Category Archives: Health

Diet, disease, Health

Drinking green leaf tea, instead of black, may help you live longer, new study implies

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Drinking tea a minimum of thrice every week could reduce the risk of dying from heart problems and is linked with a longer and healthier life, at least in China, new research suggests. Chinese researchers found the rewards associated with tea were more pronounced for drinkers of green, rather than black tea, and regarding those who had been drinking tea regularly over the longer period of time. The advantages were also clearer among men, the research indicated.

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Researchers checked out data from 100,902 Chinese people without cases of heart attack, stroke or cancer and divided them into two groups: habitual drinkers who drank tea three or more times every week, those who never drank tea, and those who drank it less regularly. They followed up with them following a seven-year period.


Their analysis found that regular tea drinkers had a 20% lower risk of having cardio disease and stroke, and a 22% lower likelihood of dying from heart disease and stroke. Specifically, they found that regular tea drinkers could expect to live 1.26 years longer at age 50 than individuals who didn’t regularly take part in cup of tea.

Reading the tea leaves about whether drinking green tea is good for you
“We came to find that the protective outcome of habitual tea consumption were very pronounced and robust across different outcomes for men, but only modest for women,” Dr. Dongfeng Gu from China’s National Center for Cardiovascular Disease, Peking Union Medical College and the Chinese Academy of Medical Science said via email. “One reason might be which the proportion of habitual tea consumers among men was approximately two and a half [times] as high as that among women,” Gu said. Some 48% of the men in the study were regular tea drinkers, compared with 20% of ladies.
Gu said Chinese women were very likely to drink herbal tea produced from rosebuds or lotus leaves however this information wasn’t included.


In their analysis, the researchers controlled for some factors like smoking, drinking, eating habits and physical activity that could have explained the link between tea drinking and driving longevity. However, as an observational study it can’t establish cause and effect, only association.
“Other things to consider that are not mentioned within the study are: Firstly, what individuals who weren’t drinking tea were drinking — was tea replaced by sugary drinks or caffeinated beverages … and started that what increased their risk…?” said Jodie Relf, a registered dietitian and spokesperson regarding the British Dietetic Association.

Black vs. green
The advantages linked to drinking black tea “were not much,” Gu said, but that could be since there were far fewer black tea drinkers present in the research — only about 8% of the habitual tea drinkers engaging in the study said they preferred black tea.

Gu also said that green tea is a richer supply of flavanoids, especially tea polyphenols, and these bioactive compounds could be protective against cardiovascular disease. While from the same plant and containing the same amount of caffeine, black tea is processed differently from green leaf tea after picking. “Black tea is fully fermented and tea polyphenols might be oxidized into pigments and inactivate during fermentation. Thus green tea ends up being more effective than black tea in anti-oxidation, improving blood lipid profile, and in turn, to become more effective in cardiovascular protection,” Gu said.

Can green leaf tea maximize your brainpower and treat disease?
Gunter Kuhnle, a professor of nutrition and food science, University of Reading in the UK, who was not engaged with the study but conducts research into the association between flavanoids and health, said it’s not currently known how tea — or even the compounds found in tea — affect health.

“The antioxidant effect of polyphenols found in tea has long been assumed to become responsible, however this has been resoundingly disproved in the last decade. Many of the compounds present in tea might have a brilliant effect, however this is at the moment still under investigation,” he told the Science Media Centre (SMC) in London.
As the world’s most popular drink after water, Gu said that tea-drinking habits varied from place to place and of course the findings will possibly not apply to Western countries, where black tea has been a more accepted choice — often taken with milk or sugar.

Drinking very hot tea almost doubles likelihood of cancer, new study says
“Tea consumption is part of a cultural heritage, along with its health effects might be confounded by other consuming patterns, for instance, intake of other flavanoid-rich food or beverages like coffee.”
The conclusions of previous research on the health advantages of tea has been inconsistent, Gu said, with the study noting that green leaf tea were linked to lower risk of cadiovascular disease in Japan however in the british isles no link was observed with black tea taken with milk.

“This study strengthens the body of evidence that habitual tea drinking is associated with lower chances of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, though it cannot give proof that it’s definitely the tea that’s responsible,” Dr. Jenna Macciochi, a lecturer in immunology at the University of Sussex, told the SMC. However, she noted that “a body of evidence in nutrition means that whole diet patterns are more informative of diet-disease relationships than any isolated food or nutrient.” Dr. Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior teaching fellow at Aston Medical School, Aston University, said that while green leaf tea is safe and may even have benefits, green leaf tea supplements “ought to be considered carefully as there has long been a number of cases of liver damage reported in individuals who have consumed these in large doses.”

Author Resource Box:

U.S. Alcohol-Related Deaths Have Doubled, Study Says. https://www.npr.org/2020/01/08/794772148/alcohol-related-deaths-have-doubled-study-says

disease, Health

U.S. Alcohol-Related Deaths Have Doubled, Study Says

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More Americans are ordering more rounds, which is leading to more funerals, according to new research on alcohol-related deaths. Looking at data beginning with the National Center for Health Statistics, researchers estimate deaths from alcohol-related problems have more than doubled during the last nearly twenty years. Death certificates spanning 2017 indicate nearly 73,000 people died within the U.S because of liver disease along with other alcohol-related illnesses. That is up from slightly below 36,000 deaths in the year 1999. Some of the most significant increases were found among women and individuals who were middle-aged senior.

