things we had always been included in, and slowly ended our relationship thinking I didn’t notice: I did notice.

The only reason why I never said anything is because I’m not wasting my words on your shameful behavior. I am thankful for something though—I didn’t waste any more time on people who were capable of such shallowness and cruelty. Please don’t fear. I would be the first one by your side if the same thing happened to you. That should give you some indication of how horrible it is.

10. Grieving for a child lasts until you see them again. It’s a lifetime. If you’re wondering how long your friend or family member might be grieving for, the answer is forever. Don’t rush them, don’t trivialize their sadness, don’t make them feel guilty for being sad, and when they talk to you, open your ears and listen, really listen to what they’re telling you. It’s possible you’ll learn something.

I’ve been left repeatedly heartbroken as friends I truly loved tossed me into the "too hard" basket or—more hurtfully—the "crazy" basket. Phone calls stopped, text messages stopped, comments on Facebook stopped, and I get the same thing every time. “Sorry, darling, I’m just flat out,” “Let’s catch up soon” and “I miss you.” The list could keep going, but I get it. I’m not the type of person who is going to pursue a friendship I know the other person doesn’t want. Everyone has a conscience and thankfully I don’t have to live with theirs.

The bottom line is people are uncomfortable with the situation and I really don’t know why. My feelings tell me it is such a horrific thing that most people don’t want to know about it. Maybe they fear through knowing so much they might become obsessed with their own children dying. Parents worry enough about their children already. Do they really need the added worry about knowing how your child died?

Without question, my daughter Ella dying suddenly has been the worst thing that has happened in my 37 years here on Earth. I doubt that anything in my future is going to top it. Actually, just between us, I beg and plead with God on a daily basis that nothing ever does top that experience, but the truth is, I just don’t know.

What I’ve endured, losing my little girl, has been so unimaginably horrific that I don’t think I would survive something like it again. What I have had to give emotionally to get through it has dwindled away all my mental strength.

I'm emotionally broke, not broken. I know all the energy I’ve needed over the last four years has not just been spent on my grief for Ella. It’s also been on trying to get my friends and family to understand what it’s like to walk in my shoes. I’m angry about that. When I should have been grieving, I was defending myself.

I’m probably very close to being as angry about that as I am about her death.

Samantha Hayward is at stay-at-home married mom with four children. Tragically, four years ago, her eldest daughter Ella died suddenly at 19 days to undiagnosed Viral Myocarditis.

7 natural ways to cure Hangover

2013-09-16T10:27:00.002+05:30

When suffering "the day after" it's pretty common to question "the night before." Was it really worth feeling this awful?! And then there's the "I'm never drinking again" that you utter, feeling sick to your stomach just imagining the taste of alcohol ever touching your tongue again. Worse than feeling awful, hangovers can actually wreak havoc on your immune system, digestive track and organ function.

Hangovers happen when our already overburdened livers struggle to clear out the excessive amount of toxins and chemicals ingested from too much alcohol. Our blood sugar dips. Our bodies are dehydrated, and overall fatigue takes over. Basically, you are creating a toxic internal environment and your body is letting you know.

While over the counter pain relievers are common practice for the hangover-inclined, you might want to think again before reaching for your aspirin, acetaminophen or ibuprofen, all of which can come with some serious side-effects that are amplified by alcohol.

- Aspirin: Like alcohol, aspirin is a blood thinner. Mix two together and you have a potentially dangerous combo in the off chance that you actually need your blood to coagulate (like if you cut yourself).

- Acetaminophen: Acetaminophen can cause even more damage to your liver.

- Ibuprofen: Ibuprofen can cause stomach bleeding. And we haven?t even addressed the fact that popping pills is so not green! Thankfully, there are other better and greener ways to help avoid the next a.m. aches without flooding our livers with even more chemicals to fend off (and no side effects to be fearful of).

