Posts Tagged ‘Health’

Health visitors and postnatal depression

With governments all over the world looking to make cuts in expenditure health visitors can often be seen as an easy option for cuts. However, research from the universities of Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield have found that they can play a role in preventing post-natal depression. The researchers studied more than 2,000 women; 767 received normal care from a health visitor while the rest received support from health visitors trained in assessing mental-health problems and giving psychological support. Six months after childbirth the women who had been seen by the health visitors with additional mental-health training were 30% less likely to develop depression.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Yoga and mental health

A study by researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine has added more evidence to support the psychological benefits of yoga. Participants in their study were divided into two groups. One group practiced yoga three times a week for an hour while another group walked for the same length of time. The participants were asked about their mood and levels of anxiety throughout the study and the researchers measured the levels of a substance called GABA in their brains, low levels of which are associated with depression and anxiety. Those who practiced yoga reported a more significant decrease in anxiety and greater improvements in mood than those who walked and over time positive changes in the participants’ mental states – whether they walked or did yoga – were associated with increased levels of GABA.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Children and parents’ mental health – not just a one-way process

Most psychological research concentrates on parents’ effects on their children but of course things can work the other way around too. New research from Purdue University in Indiana has backed up the old adage that parents never stop worrying about their children and also suggests that this worry may have a significant effect on parents’ mental health. The researchers asked 633 middle-aged parents in the Philadelphia area to rate each of their grown-up children’s achievements in the areas of relationships, family life, education and their careers compared to other adults of the same age. Most of the parents had more than one child so there were a total of 1,251 adult children involved in the study. 68% of the parents had at least one grown child suffering from at least one physical, emotional or behavioural problem over the last two years. 49% of the parents said they had at least one highly-successful child while 60% said they had a mixture of successful and less-successful children. 17% had children who had had no problems over the last two years but 15% said that they had no children they rated as above average. Parents who had more than one highly-successful child reported better well-being but having a ‘problematic’ child had a negative impact on parents’ mental health even if all their other children were successful. However, having ‘only’ one successful child was not associated with better wellbeing.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Brothers and sisters boost mental health

Children between the ages of 10 and 14 could be protected from depression if they have a sister. Researchers from Brigham Young University in Utah studied 395 families with more than one child, at least one of whom was an adolescent between the ages of 10 and 14. The researchers gathered a range of information about the families and followed them up again one year later. Having a sister was found to protect the adolescents from feeling lonely, unloved, guilty, self-conscious and fearful regardless of whether the sister was younger or older or how far apart they were in age. Having a loving brother or sister promoted good deeds such as helping a neighbour or looking after other children at school and in fact the relationship between sibling affection and good deeds was twice as strong as that between parenting and good deeds.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Type 2 diabetes hits teenagers’ brainpower as well as their health

Type-2 diabetes – caused by being too fat and not taking enough exercise – usually occurs in middle age but more and more teenagers are also being diagnosed with the condition. Researchers from the New York University Langone Medical Center studied 36 obese adolescents comparing those with and without type-2 diabetes. The teenagers with type-2 diabetes had significant reductions in performance on tests measuring overall intellectual functioning, memory and spelling, and, when their brains were scanned with MRIs had ‘clear abnormalities in the integrity of the white matter in their brains.’

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Sleep, brainpower and health

A lack of sleep can seriously affect people’s performance but just one good night’s sleep can more or less restore you to normal. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania studied 159 healthy adults who had an average age of 30. The participants were divided into groups and were allowed different amounts of sleep. Every two hours, while they were awake, they completed a 30-minute computerized test. Those whose sleep had been restricted were found to have a shorter attention span, be less alert and have slower reactions. However, people’s performance went back to normal after just one full night’s worth of sleep. Another study of more than 30,000 adults in the same journal – Sleep – found that the optimum amount of sleep for good health is seven hours a night. People who had less than five hours a night had double the risk of cardiovascular disease while those getting more than nine hours also had a higher risk.