The study arises from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which is a section of the NIH. It was published on Wednesday within the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Overall, researchers found men died at a higher rate than women. However, when analyzing annual increases in deaths, the most significant improvement was among white women. “Having the increases in alcohol use among women, there’s been increases in harms for women including ER visits, hospitalization, and deaths,” Aaron White, who authored the paper, told NPR. The studies suggest that in 2017, alcohol proven even more deadly than illicit drugs, including opioids. That year there were about 70,000 drug overdose deaths — about 2,300 fewer than those involving alcohol by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alcohol: Maybe you have Thought About Reducing?
Only cigarettes are deadlier than alcohol: More than 480,000 people die each year in the U.S. because of smoking-related illnesses. However, alcohol-related overdoses — either alone or with drugs — rose between 1999 and 2017. Other alcohol-related causes included heart disease, cancer, and accidental injuries, for instance, falls. The total number of deaths attributable to drunken driving over the same two decades declined. Other findings, as quoted in the study:

  • 70.1% considering the population aged 18 and older. Consumed alcohol in 2017, averaging approximately 3.6 gallons of pure ethanol per drinker.
  • As the overall prevalence of drinking and binge drinking didn’t change for males, there arose a 10.1% rise in the incidence of alcohol and a 23.3% rise in drinking a lot among women.
  • Increases in consumption were more significant for people aged 50 senior relatives to younger age-groups.

Author Resource Box:
U.S. Alcohol-Related Deaths Have Doubled, Study Says. https://www.npr.org/2020/01/08/794772148/alcohol-related-deaths-have-doubled-study-says

disease, Health

Testosterone treatment should be given just for sexual dysfunction, the guideline suggests

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Men in search of improved energy and memory aren’t going to find it in testosterone treatment, which should be used in older men just for sexual dysfunction, according to researchers, as well as a new guideline published Monday. The only scientifically proven use for the hormone in older men with age-related low testosterone levels is for impotence, based on a brand new recommendation from the American College of Physicians published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.


The new recommendation was decided after researchers reviewed 38 randomized controlled testosterone treatment trials, which ranged from 10 to 798 male participants from the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia between 1997 and 2018. The studies tracked men from less than twelve months up to three years. Twenty-four of the studies reported a minimum of partial industry sponsorship. In the studies, men got testosterone via intramuscular shots or through the skin by using a hormone patch or gel. That analysis was published Monday, in addition to the new guideline.
Countless men seek a quick health fix with testosterone replacement, both from prescriptions and over-the-counter supplements. The brand new analysis showed that there isn’t any evidence that long-term testosterone supplementation improves — or damages — health, said Dr. Robert McLean, president of the APA as well as a rheumatologist at Yale-New Haven Health’s Northeast Medical Group. The only benefit is short-term treatment for men with sexuality.


Other issues, such as “general vitality and cognition might not be symptoms that improve with testosterone replacement,” McLean said. There’s nothing in the data. He added, “that suggests that testosterone is a fountain of youth.” And also that means, doctors shouldn’t even bother to check testosterone levels unless their older male patient “says my libido is in the tank,” McLean said. The brand new recommendation applies only to men in their 60s who ‘ve been clinically recognized as having a decline in testosterone. In this scenario, testosterone levels might be tested. Also, if they are low, “I can say, ‘If I give you a little extra testosterone, it will encourage your libido and sexual functioning,'” McLean said.
Younger men, those within their 30s, 40s, and 50s, don’t usually have low testosterone unless they have an uncommon medical condition — or if they have specific lifestyle issues, said Dr. Harry Fisch, a professor of urology and reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.Based on Fisch, men can experience drops in testosterone levels if they:

  • Overexercise.
  • Don’t get enough sleep. Sleep is when the human body generates testosterone.
  • Are overweight. Fat cells can cause testosterone to show into estrogen.
  • Use marijuana frequently. Marijuana affects men’s estrogen levels, which happens to be linked to impotence and infertility.

The answer would be to make changes in lifestyle instead of to add testosterone because supplementation can ruin fertility, Fisch said.

“In young men, a side dish effect of testosterone replacement is low challenges with sperm,” he added. “And of course, the longer you’re on testosterone, the better problems you would likely have getting the sperm back.”

Author Resource Box:
Testosterone treatment should only be given for sexual …. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/testosterone-treatment-should-only-be-given-sexual-dysfunction-guideline-suggests-n1111591

disease, Health, mental health

The Types of Depression

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Depression will take many forms. Seasonal affective disorder, clinical depression, and bipolar depression, and postpartum depression are commonly diagnosed types of depression. Conditions that can include substance abuse or maybe an eating disorder could be confused with depression and can render any depression rather an effort to diagnose. Other conditions can worsen a case of depression.

Some fundamentals are some prevalent methods of depression.

One of the significant different kinds of depression is bipolar depression (also called manic depressive illness). Bipolar depression is, in many cases, accepted as someone experiencing being overly happy, then suddenly becoming depressed.

