_ Mental & Emotional HealthThe Guilty Couch Potato By Sondra Forsyth articleUsing media as a stress reducer can lead to feelings of guilt and failure, according to research done at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and VU University Amsterdam. The study was published July 24th 2014 in the Journal of Communication. The team found that people who had high stress levels after work and engaged in television viewing or video game play didn't feel relaxed or recovered, but had high levels of guilt and feelings of failure.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthWhen It's More Than Just Anxiety By Jane Farrell articleAlthough there’s a lot of talk about depression, another condition – Generalized Anxiety Disorder – doesn’t get nearly as much attention. And that can make it harder for friends and family to understand what’s happening when someone they love has GAD. Here, from the National Institute of Mental Health, are some things you should know:What Is Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
_ Mental & Emotional HealthImproving How Docs Manage Depression By Sondra Forsyth articleA performance improvement initiative for physicians can significantly increase their use of evidence-based practices in screening for and treating depression, according to a study published in the July 2014 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthTime Is Precious: Make Every Minute Count By Sondra Forsyth article By Andrea Warshaw-WernickTime is the essence of life. Why do people waste it? We must treat time like a special gift. It’s a resource that we can't buy, rent, borrow, store, save, renew or multiply. All we can do is spend it! And don’t wait until something happens to you or to a loved one to realize how precious your time is.Here are 5 tips to follow to help you stay positive and not waste any of your precious time!
Mental & Emotional HealthHow to Put Your Inner Child in Time-Out By Sondra Forsyth article By Steven Jay FogelThe human brain is a wonder of the universe, but our understanding of it can seem contradictory. On the one hand, we’re often told of those crucial years that our brain develops in childhood, when we’re rapidly progressing in development of our language and other skills, and our preadolescent and teenage years, when our brains undergo a sort of second Big Bang of learning.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthAnger Management: Your questions Answered By Sondra Forsyth articleBy Mayo Clinic StaffAnger itself isn't a problem — it's how you handle it. Consider the nature of anger, as well as how to manage anger and what to do when you're confronted by someone whose anger is out of control.What is anger?
_ Aging Well Memory Loss Stress Management Stress-Free LivingStress Linked to Memory Loss as We Age By Sondra Forsyth articleResearch done at the University of Iowa reports a potential link between stress hormones and short-term memory loss in older adults. The study, published in June 2014 in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that prolonged high levels of cortisol can lead to memory lapses as we age.
_ Exercise Heart Health Stress Management Stress-Free LivingWhy Stress & Overexertion Trigger Heart Attacks By Sondra Forsyth articleScientists believe they have an explanation for the axiom that stress, emotional shock, and overexertion may trigger heart attacks in vulnerable people. Hormones released during these events appear to cause bacterial biofilms on arterial walls to disperse, allowing plaque deposits to rupture into the bloodstream, according to research published in published in June 2014 in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthImaging the Adult ADHD Brain By Sondra Forsyth articleBrain scans done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology differentiated adults who have recovered from childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and those whose difficulties linger. The study was published in the June 10th 2014 issue of the journal Brain.A release from MIT notes that about 11 percent of school-age children in the United States have been diagnosed with ADHD. While many of these children eventually outgrow the disorder, some carry their difficulties into adulthood: About 10 million American adults are currently diagnosed with ADHD.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthMental Illness: What's Normal, What's Not By Jane Farrell articleWhat's the difference between mental health and mental illness? Sometimes the answer is clear, but often the distinction between mental health and mental illness isn't so obvious. For example, if you're afraid of giving a speech in public, does it mean you have a mental health condition or a run-of-the-mill case of nerves? Or, when does shyness become a case of social phobia? Here's some help in telling the difference.It's often difficult to distinguish normal mental health from mental illness because there's no easy test to show if something's wrong.
Mental & Emotional HealthDepression & Diabetes Linked to Early Death in Seniors By Adprime Admin articleA study led by the University of Californina, Los Angeles and published in June 2014 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that among adults 65 and older with diabetes, depression is linked with a far greater chance for early death than it is for diabetics of the same age who do not have depression.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthWhen Thoughts Pop Into Your Head By Adprime Admin articleWhen a random thought pops unbidden in your head, do you ever have the feeling that this occurrence reveals some meaningful insight about you? Then you’re far from alone. Yet according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Harvard Business School, that notion is not based in fact and can sway your judgment.
_ Mental & Emotional Health“Forgive and Forget” Really Works By Sondra Forsyth articleIf you’re still holding a grudge about a wrong someone did to you, you’d probably do well to follow the old adage that tells us to “forgive and forget”. That’s the advice of researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, who showed that the details of an offense are more likely to be wiped from your memory when you’ve forgiven that transgression. You don’t even have to forgive the offender in person. You can simply resolve to pardon the person in your mind.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthMay Is Mental Health Month: Where’s Your Sanity? By articleBy Dr. Claudia Luiz Everybody is overwhelmed and nobody is afraid to talk about it. Historically speaking, we are more sophisticated than ever emotionally; we are highly aware of what we feel, and we can talk about it. If we don’t feel better, it’s only because our methods for dealing with what we feel are still so antiquated. It’s just the same-old, same-old: try to be better, get inspired to change. But it doesn’t’ work.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthA Healthcare Team Helps Women Beat Depression By articleA collaborative approach to depression counseling for women at obstetrics and gynecology clinics involving psychiatrists, clinicians, specialists, and depression care managers is an improvement over typical of mental health care at specialty clinics. That is the finding of a study done at the University of Washington and published May 7th 2014 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. A release from the university notes that approximately one-third of American women list an obstetrician/gynecologist as their primary physician.
_ Mental & Emotional HealthCan Money Buy Happiness? Maybe, Maybe Not By articleSpending money on life experiences such as theater tickets or travel may not make materialistic shoppers any happier. Yet for these people, the purchase of high-end items fails to boost their mood as well. That is the conclusion of a study done at San Francisco State University and slated for publication in the June 2014 edition of the Journal of Research in Personality.
_ Mental & Emotional Health Stress Management Stress-Free LivingStress Is Contagious By articleWatching somebody else try to cope with a stressful situation, even on TV, can be enough to bump up your own level of the stress hormone called cortisol. That is the finding of research done at the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and the Technische Universität Dresden and published on April 17th 2014 in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.
_ Healthy Diet & Nutrition Mental & Emotional Health Stress Management Stress-Free LivingChronic Stress Makes Junk Food Even Worse for You By articleFile this under “That’s not fair!” People who are not dealing with chronic stress can get away with eating a lot of high-fat, high-sugar food without upping their risk of metabolic syndrome, but stressed out people can’t. That’s the finding of research done at the University of Califorina, San Francisco.