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Why crafting helps your brain

Dr. Sarah McKay
Mindbodygreen
Tue, 24 Jun 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© shutterstock
Knit one. Pearl one. Knit one. Pearl one. Knit one. Pearl one. The rhythmic and repetitive nature of knitting is calming, comforting and contemplative. It's not a stretch for you to imagine knitting as a mindfulness practice, or perhaps a form of meditation.

I'm delighted to report that neuroscience is finally catching up on brain health aspects of the trend some have called "the new yoga."

Research shows that knitting and other forms of textile crafting such as sewing, weaving and crocheting have quite a lot in common with mindfulness and meditation - all are reported to have a positive impact on mind health and well-being.

In an online survey of more 3,545 knitters, by Betsan Corkhill, a UK-based knitting therapist who has done research on the therapeutic effects of knitting, more than half of respondents reported that knitting left them feeling "very happy." And many said that they knitted solely for the purposes of relaxation, stress relief and creativity.
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Alarm Clock

Readjust your body clock to get more restive sleep, improved health and immune function

Jennie Agg
Daily Mail
Tue, 24 Jun 2014 02:54 UTC
sleepy

The body clock's most obvious function is to tell you when to get up and when to go to bed
Are you a night owl who has to get up at the crack of dawn for work, leaving you constantly sleep-deprived and stressed?

Or a natural lark who works evenings and nights?

An out-of-sync body clock can raise your risk of cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and lead to weight gain, according to new research.

It was reported last month that women who sleep in bedrooms with more light were more likely to be obese - possibly because bright light at night confuses the body clock, which in turn may affect appetite and metabolism.

And leading sleep scientists have warned that the demands of our increasingly 24-hour society mean we're constantly over-riding our body clocks.

'Many people don't even realise they're sleep-deprived,' says Russell Foster, professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford University.

'But if you need an alarm clock to wake in the morning, you probably don't get enough sleep - and are out of sync with your body clock.'

So, what does the body clock do and why is it so important to health?

Here we reveal the latest on this still emerging science ...

Comment: The importance of sufficient quality sleep cannot be overemphasized. Your brain functioning, overall health and emotional well-being depends on it.
See also:
Sleep, Stress and Cancer: How to Get a Better Night's Sleep
Why not enough sleep will make your life a nightmare
The link between sleep and memory
Dying to Sleep

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Health

Hormone-disrupting activity of fracking chemicals worse than initially revealed


naturalblaze.com
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:15 UTC
Image
Many chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, can disrupt not only the human body's reproductive hormones but also the glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone receptors, which are necessary to maintain good health, a new study finds. The results were presented Monday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago.

"Among the chemicals that the fracking industry has reported using most often, all 24 that we have tested block the activity of one or more important hormone receptors," said the study's presenting author, Christopher Kassotis, a PhD student at the University of Missouri, Columbia. "The high levels of hormone disruption by endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that we measured, have been associated with many poor health outcomes, such as infertility, cancer and birth defects."

Hydraulic fracturing is the process of injecting numerous chemicals and millions of gallons of water deep underground under high pressure to fracture hard rock and release trapped natural gas and oil. Kassotis said spills of wastewater could contaminate surface and ground water.

In earlier research, this group found that water samples collected from sites with documented fracking spills in Garfield County, Colorado, had moderate to high levels of EDC activity that mimicked or blocked the effects of the female hormones (estrogens) and the male hormones (androgens) in human cells. However, water in areas away from these gas-drilling sites showed little EDC activity on these two reproductive hormones.
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Cell Phone

Its time to ditch your cell phone, here's why

Collin Garbarino
lowtechlifestyle.org
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 07:57 UTC
Image
This morning I read a Wall Street Journal article about Americans without cellphones. Being an American without a cellphone myself, I was heartened to find out that a mere 88% of adult Americans have cellphones. I had thought the number would be much higher.

Occasionally I try to convince people to give up the cell and reinstall the landline, but I realize that I'm tilting at the windmills. A few years ago, I offered a hefty amount of extra credit to one of my university classes. All the students had to do was hand me their phones for five days. Out of about fifty students, three took me up on the offer. As one girl handed me her phone, she announced that her dad would be so proud of her for putting academics first. The next day, the girl sheepishly returned, saying that her dad demanded that she get her phone back because she needed it "in case of emergency."

And her dad was right, sometimes emergencies do happen. But emergencies by their very nature are rare, and I believe that cellphones take more than they give. Here are my four reasons why I'm glad that I don't have a cellphone.
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Stormtrooper

Obesity crisis in UK army: British soldiers failing basic fitness tests


RT
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 14:09 UTC
obesity _ Uk _ troops
© Reuters
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond speaks to troops during a visit to the temporary Army barracks at Tobacco Dock, a former shopping centre in east London
The UK army may be getting 'too fat to fight', failing basic fitness tests, with more than 22,000 overweight and at risk of serious health problems, according to recently released Ministry of Defence figures.

Some 32,000 personnel failed a "basic" fitness test within the last three years, according to MoD figures released Sunday, the Sunday Times reported. The statistics are starting to ignite fears of an obesity crisis in the ranks.

The personal fitness assessment is an obligatory undertaking twice a year. If the test is failed it must be retaken within seven days.

A total of 29,600 men and 2,819 women failed their fitness tests between April 2011 and March 2014, according to the paper.

"This figure represents 11 percent of the army serving in that period and many of those who failed will have subsequently passed their fitness test," the MoD said.