One of the significant varieties of depression that women can be is affected by is postpartum depression. This takes place right after giving birth to a baby.

A typical subtype of depression is seasonal affective disorder. This way of depression seems to be tied to the same way as people react to the level of sunlight that’s that are available to them every day.

A severe form of many kinds of depression is psychotic depression. People who are afflicted by psychotic depression fairly often hallucinate. This is essentially the most dangerous variety of depression, and often there is a requirement for some other person to jump in and help.

Those who look like always suffering from a mild method of depression might be suffering from dysthymia.

Another of the great diversity of depression that is very commonly suffered by women is atypical depression. Experiencing things such as anxiety attacks, overeating, and sleeping disturbances usually mark this way of depression.

Regardless of which among several other kinds of depression, you might be suffering with, being aware of the difference between them is the best way to find out the best possible treatment. Discuss any symptoms of depression in your doctor and work with him to discover the treatment that is most suited according to your needs.

Author Resource Box:
The Types of Depression – Anxiety Mastery. https://www.anxietymasteryblog.com/the-types-of-depression/

Health, meditation

Can Meditation Cure Disease?

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Can the power of the mind help humans self-heal? That such a category of scientists is hoping to help determine by studying a Tibetan lama who believes he cured himself of gangrene through meditation.

When Tibetan Lama Phakyab Rinpoche immigrated towards the United States in 2003, joe a 37-year-old refugee with diabetes and Pott’s Disease, his afflictions make so bad that his right foot and leg had developed gangrene. He cannot be charged with illegal trespass hospitalized and examined by three different doctors in Ny city who all gave the very same treatment recommendation: amputate.

Few people might go against such a professional, but Rinpoche (pronounced Rin-Poh-Chey) is sadly no average person. He was born in 1966 in Kham, Tibet, joe ordained from the age of 13 and named the Eighth Incarnation of the Phakyab Rinpoche by the Dalai Lama himself when he was working toward the highest level of Tibetan Buddhist study, the Geshe degree, in 1993. A profoundly spiritual man who has devoted his life towards the teachings of Buddhism, finally, it was only natural he should reach out to his mentor, His Holiness the Dalai Lama when deciding either to allow his leg to get interrupted.

The Dalai Lama’s response was shocking: Do not amputate. Instead, Lama Rinpoche says, the Tibetan spiritual leader advised his protégé to use his virtuoso skills at Tsa Lung meditation — heal himself, and after that teach others the value of considering the ancient tradition. He sent notice prescribing new mantras, for example, the Hayagriva, which, at the beginning of the latest endeavors, is said to clear obstacles and provide protection in their tradition.

It was a call that would require an incomprehensible leap of faith. But Rinpoche says there is a little question within him. Though doctors had got it clear, he could die, joe not afraid. “As a Buddhist, what exactly is the worst thing that could happen if I die?” he told The Daily Beast with a translator. “I could well be reborn again. But to lose a leg available as one lifetime given the fact that i didn’t attempt to put it aside made little sense.”

Consequently, he commenced meditating. Rinpoche says he took no medicine, and his diet was a regular one. He would break for meals—when the lama that was transpiring existing with came home from my place of employment, they might have dinner and luxuriate in conversation—. Still, then he would return meditating before obtaining a quality night’s sleep in the end. Morning, he would awake and return to his routine.

When I started this ritual, Lama Rinpoche remembers, the putrid ooze from his leg ran black; several weeks later, it turned cloudy; he stated and bruising appeared. The swelling increased, and it also was more painful. The odor was sickening; he recalls. But still he felt no doubt.

The progression of the degradation wasn’t naturally halted—his leg was back the dead causes that.

Then, after nine months, he says something started happening that many Americans would consider a miracle. The liquid leaking from his injured leg would run clear. The swelling went down. Soon he could put some weight on it. At ten months, he could walk again, first with crutches. A while later, he was down to one crutch, after which, before also a year had passed, that was transpiring walking by himself.

The progression of a given degradation wasn’t naturally halted—his leg was back beginning with the dead. His diabetes and complicating Tuberculosis have disappeared today too.

Now, a grouping of doctors at Big apple University has begun studying Rinpoche—specifically, his brain. Practitioners of Tsa Lung meditation like Rinpoche visualize a wind (or “lung,” or “prana”) that is consisting of states and cities one’s mental state, moving down the center channel of the bodies, clearing blockages and impurities before next to ever-smaller channels.

“This is a cognitive-behavioral practice that present East-West science suggests might be more effective than any existing strictly Western medical treatment,” says Dr. William C. Bushell, an MIT-affiliated researcher in medical anthropology and director of East-West Research for Tibet House in NY. Gangrene is not curable by current medical treatment once past some point in its progression, except by amputation.

This month, Dr. Bushell and NYU neuroscientist Zoran Josipovic, Ph.D., won Lama Rinpoche’s cooperation in suffering from a functional MRI scan of his brain while meditated seated in the scanner at NYU’s Center for Brain Imaging. In this first scan, the Rinpoche took part in a continuous study of the effects of different meditations on anti-correlated networks inside the brain that Dr. Josipovic has been conducting at NYU.

