Showing posts with label Mental Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mental Health. Show all posts
Amazing Health Tips To Stay Healthy While Working Night Shifts
If you have
got employment that needs you are employed the night shift, pay slightly
additional attention to bound things to avoid adversely poignant your health.
Whether you
are employed during a center, hospital or square measure operating with
international partners; operating the night shift may be a method of life for
several Indians these days. Here square measure some easy health tips you will
follow to avoid the pitfalls of operating the night shift.
Sound tips to follow when you are engaged in night shifts:
Modify your body clock – we tend to square measure all
naturally programmed to rise with the sun and
sleep when dark. Thus if you’re new the night shift you may be feeling
bright within the day and lethargic at the hours of darkness. Tenaciously keep
to a similar time of arousal and progressing to bed on a daily basis so your
body gets the message and can slowly however certainly shift your inner clock
to match the new timings.
Diet Plan – the majority operating the night shift have a
minimum of one or 2 meals at work. The danger here is of overstuffing yourself
since food is quickly accessible. If you’re operating the night shift, try to
end dinner by 9pm just about, before you start to your shift. Between twelve
time of day and six am, it’s best to eat light-weight meals that square measure
high in fiber and super molecule and low in sugar and fat.
Encourage yourself get a respectable
day's rest – once
you revisit home when an evening shift, you 'll be thus tired that you simply}
just crawl into bed. However take a couple of minutes to make sure that you
just get some undisturbed winks. Draw the curtains to prevent the daylight the
maximum amount as potential and switch off your phone. Make sure your pillows
support your neck and also the pad isn't lumpy. A droning sound like from an
overhead fan or air-conditioner acts as a noise buffer and creates dissonance that
aids sleep.
Sleeping / Resting tips – Attempt to get an enormous chunk of
sleep
in one go (at least 3-4 hours). If you hack up your sleep
in several smaller items, deep sleep can elude you and you may not be as
refreshed as if you had slept at a stretch.
Watch the snacking habit – the majority operating the night
shift has sitting jobs; nine fold out of 10 before of the personal computer. Keeping your
facial muscles active by means that of snacking and change of state could
appear like fun however you are inadvertently overwhelming plenty of calories
within the method. Thus if you want to munch, avoid chocolates, chips and
deep-fried stuff, instead carry on a fruit or dry cereal that have a far lower
calorie count.
National policy on mental health launched
The union health ministry Friday launched the country's first ever mental health policy to provide access to good quality treatment to mentally ill people with the focus on those living in poverty.
The policy, launched by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, is backed up by the "Mental Health Action Plan 365" which spells out the specific roles to be played by the Centre, the state governments, local bodies and civil society organisations.
The government also came out with two booklets providing training modules for general physicians or the common man.
"Universal access to mental health care is a specific goal of the government. It would find substantial articulation in the evolving National Health Policy and National Health Assurance Mission (NHAM)," Harsh Vardhan told the media after the launch.
The minister also said that Oct 10, which is observed as the world mental health day, would now also be observed as the national mental health day.
Apart from this, "mental health institutes across the country would be remodelled on the lines of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore", Harsh Vardhan said.
The new mental health policy's objective is to provide universal access to mental health care by enhancing understanding of mental health and strengthening leadership in the mental health sector at all levels.
Among the major stakeholders identified for actualizing the objectives of the policy are the union government, local bodies like municipalities, schools and colleges and the private corporate sector.
"It will have a pro-poor orientation because only the creamy layer of society presently has access to mental healthcare in India," Harsh Vardhan said.
The minister added that the government would try and introduce the mental health bill in parliament in the next session.
"This time a policy group worked dedicatedly to develop its recommendations. I thank them for recognizing that the vast majority of the mentally ill people in India live in villages and there is literally no care available for them," he said.
"The World Health Organization has predicted that about 20 percent of India's population would suffer from some form of mental illness by 2020. The country has only about 3,500 psychiatrists. Therefore, the government is confronted with the problem of lowering this gap significantly over the next decade," he added.
