8 Ways To Beat The Holiday Blues!

It's hard to tell when all the joyous merriment of the season tips over into a seemingly undue case of the blues. But the fact is, holiday blues are nearly inevitable. "Remember, holidays are often stressful. Holidays require more of us--more socializing, more shopping, and more running around," says Richard Shadick, PhD, Director of the Counseling Center and Associate Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Pace University.  "All of this can be taxing, so adjust your expectations and you won't be as disappointed if the holidays don't feel like great fun."

The best possible strategy for a happy holiday might surprise you: Experts say it's best to put yourself first. "My basic challenge for people during the holidays seems like the opposite of what we're supposed to do: focus on yourself," says Joshua Klapow, PhD, clinical psychologist and Associate Professor at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. "Even though you will do things for other people, you need to ask yourself if you really want to do it. That works for everything from buying gifts, eating foods, to traveling to seven parties. If you keep asking yourself that, it will help you strike balance." Here, eight ways to keep yourself on track-and out of the path of the blues-for the entire holiday season.

1.  Make a list and check it twice.

Don't channel your inner Santa. Instead, write down a list of everything you think you should do. "Don't leave anything off the list, all the shopping you want to do, cards you want to send, parties you're invited to," says Kaplow. "Now, read that list out loud. Ask yourself, 'Would any reasonable person think that this is an achievable list?' If the answer is 'no,' start crossing things out. If you answer 'yes, I can do all this,' do yourself a favor and cross out a few items anyway." It's way too easy to take on too much during the holidays, so consider this your preventive measure against it.

2. Drink less.

More parties means more celebratory toasts and offers of spiked cider and eggnog. But festive drinking can backfire.  "Liquor is a depressant that can deepen existing emotional problems," says Jay Zimmerman, PhD, a psychologist with the Counseling Center at Ball State University. Finding other ways to be festive will go a long way toward keeping your mood boosted.

3.  Don't go for broke.

"Financial pressures are common during the holidays, particularly given the state of the economy in the past few years," says Shadick. "Don't assume that you are required to give lavishly if you cannot afford to. Complete a budget and stick to it." Find thoughtful ways to reach out to people-whether it's offering to pick up items for a neighbor when you're hitting the grocery for the sixth time in a week, or just texting a friend who's entertaining a houseful to see how she's doing.

4.  Visualize the warm fuzzies.

"It's common for people to picture the party they're attending and worry about conflict with certain family members," says Stan Tatkin, PsyD, MFT, author of Wired For Love (New Harbinger, 2011). "So, the night before, it's helpful to mentally conjure up all the people you care about and wish them well. And rather than imagining what the event will be like, imagine the end result-everyone saying how nice it was to be together. It will help you approach the party with that outcome in mind."

5.  Get ready for your close-up.

"If you are feeling anxious about seeing a certain person, go over to them first and wish them a happy holiday. And, as you connect with them, focus on studying the lines on their face, their eyes, their nose, the way their cheeks are shaped," says Tatkin. "It's a great trick because our brains love faces, and focusing closely on someone's facial features in motion can trick the 'mind' giving it something interesting on which to [concentrate] on other than the self." Not only will you be in a better mood because of it, but the person you approached will also enjoy the attention.

 6.  Give yourself a breather!
Whether it's a short walk, a bathroom break or even a fake "phone call" that you need to step out to make, plan in advance ways to give yourself some breaks when you know you're going to be with family or friends that may test your nerves, says Tatkin. He suggests dealing with the difficult people quickly and proactively and then moving right along toward the people you enjoy the most at the party. "The main thing about the holidays is to remain connected to people with whom you love…and leave no family event or gathering without making at least one emotionally satisfying connection with another person."

7.  Stick to your healthy eating guns.

If you eat a bunch of junk and don't get sleep because your schedule is jam-packed, your body wears down physically; it does not have the energy and the strength to cope, says Klapow. "People get sick or they have blowout fights all as a result of pushing their dietary and sleep habits to the limit. If you are looking to be joyous, pay attention to you enough that so you don't lose yourself physically in this holiday."  Eat as closely as you can to your normal, healthy diet, with a few switch-ups for favorite treats, and you'll have more stamina for enjoying celebrations.

8.  Feel the burn-a little less, perhaps.

Putting extra pressure on yourself to hit the gym with your usual five-days-a-week frequency may not be the best idea, says Klapow. Count on getting there, say, two days a week during the time period when your schedule will be erratic. And set a date that you'll return to your previous routine. However, it's helpful to find ways to include exercise in your daily routine. "A walk in the sunlight will add energy," says Zimmerman. "And it will help you battle seasonal affective disorder."

Source: health.msn.com

Nervous System and Weight Loss Link

People with higher levels of nerve activity may have an easier time losing weight, a small study suggests.

Researchers looked at 42 overweight or obese people who took part in a 12-week weight-loss program that cut their daily calorie intake by 30 percent. The participants' resting sympathetic nerve activity was measured at the start of the study.

The sympathetic nervous system, which spreads throughout the body, regulates many functions, including control of resting metabolic rate and the use of calories from food consumption.