Bushell wrote a scientific by analyzing and examining the processes occurring inside the same meditation used by Rinpoche inside a letter to Joshua Lederberg, Nobel Prize winner in medicine, some a decade ago. Dr. Lederberg was possibly one giant in the modern age of science, father of molecular biology, infectious disease medicine, and modern genetics. His foundation published the letter which is an adaptation of a scientific paper, posthumously on his website. It speaks of one’s mild-to-moderate hyperthermia result of the ability, which kills bacteria and aids the human body in healing.

“It is not entirely clear coming from a Western science perspective what the winds are, but the scientific evidence suggests to me yet others that this meditative process involving winds includes an increased local flow of blood, the metabolism, and oxygenation,” Bushell explains. “The original scientific model I developed (that’s largely within a theoretical state) was based on, and other things, the pioneering work of Thomas K Hunt, MD, on the antibiotic properties of oxygenation within the bloodstream and surrounding tissues, which resulted in being harmed sponsored by the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, Calif. Research shows mental imagery introduced to sites of a body, both superficial besides deeper tissues, can in time eventually bring about increased local improve blood flow, metabolism, and oxygenation. Such increases could in principle combat even powerful bacteria, for instance, Staphylococcus aureus, which not only can easily cause gangrene but has grown to be often proof against antibiotics.”

Dr. Bushell’s colleague Dr. Josipovic was also very fascinated about Rinpoche’s abilities and, particularly, regarding the way they may have affected the functional and structural organization of his brain. The early results of the examination are significant again first glance, he avers. They show changes within the vast network of brain areas mediating attention and awareness. The team will publish their findings year after year.

“Overtimes past decade research into ramification meditation on the brain continues to be gaining unprecedented public and scientific attention,” Dr. Josipovic explains. “What these studies have proven is it is feasible to optimize one’s life experience through the cultivation of mental cognitive states generated through meditation, and also that these would be associated with changes inside the anatomical structure of the mental performance or neuroplasticity. But what soon became clear was that one’s good deal of meditation techniques and states of consciousness they engender, pose an amazing challenge for understanding them concerning the established constructs of Western science.”

Dr. Josipovic says that the significant discovery concerning neuroscience that of spontaneously fluctuating resting-state networks among the brain delivers the ways to shed some light on this issue. “On a world level, our brain feels like organized into two large-scale networks: extrinsic, and task-positive system, comprises our brain areas that are active when we are focused on some task or external environment, and the intrinsic, or ‘default’ network, comprises the areas which get active when we reflect on ourselves and own experience.”

These networks are usually anti-correlated within their activity—that is, when a person is “up,” the additional is “down,” he describes. “While this antagonism serves some healthy functions, for example, of helping us pay attention to an activity and not be distracted by daydreaming or irrelevant concerns, we suspect it may also underlie some unhealthy aspects of our everyday experience, which can include excessive fragmentation between self/other and internal/external— the ‘dualistic mind’ several contemplative traditions see as the reason behind our suffering.”

Author Resource Box:

Can Meditation Cure Disease? – The Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/can-meditation-cure-disease

Health, meditation, mental health

Meditation Can Help in Managing Illness

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Meditation is the practice of thinking deeply or focusing one’s mind on getting a period when using the goal of evoking feelings of relaxation and inner peace.

It’s an ancient practice that’s been around for hundreds of years but has gained a resurgence in recent years, as researchers study it to determine its effects on health.

A range of studies has established several benefits to Meditation, including using it for being a tool in managing chronic illnesses.

Meditation and Mental Health

Considering Meditation is targeted on calming the brain, it may be natural to assume that this strategy can assist reduce warning signs of depression and anxiety.

While it is not a universal cure, many individuals suffering from these mental illnesses find some relief in practicing Meditation. And there’s scientific proof to back the benefits.

A meta-analysis published in March 2014 within the journal JAMA Internal Medicine discovered that mindful meditation programs over eight weeks could help ease warning signs of depression and anxiety. (1) Researchers from Johns Hopkins reviewed greater than 18,000 studies and realized 47 trials met their criteria for well-designed research. Overall, data on 3,515 participants were collected.

Another study, published in June 2016 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, showed that mindfulness-based therapy was as effective in preventing depression relapse as antidepressants for all those with recurrent depression. (2) Yet the authors note that the findings were dependent on a limited range of trials and could use to get replicated. Furthermore, there is no way to share with yet which patients may be helped by mindful Meditation, and that may respond better to medication.

If you’re on antidepressants, One must confer with one’s doctor before making any changes to one’s treatment plan. The health care provider can also assist One in determining if Meditation is a proper tool that will help One manage a mental health condition.

Meditation and Heart-healthy living

Lately, there’s been an increasing interest in the effects of Meditation on heart-healthy life. Lowering the intensity of one’s stress, which Meditation can aid with, can assist keep blood pressure in check, and help the heart.

Research published in September 2014 inside the American Journal of Hypertension showed that people who practiced yoga, which contains aspects of Meditation for eight weeks, saw a very slight drop in blood flow compared with those who don’t. (3) Still, while it’s suspected which the benefits were because of both physical activity and stress reduction, there was no way to separate each to measure the impression of each.