"All personnel are provided with the support and training necessary to meet the army's physical standards, with additional help for those personnel who fail to meet this criteria...personnel who remain unable to meet the standard could ultimately be discharged," the statement added.

The test for men involves soldiers under 29 having to finish 44 press-ups in 2 minutes, 50 sit-ups, and a 2.4-kilometer run in under 10 and a half minutes.

Women have to complete a slightly different test - 21 press-ups, the same number of sit-ups, and have an extra 2 1/2 minutes to complete the run.
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Einstein

Professional singer has tumor removal surgery under hypnosis


The Connexion
Mon, 16 Jun 2014 19:39 UTC
Image
© Aude-Emilie Dorion/Alama Kante
Alama Kante
A professional singer is ready to perform again, two months after doctors in France removed a tumour from her throat while she was under hypnosis.

In a world first, surgeons at the Henri-Mondor hospital, at Créteil near Paris, performed the operation to remove the tumour from her vocal cords while their patient was awake.

She had only a local anaesthetic to numb her throat during the delicate procedure.

Alama Kante, the niece of Guinean singer Mory Kante, even performed her song Tolong for the medics, allowing them to see how the procedure - to remove a parathyroid gland tumour - was progressing.

According to Gilles Dhonneur, the doctor who carried out the operation, the only way of knowing if her vocal cords had been protected was to get Miss Kante to sing during the procedure.
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Heart - Black

How stress can clog your arteries

Sarah C. P. Williams
AAAS/Science magazine
Sun, 22 Jun 2014 13:38 UTC
atherosclerotic plaques inside blood vessels
© pixologicstudio
Signs of stress. Chronic stress causes dangerous changes to atherosclerotic plaques inside blood vessels—like the one shown here.
There's a reason people say "Calm down or you're going to have a heart attack." Chronic stress - such as that brought on by job, money, or relationship troubles - is suspected to increase the risk of a heart attack. Now, researchers studying harried medical residents and harassed rodents have offered an explanation for how, at a physiological level, long-term stress can endanger the cardiovascular system. It revolves around immune cells that circulate in the blood, they propose.

The new finding is "surprising," says physician and atherosclerosis researcher Alan Tall of Columbia University, who was not involved in the new study. "The idea has been out there that chronic psychosocial stress is associated with increased cardiovascular disease in humans, but what's been lacking is a mechanism," he notes.

Comment: For those actually interested in a solution to stress - and not magic pills that will make some rich person richer and sick person sicker - the freely available Éiriú Eolas program has helped many SOTT.net editors and forum members to manage stress, and improve their general well-being. Even a simple switch to a non-inflammatory diet would begin alleviating symptoms in no time. But these scientists, assuming they're even aware of the power of a truly healthy diet, must of course please their sponsors by reassuring them their discoveries will lead to the marketing of yet more profitable pills...

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Ambulance

West Africa Ebola outbreak 'out of control' and 'unprecedented' says Doctors Without Borders

Sarah Dilorenzo
The Associated Press
Fri, 20 Jun 2014 16:21 UTC
Image
© AP
The Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa is "totally out of control," according to a senior official for Doctors Without Borders, who says the medical group is stretched to the limit in responding.

The outbreak has caused more deaths than any other of the disease, said another official with the medical charity. Ebola has been linked to more than 330 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the World Health Organization.

International organizations and the governments involved need to send in more health experts and increase public education messages about how to stop the spread of the disease, Bart Janssens, the director of operations for the medical group in Brussels, told The Associated Press on Friday.

"The reality is clear that the epidemic is now in a second wave," Janssens said. "And, for me, it is totally out of control."

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

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Family

New Zealand woman found to be pregnant while in surgery for ovary removal

Danielle Haynes
UPI
Mon, 16 Jun 2014 23:20 UTC
Image
© Rebecca Oldham
Rebecca Oldham and baby James
New Zealand woman who goes to hospital to have ovaries removed due to pain is found to be pregnant

A 25-year-old New Zealand woman in the hospital to have her ovaries removed due to pain and cramps was instead found to be pregnant.

Rebecca Oldham had already been put under anesthesia in November when surgeons discovered she was 32 weeks pregnant with a 9-pound baby.

"I was facing not being able to have any more children because they thought there were problems with my ovaries and all of a sudden we had a son," she said, adding that she and husband James Tipene have a 20-month-old daughter, Hayley.

Doctors woke Oldham up from anesthesia to tell her they would perform a caesarian section to deliver her baby instead of remove her ovaries.
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Health

Scores of scientists working at the CDC potentially exposed to anthrax


RT
Thu, 19 Jun 2014 15:36 UTC
Image
© Reuters
As many as 84 scientists working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta may have been exposed to the anthrax bacteria after failing to follow safety procedures, the US government said.

According to information released by the CDC earlier on Thursday and first reported by Reuters, the possible exposure to live anthrax began within a high-level bio-security lab. Researchers evidently failed to follow set procedure to inactivate the deadly bacteria.

Potentially live anthrax samples where then transferred to CDC labs with a lower biohazard protocol, leaving open the possibility for infection. Typically, inactivation procedures dictate the inactivation of Anthrax to be given 48 hours prior to any transfer to a lower biohaz environment.

Still, the CDC says that the potential for anthrax infection to spread widely over the incident is low.

"CDC believes that other CDC staff, family members, and the general public are not at risk of exposure and do not need to take any protective action."

The FBI is now collaborating with the CDC to investigate how scientists were exposed to anthrax, although they say there is no evidence of wrongdoing.
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