Bad sleep quality, not duration, triggers insomnia
Sleep problems like insomnia being reported among the elderly are more likely because of bad sleep quality and not their duration.
"Older adults may complain of waking up too early and not feeling rested despite accumulating substantial hours of sleep," said Linda Waite, the Lucy Flower professor in urban sociology at the University of Chicago in the US.
The study found discrepancies between self-reported insomnia and outcomes recorded on a sleep-monitoring device.
The actigraph measurements showed that most of the older adults got sufficient amounts of sleep.
The actigraph provided data that showed the average duration of sleep period among the study participants was 7.9 hours and the average total sleep time was 7.25 hours
"This indicates that the majority of older adults are getting the recommended amount of sleep and usually not having common sleep problems," Waite added.
Respondents who reported waking up more frequently during the night had more total sleep time.
"This suggests that a question about feeling rested may tap into other aspects of older adults' everyday health or psychological experience," Waite noted.
Older adults' perception of sleep does not always match what is actually happening when a more objective assessment is used to monitor sleep patterns and behaviours, the study, published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, pointed out.
It used data from 727 participants in the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project who were randomly invited to participate in an "Activity and Sleep Study".
"Our findings suggest that reports of what seem like specific sleep problems may be due to other issues in their lives affecting their overall well-being," Waite concluded.
Physical exercises can fight stress-induced depression
A new study has demonstrated that doing physical exercises on a regular basis helps protecting the brain from stress-induced depression.
The study conducted at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden showed that exercise training induced changes in skeletal muscle that could purge the blood of a substance that accumulated during stress, and was harmful to the brain.
Mia Lindskog, researcher at the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, said that in neurobiological terms, they actually still did not know what depression was and their study represented another piece in the puzzle, since they provided an explanation for the protective biochemical changes induced by physical exercise that prevented the brain from being damaged during stress.
The study showed that protein PGC-1a1 (pronounced PGC-1alpha1) increases in skeletal muscle with exercise, and mediates the beneficial muscle conditioning in connection with physical activity. In this study researchers used a genetically modified mouse with high levels of PGC-1a1 in skeletal muscle that shows many characteristics of well-trained muscles.
The researchers discovered that mice with higher levels of PGC-1a1 in muscle also had higher levels of enzymes called KAT. KATs convert a substance formed during stress (kynurenine) into kynurenic acid, a substance that is not able to pass from the blood to the brain.
Jorge Ruas, principal investigator at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, said that their initial research hypothesis was that trained muscle would produce a substance with beneficial effects on the brain and they actually found the opposite i.e. well-trained muscle produced an enzyme that purges the body of harmful substances.
The study is published in the prestigious journal Cell.
Training Your Brain Could Make You Prefer Healthy Food
Which is more appealing: cheese pizza or salad? For many, the lure of lettuce hardly matches that of greasy comfort food, but new brain research from Tufts University published in the journal Nutrition & Diabetessuggests that reconditioning can train adults to prefer healthy food and shun the junk.
“We don’t start out in life loving French fries and hating, for example, whole wheat pasta,” said study co-author and Tufts University professor Susan B. Roberts in a press release. “This conditioning happens over time in response to eating – repeatedly! – what is out there in the toxic food environment.”
The researchers studied the brain scans of 13 people, then assigned eight of them to a new behavioral intervention geared toward weight loss. The program taught lessons on portion control and distributed menu plans geared around specific dietary targets, encouraging people to get 25% of their energy from protein and fat and 50% from low-glycemic carbohydrates, with more than 40 g of fiber per day. After six months either on or off the program, a second round of scans showed the part of the brain associated with addiction and learning had changed in people who participated in the program and stayed the same in the control group. That brain region appeared more active and sensitive to healthier foods and less sensitive to caloric foods among people in the weight-loss group.
Though the study acknowledges the need for further research, the findings suggest that it may be possible to recondition our cravings from cheese puffs to carrots. “Our study shows those who participated in it had an increased desire for healthier foods along with a decreased preference for unhealthy foods,” co-author Sai Krupa Das, an assistant professor at Tufts, said in the release, “the combined effects of which are probably critical for sustainable weight control.”