Mladen Golubic, MD, Ph.D., a health care professional at the Center for Lifestyle Management at the Cleveland Clinic in Lyndhurst, Ohio, points to more research, published in the American Journal of Hypertension, that found transcendental Meditation may have the possibility and this reduces arterial pressure. (4) “Even in patients with difficult-to-control arterial pressure who likely will be two or three medications, randomized clinical control trials have showed that after they learn and practice transcendental meditation, they could improve their blood flow and in reality, a few of them could get off medications sometimes.”

How Integrative Therapy May help Drop one’s Systolic pressure

In 2017, the American Heart Association (AHA) issued its first-ever statement on Meditation, saying the procedure may reduce the likelihood of cardiac disease. (5) Previous to producing the report, a committee of experts analyzed 57 studies on different “sitting meditations,” namely mindful Meditation and transcendental Meditation. The people don’t look at Meditation that incorporated physical workouts, such as yoga, since exercise itself has been confirmed to benefit one’s heart muscle.

Even though the research suggested there appears to become a link between Meditation and decreased danger of cardiac disease, the AHA emphasizes that further research requires done. People should highlight proven lifestyle modifications to reduce heart condition risk, to include a healthy eating regimen, workouts, smoking cessation, arterial pressure control, and managing cholesterol levels. At this point, Meditation should be viewed as a further boost toward cardiovascular health, the AHA says.

Meditation as a Treatment for Chronic Pain

Just like the nation continues to be afflicted by the opioid epidemic, researchers want alternate strategies to help patients find relief from chronic pain. One technique they usually have used is mindfulness meditation, and there’s some research to suggest it will probably help.

Research published in March 2016 within the Journal of one’s American Medical Association found mindful-based stress-relief therapy helped improve symptoms into adults with chronic lower back pain. (6)

Another study, published in March 2016 among The Journal of Neuroscience discovered that mindful Meditation could help ease chronic pain by applying a different pathway in the human body than just that addictive opioid painkillers use that. (7)

Dr. Golubic notes that meditation practice, besides yoga, seems to decrease inflammation in white blood cells.

“The higher inflammation One will have, the better pain One have,” he says. “How aspirin, ibuprofen, each one of other NSAIDs, work is they inhibit those pain mediators which get inflammatory.”

If Meditation reduces inflammation, this will likely function as the mechanism that reduces pain, he explains.

More studies must on the old Meditation on chronic pain, but researchers say it is encouraging that it literally could be an alternative or supplementary therapy.

Meditation and Cancer

There’s a reason to believe Meditation can assist cancer patients. Some research implies that Meditation can even change one’s body upon the cellular level. Studies published in November 2014 among the journal Cancer revealed that the telomeres — the protein caps by the end of DNA strands that protect chromosomes — of breast cancer patients who practiced mindfulness meditation stayed the same length over the three-month study period. (8)

In comparison, participants who did not mediate had shorter telomeres over now. While scientists still are looking to learn about the health impact of telomere length, they think longer ones have protective benefits against disease.

Meditation might also help cancer survivors have to cope with the emotional distress that always accompanies the condition. Research published in April 2015 among the journal Cancer found that mindfulness meditation reduced stressed and slightly reduced problems of depression in breast cancer patients. (9)

“Just being diagnosed with cancer is stressful enough, but then going through most of the treatments as well going through all the tests and worrying if

 cancer seems to reappear back, that’s all additional stress,” Golubic says.

How Meditation Can change Sleep

Meditation promotes relaxation, so it seems logical that practicing it would encourage good Sleep. And there’s a scientific research that backs claiming up, too.

Studies published in April 2015 among the journal JAMA Internal Medicine revealed that participants who practiced mindfulness meditation had less insomnia, fatigue, and warning signs of depression at the end of a six-week program than individuals that doesn’t practice mindfulness meditation. (10)

As stated by the National Sleep Foundation, Meditation has been known to decrease the utilization of the help of sleeping pills. Furthermore, combining Meditation with cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) shows up to improve Sleep faster than CBT-I alone. (11)

Meditation plus the Gut

While researchers are still attempting to comprehend better the relationship connecting the mind and the gut, they believe there is a connection where one plays a vital role in the other.

Stress seems to exacerbate symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and irritable bowel diseases (IBDs), like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. Diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fatigue that can include both conditions can also cause stress, so scientists are functioning to locate techniques to help break this vicious cycle. One particular way is Meditation.

An account published in August 2015 within the journal PLoS ONE found that the relief response that comes from engaging in such activities as meditation, yoga, and repetitive prayer significantly improved symptoms of both IBS and IBD, reduced anxiety, and improved overall standard of living. (12)

Similarly, a study published in April 2017 in inside the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics showed that people with ulcerative colitis who practiced yoga meditation reported a rise in energy levels and overall health and reduces in disease activity. (13)

Author Resource Box:

How Meditation Can Help Manage Illness | Everyday Health. https://www.everydayhealth.com/meditation/manage-illness/

Health, meditation

Three Ways Mindfulness Minimizes Depression

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Sixty percent of people who experience one phase of depression could experience a second. Ninety percent of people that go through 3 (three) sequences of sadness is likely to have a last. But help is available: The 8-week Mindfulness-Based Experimental Therapy (MBCT) system been revealed to reduce the likelihood of relapse.