Instead, try one of these 7 Natural ways to help "the day after" hangover not hurt so much:

1. HYDRATE TO CLEAR OUT TOXINS

To help the detoxification process along, it's always a good idea to drink plenty of water before, during and after imbibing of your favorite spirit. Before going to bed, try to down two big cups. In the a.m., as awful as it may seem, hydrate again. Water is great, but tomato juice with cayenne pepper, sugar, and lime should also be added to the hydration options as the concoction helps replenish electrolytes and get blood sugar back on track. No tomato juice in the house? Try a glass of water with a dash of salt and sugar both before bed and immediately upon waking up.

2. TRY TIGER BALM TO HELP THE HEADACHE

Tiger Balm, a popular topical used traditionally in Asia as a multi-purpose remedy, is blended from camphor, menthol, cajuput oil and clove oil and known for its analgesic and blood flow promoting properties. It may not be made to mitigate hangovers, but it is one of the best topical headache cures around. Dab the potent, eye-stinging salve on the back of your neck and temples, massage it in, and wait a few minutes until your headache seemingly melts away.

3. SOAK IN WASABI TO STIMULATE DETOXIFICATION

As much as a third of toxic body waste is cleared through the skin. So doesn't it suddenly make complete sense to soak in a tub of toxin-purging wasabi? Don?t dismiss the hot stuff as a mere smear on your sustainable sushi! Turns out that at the root of this go-to miracle tonic?s power, wasabi (which is actually a member of the cabbage family) has the ability to increase blood circulation through the organs and promote oxygenation of the cellular tissue, helping to clear cells of metabolic waste. When infused into the bath, wasabi?s stimulating nature has been known to help ease a hangover.

Try Body System's Wasabi Hangover Bath Treatment to help purge pollutants from the system.

4. MAKE A MUSTARD BATH TO FLUSH OUT ALCOHOL

You slather it on a hot dog for added oomph, dab it on Chinese food for its guaranteed kick, pour some in your bath to detox...right? Well, we do. Because of its noted ability to increase circulation and draw toxins out from the organs, mustard has become a little-known hangover-healing health secret. Once the organs are flushed, they naturally are replenished with clean and vital blood.

While you could soak in a tub filled with the goopy yellow stuff, we suggest a mustard bath powder like Kalahari Detox Mustard Bath with added mineral salts, eucalyptus and camphor to even further amp up the detox-ability. You can also make your own mustard bath by pouring 2 tbsp of pure mustard powder into warm running bath water. Steep for 20 minutes. Dry off. Take a nap and let the mustard take effect.

5. RUB YOUR HANGOVER OUT OF YOUR FEET

Reflexology is a known remedy for a slew of ailments?hangovers included. To rub your aches and pains away (while assisting to speed up liver detoxification) stimulate the outer edge area on the right foot, about halfway between the middle of the foot and the little toe. This is the reflex to the liver. You may notice some "crunchy" texture—which is a sign that there is some congestion in the area associated with that spot.

6. TRY THIS HANGOVER-HELPER YOGA POSE

Perfect as a post-party liver purge, twisting yoga poses help to squeeze the alcohol out of the organs (imagine twisting a towel to squeeze out water).

- The Seated Twist

- Get out of bed and sit on the floor with your legs extended straight in front of you.

- Bend your left knee and cross your leg over your right, placing your left foot on the floor beside the outside of your right knee.

- Rotate your torso to the left so you are twisting your body.

- Bring your right arm across your body and place your right hand on the floor beside your left butt cheek. Use this arm to help you twist even more.

- Inhale big belly breaths. Hold the pose for 30 seconds. Switch sides.

7. FINISH YOUR NIGHT WITH A DIFFERENT TYPE OF SHOT...WHEATGRASS

Wheatgrass is a natural detoxifier. It is said to cleanse the body's blood and water, hydrating and energizing the cells. Considered a "life sustaining food," the chlorophyll in wheatgrass helps clear your insides out, naturally deodorizing, enhancing wound healing, maintaining pH balance, healing the intestines, and delivering powerful antioxidants and enzymes to support the body both inside and out. Drink a glass at the end of the night for instant detoxifying and hydration, then again the morning after to further detox and energize.

