Category Archives: Behavioral Science

Behavioral Science, Culture, Health

Coping with depression and anxiety in the workplace

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Nearly one in three adults (32%) say they have been more anxious than these were last year, based on a recently available report by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Only a quarter (24%) report being less anxious than this past year — they are much like alterations in anxiety reported over the last couple of years.

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The poll results reinforce the fact that basic needs, such as personal safety or finances, have a big effect on a person’s mental well-being. Anyone who is struggling with anxiety, regardless of the main reason, to get treatment.

However, dealing with the root cause of distress could be more challenging to diagnose when it is not a physical problem — emotional and mental health issues are often left undetected and untreated for too much time. Approximately 40 million American adults – about 18% of the population – struggle with anxiety, and nearly 7% of the population has reported a minimum of one depressive episode in a given year, as reported by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Feeling ashamed often goes in conjunction with any mental or emotional struggle, particularly in a specialist setting. The pressure to operate and perform at 100% could be paralyzing during a depressive phase, coupled with the fear of losing employment.

“In an ideal world, you ought to be in a position to disclose a mental health issue without getting discriminated against, nevertheless the reality is we do not are now living in that perfect world,” says Darcy Gruttardo, director in the Center of Workplace Mental Health.

About 50 % of workers within the APA survey expressed concerns about discussing mental health issues at your workplace; a third worried about consequences if they seek help. For those of you thinking about speaking frankly about it at your workplace, Gruttardo recommends conversing with your primary care doctor first to obtain any outward symptoms under control, before approaching human resources or an employee assistance program (EAP).

Behavioral Science, Diet, disease, Health

Could B vitamins improve schizophrenia symptoms?

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Researchers have not come up with a cure for schizophrenia, the average treatment preferences accessible concentrate on eradicating the warning sign. A new, large-scale assessment of current research proposes that B vitamins can decrease warning sign of schizophrenia.

New research indicated that vitamin B supplements could reduce symptoms of schizophrenia.


Schizophrenia has emotional impact on 1 percent of the population internationally. Most of those touched are males.

The incapacitating mental health condition consists of harsh symptoms such as illusions and false impression, on the other hand also cognitive dysfunction and disconcerted body actions. In addition, so-called negative symptoms extend from not taking enjoyment in everyday events anymore, to moderated talking, condensed emotional manifestation, and the incapacity to participate in activities.

Available treatment options focus on eliminating the symptoms rather than the disease, as what causes the condition remains unknown. Antipsychotics, jointly with psychosocial treatments, are frequently recommended to schizophrenia patients.

Antipsychotic drugs seem to be operative in the first few months of treatment, but long-term results appear to be meager. Approximately 80 percent of patients go through a setback of warning signs such as hallucinations and delusional reasoning.

A new – and first of its kind – meta-analysis of current study proposes that in addition to these typical treatments, an elevated dose of B vitamins may be more useful in decreasing schizophrenia symptoms than conventional treatments.

Behavioral Science, Culture, Health

Zen meditation good for clearing the mind

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The seemingly nonsensical Zen practice of “thinking about not thinking” could help free the mind of distractions, new brain scans reveal.

This suggests that Zen meditation could help treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (so-called ADD or ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, major depression, and other disorders marked by distracting thoughts.

In the last decade, there has been a resurgence of scientific research into meditation, due in part to the full availability and increasing sophistication of brain-scanning techniques. For instance, scientists recently found that months of intense training in meditation can sharpen a person’s brain enough to help them notice details they might otherwise miss.

Behavioral Science, Culture, mental health

Zen meditation helps to cope with depression and anxiety

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Zen meditation is a ancient Buddhist tradition that dates back to your Tang Dynasty in 7th century People’s Republic of China. From the Chinese root it extended to Korea, Japan as well as other Asian countries where it continues to thrive. The Japanese expression “Zen” is actually a derivative of the Chinese term Ch’an, itself a interlingual rendition regarding the Indian term dhyana, which implies focus or meditation.