So how does it accomplish the task? To find out, research scientists in Britain spoke to 11 grown-ups who had skilled three or maybe more series of intense depression and had versed MBCT within the recent four years.

They established the interviews to generate a product, among the record Mind calming activities, to point out how MBCT facilitates online marketer share towards the self keeping others. The important thing, it seems, accounts for the same way as MBCT enhances partnerships: Less stress about associations will help protect against future installments of depression. Three specific themes emerged from the investigation:

2. Being present in the self: Discovering how to wait, find, and respondMindfulness habits of MBCT allowed the online marketer to be more healthy, knowledgeable with the most current time, which created them house to pause before replying to others. To becoming anxious about non-acceptance or criticism, they stepped back into understanding their very own automation reactions—and to get more acclimated to others’ needs and emotions. Recognition gave these guys more selection how to respond, as a substitute for becoming grabbed within rising painful feelings.

Two (2). Experiencing fears: It’s fine to say “no” Participants also confirmed that they became more assertive in saying ‘no’ to others so you can reduce their load of responsibility and accountability, letting them become more balanced in their personal and also others’ needs. The authors say that delivering aware consciousness to irritating experiences helped people to technique situations that they can before now avoid, which fostered self-assurance and assertiveness.

Three (3). Being represented by using others being present to others facilitated others to bring in more priority to relationships and appreciate such a time web-sites. They referred to how being present to others helped these items release distressing backgrounds, making it possible for each of them pertains to others in new strategies. Quarrels also became more constructive, as contributors could determine their connection issues, and have been better always ready to move on to another’s viewpoint and concentration on solutions.

Research study individuals also described having higher energy, sensing less flooded by painful feelings, and being in an improved position to cope with and help others. Managing through issues with significant others using stable connections enabled them to experience closer, and requiring the energy and psychological energy to invest time with folks enabled all of them to expand.

Many individuals stated that in the passing of time, the advantages of MBCT which spread throughout their whole life. “Through connected on their circumstances and then to others, these were sense well informed and were communicating with a higher range of societal exercise and interaction,” write the authors.

The scientists come up with within this case the near future; surgery could lay a more particular focus on coming partnerships with the use of mind-calming activities. This placed emphasis could reinforce the advantage of MBCT, and maybe bring about even better consequences in reducing the risk of reversion if you have chronic unhappiness.

Author Resource Box: Three Ways Mindfulness Reduces Depression, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/three_ways_mindfulness_reduces_depressio

Health, meditation, mental health

Do you believe Evidence Mounts That Mindfulness Breeds Resilience?

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The advantages of mindfulness are both well-established and wide-ranging. Studies on subjects covering from college students to Marines have discovered this strategy reduces stress and result in increased levels of well-being.

The Mindful Mondays series provides ongoing coverage of the exploding field of mindfulness research.

But why should you, exactly, will be the capability to stay focused on the present moment in a non-judgmental way a powerful catalyst for contentedness? An investigation from India points to a partial answer: Mindfulness breeds resilience.

That’s the conclusion of researchers Badri Bajaj and Neerja Pande. Writing in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, they prove that psychological resilience is significantly more pronounced in mindful people. The scientists also provide evidence that this highly useful quality produces most of the practice’s much-touted benefits.

Bajaj and Pande describe research featuring 327 undergraduates (236 men and 91 women). People completed a series of surveys measuring their mindfulness, life satisfaction, emotional state, and grade of resilience—the capability to cope in stressful situations and get better from adversity.

Their responses to 15 assertions measured mindfulness—or absence thereof; for instance, “I will usually rush to get where I’m going without following the thing I experience along the way.” To gauge their resilience, participants were educated on ten self-descriptive statements, including “able to adapt to change,” “can stay focused under pressure,” and therefore are “not easily discouraged by failure.” They responded to each linked to a five-point scale (“not at all” to “true nearly all considering the time”).

As predicted, the scientists found “individuals with higher mindfulness have greater resilience, increasing their life satisfaction.” They note that resilience “can be considered as a key method to get subjective well-being,” and point out many ways mindfulness can promote this state of mind.

“Mindful people … can more comfortably handle difficult thoughts and emotions without becoming overwhelmed or disabling (emotionally),” they write. “Pausing and observing your mental state may (allow us) resist getting drawn into wallowing within a setback.”

Put a different way, mindfulness “weakens the chain of associations that keep people obsessing about” their problems or failures, which increases the likelihood they could try again.

This isn’t the only reason mindfulness promotes the well-being, naturally. Another new study provides evidence that the practice also encourages self-compassion, which ends up in increased levels of happiness. But increased resilience plays a severe part of this beneficial equation.

“The findings provide support for universities to develop tips that promote mindfulness,” Bajaj and Pande conclude. “Mindfulness training could provide a functional way of enhancing resilience and personality characteristics like optimism, zest, and patience.”

Perhaps this same notion will catch on as studies similar to this continue to increase. If you want to help students thrive (and increase the possibility they could stay in school), it could be smart to improve the overall curriculum a required remedial course: Mindfulness 101.