Are you having problems of Dehydration?? Then follow this simple 5 home remedies to get rid of that

2013-09-16T10:24:00.003+05:30

Remaining hydrated is critical to your overall health. Every cell in your body needs water in order to function properly. In fact, an adult's body weight is 60 percent water, while an infant's is up to 80 percent water. Other than oxygen, there's nothing that your body needs more than water.

The simple cure for dehydration comes from the tap. Turn it on and drink. But there are other kitchen helpers that will keep you hydrated, too. Check out the next page for some helpful home remedies to treat dehydration.

This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), Publications International, Ltd., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider

1. Bland Foods

If you've experienced dehydration, stick to foods that are easily digested for the next 24 hours, because stomach cramps are a symptom of dehydration and can recur. Try soda crackers, rice, bananas, potatoes and flavored gelatins. Gelatins are especially good since they are primarily made of water.

You can also start and end your day with 16 ounces of water. It's a great way to prevent mild dehydration.

2: Watery Fruits

Bananas have great water content and are especially good for restoring potassium that has vanished with dehydration. You can also try watery fruits such as cantaloupe, watermelon and strawberries. Watery vegetables such as cucumbers are good, too.

Try adding 1 teaspoon lime juice, a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon sugar to a pint of water. Sip the beverage throughout the day to cure mild dehydration.

3: Salt

If you're experiencing symptoms of mild dehydration or heat injury, or you're just plain sweating a lot, make sure you replace your salt. Don't just chug salt straight from the box, however. Try eating pretzels, salted crackers or salty nuts.

And to slough off the dry, flaky skin that comes from dehydration, try this: After you bathe and while your skin is still wet, sprinkle salt onto your hands and rub it all over your skin. This salt massage will remove dry skin and make your skin smoother to the touch. It will also invigorate your skin and get your circulation moving. Also, if your skin is itchy as a result of dehydration, soaking in a tub of salt water can be a great itchy-skin reliever. Just add 1 cup table salt or sea salt to bathwater. This solution will also soften skin and relax you.

4: Sport Drinks

Not only will they add water back into your system, sport drinks restore potassium and other essentialelectrolytes (a salt substance, such as potassium, sodium, and chlorine found in blood, tissue fluids, and cells that carry electrical impulses). For children, these adult drinks may be too harsh, so talk to your pharmacist about pediatric rehydration drinks now on the market.

Don't depend on sport drinks or soft drinks for all your fluid requirements. They can come with side effects and calories. Plain old water is the best choice. Yogurt or cottage cheese both have sodium and potassium for replacing electrolytes as well.

5: ICE

Suck on ice or rub it on your body when you're overheated. This will help cool you down and prevent excess evaporation, which may lead to dehydration.

Eating a popsicle is a great way to restore water to your body as well. It's an easy way to get fluids into kids, too.

If you drink bottled water, freeze some in the bottom of an empty bottle, then top if off with cold water when you're ready to go. You'll have cold water ready to drink for hours. If you know you'll need more than one bottle of cold water, grab another full bottle, drain about an inch from the top and freeze the whole thing. By the time the first bottle is empty, you'll have plenty of cold water in the second.

The Neurobiology behind a Sense of Place

2013-09-11T11:12:00.003+05:30

I remember clearly one of the first times I was aware of the concept that can be characterized as a “sense of place.” Several months into a year-long backpacking trip, I was mesmerized by my experiences in East Africa. Then, once it became what would have been summer back home, I experienced a sudden and profound sense of longing for the landscapes of Ontario. I was not homesick so much as missing the whole milieu I would normally experience in that sweet season: the forests, lakes, rock, and activities of summer time.

This attachment to somewhere, be it a natural or a built environment, is known by various terms including place attachment, environmental identity, and rootedness, among others. I personally like “sense of place” as it captures simultaneously the idea of a location along with the more esoteric notion that it involves a feeling; an emotional response. The concept emerged from theoretical and empirical research since the 1970s.

