Living Well

What Are the Health Benefits of Climbing Stairs?

 

Aerobic workouts that feature stair climbing offer a variety of benefits to your overall health. The vigorous and continuous movement of your legs and hips results in deeper breathing and increases your heartbeat, which enhances blood flow to all areas of your body. Your body releases natural pain relievers, or endorphins, during a stair climb, so you’ll feel better and have less tension. Doctors also recommend stair climbing as an ideal way to improve your energy, increase the function of your immune system and lower your risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and heart disease.
Weight and Increased Challenge
Harvard Medical School reports that stair climbing is an effective way to lose weight and keep it off, since people who walk up stairs, even at a slower pace, burn calories three times faster than when walking at a faster speed on a normal surface. A workout on the stairs also provides maximum challenge for people who already maintain good fitness, including football players and other athletes, since the activity is estimated to be twice as vigorous as lifting weights or walking on a steep incline.

How Much You’ll Need
Fitness experts usually recommend between 30 and 60 minutes of aerobic activity like stair climbing on three to five days every week in order to gain the most health benefits. Start at a slow pace and aim to walk only a few flights until your body feels ready for an increased challenge. Protect your feet during stair workouts by wearing shoes with a firm heel, thick soles and sufficient arch support and aim to spend at least five minutes walking normally at a slow pace to warm your muscles. Consider alternating your stair climbing with aerobic methods like bike riding or swimming in order to prevent muscle overuse and limit joint strain.

Not for Everyone
While stair climbing offers a variety of health benefits, the vigorous activity may be unsafe for people with heart conditions, as well as for those with knee, hip or ankle problems. Discuss stair climbing with your doctor in advance of any activity and lower your risk for injury by using the railing for balance. Use extreme caution when traveling downward, as your knees and ankles are subjected to stress that equals at least six times your normal body weight, according to the New York Times.com.
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Source: healthy living

 

Hand, face transplants regulated like other organs

Sure your liver or kidney could save someone’s life. But would you donate your hands, or your face? Signing up to become an organ donor may get more complicated than just checking a box on your driver’s license.

The government is preparing to regulate the new field of hand and face transplants like it does standard organ transplants, giving more Americans who are disabled or disfigured by injury, illness or combat a chance at this radical kind of reconstruction.

Among the first challenges is deciding how people should consent to donate these very visible body parts that could improve someone’s quality of life — without deterring them from traditional donation of hearts, lungs and other internal organs needed to save lives.

”Joe Blow is not going to know that now an organ is defined as also including a hand or a face,” said Dr. Suzanne McDiarmid, who chairs the committee of the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, that will develop the new policies over the next few months.

Making that clear to potential donors and their families is critical — ”otherwise we could undermine public trust,” said McDiarmid, a transplant specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

”The consent process for the life-saving organs should not, must not, be derailed by a consent process for a different kind of organ, that the public might think of as being very different from donating a kidney or a heart or a liver,” she added.

These so-called ”reconstructive transplants” are experimental, and rare. The best estimates are that 27 hand transplants have been performed in the U.S. since 1999, and about seven partial or full face transplants since 2008, said Dr. Vijay Gorantla, of the University of Pittsburgh reconstructive transplant program.

But they’re gradually increasing as more U.S. hospitals offer the complex surgeries, the Defense Department funds research into the approach for wounded veterans — and as transplant recipients go public to say how the surgeries have improved their lives.

”These hands are blessed hands to me,” said Lindsay Aronson Ess, 30, of Richmond, Va., who received a double hand transplant in 2011. She had lost her hands and feet to a life-threatening infection in 2007.

Until now, deciding who qualifies for a hand or face transplant, and how to find a match and approach a potential donor’s family all have been done on an informal, case-by-case basis.

There has been no way to tell which hospitals’ techniques work best and how patients ultimately fare.

There have been reports of two deaths related to face transplants in other countries, and some transplanted hands have had to be amputated.

Source: Teleram news

17 holiday health tips

Follow this advice to enjoy a little holiday indulgence without sacrificing your health goals.

Indulging Without Overindulging
Relax. You won’t gain 10 pounds. It’s a misconception that you’ll need to go up a pant size in January. The average person gains only about a pound during the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. That’s no excuse to eat with abandon, though. (After all, gaining one pound every year can add up in the long run.)