Zen meditation is a ancient Buddhist discipline which could be practiced by new and experienced meditators alike. One of the many benefits of Zen meditation is the fact that it provides insight into the way the mind works. Just like other forms of Buddhistic meditation, Zen exercise could benefit individuals in countless ways, including providing resources to simply help cope one’s depression and anxiety problems. The greatest function is spiritual, because the practice of Zen meditation reveals the inherent understanding as well as workability of the mind. In Zen, having to deal with this authentic nature of mind is experiencing awareness.

For Zen Buddhists, meditation requires monitoring and letting go all the thoughts and feelings that arise within the mindstream, as well as building insight into the nature of body and mind. Unlike numerous popular forms of meditation which focus on relaxation and stress reduction, Zen meditation delves much deeper. Zen tackles deep-seated issues and basic life concerns that often appear to lack responses, also it does so dependent on practice and pure intuition instead than study and logic. Zen/Ch’an was famously characterized because of the great Buddhistic professional Bodhidharma as “A unique transmission beyond your instruction; not founded on words and letters; directly pointing to your human heartmind; seeing nature and becoming a Buddha.

All schools of Zen practice the sitting meditation called zazen where one sits upright and follows the breath, especially the movement associated with breath inside the belly. Some schools of Zen also practice with koans, a kind of spiritual riddle this is certainly presented by a Zen meditation master to your student, to assist them to overcome their rational limitations to be able to glimpse the facts beyond rationality. A famous koan is “What could be the sound of 1 hand clapping?” Traditionally, this practice requires a supportive connection between a genuine Zen master and a genuinely dedicated student.

As opposed to offering temporary solutions to life’s problems, Zen and other kinds of Buddhist meditation look to address core issues. The practice points into the true reason for the unhappiness and dissatisfaction we’ve all experienced and shifts our focus in a way that brings about true understanding.

The real key to happiness and well-being is not wealth or fame – it lies within us. As with any other genuine spiritual paths, Buddhism teaches that the more you give to others, the more you will get. In addition encourages awareness of interconnectedness and appreciation of all of the little gifts that life offers us, all contained through this present moment. As our concern and compassion for others expands, our personal fulfillment gradually increases in sync. As a Zen master might say, if you seek inner peace you won’t have the ability to think it is, however the act of giving within the concept of such a reward in itself – and focusing instead on others’ happiness – creates the alternative for lasting peace. That is truly the spiritual dimension of Zen.

On the everyday level, Zen trains your head to accomplish calmness. Meditators can also reflect with better focus and more creativity. Improved physical health is yet another benefit: individuals who practice zazen report lower blood pressure, reduced anxiety and stress, better immune systems, more restorative sleep, and other improvements.

Behavioral Science, disease, Health

Childhood stress affects the brain when one becomes an adult

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The human brain is a phenomenal body organ. It is responsible for ideas and emotions. It tells one’s muscles to move. It even can increase or decrease depending on what is occurring in ones setting. Now a brand new study discovers that going through severe instances as a kid also could have an influence. That stress can change the shape and shape of the human brain.

The adult brains of men and women who survived through lots of stress before the age of six — and then became despondent or anxious as young adults — were different than about older people who had a more carefree childhood. It seems that teens changed the shape of their brains by internalizing the pressures experienced years earlier — replaying those events in the head and keeping inside the emotions they induced.

Scientists already knew that the form and size of a child’s human brain could alter in responses to lots of stress. They also realized that adults were more likely to be depressed if, as children, they had been mistreated, was living in impoverishment, or faced other difficult times. Some scientific studies showed that these types of despondent adults had uncommon modifications in their brain contour. However, no one had tested whether the very early stress and later brain changes had been connected.

Behavioral Science, Culture, Health

Climate change pose a huge risk to children’s mental health

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Understanding about all the approaches that climate change is impacting the planet can feel complicated. No part of the world has been left unblemished. Moreover, many people have been — and will be — damaged by the effects of rising greenhouse gases. Many of those effects may harm the bodily health of people, such as aggravating asthma or cardiovascular disease. However, climate change may be adverse for psychological well being as well. Moreover, children and teens are especially at risk, researchers now document.