Relationships between self and environment are a central focus in the field of environmental psychology. Such research addresses the physical, social, and natural dimensions of place identity, and indicates that people’s environments can be tightly linked to their sense of self. Our physical environments are important to our identities not merely because they support some of our material needs: they are also the ‘theatre’ in which our life events unfold, and further, environments can play an actual role in our lives. Places can therefore affect our thinking, social structures, and well-being.

Psychologists, human geographers, and neuroscientists are all studying how a sense of place develops. Early childhood experiences have a particularly important influence. The environment in which we were raised has been called the ‘primal landscape’ — it becomes part of our self-identity and a measuring stick for later experiences. This is true not only of natural landscapes, but also of urban landscapes including dense, inner-city neighborhoods. Some of the most important elements that shape our childhood environmental experiences include family, community, the opportunity to play, culture, and natural events.

Environmental identity later in life can then influence how we process information and behave. A recent review by Lengen and Kistemann made a great contribution to this field by linking the concepts from environmental psychology with neurological studies that typically have a wholly different approach (and jargon). Evidence demonstrated that having a conscious sense of place involves a distinct dimension in neural processing. Indeed, specific regions and cells of the brain have been identified that are related to the process. For example, a representation of the visual environment is built in the hippocampus, which plays a key role in spatial memory and learning. The paper detailed ten important neurobiological correlates that are involved in having a sense of place, which are as follows:

behavior
body
emotion
attention
perception
memory
orientation
spirituality
meaning/value
culture/sociality

This work is exciting because it found a way to bridge the gap between divergent fields, and thus showed how current neurobiology findings can facilitate a better understanding about the subjective feelings of sense of place, such as that which I had experienced in Kenya.

Facebook is No Friend to Mental Health

2013-09-11T11:11:00.001+05:30

Roughly a half billion people interact on Facebook every day, with many more engaging in other social networking sites. With all these friends, it would seem that social networking followers have a great support system and a happy life. New research points out, however, that Facebook may actually be undermining well-being and life satisfaction.

Researchers at the University of Michigan examined two weeks of Facebook use and concluded that the more people use Facebook, the more negative they feel about their life moment-to-moment, and the more dissatisfied they were with their life in general over time. The results were not affected by gender, self-reported loneliness, baseline symptoms of depression, the size of the social network, the motivation for using Facebook, or the perceived level of support from Facebook friends.

Several other studies have reported negative associations with social networking, including tension between romantic partners. Social networking sites foster attachment issues, uncertainty, and partner surveillance, all of which lead to negative relationship outcomes. Another study reported that the use of social networking sites leads to decreased intimacy in relationships, mostly owing to perceptions about the quality and quantity of the romantic partner’s use of social networking. Divorce and cheating has also been attributed to Facebook, especially in relationships that are less than 3 years old.

Social networking sites appear to offer a means for individuals with low self-esteem or difficulties establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships to grow relationships and share connections with other people. However, these individuals most in need of positive social relationships actually suffer from social networking sites owing to an inability to communicate appropriately and negative reactions from other people, which led to lower self-esteem and negative effects on well-being in several studies.

All of this is not to say that there are no benefits to social networking, or that all people who use it end up depressed and dissatisfied with life. Patients with chronic illnesses or rare conditions are able to find information on their diseases and gain support from others around the globe, which has led to improved disease education and clinical outcomes. And, younger people who have grown up in the digital age are living proof of the transformation of intimate relationships. For many in this demographic, larger Internet-based social networks lead to higher levels of life satisfaction and social support. The internet may offer permanent relationships in a mobile world.

Most people spend their days constantly connected to things (phones, computers, tablets) and not to other people. Growing a digital network of people who “like” you, “share” things with you, and want to be your “friend” does not, at least according to recent research, create life-sustaining, life-fulfilling friendships. Social networks can certainly be used in a healthy, appropriate way and offer a modern way to communicate. But, they cannot replace true, meaningful relationships that lead to improved overall well-being.