Do You Talk In Your Sleep?
Sleep talking (also know as "somniloquy") is a sleep disorder that involves unconscious talking when you're asleep. The presentation can vary greatly between people, with some spontaneously talking while others notice it happens when someone talks to them in their sleep. Sleep talking can range from gibberish, nonsensical mumbles and rants, to complicated and totally coherent statements.
Sleep talking can happen to anyone, though it does appear to be somewhat inherited and affect males and children more often than women. The most common triggers are sleep deprivation, alcohol and drug use, fever, increased stress, anxiety and depression. It is also seen as a symptom in the context of other sleep disorders: night terrors, confusional arousals (waking up in a confused state), sleepwalking, sleep apnea and REM behavior disorder.
Sleep talking can happen at any time during the night and during any stage of sleep. In the earlier part of the night, people tend to be more in the deeper stages of sleep (stage 3/4), and their brain is essentially turned off and repairing from the day's events. During this stage, sleep talking tends to sound more like mumbling or gibberish. Sleep becomes lighter as the night progresses, with our brain becoming very active, processing emotions and memories (REM sleep and sleep stages 1 and 2). During these sleep stages, sleep talking tends to be more understandable to a bed partner and can become a narrative.
Though it isn't physically harmful, sleep talking can be extremely embarrassing for people. It can also be a major annoyance to anyone nearby who is trying to sleep, even leading to insomnia in those who share the room. Patients who sleep talk may avoid sleeping around others for concern that it might disrupt someone else's sleep, and sleep talkers often worry about saying something while asleep that might be embarrassing or problematic.
Many people try to decode their sleep talking experiences, but the reality is that the content can either be completely random or vaguely linked to past or present experiences. As a result, trying to decode it may be impossible. Interesting fact: Since sleep talking happens outside of conscious awareness, it isn't even admissible in a court of law.
For most people, sleep talking is typically short-lived and doesn't require any treatment. If it is happening multiple times per week, disrupts a bed partner's sleep, or if you have fears of sleeping around others, talk with a sleep specialist to rule out any other underlying medical or psychiatric disorder that might cause or worsen the problem. If sleep talking starts after the age of 25, it can typically be seen along with other medical or psychiatric issues. In severe cases, sleep talking may be associated with nocturnal seizures.
Proper sleep hygiene (e.g. keeping a regular bed and wake time, avoiding alcohol and tobacco at night, avoiding caffeine from the afternoon onwards), obtaining a full night's sleep each and every night, and minimizing stress and anxiety are all helpful and can reduce sleep talking events. Although it usually doesn't require treatment beyond proper sleep hygiene, more severe cases of sleep talking can be helped by medications and/or psychotherapy.
Bed partners often report that silicone earplugs, a fan or a white noise machine can help reduce noise from the sleep talker. If the sleep talking is especially loud or frequent and disrupts a bed partner's sleep, it might be best to sleep in separate rooms until the sleep talking is under control. Sound sleep at night will lead to less friction between couples and boost everyone's mood.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Symptoms
The essential feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) is a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development exhibited by deficits in performance at school, home, and in social relationships. ADHD begins in childhood. The symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity need to manifest themselves in a manner and degree which is inconsistent with the child’s current developmental level. That is, the child’s behavior is significantly more inattentive or hyperactive than that of his or her peers of a similar age.
Several symptoms must be present before age 12. This age requirement supports ADHD/ADD as a neurodevelopmental disorder. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), symptoms were required before age 7. Now the age of 12 is seen as an acceptable criterion because it is often difficult for adults (e.g., parents) to look retrospectively and establish a precise age of onset for a child. Indeed, adult recall of childhood symptoms tends to be unreliable. Thus, the DSM-5 has added some leeway to the age cut-off.
A person can present with predominantly inattention, predominantly hyperactivity-impulsivity, or a combination of the two. To meet for each of these ADHD specifiers, a person must exhibit at least 6 symptoms from the appropriate categories below.