You can find out more about this study by clicking on the link in the title of this post.

Don’t Wait Until You Get Sick To Start Your Health Goals

There are so many things that you can do to get healthy today. Don’t wait until you get sick to make a health plan. Sometimes we don’t have to get sick to see what will happen to us if we do not start making healthy life changes in our life now. It is even harder when you get sick, because you must make those health changes immediately, the chances of you recovering and feeling good will be hard. Don’t keep making excuses not to get healthy. You shouldn’t wait until you have a major health ailment to start getting healthy today. The more  you put it off the closer you will become to getting health ailments that no one wants.

Whether you want to lose weight, eat healthier, or stop a bad habit. Don’t let excuses get in the way of you achieving your goals. Don’t let another year pass without you achieving these goals. We don’t have to get sick ourselves to know how hard it will be if you do not make these changes. Many of us have friends and family members that are struggling with health problems. So, we know what can happen to us if we keep delaying making these health changes.

Also, don’t get offended if someone invites you to a healthier lifestyle. It doesn’t mean that they are saying that you are fat. No one has to tell you if you need to lose some weight. Deep down you know the answer to this question. You should be grateful that they took the time even to say something to you. Because true friends tell you what you like to hear but also what you don’t like to hear. It’s called keeping it real.

It’s a lot easier to make health changes when you are healthy instead of waiting until you get sick. Dont’ wait until you get sick to make these health changes. Let’s start making them today. So, after you have read this blog post. If you haven’t already started making those health changes. Make them today.


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Don’t Wait UntilYou Get Sick To Start Your Health Goals

There are so many things that you can do to get healthy today. Don’t wait until you get sick to make a health plan. Sometimes we don’t have to get sick to see what will happen to us if we do not start making healthy life changes in our life now. It is even harder when you get sick, because you must make those health changes immediately, the chances of you recovering and feeling good will be hard. Don’t keep making excuses not to get healthy. You shouldn’t wait until you have a major health ailment to start getting healthy today. The more  you put it off the closer you will become to getting health ailments that no one wants.

Whether you want to lose weight, eat healthier, or stop a bad habit. Don’t let excuses get in the way of you achieving your goals. Don’t let another year past without you achieving these goals. We don’t have to get sick ourselves to know how hard it will be if you do not make these changes. Many of us have friends and family members that are struggling with health problems. So, we know what can happen to us if we keep delaying making these health changes.

Also, don’t get offended if someone invites you to a healthier lifestyle. It doesn’t mean that they are saying that you are fat. No one has to tell you if you need to lose some weight. Deep down you know the answer to this question. You should be grateful that they took the time even to say something to you. Because true friends tell you what you like to hear but also what you don’t like to hear. It’s called keeping it real.

It’s a lot easier to make health changes when you are healthy instead of waiting until you get sick. Dont’ wait until you get sick to make these health changes. Let’s start making them today. So, after you have read this blog post. If you haven’t already started making those health changes. Make them today.


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Smoking and mental health

Second-hand smoking has been associated with a range of physical health problems and new research now suggests that it might be linked to an increased risk of psychological problems too. Researchers from University College London studied 8,155 people in Scotland who took part in the Scottish Health Survey in 1998 or 2003. They filled out a questionnaire about their mental health problems and admissions to psychiatric hospitals were checked over six years of follow-up. Exposure to second-hand smoke was assessed by measuring levels of cotinine – a by-product of the breakdown of nicotine – in saliva. Non-smokers who had a high level of exposure to second-hand smoke had higher odds of mental distress. Smokers and non-smokers with a high level of of exposure to second-hand smoke were both more likely to be hospitalized for depression, schizophrenia, delirium or other psychiatric conditions.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100607165625.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Mental Health Social – new networking site

The mental health social site is a social-networking site for people who have a mental illness, people who work in mental health and all those who are concerned about, or interested in it. You can chat or make comments and follow the debate in the forums. The site has 1,564 members and you can find it at

http://mentalhealthsocial.com


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