Author Resource Box:

Evidence Mounts That Mindfulness Breeds Resilience. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/evidence_mounts_that_mindfulness_breeds_resilience

Health, meditation, mental health

Meditation is excellent for depression

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Depression continues to be a significant health issue for mature workers. It affects about 20% of adults age 65 leading and regular depression, which will lead to higher risks for a heart condition and death from illnesses. Plus, it affects people’s daily lives by making them more socially isolated and affecting cognitive function, especially memory.

A study of 1,111 people (average age 71), published online May 9, 2018, by Neurology, showed that individuals who had more significant warning signs of depression were mighty at worse episodic memory — the ability to recall specific experiences and events.

There are multiple ways as a treatment for depression. Antidepressants and psychotherapy will be the usual first-line treatments. Still, ongoing research has suggested the fact that a regular meditation practice should help by changing the state of the hot tub brain responds to stress and anxiety.

How your brain reacts

Stress and anxiety are significant triggers of depression, and meditation can alter your opinion about those feelings. “Meditation trains our brain to get sustained focus, and then to return to that focus when negative thinking, emotions, and physical sensations intrude — which happens a lot when you feel stressed and anxious,” says Dr. John W. Denninger, director of research with the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Meditation shows up to very certain brain regions that get linked explicitly with depression. For instance, scientists have shown that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) becomes hyperactive in depressed people. The mPFC is most often popularly known as “me center” because this is where you process tips about yourself, namely worrying about the future and ruminating concerning the past. When people get stressed about life, the mPFC goes into overdrive.

Another brain region associated with depression is the amygdala, or “fear center.” Here is the area of the brain accountable for the fight-or-flight response, which triggers the adrenal glands to release the trouble hormone cortisol for fear and perceived danger.

Both these brain regions work off another to cause depression. The center gets worked up, reacting to stress and anxiety, and having the fear center response leads to a spike in cortisol levels to repel a danger that’s only in your head. Research has located that meditation helps break the connection between these two brain regions. “Once you meditate, you are better willing to ignore the negative sensations of stress and anxiety, which explains, to some extent, why the intensity of your stress falls while you meditate,” says Dr. Denninger.

Another different way meditation assists the mental abilities are by protecting the hippocampus (a brain area included in memory). One study discovered that people who meditated for a half-hour every day for eight weeks increased the amount of gray matter with their hippocampus, along with other research has revealed everybody who is suffering from recurrent depression will have a smaller hippocampus.

Educating yourself meditation

Several online tutorials teach you the methods of meditation. You also can gain further insight and instruction after reading books from top meditation experts like Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, and Tara Brach. Many local yoga studios include beginning and intermediate meditation classes.

Improve thinking

The goal of meditation is not to push aside stress or quit negative thinking; in fact, it uses to notice those thoughts and feelings, all the while comprehending that you need not work on them. This might be as simple as closing your eyes and repeating just one phrase or word, or counting breaths. “This assists hand out the distance from those negative thoughts or stressful feelings, allowing you to recognize that, although they affect you, they likely are not you,” says Dr. Denninger.

Meditation can even help prepare the health of the brain for stressful situations. For example, meditating for a couple of moments before a doctor’s appointment or social status can help shift our mind and body from the stress response and into a state of relative calm.

Yet, merely as with making use of a nutritious diet and exercise, it involves the opportunity to feel results from regular meditation. “But over time, meditation can help many individuals control how they retaliate the stress and anxiety that always leads to depression,” says Dr. Denninger

Author Resource Box:

How meditation helps with depression – Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/how-meditation-helps-with-depression

HOW MEDITATION HELPS EASE DEPRESSION – Tulsa Yoga …. https://www.tulsayogameditationcenter.com/blog/how-meditation-helps-ease-depression

Magic And Mischief: Create Your Own Full Moon Ritual …. https://galadarling.com/article/magic-and-mischief-create-your-own-full-moon-ritual/

How to Reduce Stress with Body Scan Meditation – Pretty …. https://prettysimpledays.com/2019/07/05/how-to-reduce-stress-with-body-scan-meditation/

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Health, meditation, mental health

7 Ways Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Can Practice Self-Care

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The project regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practitioners can be understandably taxing. Giving talks, speeches, training, and workshops on charged topics like racism, sexism, discrimination, bias, as well as other societal inequities, can take a toll on all individuals. When using the rise of racism, and political divisiveness in an all-time high, the call for DEI practices that bring people together is imperative. But what’s also crucial that you assess is how DEI practitioners handle the daily stressors that come with the work. Stress can have several deleterious effects on any person, including lowered productivity and chronic illness. A DEI practitioner who is overwhelmed stressed, and unsupported by organizational leadership won’t be ready to expertly complete your project, which is not beneficial for either party. Most diversity training fails, so DEI professionals are under increased pressure to design programs and systems which get successful and justify spending company time and resources on. Since this decade gets to an in-depth, the time has come when a lot of people are stepping far from work and reflecting on how you can being more productive in the new decade. Let us identify some ways that DEI practitioners can destress and practice the self-care that many of these gems so desperately need?