But a study published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology notes that people who had an attitude of forgiveness and self-compassion after one high-calorie setback were less likely to give up and keep bingeing. So if you lose control with a dish of chocolate truffles, don’t think, I’ve blown it. Might as well move on to the eggnog. Just forgive yourself for the truffles.

Don’t skip meals.
It seems logical: Forgo lunch; leave more room for pigs in blankets later. But arriving starved may result in overeating, and drinking on an empty stomach will give you a quicker buzz, which is more likely to lead to mindless munching. Eat normally during the day, and be strategic at the buffet. Don’t bother with things you don’t absolutely love. Splurge on something special (hint: It’s not those cubes of Cheddar), then stop.

Count your bites.
“A lot of appetizers are about 60 calories a bite,” said Karen Diaz, a registered dietitian in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Just five bites is around 300 calories. “That’s about half of what you might eat for dinner,” said Diaz. Keep a mental tab—or fill a small plate, once—so you don’t go overboard.

Turn down Aunt Jan’s pie.
“It’s better to sit with a little guilt than to overeat just to please loved ones,” Diaz said. If you can’t say no to Jan’s face, try “Maybe later,” then hope she forgets.
Give yourself a break from the gym.
According to a Gallup poll, the percentage of people who exercise regularly is lower in December than at any other time of the year. So don’t beat yourself up—you’re not the only one who’s too busy for Spinning class.

But try to stay active in other ways. Speed-walking with shopping bags counts. So does cleaning, said Mark Macdonald, the author of Body Confidence. Add some toning by tightening your core muscles as you vacuum or reach for scattered toys (imagine trying to get your belly button to touch your spine). And most important: Get back into your regular exercise routine once the holidays end.

Weigh yourself every day.
Or try on a pair of snug-fitting jeans to gauge those subtle ups and…OK, just ups. The point isn’t to get obsessive and berate yourself over every ounce gained; it’s to prevent yourself from completely letting go of good habits.

“Breaking the rhythm of healthy behaviors that you’ve built up is the real danger. You don’t want to have to start from scratch on January 1,” Macdonald said.

Drinking Responsibly
Practice moderation (really). Drinking too much may not just mean a terrible hangover. Around this time of year, doctors report seeing a spike in erratic heartbeats—dubbed “holiday heart syndrome.” It is more common among people who usually aren’t heavy drinkers but drink in excess for a short time.

“Alcohol may be toxic to enough cardiac cells that it disrupts the coordination required to maintain a normal heart rate,” said Kenneth Mukamal, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston.

“Women should have no more than three drinks on any occasion and seven per week,” said Michael Weaver, an associate professor of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, in Richmond. “So a woman can have up to three drinks in a night and go out two nights, but that’s it for the week—or else the chances of problems go way up.”
Keep it on the rocks.
Melting ice dilutes a cocktail and creates more liquid. So order your drink on the rocks to try to avoid a quick buzz—and to sip longer before a refill. Use soda water as a mixer for liquor (a cocktail with liquor and club soda is only about 100 calories), and don’t be ashamed to add ice cubes to bubbly. In France, it’s called a piscine. Très chic.

Put a cork in it early.
Alcohol may help you to conk out quickly; the problem comes when it starts to wear off. The period in which your body is metabolizing the alcohol is when sleep is disrupted. You may wake up frequently in the middle of the night (even if you don’t remember doing so) and miss out on restorative rest. The best strategy is to allow time for the alcohol levels in your body to drop before going to sleep; at the very least, retire your flute several hours before bedtime.

Don’t let late nights make you fat.
“People who sleep less over time tend to be heavier,” said Lawrence Epstein, the chief medical officer of the Sleep Health Centers, in Brighton, Massachusetts. But it doesn’t take long for the cycle to start. “If you pull one all-nighter or miss a few hours each night over a week, your body releases hormones that prompt eating and weight gain,” Epstein said.

Use the weekend to catch up.
Most of us have sleep debt: the difference between the number of hours we need every night (which varies per person) and how many we get. If you feel best after seven hours a night and you get five for three nights in a row during a busy week, you have a sleep debt of six hours (two missing hours for three nights). Erasing that debt requires you to get six extra hours over the course of a few days, but they don’t have to be consecutive, Epstein said.