Climate change affects individuals in many ways. Direct influences can hit very hard. Overwhelming weather and sea-level rise can destroy houses and real estate. People could suffer bodily damage from overwhelming events as well. Even when someone does not have these losses, they may worry in regards to what could happen in the foreseeable future. Depression, anxiety, post-trauma tension, sleep conditions, and other dilemmas can influence.

The brains of young children and teens happen to be still growing and growing. Those flourishing brains make young people particularly vulnerable to environmental stressors. Youths, in that case, have filed a claim against the United States federal government for failing to take action on environment change.

How Earth’s climate has been morphing could effortlessly disrupt “normal” life. For example, wildfires last year obliterated the town of Paradise, Calif. Kids and teenagers lost not only their homes but also their educational institutions. Many had to move away from their home town and friends. Young people may have had trouble coping with such new circumstances, not to mention missed school daily and dealing with their roller-coaster feelings.

However, environmental change can pose a danger to psychological wellness, even with no direct physical threat. Children and teens tend to be generally more possible to recognize the scientific consensus — broad agreement — regarding humankind’s role in environmental change. Many children also worry about how the effects of climate change are expected only to worsen.

Behavioral Science, Culture, Health, mental health

Do you know your authentic-self?

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Authentic people respond to their intrinsic motives. They exercise autonomy, dismiss introjected regulations, and choose one of the extrinsic motives accessible to them. Their thoughts, beliefs, words, and actions originate deep from within and therefore, are accurate and secure enough to resist negative external pressures. The result is an authentic, quiet, deep, vitalizing, serene, and lasting fulfillment and confidence without anxiety, self-doubt, or other types of stress.

Authentic people choose authentic alternatives. These generally include wisdom, true beliefs, valid conclusions, purposeful actions, candor, trust, placing needs in front of wants, knowing when they have enough, balancing gratification with hedonism, quick actions, treating others humanely, and establishing balanced relationships. We become authentic when the path we choose through life is congruent with who we are.

The alignment is essential to an authentic person. Actions aligned together with one’s authentic self are authentic behaviors. Actions misaligned with one’s authentic self are alien, false, fake, pretentious, aggravating, insincere, deceptive, tense, bogus, fake, and never authentic. This will be typical of an individual who is misaligned, off balance, exhausted, estranged, separated, and faking it. When everything one does is fully aligned with who one is, the person will be an authentic person. Authentic people “do who they are” and enjoy gratification, peacefulness, achievements, and worth. Authentic people act with an increase of interest, pleasure, and self-esteem and sometimes demonstrate better efficiency, perseverance, creativeness, vitality, self-esteem, and general well-being. Authenticity decreases worry, stress, shame, and embarrassment.

Behavioral Science, Culture, Health, mental health

The power of positive thinking

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Positive thinking does not suggest that one simply keep their head in the sand and disregard life’s less pleasing circumstances. Positive thinking just indicates that you address pain in a more positive and effective way. One believes the best will no doubt take place, not the most harmful.

Positive thinking often begins with self-talk. Self-talk is the countless stream of unexpressed ideas that run through ones brain. These automated ideas might be positive or unfavorable. Many of one’s self-talk proceeds from reasoning and justification. Other self-talk may possibly occur from misunderstandings that you generate mainly because of shortage of important information.

If the ideas that run through ones brain are commonly unfavorable, ones attitude on life is more likely cynical. If ones ideas are mainly positive, you are likely an optimist — a person who practices positive thoughts.

Researchers continue to discover the results of positive thinking and a positive outlook on wellness. Health advantages that positive thinking may render consist of:

  • Improved life span
  • Reduce rates of depression
  • Reduce levels of distress
  • Greater immunity to the common cold
  • Better psychological and bodily well-being
  • Better heart health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
  • Better problem management skills during hardships and times of stress

It’s ambiguous the reason why men and women who participate in positive thinking experience these health advantages. One principle is that having a positive frame of mind makes it possible for one to manage better with difficult circumstances, which decrease the damaging health consequence of strain on ones human body.

Behavioral Science, Culture, Diet, disease, Health, Healthy eating

Could a healthy diet cuts risk of dying from breast cancer in older women?