Symptoms of Inattention:
- Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities
- Often has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities
- Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
- Often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behavior or failure to understand instructions)
- Often has difficulty organizing tasks and activities
- Often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort (such as schoolwork or homework)
- Often loses things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g., toys, school assignments, pencils, books, or tools)
- Is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli
- Is often forgetful in daily activities–even those the person performs regularly (e.g., a routine appointment)
Symptoms of Hyperactivity/Impulsivity:
Hyperactivity
- Often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
- Often leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected
- Often runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate (in adolescents or adults, may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness)
- Often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly
- Is often “on the go” or often acts as if “driven by a motor”
- Often talks excessively
Impulsivity
- Often blurts out answers before questions have been completed
- Often has difficulty awaiting turn
- Often interrupts or intrudes on others (e.g., butts into conversations or games)
Symptoms must have persisted for at least 6 months. Some of these symptoms need to have been present as a child, at 12 years old or younger. The symptoms also must exist in at least two separate settings (for example, at school and at home). The symptoms should be creating significant impairment in social, academic or occupational functioning or relationships.
Pornography headaches
Every time a young man watched pornography over two years, he experienced a headache so severe he had to stop watching, according to a report of his case.
The headache would develop gradually, beginning within the first five minutes of the video, and would reach its most severe point within eight to 10 minutes, according to the neurologists who treated the man, a 24-year-old bachelor in India.
There are two types of "primary headache associated with sexual activity," as the condition is properly called, and it sounds as if this man had the less common type, which progresses slowly along with heightening sexual arousal, Dr. Amy Gelfand, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, said after hearing about the case.
"The more common type is a sudden and severe headache that occurs at orgasm," Gelfand said. The seeming commonness of that headache may simply be due to the fact that people are more likely to bring them to medical attention, frightened by their timing, she added.
Regardless of the type, primary sex headaches are a mystery, Gelfand said — no one really knows what causes them. Some have speculated that muscle contractions in the neck and jaw during sex may somehow trigger the headaches, while others have suggested they occur because blood vessels in the head are abnormally reactive to sexual activity.
The researchers who treated the man in India suggested his case was caused by changes in the pain-sensing nerves in the face and jaw, along with increased pain sensitivity due to "a heightened emotional state associated with viewing pornography."
Primary sex headaches strike 1 percent of the population at some point in life, and are more common in men, Gelfand said. About half of people who have them also have migraines, but it's not known whether having migraines raises the likelihood of having sex headaches, or vice versa – or whether other untold factors are behind both.
The patient in India — an otherwise healthy man who worked as a software professional — had no history of migraines or tension headaches in general, and he reported no previous headaches linked with sexual activity, including masturbation. He'd had no head injuries or meningitis infections, the researchers said.
Previous studies have not suggested any link between the headaches and specific sexual behaviors, the researchers said.
The results of the man's physical and neurological exams were reportedly normal. Gelfand said that is often with the case in people with primary sex headaches. (In fact, if an exam revealed a physical cause of the headaches, then by definition, the person would be instead diagnosed with a "secondary sex headache," she said.)
The man was advised to take a combination of ibuprofen and acetaminophen half an hour before watching porn, and he reported the drugs significantly relieved his pain.
In most people, the headaches occur over a period of a few months, rather than years, Gelfand said. Patients are often treated with a drug called indomethacin, which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug available by prescription in the U.S., and is also used to treat other types of headaches.
How to Be Confident and Reduce Stress in 2 Minutes Per Day
There is a simple strategy that you can use to reduce anxiety, improve your ability to deal with stress, and boost your confidence.
The best part? It works immediately and only takes two minutes to do.
Here’s the deal…
Your Hormones and Your Confidence
Recent research coming out of Harvard University, The University of Oregon, The University of Texas and many other places is revealing that powerful and effective leaders not only share similar mindsets, but also similar hormone levels. More specifically, powerful leaders tend to have higher levels of testosterone and lower levels of cortisol.