David F. Dinges, the chief of the division of sleep and chronobiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, conducted a study in which participants were restricted to about four hours of sleep for five consecutive nights, then allowed to sleep for 10 hours or more on the sixth night. The researchers found that after the recovery night, participants regained some of their previous levels of alertness and ability to concentrate.

So while you should focus on eliminating your sleep debt completely, just one good snooze (a few hours more than you normally need) can give you a fresher start.

Watch out for hidden caffeine.
Think hot cocoa is a soothing way to end a winter’s night? Hold on to your marshmallows. Chocolate, even the powdered kind, contains caffeine, as do many over-the-counter pain medicines that you might pop at night to get a head start on a hangover. Excedrin Extra-Strength Caplets, for example, contain 65 milligrams of caffeine; by comparison, the average cup of coffee contains 50 to 100.

Skip the sliders.
Foods that are high in fat or protein require your body to work harder at digestion. When your body is busy breaking down mini hamburgers, your sleep is more likely to be hampered. Watch the clock; an early cocktail party is the perfect time to snack on something more substantial. As the night wears on, taper off. Or, if you’re still hungry, have some complex carbohydrates, like whole-wheat crackers or a handful of crudités.

Don’t assume that this is the most depressing time of the year.
Contrary to popular belief, depression isn’t more common during the holidays. In fact, suicide rates in the United States are actually lowest in December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This may be a result of more social interaction, which has been found to enhance happiness,” said Caroline Adams Miller, the author of Creating Your Best Life. But that doesn’t mean that you’re immune to the holiday blues, especially when you’re missing a family member or stressed-out by the in-laws. Make plans with friends if your family is far away—or, on the flip side, opt out of events if your schedule is overwhelming.

“You don’t have to be a type E personality—everything to everyone,” said Ronald Nathan, a psychologist in Albany.

Consider a supplement.
Is there a magic pill that will cure the blues? Of course not. But some research shows that omega-3 fatty acids may relieve depression; other research has found that vitamin D may improve mood. Add a daily supplement of omega-3 or vitamin D to your diet. Or increase your intake of vitamin D–fortified milk or foods rich in omega-3s, such as fish, flaxseed, and walnuts.

Take Facebook with a grain of salt.
You’ve seen the status updates: “Hope Santa can find us in ARUBA!” or “Mmm, homemade cider, kids making cookies, life is good.” And you know what? Those people have bad days, too. Remember: Most people put their best self forward on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t compare your life with those dreamy-sounding posts.

Make plans for January.
“If you have social events coming up with people you like, you’ll be upbeat about what’s to come,” said Alison Ratner, a clinical social worker in Atlanta. Plan a weekend getaway or an Oscar-nominated–movie marathon. Or, ahem, if you did gain that holiday pound, might we suggest a jogging club?

Source: fox news

Christmas: The deadliest day of the year?

More people die on Christmas than any other day of the year, Medical Daily reported.

In the 1970s, researchers discovered this phenomenon after they began studying death trends throughout the year. A wide array of causes seem to contribute to the trend of Christmas Day deaths including understaffed hospitals and an unwillingness by people to bother their relatives for a ride to the doctor’s office.

Death by cardiac disease, respiratory diseases, endocrine/nutritional/metabolic problems, digestive diseases, and cancer – the five most common causes of death – see an overall increase during this time of year, Medical Daily reported.

One study from the University of California San Diego examined hospital workforces around the holidays and discovered that Level 1 trauma centers often carry less than a full staff, and have less experienced professionals on hand during the Christmas holiday.

“Those are the cases where seconds make a difference, and you may see a real difference between the response of a junior and senior member of staff,” study author David P. Phillips said.

One optimistic note: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said suicide deaths don’t increase the same way deaths from other factors do around the holidays.

Source: Fox news

Tech startups create virtual farmers markets

Sara Pasquinelli doesn’t shop at the grocery store much anymore. The busy mother of two young boys buys nearly all her food from a new online service that delivers to her front door _ but it doesn’t bring just any food.

The emerging tech startup specializes in dropping off items that Pasquinelli probably would only be able to find at her local farmers market.

Minutes after her weekly GoodEggs.com order arrived at her San Francisco home, Pasquinelli unpacked bags and boxes of finger limes, organic whole milk, kiwi fruit, beef short ribs, Dungeness crab and pastured eggs.

“I don’t even remember the last time I went to the store for anything other than bananas and string cheese,” said Pasquinelli, an attorney who started using the service about a year ago.

