Health & WellnessS


Family

Self-Compassion: The Most Important Life Skill?

Robin Nixon
LiveScience
Sun, 15 May 2011 13:15 UTC
mother and son
© Justin JinKristin Neff with her son Rowan.
A charming animated baby, Kristin Neff's son Rowan retreated into himself as a toddler, losing his few words and becoming prone to inexplicable screaming fits.

There are numerous ways Neff could have reacted to Rowan's 2004 diagnosis of autism. She could have buried her emotions, become despondent or immediately found something to blame.

But Neff, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, was in the midst of pioneering psychological research on self-compassion. And her findings suddenly proved invaluable to her personal life. Being sympathetic and kind to herself let her cope constructively and offered insight into how to parent her struggling son.

Neff wrote about it all in "Self-Compassion" (William Morrow, 2011), released this April. And a budding field of research has psychologists are finding that self-compassion may be the most important life skill, imparting resilience, courage, energy and creativity.

It's also a skill many people lack.

Self-compassion is often misunderstood as being soft and indulgent; and the phrase alone would probably turn the stomach of Amy Chua, whose book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (Penguin, 2011) re-stoked the debate about how strict or lenient we should be with our kids and with ourselves.

But psychological research says neither side of this debate wins.
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Alarm Clock

Sleep Deprivation is a National Epidemic. And It's Killing Us

Ian Brown
The Globe and Mail
Fri, 13 May 2011 03:26 UTC
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© unknown
Get some sleep. That's the urgent advice the newly refreshed science of slumber has for North Americans.

Never mind the majority who got less than the recommended eight hours of sleep last night. In April, yet another air-traffic controller - the fifth in as many months - was suspended for falling asleep on the job, leaving a plane circling Reno, Nev., for 16 minutes with no one in the control tower to talk to.

A more alert tin-pusher on duty in neighbouring California eventually talked down the pilot - who, unlike several infamous colleagues last year, was awake. A British pilots-union survey recently discovered that 20 per cent of pilots pass out on the job.

We live under the enduring spell of The Warrior Who Does Not Sleep, believing that many accomplished people survive on no more than 4.5 hours of "core sleep" a night. It's a myth.

Many heroic non-sleepers used pills (John F. Kennedy was a walking pharmacy and once fell asleep interviewing a prospective secretary of agriculture) or were inveterate nappers (Napoleon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and even Winston Churchill, who used sleeping tablets and survived his famous midnight meetings by climbing into bed for an hour every single afternoon).
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Bug

Bed Bug Epidemic May Lead to "Superbug" Epidemic


Care 2
Sat, 14 May 2011 03:34 UTC
Image
© unknown
If recent news of the growing international bed bug epidemic (PDF) hasn't been enough to give you pause for concern (as well as creepy-crawlies), the latest evidence from a new study in Canada might. Researchers in Vancouver have found that these pests are in some cases also carrying drug-resistant bacteria, and may be infecting their human hosts with such superbugs as MRSA and VRE.

From Reuters:
Researchers in Canada have found bedbugs carrying antibiotic-resistant superbugs, a surprise finding because scientists had thought the pests were not capable of spreading infections. The study was done by a team in a poor corner of Vancouver, where both bedbug infestations and strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria are increasing.
A rapid rise in both international travel and commercial shipping over the last decade is believed to be partly responsible for bed bug infection epidemics in the U.S. and large cities abroad. While bed bug infection symptoms of itching and skin inflammation are relatively minor, bed bugs are parasites which suck the blood of their host, which leads to the risk of exposure to blood-borne illnesses.
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Health

Australia: Royal Hobart Hospital Reporting Gastroenteritis Epidemic

Johnathan Sanders
Top News
Sat, 14 May 2011 07:20 UTC
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© unknown
The Royal Hobart Hospital had reported an epidemic of gastroenteritis in the Psychiatry Department while closed the admissions for the Department of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit. Although, the move has not affected the visits to the Department of Psychiatry rather visitors are urged to limit their trips.

The authorities were forced to bar the entries in order to curb the public exposure to the psychiatry department, intended to halt the spread of the illness. As per the reports, approximately 9 patients were observed with the highly contagious illness along with a few staff members. However, exact number of contaminated patients as well as staff is still behind the screen.