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A well-balanced, low-fat diet significantly lowers the risk of dying from breast cancer in postmenopausal women, based on new long-term data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Dietary Modification trial.

The balanced diet designed is one of moderation, and after nearly 20 years of follow-up, the health benefits are still accruing.

The findings revealed during a press briefing May 15 ahead of a presentation Jun 2 during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.

This research makes clear there are not any down-sides, only up-sides to a more healthy diet, plus it adds to a growing level of studies showing similar positive effects across cancer types.

The trial enrolled 48,835 postmenopausal women without any previous breast cancer and with dietary fat accounting for at the very least 32 per cent of total daily calories. From 1993 to 1998, the women were randomly allocated to a usual-diet comparison group or a dietary intervention group that aimed to cut back fat intake to 20 per cent of daily calories and increase consumption of vegetables, fruit and grains.

Women into the balanced, low-fat diet group stuck with the diet for roughly 8.5 years. Many of them increased their intake of fruits, vegetables and grains and cut their daily fat intake to 25 per cent or less, although most did not reach the 20 per cent goal.

An overall total of 3,374 women developed breast cancer between 1993 and 2013. The low-fat diet failed to significantly reduce women’s risk of developing cancer of the breast – still, women within the dietary intervention group experienced a range of short- and long-term health advantages in comparison with women within the normal diet group. Specifically, that they had a 21 per cent lower danger of death from breast cancer and a 15 per cent lower chance of death from any cause through the follow through period.

Postmenopausal women with metabolic syndrome (increased blood pressure, high blood glucose, excess excessive fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels) were particularly prone to benefit from the dietary intervention.

Find out more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/healthy-diet-cuts-risk-of-dying-from-breast-cancer-in-older-women-11540664
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Behavioral Science, Culture, disease, Health

What you should know about Parkinson’s disease

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New insights into Parkinson’s disease suggest that these might be the early signs of alterations in the brain that means you are at higher threat of developing Parkinson’s.

When people speak about Parkinson’s disease, the image that many often comes to mind is of an elderly one who shakes and has trouble moving. Moreover, in the later stages of Parkinson’s, this is often true. Bradykinesia (a medical term for slowed movement) and tremor (the shaking which can be so prominent in Parkinson’s) are a couple of the most vitally important the signs of the disease.

However, research during the last 15 years has begun to shed light on a number of the changes and symptoms that happen much earlier into the disease, sometimes well before the alterations in movement. What exactly are these early warning signs that you could be at increased risk of developing Parkinson’s? Here are four of the most common ones.

A typical recollection by those who are clinically determined to have Parkinson’s is the fact that they remember alterations in their feeling of smell several years before developing any tremor or any other movement problems. However, many people might not even recognize that their sense of smell is terrible. It is only once tested that individuals note that up to 90% of men and women coping with Parkinson’s have forfeit their feeling of smell.

There was a connection between changes in sleep patterns called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder, additionally the danger of developing Parkinson’s. REM sleep behavior disorder, or RBD for short, is much more than merely experiencing a restless night. People with RBD act out their dreams, sometimes moving violently within their sleep, to your extent that they will even injure themselves, but with often no recollection of their actions.

Issues with digestion and bowel movements are a significant problem if you have Parkinson’s; therefore we now know that these problems may start a long time before the tremor and difficulties with movement that lead to someone being referred to a neurologist.

As for many of these early symptoms, people can develop constipation for many different reasons. However, it is clear that individuals living with Parkinson’s suffer from bowel motions. Constipation may, in reality, be one of the very earliest features, occurring up to 20 years before Parkinson’s is diagnosed.

Feeling anxious or depressed, far above the common good and the bad of daily life, is one of the most significant issues that people with Parkinson’s report — sometimes noting it as even more of a challenge than changes in movement. We think that this is as a result of changes in the balance of chemical activity in the brain and that these changes set up to 10 years before folks are clinically determined to have Parkinson’s.

It is important to remember that there lots of explanations why anyone, or combination, of these changes, might happen. Moreover, even when you have all of them, it does not imply that you can expect to develop Parkinson’s disease. However, there is good evidence that many people that are clinically have Parkinson’s have experienced some or most of these symptoms.