_ Mental & Emotional Health Reducing Anxiety? ThereΓÇÖs an App for That. By article Playing a science-based mobile gaming app for 25 minutes can reduce anxiety in stressed individuals, according to research done at Hunter College in NYC and the City University of New York and published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study suggests that "gamifying" a scientifically-supported intervention could offer measurable mental health and behavioral benefits for people with relatively high levels of anxiety.
_ Mental & Emotional Health Suppressing Unwanted Memories By article Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in the UK have shown that suppressing unwanted memories reduces their unconscious influences on subsequent behavior. The team has also shed light on how this process happens in the brain.
How to Love an Angry Man: Part 3 ΓÇô Help Him by Helping Yourself By blog I’ve been writing about angry men for some time now. That’s because I recognized how destructive anger can be in our relationships, but also how common it is. In my book, Stress Relief for Men: How to Use the Revolutionary Tools of Energy Healing to Live WellI describe the experiences that many people have living with an angry and abusive male:
_ Tips for Turning Your March Madness into March Happiness By article By Jaime Kulaga, Ph.D., LMHC There’s a lot of hype about March Madness, and if you’re an NCAA fan (or married to one) you know it well. But I’d rather think in terms of March Happiness: training mind and body, just as those basketball players train, to remain positive even when faced with stress, sadness, and the cyclicality of life. You can create a habit of happiness.
_ Exercise Good News for Lifelong Exercisers By article Along with its salutary effects on the heart, weight, and other facets of health, physical activity also helps to regenerate muscle mass, which tends to diminish as people age. That’s the finding of research done at the University of Utah and other institutions published in the March 6th 2014 in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.
How to Love an Angry Man: Part 2 ΓÇô Dealing with Anger vs. Rage By blog Dear Dr. Jed, I’m worried about my husband. He’s angry all the time and blames me for everything that is wrong. He calls me names, yells at me, looks at me with such hatred, I want to disappear. He’s never hit me, but I’m afraid of him. He totally denies that there are any problems with him. When he gets mad he calls me a bitch and a lot worse and tells me I’m crazy and should be hospitalized.
_ Sleep Health How to Keep Your Body from ΓÇ£Falling BackΓÇ¥ By Jane Farrell article By Julia Samton, MD
_ Screening for Sickle Cell Trait Needed By article Researchers at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine say the time is long past due to use current scientific data and technical advances to reduce the burden of sickle cell disease (SCD). Sickle Cell Trait (SCT) is estimated to affect 3 million people in the US: approximately 8 percent of African Americans and .5-3 percent of Hispanics. The inexpensive identification of the mutated hemoglobin and the technical capacity to screen populations have been known for decades.
10 Things You Should Expect From Your Doctor By article By David Longworth, MDof the Cleveland Clinic You just waited two hours for a doctor who’s running late. Once in the office, the doctor zips through a jargon-filled speech, orders a test, writes a prescription and sends you on your way. You leave in a cloud of confusion, realizing that you never even asked a question.
_ Pain Management Minimally Invasive Back Surgery By article Research done at the Beaumont Health Systems in Royal Oak, Michigan and published in the February 2014 online issue of the journal Spine has shown that patients who have a low back surgery called minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion end up better off in many ways than patients who have more invasive surgery to alleviate debilitating pain.
_ Curbing Antibiotic Rx for UTIs in Hospitals By article A simple change in how the hospital laboratory reports urine culture results may help improve antibiotic prescribing practices and patient safety, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted in 2013 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and published online in March 2014 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
_ Ten Ways To Control High Blood Pressure Without Medication By Jane Farrell article Editor's note: Hypertension is one of the most common, and most serious, health problems. It has the potential to damage vital organs like the brain, heart and kidneys. Millions of people take medications to control their high blood presure, but lifestyle changes are often just as important and can make it possible to handle hypertension without any medicine. Here, experts from the Mayo Clinic offer some non-medicinal ways to control hypertension.
_ Heart Health Pulling Teeth May Not Reduce Cardiac Infection Risk By article When patients have the potentially dangerous combination of abscessed or infected teeth and the need for heart surgery, the problem teeth often are removed before surgery to reduce the risk of infections including potentially lethal endocarditis. However a study done at the Mayo Clinic and published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery found that roughly 1 in 10 heart surgery patients who had teeth extracted before surgery died or had adverse outcomes such as a stroke or kidney failure.
_ Mental & Emotional Health Diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder By Jane Farrell article Borderline personality disorder, a serious mental illness, affects six to ten million Americans, according to statistics from New York-Presbyterian Hospital. That’s more than twice the number of people affected by bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. And up to 90 percent of those diagnosed are women; while that may be because women seek treatment more often than men, it’s still a substantial number. Despite its prevalence, borderline personality disorder less widely known than other conditions such as depression.
Aging Well Restoring Strength in Aging Muscles By article A stem cell based method may restore strength to damaged skeletal muscles of the elderly, according to a study done at the University of Toronto and published in a February 2014 issue of the journal Nature Medicine describes. A release from the university notes that skeletal muscles are some of the most important muscles in the body, supporting functions such as sitting, standing, blinking and swallowing. In aging individuals, the function of these muscles significantly decreases.
_ Marriage 5 Tips to Keep Your Marriage Feeling Young By article By DJ Miller There’s popular assumption that once you get married, romance and butterflies fall by the wayside. That stereotype isn't always the case, but too often "to have and to hold" does become an obligation after a few decades. If you're part of a couple that is going through a marital slump after many years, here are tips to help you get out of the rut. Remember Why You Got Married
_ Resveratrol: A New Discovery By Jane Farrell article Resveratrol is already believed to have a number of health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease and fighting the effects of aging. Now, scientists have made an additional discovery about a protein, linked to resveratrol, that keeps cells healthy over a long period of time. Investigators led by researchers from Northwestern University discovered that the protein SIRT1, which is activated by resveratrol, regulates another protein, (heat shock factor 1 (HSF1), keeping it active.
The Myth of Mental Illness By Jane Farrell blog A new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is due out next year and there is renewed discussion about what constitutes a “mental illness.” One of the world’s leading psychiatrists is questioning the very concept of mental illness. “In non-psychiatric circles mental illness all too often is considered to be whatever psychiatrists say it is,” Dr. Z tells us. “The need to re-examine the problem of mental illness is both timely and pressing.