References

Afsar B (2013). The relation between Internet and social media use and the demographic and clinical parameters, quality of life, depression, cognitive function and sleep quality in hemodialysis patients: Social media and hemodialysis. General hospital psychiatry PMID:23948575

Clayton RB, Nagurney A, & Smith JR (2013). Cheating, Breakup, and Divorce: Is Facebook Use to Blame? Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking PMID: 23745615

Clerkin EM, Smith AR, & Hames JL (2013). The interpersonal effects of Facebook reassurance seeking. Journal of affective disorders PMID: 23850160

Forest AL, & Wood JV (2012). When social networking is not working: individuals with low self-esteem recognize but do not reap the benefits of self-disclosure on Facebook.Psychological science, 23 (3), 295-302 PMID: 22318997

Rodbard HW, Cariou B, Zinman B, Handelsman Y, Philis-Tsimikas A, Skjøth TV, Rana A, Mathieu C, & The BEGIN Once Long Trial Investigators (2013). Comparison of insulin degludec with insulin glargine in insulin-naive subjects with Type 2 diabetes: a 2-year randomized, treat-to-target trial. Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association PMID: 23952326

Hand, M.M., et al., Facebook and romantic relationships: intimacy and couple satisfaction associated with online social network use. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw, 2013. 16(1): p. 8-13.

Hand MM, Thomas D, Buboltz WC, Deemer ED, & Buyanjargal M (2013). Facebook and romantic relationships: intimacy and couple satisfaction associated with online social network use. Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking, 16 (1), 8-13 PMID:23101932

Manago AM, Taylor T, & Greenfield PM (2012). Me and my 400 friends: the anatomy of college students’ Facebook networks, their communication patterns, and well-being.Developmental psychology, 48 (2), 369-80 PMID: 22288367

Henderson MH Jr, Rieger MA, Miller F, & Kaelin A (1990). Influence of parental age on degree of curvature in idiopathic scoliosis. The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume, 72 (6), 910-3 PMID: 2365723

Home remedies to cure Low Blood Pressure

2013-09-08T16:19:00.002+05:30

While high blood pressure is much talked about and people are aware of its symptoms and effects, not many know about low blood pressure.

In fact, it affects a large number of people worldwide. Very often people don't realise they are suffering from it and often dismiss it as an one-off case of feeling dizzy or ill. It could be a sign of a serious issue with the heart, endocrine or even signal neurological disorders. Severe low blood pressure can block oxygen and vital nutrients from flowing to the brain and hence shouldn't be taken lightly.

Causes

There can be plenty of reasons why you may be suffering from low blood pressure.

Dehydration : Drinking enough water is extremely essential for your well-being. If you are one of those who gets dehydrated easily, you must do something about it. One needs to drink more fluids than one loses. If you are one of those who works outdoors, ensure you keep sipping on liquids like nimbu paani. This will help keep the weakness in check.

Pregnancy : If you are pregnant, there's a good chance your pressure might drop. This is normal but get yourself checked if it becomes too frequent.

Heart issues : Some heart problems could cause blood in your body to not circulate properly.

Deficiency of nutrients: A lack of some essential vitamins such as B-12 and iron can lead to anaemia, which is turn can result in low blood pressure.

Solution

- Increase your salt intake: Generally people are told to avoid using too much salt in their diet. For people suffering from low blood pressure, salt can help. Check with your doctor though before turning to salty foods.

- Drink more water: Water is necessary for your basic body functioning. It also helps prevent dehydration. Don't forget to increase your water intake if you're constantly feeling giddy.

Home remedies : Take a cup of the raw beetroot juice twice daily. It is one of the best home remedies for low blood pressure. Drinking a cup of strong black coffee can also help. Some people suggest making a paste of almonds and drinking with lukewarm milk.

Exercise : Include a little exercise in your daily regime. A walk or a quick swim can help circulate the blood.

DOES WORRYING ABOUT MY SKIN MAKE IT WORSE?

2013-09-06T16:04:00.003+05:30

If blemishes bother you or skin splotches stress you out, you might want to take a deep breath and relax. As far as your skin is concerned, there's truth in the old adage that worrying accomplishes nothing. In fact, worrying about the condition of your skin could actually make things worse.

Stress has a negative effect on your skin. When you get stressed out, your body produces higher levels of a stress hormone called cortisol, which leads to an increase in your body's production of oil. Too much oil can cause acne, even in people who don't usually break out.