The San Francisco-based Good Eggs is among a new crop of startups using technology to bolster the market for locally produced foods that backers say are better for consumer health, farmworkers, livestock and the environment. These online marketplaces are beginning to change the way people buy groceries and create new markets for small farmers and food makers.

“It’s a new way of connecting producers with consumers,” said Claire Kremen, a conservation biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “The more alternatives people have access to for buying food outside the industrial agricultural regime, the better it can be.”

The Good Eggs website features attractive photos of offerings such as Hachiya persimmons, chanterelle mushrooms, grass-fed beef steaks, pureed baby food and gluten-free poppy seed baguettes. It also has pictures and descriptions of the farmers and food makers. Prices are similar to what shoppers pay at a farmers market, and customers can pick up their orders at designated locations or have them delivered for $3.99 _ usually two days after they’re placed.

“There’s this wave of entrepreneurship and creativity happening in the food world, and Good Eggs is all about bringing that high-quality production right to your door,” said CEO Rob Spiro, who co-founded the startup after he sold his last company, a social search service called Aardvark, to Google Inc. for $50 million in 2010.

Good Eggs offers more varieties of fruits and vegetables than most supermarkets, but the selection is limited to what can be grown and made locally, so you can’t buy bananas in San Francisco in December.

The service started in the San Francisco Bay Area last year and recently launched in New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans. There are plans to expand into more markets next year.

The founders, Silicon Valley engineers, say they want to grow the market for local food that’s led to the proliferation of farmers markets and community-supported agriculture programs that deliver boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables.

“There are a lot of people out there who want to eat locally, who want to support their local community, who want to support the producers who are doing things right, but it’s just not very convenient,” said Chief Technology Officer Alon Salant, who ran a software consulting firm before starting Good Eggs with Spiro.

The company is entering an increasingly competitive market for online grocery delivery. Major retailers such as Walmart and Safeway deliver groceries and Amazon launched its AmazonFresh service in San Francisco this month. Another San Francisco startup called Instacart allows customers to order groceries from local supermarkets and delivers in as little as an hour.

Good Eggs currently sells food from about 400 local producers that meet the company’s standards for environmental sustainability, workplace conditions and transparent sourcing of ingredients. Produce is usually picked one or two days before it’s delivered.

The startup is helping farmers such as Ryan Casey, who runs a small organic farm that grows more than 50 types of fruits, vegetables and flowers. His Blue House Farm in Pescadero, about 45 miles south of San Francisco, mainly sells its produce at farmers markets and through community agriculture programs, but Good Eggs makes up a growing share of business.

“They’re really good at marketing and finding people and connecting people with the food, which leaves me more time to do the growing,” said Casey, standing in a field of leafy greens.

Good Eggs has attracted enthusiastic foodies like Shelley Mainzer, who does nearly all her grocery shopping on the website and often emails producers with questions and comments.

After her weekly order arrived at her downtown San Francisco office, she pulled out organic cauliflower and Romanesco broccoli she bought from Blue House Farm.

“I can’t eat store-bought food anymore because it just doesn’t taste the same,” said Mainzer, who works as an executive assistant at a small investment bank. “You basically remember what things are supposed to taste like when you eat these fresh vegetables and fruits.”

Source: Journal Times

10 ways to boost your happiness

Life isn’t always perfect and we all get down sometimes. However, there are many things you can do to improve your cheerfulness no matter what comes your way. From instance happiness boosts to techniques for long-term contentment, here are 10 top ways to boost your happiness.

Happiness tip 1: Watch a comedy movie

We’ve all heard that laughter is the best medicine, and if you’re feeling down in the dumps then this is definitely true. Laughter can not only release pent-up emotions, but it also produces endorphins to boost your mood. Furthermore, research has found that laughing burns calories and boosts heart health too. To get your happiness levels up and boost your wellbeing too, pop in a comedy DVD next time you’re feeling down.

Happiness tip 2: Eat yourself happy

While our outlook often changes based on external factors, if your mood is often low it may be that you are suffering from a nutrient deficiency. Research has found that having low levels of omega-3 fatty acids (which are essential for good brain health) increases risk of depression and negativity, while research by Kuopio University in Finland found that taking B vitamin supplements could help treat depression. Try choosing foods rich in these nutrients to eat away the blues.