1. Sleep. There is a wealth of research that shows that getting a satisfactory amount of sleep every night will lead to higher levels of productivity and other positive outcomes. Whereas the average amount of sleep that helps a person perform at optimal levels varies by the person, a National Safety Council report revealed that 43% of workers are sleep deprived. Most people ensure their New Year resolves to gain more sleep, but it’s often easier said than done. A technique to help you fall asleep faster is putting your phone away two hours before bed. Getting lost checking the never-ending work emails or the social media feed can shave off hours of precious time that might be spent sleeping. Cutting pre-bedtime device usage out could help there’s more shut-eye.

2. Log out. In addition to getting more sleep, logging near social networking, and get a short or extended period could be a great form of self-care. Social networking has become one of the primary means for online marketers to get their information. News updates will come in people instantaneously along with many, continually hearing stories of not so great, death, destruction, crime might generate an adverse effect on us. Regarding the DEI practitioner that wants to remain modern for all things DEI, this could easily present a challenge. Logging off of social websites for a couple of hours of a given day or refraining from checking news updates on a designated day of the week can assist you in preserving your health status and never get bogged down by not so high. Limiting social media usage for small periods may help DEI practitioners reignite their focus and practice self-preservation.

Today In: Leadership

3. Stay active. How beneficial physical activity can forget a person’s wellbeing, health, and productivity. Staying active is often an excellent way to assist you to sleep deeper. Exercise is one of the “keystone habits,” which can transform one’s life. “When people start habitually exercising, when infrequently as for the weekly session, they change other, unrelated patterns in their lives, often unknowingly,” Charles Duhigg wrote in his best-selling book The ability of Habit. “Typically, individuals that exercise eating healthier and becoming more productive in the workplace.” Hitting the gym isn’t the best way the fact that a person can stay active. Going for walks around your office, parking away from your destination, using a sit-stand desk, and disassembling the stairs more frequently are several methods that you can be more active within your lifestyle.

4. Drink plenty of water. About 60% of our bodies are water — the absence of adequate hydration, which could lead to a range of different health complications. Staying hydrated critical, necessary, and sometimes overlooked the component of keeping oneself healthy. For DEI practitioners who regularly do public speaking, give talks and keynotes, staying hydrated is crucial. Gina Barnett, who is a TED speaker coach and author, shared that and of the best guidelines for a public speaker before continuing on stage is to drink water before stage time. Indeed, staying hydrated helps you when giving public talks, but staying hydrated could prohibit you from getting sick and help the body function more productively, studies suggest. Self-care means maintaining the body and providing it having the proper fuel to optimize performance.

5. Use a hobby. You must have an outlet that can help you bring your mind from the stressors considering the job. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon knows about this firsthand. Other than running one of the largest investment banking companies on the planet, Solomon also works as a part-time DJ. Getting a hobby can assist reduce stress and anxiety. Channeling your calorie into an activity that gives you joy and is a distraction from your occupation can easily be a successful strategy to practice self-care. A hobby may show stuff like watching Netflix movies, knitting, running marathons, or beginning a side dish hustle. Regardless of what that brings you joy—do even more of it.

6. Find a therapist. For being a DEI practitioner, it’s an effort to listen to stories of trauma and pain without internalizing some of those feelings. Seeking a licensed professional who focuses primarily on showing people how to deal with and kind through their stress, emotions, and beliefs may help you reserve precious your emotional health, to turn out to be the best DEI practitioner for your chosen customers and clients. Psychology Today, Therapy for Black Girls, and Talkspace are perfect helpful information on finding a local therapist that suits your desires.

7. Create community. Finding or building a local people of other DEI professionals who you could connect to can be a superb self-care. Knowing how to seek advice from other practitioners within your industry who will experience the same challenges when you and who share your experiences might be gratifying. Search websites like Meetup and Eventbrite to seek groups and networking events where one can assemble with other DEI professionals for support, refuge, and community-building.

The project associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practitioners can easily be understandably taxing. Giving talks, speeches, training, and workshops on charged topics like racism, sexism, discrimination, bias, together with other societal inequities, can take a toll coming from an individual. With the rise of racism and political divisiveness at an all-time high, the need for DEI practices that bring people together is imperative. But what’s also crucial to assess is how DEI practitioners manage the daily stressors that accompany the job. Stress will have several deleterious effects throughout the person, including lowered productivity and chronic illness. A DEI practitioner who might be overwhelmed stressed, and unsupported by organizational leadership won’t have the capacity to do their job effectively, which is not beneficial for either party. Most diversity training fails, so DEI professionals are under increased pressure to construct programs and systems which get successful and justify spending company time and resources on. As this decade involves a detailed, the time has come when most people are stepping away from work and reflecting on how to be a bit more productive among the new decade. And what are some ways that DEI practitioners can destress and practice the self-care that a significant number of these gems so desperately need?

Author Resource Box:

7 Ways Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Can Practice …. https://selfsuccesstips.com/2019/12/17/7-ways-diversity-and-inclusion-professionals-can-practice-self-care-forbes/

A Technique to Help You Fall Asleep Faster – Lexi ⋆ health …. https://health.10ztalk.com/2019/07/09/a-technique-to-help-you-fall-asleep-faster-lexi/