In addition to giving your skin an oily sheen, stress can also dehydrate your skin and interfere with its ability to repair itself when it's damaged. Stress can bring on new skin problems or aggravate existing conditions, such as rosacea, psoriasis and eczema [sources: Archives of Dermatology, American Academy of Dermatology].

If you find yourself avoiding mirrors or throwing up your hands in frustration because of the condition of your skin, you might be experiencing the psychological effects of stress. Neglecting your skin in despair or rubbing or pulling at it because you don't know what else to do often makes existing skin problems much worse [source: American Academy of Dermatology].

On the bright side, there are many things you can do to get rid of the anxiety that's wreaking havoc on your skin. Here are some practical ways to reduce overall stress and help your skin at the same time:

Exercise -- Working out releases endorphins, which can help to banish all that anxiety.
Moisturize -- Since stress can dehydrate your skin, using moisturizer regularly is like giving your skin a much-needed drink.
Slather on the sunscreen -- Give your skin extra protection and help reduce your anxiety about sun damage to your skin by using sunscreen.
Get enough rest -- Not only does a good night's sleep give your worried mind a break, it also allows your skin time to rest and repair.
Relax -- Anything from deep breathing to taking a yoga class can be an effective relaxation technique.
See a dermatologist -- If you continue to be plagued by skin problems that cause you worry and stress, seeing a dermatologist might help you take a load off.

When it comes to your skin, worry can do more harm than you might realize.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: IT'S MORE COMMON THAN YOU THINK

2013-09-06T15:59:00.001+05:30

It's a fact: In the US, one in 4 women experience domestic violence in their lifetime. If you -- or someone you know -- might be in danger, contact the hotline.

Anonymous and confidential help, 24/7: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

Contact the hotline: http://www.thehotline.org/get-help/contact-the-hotline/

What is Domestic Violence?

According to the Domestic Violence Hotline, domestic violence is "a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner."

Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure or wound someone.

Domestic violence can happen to anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion or gender. It can happen to couples who are married, living together or who are dating. Domestic violence affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels.

Could You Be In Danger?

You may be in an emotionally abusive relationship if your partner…:

Calls you names, insults you or continually criticizes you.
Does not trust you and acts jealous or possessive.
Tries to isolate you from family or friends.
Monitors where you go, who you call and who you spend time with.
Does not want you to work.
Controls finances or refuses to share money.
Punishes you by withholding affection.
Expects you to ask permission.
Threatens to hurt you, the children, your family or your pets.
Humiliates you in any way.

You may be in a physically abusive relationship if your partner has ever…:

Damaged property when angry (thrown objects, punched walls, kicked doors, etc.).
Pushed, slapped, bitten, kicked or choked you.
Abandoned you in a dangerous or unfamiliar place.
Scared you by driving recklessly.
Used a weapon to threaten or hurt you.
Forced you to leave your home.
Trapped you in your home or kept you from leaving.
Prevented you from calling police or seeking medical attention.
Hurt your children.
Used physical force in sexual situations.

You may be in a sexually abusive relationship if your partner…:

Views women as objects and believes in rigid gender roles.
Accuses you of cheating or is often jealous of your outside relationships.
Wants you to dress in a sexual way.
Insults you in sexual ways or calls you sexual names.
Has ever forced or manipulated you into to having sex or performing sexual acts.
Held you down during sex.
Demanded sex when you were sick, tired or after beating you.
Hurt you with weapons or objects during sex.
Involved other people in sexual activities with you.
Ignored your feelings regarding sex.

EVERYONE PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOU LOVE ONES! IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!

2013-09-05T16:19:00.000+05:30

WOW!!! Real interesting! Something I did not know, could come in handy..

I wish when my nephew was badly burned someone had known this.

A young man sprinkling his lawn and bushes with pesticides wanted to check the contents of the barrel to see how much pesticide remained in it. He raised the cover and lit his lighter; the vapors ignited and engulfed him He jumped from his truck, screaming.

