The following articles were authored by Dick Hansen

Less exercise, more TV linked to depression

By on 11/18/2011

girl watching televisionWomen who regularly exercise and do not watch too much TV are less prone to suffer from depression according to a recent study of female middle-aged Americans.

Women who reported that they frequently exercise in the recent years are has a 20% lower risk of getting depressed compared to those who do not get their blood pumping. The other side of the coin reveals that those who sit in front of the TV for hours each week are highly likely to battle depression.

The results of the study further add to the literature that physical activity is very important if you want to maintain good mental health.

The research though does not directly prove that too much TV and avoiding a good amount of physical activity can cause depression. It is safe to say though that more time moving around push up one’s self esteem, sense of control, and level of feel good hormones.

The conclusions of the study compile results from surveys filled up by 50,000 subjects which were done from 1992 thru 2000. The subjects recorded the amount of time they spent in front of the TV and also plotted how often they engaged in swimming, biking or walking thru the course of the study.

The questionnaire also asked about any diagnosis pointing to depression and any medications that might have been prescribed. After a decade of the study, there were 6,500 new cases of depression. The depression was found out to be linked to factors like smoking, weight, and a host of diseases.

The experts found out that subjects who engaged in 90 minutes or so of exercise everyday are 20% less likely to get clinical depression compared to those who exercised ten minutes or less. The intensity of the exercise might also be factor as only those who reported brisk walking compared to just regular walking were found out to have a lower risk for depression.

Those who watched three hours or more of TV each day are 13% more at risk to be depressed than those who hardly watch TV.

The study only suggests veering away from the couch potato lifestyle and moving more for a better mental health.

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When You Need to Change Anti-Depressants

By on 08/15/2011

If your anti-depressants aren’t working, there’s no reason for you to stay on them. You should go ahead and tell your doctor that it’s not doing what it should do to help you. Dealing with antidepressants that don’t work is actually common for most Americans.

Anti-Depressants CapsulesAccording to a recent 3-month study which involved 4,000 patients, at least half didn’t get the relief they needed from their medication. Usually, your doctor would talk about a “response” to medication. This means that they expect an improvement or an overall remission when they give you your antidepressants. If the antidepressant doesn’t work, doctors usually adjust your dose. You shouldn’t try to do this on your own though.

Always wait for the doctor’s go signal before taking more antidepressants than you’re supposed to. There are cases when doctors also prescribe another drug for you to take with your current prescription. Switching to another medicine is also an option if the drug is really rendered useless. The last option they have is for you to attend psychotherapy sessions, if you’re not already on one.

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Washing Your Hands to Clear Your Conscience

By on 07/03/2011

Pontius Pilate and Lady Macbeth did it. Why shouldn’t you? According to scientific studies, washing your hands can actually clear a guilty conscience. It works both ways: this act can also help you forgive the moral misstep of other people. The literary figure was so popular with this act that the psychological principle was named after her. Psychologists now call this the Macbeth principle of morality.

washing handsIn this principle, when people wash their hands, they literally “wash away their sins” as well—or at least it helps them believe this. In a more general note, though, individuals who were put in a clean-smelling environment found it easier to act more charitably and fairly towards strangers compared to people who were put in neutral-smelling environments. That disinfectant odor in hospitals might just do more than kill germs.

Now, a new study was published last Friday in a journal named Science which asked whether the act of washing ones hands can actually wipe the past behaviors off the slate. This includes even everyday decisions, like picking a burger over a salad for lunch. Apparently, when people make even the simplest choices, they make a bit fuss over it. They exaggerate the factors behind every decision.

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A small dose of chocolate a day can help lower your risk for stroke or heart attack

By on 05/22/2011

A new study suggests that munching on small chunks of chocolate can lower your chances of having a heart attack or a stroke by as much as 40%.

The German proponents of the study followed about 20,000 subjects over the course of eight years. CHOCOLATE SHAVINGSThe subjects answered questionnaires so the researchers can monitor their activities and diet.

The study found out that those who enjoyed at least 6 grams of chocolate everyday or just about a square of a bar had a lower risk of around 39% for strokes or heart attack.

Previous studies have pointed to the benefits of consuming dark chocolate but this is the first study to involve monitoring of individuals to know its effects for a stretched period of time.