Higher levels of testosterone (in both men and women) lead to increased feelings of confidence. Meanwhile, lower levels of cortisol lead to decreased anxiety and an improved ability to deal with stress.
Here’s what that means: if you enjoy these hormone levels, then you are biologically primed to be more assertive, confident, and relaxed. At the same time, you will be less reactive to stress and more likely to handle pressure situations well. In other words, the correct hormone levels can make you feel more confident and less stressed.
Sounds good, right?
What is particularly important about testosterone and coritsol is that your levels of each hormone can change rapidly depending on the social, physical, and environmental cues that surround you.
What does this have to do with feeling more confident?
Well, it turns out that one of the physical cues that impacts these two hormones is body language. And if you understand how to improve your body language, then you can increase your testosterone, decrease your cortisol, and “magically” feel more confident and risk tolerant.
Let’s talk about the link between body language and confidence…
Body Language: The “Power Poses”
Amy Cuddy is a researcher at Harvard University who studies body language and the impact it has on your hormones.
Cuddy and her team have classified different body positions as “high power” or “low power” poses. In general, the high power poses are open and relaxed while the low power poses are closed and guarded.
Below is an image showing the different types of power poses.
Cuddy and her research team studied the impact of high power and low power poses by conducting a research study on 42 students. (Original article available here.)
Here’s how the study went down…
- First, a saliva sample was taken from each subject and their testosterone and cortisol levels were measured.
- Second, the subject was asked to sit in either a high power pose or a low power pose for two minutes.
- Third, a second sample of saliva was taken from each subject and their testosterone and cortisol levels were measured again.
When the researchers looked at the results, they were stunned by the impact that body language had on the hormones within the body. High power poses increased testosterone by 20 percent and decreased cortisol levels by 25 percent.
Here’s a graph showing the results…
This brings us to the most important question…
How can you make this actionable in your life?
Stand Like This for 2 Minutes Per Day
The most well–known and versatile high power pose is nicknamed “The Wonder Woman” pose. You simple stand tall with your chest out and your hands on your hips. The images above show powerful women like Christine Lagarde and Beyonce in classic “Wonder Woman” pose.
Just to be clear: despite the nickname and the photos, the impact of these poses is just as relevant to men as it is to women.
Making This Work in Real Life
If you’re aware of it, body language is easy to adjust throughout your day.
But if you’re anything like me, you’ll get busy with other tasks and completely forget to check your body language. Because of this, I’ve found it most useful to insert a high power pose into my morning routine for 2 or 3 minutes and then move on with the rest of my life.
Here’s a pattern that I have been playing with recently…
Each morning, I’ll wake up and stand in a high power pose for two minutes. While I’m doing that, I’ll close my eyes, breathe in deeply for a count of 3, hold for 1, and then breathe out fully for a count of 5. In this way, I combine breathing exercises, meditation, and power poses for a relaxing and confidence–boosting start to the day.
Plus, it only takes 120 seconds. It’s kind of hard to say you don’t have time for it.
For more ideas on how to improve your morning routine, read this: 8 Ways to Improve Your Morning Routine
What You Should Do Now
It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.
—Millard Fuller, Founder of Habitat for Humanity
Just to be clear: I don’t believe that body language is the end–all, be–all of becoming more confident.
That said, it is pretty clear that confidence is a two–way street that involves both your mind and body. Sure, your personality and your emotional state will impact your confidence levels, but it’s obvious that assuming better body language, taking up space, and expanding your physical presence can play an important role as well.
Most importantly, you now have another tool in your toolbox to use whenever you need it.
If you’re feeling stressed a few minutes before your next presentation, interview, or meeting — take a moment to adjust your posture and stand in a powerful position. Put your hands on your hips, keep your chin up, and your chest out. Doing this for just two minutes will raise your testosterone and increase your confidence, while also decreasing your cortisol and improving your ability to handle stress.
Your behaviors and emotions are firmly tied. The most powerful leaders don’t merely think a certain way, they carry themselves a certain way. You should do the same.
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