His neighbor came out of her house with a dozen eggs and a bowl yelling: "bring me some more eggs!"

She broke them, separating the whites from the yolks.
The neighbor woman helped her to apply the whites onto the young man's face.

When the ambulance arrived and the EMTs saw the young man, they asked who had done this. Everyone pointed to the lady in charge.

They congratulated her and said: "You have saved his face."

By the end of the summer, the young man brought the lady a bouquet of roses to thank her. His face was like a baby's skin.
A Healing Miracle for Burns:

Keep in mind this treatment of burns is being included in teaching beginner fireman. First Aid consists of first spraying cold water on the affected area until the heat is reduced which stops the continued burning of all layers of the skin. Then, spread the egg whites onto the affected area.

One woman burned a large part of her hand with boiling water. In spite of the pain, she ran cold faucet water on her hand, separated 2 egg whites from the yolks, beat them slightly and dipped her hand in the solution. The whites then dried and formed a protective layer.

She later learned that the egg white is a natural collagen and continued during at least one hour to apply layer upon layer of beaten egg white. By afternoon she no longer felt any pain and the next day there was hardly a trace of the burn. 10 days later, no trace was left at all and her skin had regained its normal color. The burned area was totally regenerated thanks to the collagen in the egg whites, a placenta full of vitamins.

Since this information could be helpful to everyone: Please share it!

Four vital signs of Heart attack

2013-09-05T11:14:00.003+05:30

Despite what you may believe, heart attacks rarely happen “out of the blue.”

In fact, your body may be trying to warn you of an impending heart attack for days, weeks, perhaps even a month or two before it occurs. Unfortunately, by the time you actually recognize you’re suffering a heart attack, it could be too late to prevent death or debilitating heart damage.

So-called silent heart attacks, with signs and symptoms that are mild or seem unrelated to the heart, have long concerned cardiovascular expert Dr. Chauncey Crandall. So Dr. Crandall recently created a special free video presentation about the four most sinister warning signs to watch for.

Statistics show a clear link between a delay in heart attack treatment and death or disability. That’s why it’s essential to know exactly what your heart is trying to tell you with warning signs like those discussed in Dr. Crandall’s video.

Although developed as an educational tool, this video rapidly went viral, surpassing 5 million viewers in just a few months.

Newsmax Health Publisher Travis Davis attributes the viral sensation to the fact that the content hits close to home for many Americans, especially because heart disease is America’s #1 killer. In fact, in the U.S. alone, nearly 1 million people suffer their first heart attack each year.

Dr. Crandall, chief of the cardiac transplant program at the renowned Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Palm Beach, Florida, practices on the front lines of interventional, vascular, and transplant cardiology.

you can go through the video description for the same

Video Description

Depression after surgery is a real dangerous thing

2013-09-05T11:12:00.000+05:30

I have lost count of how many surgeries I've had in the wake of an accident that left me with internal injuries and scores of broken bones. I know the drill, how to prepare, and what to expect during recovery.

There are two fairly predictable but distressing things that I go through nearly every time. And even though I know about them, they catch me by surprise every time.

The first is that I usually experience a very intense spike in pain the evening of the second or third day post-surgery. It usually hits at the end of first day that I am starting to feel like the worst has passed. I have showered or dressed, begun the process of returning to some form of normalcy. There is no gradual build-up of pain. Instead, it feels like a tsunami of pain, utterly unexpected and devastating.

What makes the pain-spike devastating is that it is an expert liar. It tells me that something has gone terribly wrong, that my doctor has truly screwed it up, and it berates me for having given my consent. Above all, it tells me that I will never get out of pain. Every damn time, I fail to realize that this is that pain spike, believe the lies it tells me, and have a mini-meltdown.

The second thing that I can never seem to remember is that I am very susceptible to post-surgical depression. And like the invariable pain-spike, I never recognize it when I am dealing with it, and believe the lies it tells me.

Doctors have long been aware that many patients experience some form of post-surgical depression during the six months following an invasive procedure. But many physicians believe that being depressed after surgery is "understandable" and "unworthy of diagnosis or treatment." Since most people with post-surgical depression emerge from depression after about six months, many doctors considered post-surgical depression either benign or even helpful since it keeps people inactive.