The researchers found that successful weight losers had significantly higher resting sympathetic nerve activity than those who had trouble shedding pounds. They also found that successful weight losers showed large increases in nerve activity after they ate a carbohydrate test meal. This did not occur in those who were weight-loss resistant.

The study will appear in the February 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

"We have demonstrated for the first time that resting muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) is a significant independent predictor of weight-loss outcome in a cohort of overweight or obese subjects," lead author Nora Straznicky, of the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, said in a journal news release.

"Our findings provide two opportunities. First, we may be able to identify those persons who would benefit most from lifestyle weight-loss interventions such as dieting. Secondly, the findings may also help in developing weight-loss treatments through stimulating this specific nervous activity."

  

Source: health.msn.com

Man and Machine

Is a computer like a human brain or is a human brain like a computer? When machines allow us to extend our abilities, are we enhancing our humanness or becoming more machine-like? What are the meaningful distinctions between humans and machines and how do these impact our daily pursuits of health, well-being, and happiness?

One primary practical distinction is that humans initiate spontaneous, unique, non-predetermined actions and machines do not. Advanced machines such as military early warning systems may initiate spontaneous activities, but all of these are predetermined and predefined to a greater or lesser degree. And for any machine responses that are not previously designated and programmed as routine, human interaction is required for initiation of the suggested action.

Generally, even the "smartest" machine only has access to a built-in suite of responses. Noted exceptions include computer programs based on simple rules which emulate living systems. The "cellular automata" generated by these programs demonstrate spontaneous emergent behaviors not predictable from the simple rules themselves. The "artificial life" thus observed is exceedingly complex and can even provide optimal solutions to deep scientific problems posed to the system by investigators.

Cellular automata are examples of complex systems, defined as systems which are critically sensitive to small changes in initial conditions. Complex systems achieved fame in Michael Crichton's novel (and the subsequent Stephen Spielberg film), "Jurassic Park". In the book, the paleobotanist Dr. Ian Malcolm uses the weather as an example of the nature of complex systems. In a scene which has achieved iconic status, Malcolm relates how a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon rain forest can cause a tornado in the American Midwest. Small changes in a complex system's initial state can lead to substantial unpredictable results in the system as a whole.

The human nervous system is such a complex, dynamic system.^1,2,3 Small changes in the nervous system's initial state can result in dramatic outcomes. For example, a spinal misalignment (resulting from an innocuous low back muscle strain) can irritate a spinal nerve (a small change in initial conditions) which can lead to chronic indigestion, allergies, migraine headaches, or even high blood pressure down the road.

Most machines are not complex in this way, but they do require regular maintenance and care. As human beings, we are complex systems by our very nature and the importance of regular maintenance and care is that much greater. A healthy spine and optimally functioning nerve system go very far toward ensuring the health of our body-as-machine and our associated happiness and well-being.

 

The machine metaphor is very useful when we are considering aspects of human health and disease. For example, human machines need tuneups just as much and just as regularly as do mechanical machines.
Human machines that are "out of tune" break down. The nature of the breakdown may be minor or major, but it's never a good thing. Most of the time our health is transparent to us - we don't consciously experience our various body parts doing their job. Pain, however, is a notably conscious experience and one which is almost always unwelcome and unpleasant.

Regular chiropractic care is a convenient, efficient, and highly effective method of maintaining your personal human machine at peak levels of performance and structural integrity. Chiropractic care corrects the spinal misalignments that are common denominators in many, if not most, physical ailments and disorders. Chiropractic care directly addresses mechanical problems and helps ensure optimal functioning - optimal levels of health and well-being.

¹Bourjaily MA, Miller P: Synaptic plasticity and connectivity requirements to produce stimulus-pair specific responses in recurrent networks of spiking neurons. PLoS Comput Biol 7(2):e1001091, 2011 [Epub February 24, 2011]

²Rigotti M, et al: Internal representation of task rules by recurrent dynamics: the importance of the diversity of neural responses. Front Comput Neurosci 4:24, 2010

³Power JD, et al: The development of human functional brain networks. Neuron 67(5):735-748, 2010

4 Reasons You Should Drink More Water!

You can go without food for days, weeks and even months, but going without water for just one day can negatively impact your health.

Many people don’t realize just how important water really is. The human body is made up of 2/3 (66%) water and when we lose just a little bit of water through sweat and elimination, and we do not replenish lost liquid, we’ll begin to notice the effects to our health right away.
 