Happiness tip 3: Get outdoors

Research has shown that low levels of vitamin D can contribute to mood disorders and depression. While vitamin D can be found in some foods or taken as supplement, one of the best sources of the mood-boosting vitamin is sunshine, which helps the body to create vitamin D. To boost your supplies of vitamin D, try to spend 10 to 15 minutes outdoors two to three times a week during the summer months.

Happiness tip 4: Have a workout

For an instant happiness boost when you’re feeling blue, try hitting the gym or heading out for a brisk walk or run. Exercise releases chemicals in the brain such as endorphins and anandamide which can boost your mood and leave you feeling great. Not only that, exercise is also good for boosting confidence levels and increasing self-esteem.

Happiness tip 5: Try aromatherapy

While many of us think of aromatherapy as an aid to relaxation, there are also many oils you can use to boost your happiness and help alleviate depression. Good aromatherapy oils to leave you uplifted include bergamot, geranium, neroli and jasmine. To lift your mood, try adding a few drops of these oils to water and burning on an oil burner, or create or purchase a room spray containing these essential oils.

Happiness tip 6: Take a risk

To get the endorphins going and give your confidence a boost, try challenging yourself on a regular basis. While we don’t advise you to put yourself in any danger, if there is something you have been putting off for a while out of fear, now is the time to bite the bullet and see it through. Whatever your fear – be it asking out that special someone, joining a gym or applying for a job abroad – conquering your fears will leave you feeling great as well as helping you achieve your dreams.

Happiness tip 7: Talk it out

If you are feeling seriously down and have been feeling low for a while, it is important to seek some help to get through this difficult phase. Seek out a friend or counsellor to listen to your problems, or visit your GP if you think you may be suffering from depression. No matter how bad you feel it is important to remember that you are not alone and there is no shame in seeking help. As they say, a problem shared is a problem halved, and even talking through your issues can help them seem less overwhelming.

Happiness tip 8: Schedule in regular treats

To boost your happiness and satisfaction of life, it is important to make the most of those little things that boost your mood. Make a list of the day-to-day things that make you happy – such as having a catch-up with a friend, drinking hot chocolate in bed, or listening to your favourite song –and make sure you schedule one of these treats into every day. Planning regular treats not only gives you something to look forward to, but it can also subtly improve each day.

Happiness tip 9: Do something selfless

It is easy to get bogged down in our own problems, so every once in a while it is good to put our issues to one side and help someone else feel happy instead. Whether you want to take on a long-term volunteering role, make a donation to charity, or improve the happiness of someone you know with a thoughtful note or gift, making an effort to make someone else smile is a great way to get some perspective, take your mind off your problems and increase your sense of purpose and fulfillment.

Happiness tip 10: Set yourself a goal

Whether you aspire to get fit, obtain that dream job or learn how to cook something other than toast, most of us have something we long to achieve during our lifetime. Rather than putting off your dreams until a perfect moment which may never come, take some positive action and make a plan of how you will achieve your goal starting today. Having something to work towards will not only distract you from your problems, it will also reignite your passion for life and increase your excitement for the future.

Source: real buzz

Nightclub fire survivor thriving after hand transplant

It’s no struggle for most people to make a fist or lift a coffee mug. But for Joe Kinan of Lakeville, Mass., getting to that point has taken resilience, strength – and advancements in medical science.

On February 20th, 2003, Kinan was among a crowd of people trapped in a fire that occurred in The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island. The fast-moving blaze claimed 100 lives and left more than 200 people injured.

Severely burned, Kinan has undergone more than 120 surgeries including a hand transplant. The procedure, performed just over a year ago, was the first of its kind for surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“Now there (are) quite a few things that I don’t have to ask for help for, which is very empowering,” Kinan said.

With his fiancée Carrie Pratt at his side, Kinan has completed a full year of physical therapy, doing drills to strengthen his new hand and gaining a new sense of independence.

“Just freedoms of every sort. To be able to come out here in the morning and pour my own cup of coffee without dragging Carrie out of bed for it speaks for itself,” Kinan said .

Kinan and Pratt, a fellow burn survivor, met several years ago at the World Burn Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

“From the get-go he’s been working hard at this,” Pratt said. “Every chance he gets, he’s moving his hand. He’s picking stuff up. He’s squeezing a tennis ball. He wants to make every moment count. He even wiggles his fingers in his sleep.”