As a result, most people do not know that post-operative depression is a common complication of surgery. If it were as benign as many surgeons have assumed it was, perhaps this would not be such a problem. But researchers have discovered that depressed patients are more likely to have other complications. They are less able to cooperate in their after-care particularly in rehabilitative therapy. And for people like me who have an existing history of depression and anxiety, the recovery from post-surgical depression is neither guaranteed nor as straight-forward as some surgeons expect.

No one knows exactly why there is such a strong link between surgery and depression. Some researchers have hypothesized that many people experience post-surgical depression because it forces them to confront their own mortality. A theory that matches my own experience is that the length of time spent under anesthesia seems to be related to the likelihood and severity of depression.

Last summer I had a series of surgeries, and in the days following each I was hit by the infamous pain wave. Fortunately, my husband identified them and helped me through them.

But we both missed the signs of one of the most serious post-surgical depressions I have ever had. What made it especially difficult and dangerous is that I never felt depressed or sad.

The only time that I had overt depression symptoms was in the weeks before my final surgery. My family worried for a couple of weeks because of how desperate I felt. My pain had been poorly controlled and I could not bear the thought of another recovery in agony. Once I found a way of controlling pain, the desperation faded, and we assumed any depression had gone with it.

Instead, what followed was a growing belief that I had finally come to accept the truth of my life specifically and the nature of human existence in general. To put it in cliched terms, I was confronting my own mortality. But for me, it wasn’t death that I grappled with. Instead, I began giving a lot of thought to the fact that aging bodies are more vulnerable and that combined with our culture’s ageism, getting older is the steady and irreversible dwindling of options.

I believed the lies of depression when it told me that what I was capable of four months after a series of major surgeries was where I would be two years later. I gave away my bicycle and told my husband to sell our camping equipment.

When my doctor told me that I would need at least one more major surgery in the next couple of years, I did not obsess about it. Instead, I became obsessed with what might happen to my husband. The idea of him going through what I had endured was intolerable to me.

Yet it was all I could think about. I began to research the life-threatening illnesses I thought he might face. In graphic details, I imagined him grim-faced and stoic after open-heart surgery or anxious about learning how to orgasm again after prostate removal. At night while he slept, I checked his naked body for suspicious moles or growths comparing anything I found to online pictures.

My husband seemed incredibly fragile to me. I began to worry about how long he would be able to keep working in his chosen field of information technology. I thought of how he would suffer if he was unable to find a job. The poverty we might face paled in comparison to the sadness I anticipated him going through.

I stopped even hoping for a future filled with joy and meaningful work. Life began to look like one long, painful, and sad slog into the grave. I wondered every day how I could just “opt out” without hurting my kids.

Fortunately, my family knows about post-surgical depression. And although it took them a long while to recognize it, they were able to intervene before I fell over the edge. I began a new medication almost exactly six months after my last surgery. It was like a light came on, and suddenly I saw just how bad it had been.

The thing that truly frightens me in retrospect was how normal I believed my thoughts were. Somehow I thought that everyone spent time anticipating the worst, that everyone thought about suicide every day. I did not recognize the symptoms.

What also concerns me is how few people know about this common and dangerous complication of surgery. It worries me that people suffer without understanding why and that their families are not alert to the signs of serious danger.

We need to bring to post-surgical depression the kind of awareness that we have brought to postpartum depression. People going into surgery need to know that it is a possibility, and they need to have a plan in place in the event that they begin experiencing symptoms. I think that this is especially true for people with mental health histories. They need to know that there are additional treatments available in times of crisis. We also need to talk about post-surgical depression more widely so that the family members and friends of post-surgical patients can keep an eye out as my family did. And people who serve as the support system for post-operative patients should know how they can help the person recover.

Lynn Beisner is the pseudonym for a mother, a writer, and a feminist living somewhere East of the Mississippi. She is a regular contributor to Role/Reboot. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter.