Health & WellnessS


Butterfly

The art of stress management

Diane Giles
Kenosha News
Tue, 05 May 2009 20:11 UTC
drawing
© Bian Passino/Kenosha NewsA participant in Jo-Ann Lakemacher's stress management class uses an unusual drawing method to reduce tension
Trying to eliminate stress is like trying to get rid of all the pickles in a processing plant: There are always more pickles in the bottom of the barrel.

Lack of money and unpredictable work environments make for pretty big pickles. Not surprisingly, finances and work are leading causes of stress, and with the current economic crisis, that includes worries over unemployment or the possibility of future unemployment.

According to an American Psychological Association study, in June 2008 more people reported physical and emotional symptoms due to stress than they did in 2007, and nearly half (47 percent) of adults reported that their stress had increased in the past year.

Experts say eliminating stress may not be possible, but there are ways to ease the pressures.
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Bulb

Protect Yourself from MSG and Aspartame Excitotoxicity

Paul Fassa
Natural News
Thu, 07 May 2009 18:29 UTC
The first line of defense against the two most commonly used and pernicious food additives, MSG and aspartame, is avoidance. However, complete avoidance is not possible for everyone all the time. MSG, monosodium glutamate, has been disguised with several different names. Aspartame or its primary constituent, aspartic acid, along with disguised variations of MSG, have even shown up in food products or supplements sold in health food stores!

Eating out, you're sure to be taking in some MSG. Even if the restaurant doesn't add MSG to the food it prepares, MSG or disguised variations are sure to be within the foods purchased by the restaurant. Soups, gravies, and all liquids with MSG or aspartame will ensure a more rapid overload of excitotoxins than other forms of tainted foods.
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People

Class helps autistic teens gain social skills


Reuters
Thu, 07 May 2009 14:34 UTC
A class that teaches teenagers with autism the ins and outs of social etiquette appears to help them build social skills and stronger friendships, a small study finds.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles found that a 12-week class they developed -- dubbed PEERS -- was able to boost the social skills of teenagers with milder forms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
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Bulb

Best and Worst Brain Foods

David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding
Men's Health
Fri, 01 May 2009 08:40 UTC
healthy eating
© unknown
If you want to make the right decisions in confusing times - Time to refinance? Explore a different career? Root for the singing spinster or the 12-year-old? - you need to pay special attention to what you eat. That's right: Your grocery list can help with your to-do list. That's because the right foods are a kind of clean-burning fuel for your body's biggest energy hog: Your brain. A study in the Journal of Physiology makes the point that, though your brain represents only 2 percent of your body weight, it makes 20 percent of the energy demands on your resting metabolism.

On our new Eat This, Not That! Web site, we rounded up the best foods to munch on when you need a mental boost - and found studies that show, in fact, that you can be up to 200 percent more productive if you make the right eating choices. Stock up on these items to halt mental decline, jog your memory, sharpen your senses, improve your performance, activate your feel-good hormones, and protect your quick-witted sharpness, whether you're 15, 40 - or not admitting to any age whatsoever!

Comment: In addition, we recommend the book The Ultra Mind Solution, which will assist you to learn more on how to heal your body in order to boost your brain abilities.

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Info

Best of the Web: Much Ado About the Flu: Is the Media Frenzy Justified?

Bart Laws
Alternet
Mon, 04 May 2009 00:58 UTC
Scientists use various models to evaluate risk, but researchers have long understood that ordinary people don't rely on mathematical probability to assess the dangers posed by some phenomenon - they use other kinds of rules.

For example, we're much more accepting of risks that we assume voluntarily. That's one reason why people who smoke a pack a day will go to a zoning board meeting to fight against a diesel bus yard.

People are also more accepting of risk when they have a sense of control. Driving a car is much more dangerous than riding in an airplane, but as an airplane passenger, you feel helpless. Another reason people worry more about airplane crashes than motor vehicle accidents is because the events are more noteworthy - a whole lot of people killed all at once, instead of one or two here and there, even though the latter adds up to a lot more people over time.
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Attention

Why You Should Avoid Fructose Sweetened Beverages

Henri Junttila
Natural News
Wed, 06 May 2009 11:00 UTC
A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (April 20th, 2009) shows the difference in how the sugars fructose and glucose affect the body. Fructose showed more harmful effects such as increasing belly fat, higher cholesterol levels and increased insulin resistance. The study was conducted by Peter J. Havel, PhD, of the University of California in the United States.

The study included 32 overweight men and women with the average age of 50. The participants were divided into two groups, in an outpatient setting that was 8 weeks long or in a more strictly controlled inpatient setting that was 2 weeks long. During a period of 10 weeks the two groups drank glucose or fructose sweetened beverages totaling 25% of their calorie intake. Both groups put on more fat during the 10-week study, but the group that drank fructose sweetened beverages put on more fat on their bellies compared to the glucose group, which added mostly fat under the skin. "The study showed clear differences in how fructose and glucose are metabolized by the body," nutrition researcher and principal investigator Peter J. Havel, PhD, of the University of California at David told WebMD. The fructose group also showed increased cholesterol and bad cholesterol levels, and increased insulin resistance, while the glucose group showed none of these signs.
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Info

Estrogen Controls How The Brain Processes Sound


Science Daily
Wed, 06 May 2009 16:40 UTC
Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered that the hormone estrogen plays a pivotal role in how the brain processes sounds.

The findings, published in the May 5 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, show for the first time that a sex hormone can directly affect auditory function, and point toward the possibility that estrogen controls other types of sensory processing as well. Understanding how estrogen changes the brain's response to sound, say the authors, might open the door to new ways of treating hearing deficiencies.

"We've discovered estrogen doing something totally unexpected," says Raphael Pinaud, assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester and lead author of the study. "We show that estrogen plays a central role in how the brain extracts and interprets auditory information. It does this on a scale of milliseconds in neurons, as opposed to days, months or even years in which estrogen is more commonly known to affect an organism."
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Wine

Alcohol Drinkers Not Only Zone Out -- But Also Are Unaware That They Do


Science Daily
Wed, 06 May 2009 16:31 UTC
A new study out of the University of Pittsburgh suggests that a moderate dose of alcohol increases a person's mind wandering, while at the same time reducing the likelihood of noticing that one's mind has wandered.

The study provides the first evidence that alcohol disrupts an individual's ability to realize his or her mind has wandered, suggesting impairment of a psychological state called meta-consciousness. These findings suggest that distinct processes are responsible for causing a thought to occur, as opposed to allowing its presence to be noticed.
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Blackbox

Prison Pandemic Preparedness - Flu Pandemic In Prison?


Science Daily
Wed, 06 May 2009 16:27 UTC
When pandemics occur, correctional facilities are not immune. With more than 9 million people incarcerated across the globe 2.25 million in U.S. jails and prisons alone it is vital that correctional officials and health professionals be prepared for a worst-case scenario that involves pandemic influenza reaching inmates and staff.

With collaborative planning and training, prison and public health officials can help control influenza outbreaks behind bars, according to an article in the April issue of the Journal of Correctional Health Care.

A two-day conference on prison pandemic preparedness held in Georgia in 2007 could serve as a model for such training. Administrators, medical doctors, registered nurses, physician assistants, and pharmacists were among the participants, as well as state and local public health officials.
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Family

Orthodox Jewish Community Struggles With Abuse Allegations

Scott Michels
American Broadcasting Company
Wed, 06 May 2009 12:05 UTC
Alleged Victims and Advocates Say Sex Abuse Common, Rarely Discussed

Image
© (Courtesy Joel Engelman and Tamir Weissberg)Joel Engelman, pictured as a child, and Tamir Weissberg said they were victims of sexual abuse by members of the Orthodox Jewish community. They said they were told not to discuss the alleged abuse.
When Joel Engelman was 8 years old, he says, he was called from his Hebrew class to the principal's office at his Brooklyn yeshiva, a Jewish religious school. His parents had recently told Rabbi Avrohom Reichman that their son had been abused by an older boy at the school, he says.

But he says the rabbi was not offering to help that day.

When Engelman arrived at the principal's office, he says, Reichman told him to close the door. He told the boy to sit on his lap and began swiveling his chair back and forth, Engelman says. Reichman then touched him, moving from his shoulders down, Engelman claims.
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