The Mental Health Services Chief Executive, Dr. John Crawshaw, verified the severe outbreak while assured that necessary measures had been taken as per the released instructions from the Infection Control Unit and Public Health.
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Health

Childhood leukaemia linked to mosquito bites


News Scientist
Sat, 14 May 2011 19:25 UTC
Bites from mosquitoes carrying unidentified viruses might explain childhood leukaemia clusters around the town of Fallon in Nevada. And last week, a separate UK report found no link between nuclear power plants and childhood leukaemia.

The Nevada cluster is the largest in the US. Previous research failed to find a link between the cases and carcinogenic chemicals. The new study of the 14 Fallon cases that arose between 1997 and 2003 - a rate 12 times higher than normally expected in such a period - concludes that military personnel may have brought a virus to the area, which was then spread by mosquitoes. The cluster "fizzled out" once all vulnerable children had been infected.

Comment: More on protecting against carcinogenic chemicals and radiation, viruses and germs:

Detoxify or Die: Natural Radiation Protection Therapies for Coping With the Fallout of the Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown

DMSO: The Antidote for Radiation Poisoning

The Day the Water Died: Detoxing after the Gulf Oil Spill

New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection

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Laptop

Does Your Computer Stress You Out?


Fox News
Sat, 14 May 2011 15:59 UTC

Comment: Stressed?. Want to have quick, easy way to bust it. Check it out Éiriú Eolas: An Amazing Stress Control, Healing & Rejuvenation Program.

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Cow Skull

The Meat You Should Never, Ever Eat...

Dr. Mercola
mercola.com
Wed, 04 May 2011 18:03 UTC
Is your meat made of scraps stuck together with "meat glue"? This exposé reveals how you may be being deceived about the meat you buy -- and why the dangerous practice makes food poisoning hundreds of times more likely.

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Health

Mysterious illnesses that perplex medical experts

Annie Hopper
Kelowna Capital News
Sat, 14 May 2011 02:00 UTC
Barb is 54 years old and had been chronically ill with various "mystery illnesses" for almost 28 years.

With endless prescriptions, along with visits to doctors and specialists, she had almost given up hope that some day she might recover.

Barb is not alone in her suffering.

According to the May issue of Readers Digest, there are millions of North Americans suffering from mysterious illnesses like chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivity that leave both doctors and scientists perplexed and unable to help.

Barb had been given a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, post-traumatic stress disorder, restless leg syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome and depression.

But most of all, Barb suffered from lack of hope for recovery.

As it turns out, Barb had been exhibiting symptoms of illness for much longer than 28 years. They actually started when Barb was just a child.
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Cult

Criminal! Hundreds of herbal remedies now outlawed across Europe

M.K. Tyler
NaturalNews.com
Fri, 13 May 2011 20:31 UTC
herbal remedies
Live in Europe? Get your herbs while they last. New rules put forth by the European Union (EU) will ban the sale of certain herbal remedies that have been used for centuries.

Traditional herbs such a St. John's Wort or Echinacea must now meet strict licensing guidelines in order to be sold, while other lesser-known herbs that haven't been "traditionally" used in the last 30 years won't even make the cut to reach consumer shelves. Only those products that have been "assessed" by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will be available for purchase. The real kicker? Even approved products will only be recommended for minor ailments such as the common cold, which means that product labeling may no longer be allowed to convey the potent health benefits of widely-used herbal remedies.
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Newspaper

Digestive problems early in life may increase risk for depression, study suggests

Krista Conger
Stanford School of Medicine
Thu, 12 May 2011 18:10 UTC
Depression and anxiety may result from short-term digestive irritation early in life, according to a study of laboratory rats by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The findings suggest that some human psychological conditions may be the result, rather than the cause, of gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome.

"A lot of research has focused on understanding how the mind can influence the body," said Pankaj Pasricha, MD, professor and chief of gastroenterology and hepatology. "But this study suggests that it can be the other way around. Gastric irritation during the first few days of life may reset the brain into a permanently depressed state."

Clearly not all stomach upsets lead to lifelong psychological problems, however. The impact of the irritation may depend on when it occurs during development or the genetic makeup of the affected person, the researchers believe. In particular, the viscera, or internal organs, are particularly vulnerable early in development.
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