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The Bad Reputation of Alternative Medicine

By on 02/25/2011

No curative process is picture-perfect. The same applies to alternative medicine too. Researchers spend considerable time trying to find out the gripes of natural healing techniques. Moreover, they have indeed succeeded in their venture. A few of their findings will be highlighted in the remaining sections.

a)    Side effects of Alternative Medicine – Natural healing procedures often boast about the absence of marked side effects. In fact, this is the prime reason why good shares of the population flock in such clinics. The doctors who practice alternative and complementary medicine are already aware of these complications. Side effects occur due to a host of reasons. Firstly, these procedures do not undergo any kind of formal testing. Practitioners randomly (and meticulously) execute treatment procedures. They keenly keep track of the results. The patient’s body will accept or reject the treatment method. According to the results obtained, the practitioner will alter his methodologies. This is the norm in alternative medicine. I do realize that the body will have a high affinity to natural procedures. It does not necessarily mean that such proceedings are fool-proof.

b)    The “hold up” factor of Alternative Medicine – Human beings act in weird manners. They opt for alternative and complementary medicine on the advice of someone near and dear. After spending half of their fortunes, they will realize that the treatment procedure is not turning out to be effective. This will induce alternate feelings into their mind. For instance, they would lose their trust on the conventional western medicines too. They will begin to think in the following manner – if alternate medicines cannot cure my ailment, what good could the conventional remedies do to me. This is a dangerous situation, and it would usually lead to unlikely situations. Trust me; this often occurs in this particular paradigm.

c)    The “effectivity” of Alternative Medicine – This is not exactly a third problem. However, it is an extrapolation of the first and second problems mentioned above. The commoners who opt for alternative medicines are left solely at the mercy of the practitioner. If he or she is inexperienced with the treatment procedures, unforeseen complications can arise. People travel across long distances to enjoy the vantages of alternative medicine. They do not understand that superior treatment procedures can be obtained in their home countries. At the end of the day, they are left to sulk with a bitter taste in their mouth.

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Stress Promotes Different Ailments and Disorders: Is the Statement Correct?

By on 10/15/2010

You all might already know about what stress really is and how dangerous it could possibly be but do you know about the associations stress has and what possible dangers it could bring to your body? Probably not so much. Stress hits the body systems in two forms; it could either be acute or chronic like any other disorders that are caused to the body. Acute stress is temporary because it comes and goes by with time, you wouldn’t really have to deal with it or consider any treatment for the purpose of getting rid of it. On the other hand, chronic stress would have long term impact on your overall body and for the purpose of getting rid of chronic stress; you would need to divert your attention towards different treatments and medications. However, in this piece of writing, we would mainly focus on the fact that whether stress really promotes different aliments and disorders or not. According to me, yes, stress really promotes different ailments and disorders. Let me explain you how it promotes different ailments and disorders in the following passages.

Let me explain this with the help of an example. For instance, if you have an exam to take after a few weeks or so, you would be consistently thinking about it, you would be so much worried about it that at a certain state, you mind would be in a state of stress. The thought of you not being prepared or not being as good as others would possibly take over and then you would surely not be able to focus on your studies any more; this is just the beginning of the worst things to come. With the passage of time, you would start thinking that you might miss something important or that you might fail in a subject. As a result of such kind of thinking, your hormones would be released in your bloodstream; most probably adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones wouldn’t just stimulate your nervous system but they would have negative impacts on your heart rate and blood pressure. The consistency of blood flow would change and with the passage of time would become thick. This would promote the chances of developments of blood clots within your body system.

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FDA Finally Gives the Nod on Prostate Cancer Vaccine

By on 05/09/2010

Provenge is the first in the medical field—it claims to cure cancer. As many firsts go, it took a long time for the Food and Drug Administration to finally approve of the vaccine. Its maker Dandreon has been conducting clinical trials since 2002 just to prove its effectiveness. The company has been seeking FDA’s nod since 2005.

In 2007, the FDA told the company that they still didn’t have enough data to prove their claims. FDA wanted statistics on the test subjects’ survival. Finally, on April 10, 2010, Provenge was approved as a treatment for metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer. For those who don’t know, this is the advanced stage of the disease.

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