Kinan’s new hand was donated by 18-year-old Troy Pappas, a freshman and star athlete at Bates College in Maine, who died last October after an accidental fall. When Pappas got his driver’s license at age 16, he signed up to be an organ donor.

The first successful hand transplant was performed in the late 1990s, but the procedure remains very rare. It’s estimated that fewer than 90 people have undergone a hand transplant worldwide.

Dr. Curtis Cetrulo Jr. led the team that spent fifteen hours attaching Kinan’s new left hand.

“You have to choose your patient right,” said Cetrulo, offering praise for Kinan’s perseverance. “People were coming out of the woodwork all over the hospital who had cared for Joe and knew how tenacious he was and what a fighter he was and how compliant he would have been with the regimen post-operatively in taking his medications and working hard to get a good functional outcome, so his personality was almost a no-brainer.”

While Kinan’s spirit was never in doubt, the long surgery was particularly difficult because he is a burn survivor.

“There was skin graft only down to his fascia on his arm so we had to sort of come up with a creative technical solution to that problem and when we procured the allograft we took extra veins and extra tissues from the donor hand to allow the blood to flow out of that hand and back up his upper arm,” said Cetrulo. “So, while he was a perfect patient from a social perspective, he was a difficult patient technically. But we were able to surmount those obstacles and it turned out for the best.”

Cetrulo credits Kinan’s dedication and tenacity, citing him as an inspiration.

“Really at the end of the day it’s for his life, so he can do some of the things that he couldn’t previously,” said Cetrulo. “He always sends me new videos, popping up in my inbox, washing his car for the first time in 10 years or holding a cup of coffee or holding hands with Carrie, his fiancée, and these are the things that make it worthwhile to me.”

It’s been a long journey – one of fortitude, medical miracles and generous gifts – but soon that hand will hold new life.

Kinan and Pratt are expecting a baby.

Source: Top news today

Watching traumatic events may cause more stress than being there

Watching television coverage of traumatic events, like the Boston Marathon bombing, for prolonged periods of time may be detrimental to your mental health.

UC Irvine researchers found that people who watched six or more hours a day of media coverage of the Boston Marathon the week following the incident were more likely to have higher levels of acute stress than those who had been at or near the event.

“We were very surprised at the degree to which repeated media exposure was so strongly associated with acute stress symptoms,” lead author E. Alison Holman, associate professor of nursing science at UC Irvine, said in a press release. “We suspect that there’s something about repeated exposure to violent images or sounds that keeps traumatic events alive and can prolong the stress response in vulnerable people. There is mounting evidence that live and video images of traumatic events can trigger flashbacks and encourage fear conditioning. If repeatedly viewing traumatic images reactivates fear or threat responses in the brain and promotes rumination, there could be serious health consequences.”

The researchers surveyed 4,675 adults two to four weeks after the Boston Marathon bombings, which left three people dead and more than 260 people injured. They were asked about how much acute stress they had experienced because of the bombings, how close they were to the actual bombings, how much media coverage they watched and if they had experienced any other community-based trauma. Acute stress involved unwelcome thoughts, jumpy feelings, being overly anxious about situations, avoiding situations that resemble the event and feeling detached from the event.
Those who watched six or more hours a day of bombing-related media coverage were nine times more likely to report high acute stress than those with the lowest levels of media exposure, which was about one hour a day.
“When you repeatedly see images of a person with gruesome injuries after an event is over, it’s like the event continues and has its own presence in your life,” Holman said. “Prolonged media exposure can turn what was an acute experience into a chronic form of stress. People may not realize how stressful these media-based exposures are. Looking at these images over and over again is not productive and may be harmful.”
Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University, told AFP that the research is important for media organizations to take note of, and this phenomenon — which is known as “vicarious traumatization” — has previously been seen in other studies.

Experts have also noted that children may be more vulnerable to anxiety attacks right after watching traumatic coverage of events like the Boston Marathon. Such an event may also trigger post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is categorized by prolonged mental health issues at least 30 days after an event.

PTSD sufferers may experience flashbacks, bad dreams and frightening thoughts. They may try to avoid places, events or objects that remind them of the experience, feel numb or guilty, lose of interest in activities, forget details about the about the event, be easily startled, feel tense and have difficulty sleeping.

Another study found that coverage on national disasters like superstorm Sandy can also cause anxiety in young children, and kids who have anxiety may be more likely to develop PSTD just by watching more disaster coverage.

But, Shapiro cautioned people to not jump to the conclusion that just watching traumatic events on the news on online would lead to PTSD.

“It will take further study before we know if people’s rise in acute stress symptoms turns into or feeds long-term psychological injury,” Shapiro told AFP. “It doesn’t become PTSD until the characteristic problems go on for more than six weeks and interfere in some significant way with people’s lives.”

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Dec. 9.

Source:CBS news

It is possible to think yourself well

What if you had the ability to heal your body just by changing how you think and feel? I know it sounds radical, coming from a doctor. When people are doing everything “right”—eating veggies, avoiding red meat and processed foods, exercising, sleeping well and so forth—we should expect them to live long, prosperous lives and die of old age while peacefully slumbering, right? So why is it that so many health nuts are sicker than other people who pig out, guzzle beer and park in front of the TV?

I consider myself one of those health nuts. I drink my green juice, take my vitamins, hike and practice yoga daily, get quality sleep, see a doctor and avoid harmful toxins. And yet I have come to believe that the purely physical realm of illness—the part you can diagnose with laboratory tests—is only part of the equation. It’s a big part, mind you, but not the whole shebang. My experience with patients (as well as my personal background) has led me to the conclusion that whether they become sick or stay healthy, as well as whether they remain ill or manage to heal themselves, might have more to do with everything else that’s going on in their lives than with any specific health standard they abide by.

When healthy habits aren’t enough
Five years ago, I started working in an integrative medicine practice. My new patients were some of the most health-conscious people I’ve ever had the privilege to serve. Many of them ate a vegan diet, worked out, slept soundly each night and took vitamins every morning. But some of them were also mysteriously sick, complaining of fatigue, aches, gastrointestinal disturbances and other symptoms. I was baffled! I ran batteries of tests, and occasionally I would pick up something that eventually resulted in the complete resolution of a patient’s symptoms. But more often than not, I would find nothing.

I was really motivated to solve the puzzle of why these “healthy” patients were so sick. Instead of focusing exclusively on physician-recommended behaviors, medical history and other traditional factors, I dug deep into their personal lives. I asked them questions: “What do you love about yourself? What’s missing from your life? What do you appreciate about your life? Are you in a romantic relationship? If so, are you happy? If not, do you wish you were? Are you fulfilled at work? Do you feel like you’re in touch with your life’s purpose? Do you feel sexually satisfied? Do you express yourself creatively? Do you feel financially stable, or are you stressed about money? If your fairy godmother could change one thing about your life, what would you wish for?”

My patients’ answers often gave me more insight into why they might be sick than any lab test or exam could. They were unhealthy not because of bad genes or poor habits or rotten luck, but because they were lonely or miserable in their relationships, stressed about work, freaked out about their finances or profoundly depressed.

On the flip side, I had other patients who ate junk, forgot to take their supplements, rarely exercised and enjoyed seemingly perfect health. Their responses revealed that their lives were filled with love, fun, meaningful work, creative expression, spiritual connection and other traits that differentiated them from the sick health enthusiasts.

Source: health

Want to live longer? Follow these tips

Physical activity and exercise, which is the key to healthy living, prevents the building up of visceral adipose tissue (the dangerous tummy fat that causes arterial inflammation and hypertension). Research has shown that exercising for just 20 minutes a day can add around two years to your life.

Water: Remember our bodies are 80% of water. So drink plenty of water – the elixir of life. It also helps remove toxins and wastes from your body. Drink at least 2 – 3 litres of water if you want to live longer.

Make good friends: People who have good friends and have strong relationships with their families are believed to be healthier mentally as well as physically than those who cut themselves off from people and are reclusive.

Laugh out: Researchers at the University of Maryland reported that watching 15 minutes of a funny video can improve blood flow to your heart by 50%, which may reduce blood-clot formation, cholesterol deposition and inflammation. Our ancestors were not wrong when they said that laughter is a great medicine. People that tend to laugh 20 minutes a day are less prone to diseases and depressions.

A glass of wine: Research has shown that taking alcohol in moderation is good for your health. It is believed consuming one alcoholic drink per day can add +0.9 years to your life. Moderate intake of alcohol can be beneficial to reducing or even preventing some diseases and health problems.

Source: Wat’s up