Health Effects of Going without Water

Water is the most valuable life support product for our health, right up there with oxygen. Water and oxygen are the only two things in life that without for just a short period of time we would die.  Studies have been done that show if a 175 pound man were to lose just 2.5% of water in his body (2 quarts) he will lose 25% of his body’s effectiveness towards survival.
When a person begins to dehydrate more things happen in the body than just being thirsty. The more liquid in the body that is lost, the thicker the blood becomes and the harder the heart muscle must work to pump the blood through the circulatory system.  When a person loses their abilities to reason and think straight because of dehydration it means they will die very soon, unless they drink water to rehydrate. Depending on the circumstances, mainly environment, a person can die within 24 to 28 hours after having no water if they are laboring in the hot dry sun with no water. If a person is sedentary indoors and the elements, such as wind, sun, and heat is not present they may live up to 3 days, tops. So water is VERY important for survival, but water is also very important to your overall health.
Most people think they drink enough liquids throughout the day to keep them hydrated. But if you counted all the beverages besides water that people drink you would see that they are actually dehydrating themselves. Most liquids such as coffee, tea, soda, alcohol, Gatorade, and sugary fruit drinks do not hydrate the body like pure water can. Some people are walking around actually dehydrated and they don’t know it because they don’t feel thirsty. Let’s take a look at 4 of the main reasons you should make sure you’re getting enough water.

1. Fatigue and Tiredness
The first sign of dehydration is the feeling of being tired; some people experience a headache and feel like taking a nap. When the body begins to dehydrate it means the tissues and cells are not getting enough water to make a person feel like doing anything; enzymatic activity slows down and without water the enzymes are unable to produce energy either. In fact a dehydrated person may have no enthusiasm or joy for life.   The good news is once the individual starts to drink some water their energy reserves speed back up and sometimes the headache completely goes away.

2. Constipation and Digestive Problems
If a person is not drinking enough water they do not have enough liquid to help with the elimination process and without eliminating the foods we digest we gain weight, gain toxins, and feel awful.  Being constipated is the beginning to many health problems from allergies to toxic overload syndrome to digestive disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome, gas bloating, stomach pain, nausea and loss of appetite in chronic cases.

3. Stomach Ulcers
To protect the stomach from its acidic digestive fluids that is made during the digestion of food, the stomach is coated with a lining of mucous, which are 98% water and 2% sodium bicarbonate.  Sodium bicarbonate helps in the digestive process by neutralizing the acids. When a person is dehydrated the stomach does not have enough liquid available to make the mucous, thus a poor mucous lining protecting a person from the acidic fluids the digestive process makes. This is why some people are more acidic rather than alkaline, and have digestive problems such as acid stomach and heartburn, which eventually without the alkalinity results in an ulcer of the stomach lining.
4. Weight Gain
Many times when we are thirsty we eat food rather than drink water. This can cause unnecessary weight gain, especially for a sedentary person. When your body is dehydrated, just a little bit, sometimes it won’t tell you with a dry throat or mouth, but rather with a feeling of being hungry.  Here’s the thing, if you just ate a sufficient meal not too long ago how can you really need to eat again?
To know if you need water or food, next time you are hungry when you have already ate a meal, drink a couple glasses of pure water. If the hunger pangs subside you’ll know you just needed to feed the body some water. The body needs at least 2 to 3 liters of water a day, and drinking more than that will keep you from feeling hungry. Not only that, but it will also help you eliminate more toxins from your body. Eventually your body will stop telling you it’s hungry because you are maintaining hydration throughout the day.
When you drink enough water throughout the day you are feeding the tissues and cells in your body and that gets the enzymatic system moving, which actually releases fat toxins out of the body! Now isn’t that good news? Rehydrating the body through pure water gets your metabolism running in full balance rather than being slow and sluggish, which is a cause of weight gain.
Do you want to add some vitamins and zest to your water? Then squeeze two or three lemons or limes into each liter of water and drink this nourishing water throughout the day. The great news about this is you probably won’t catch a cold anytime soon! Drink water for your health!

Drink Pure Water
Some water sources are not clean even though many people drink from them. Well water can be full of toxic inorganic minerals that could be making you sick. Bottled water isn’t necessarily any better, you still need to know where it came from and what is in it. Minerals on rocks build up into a sludgy scum and then you drink it. Tap water in some cities is also very mineral laden and too much minerals will cause arterial problems. Water should be as pure as possible, without minerals and bad bacteria.

Inorganic Minerals that could be lurking in your Water

Aluminum	Arsenic	Asbestos
Barium	Cadmium	Chromium
Copper	Fluoride	Lead
Mercury	Nitrate	Nitrite
Selenium	Silver

Minerals and vitamins should come from the purest source, which are organic foods that derive from plants or animals. If you think you might be drinking water that is dirty with inorganic minerals you can have it tested. The safest and easiest thing to do to ensure clean water is to buy a good water filter or softener to put on your faucet that filters out mineral toxins from your water.

The Health Costs of High Fashion

For years, women have worn high heels to add inches to their height, to make a “fashion statement” or to accentuate a long lean leg. All this fashion NONsense has wreaked havoc on women’s spines, necks, legs and backs.
Ask most women why they wear high heels and they might respond, “They complement my outfit,” or “They make me look taller.” Ask these same women if these shoes are comfortable and most will respond with a resounding “NO!” What they may not understand is that wearing these types of shoes can alter the forward curve in the spine, causing the pelvis to tip forward. This affects the body’s ability to maintain its center of gravity. Because of this, wearing high heels can actually increase your risk of falling!
When I see a woman walking down the street with high heels and a two-ton bag, I want to stop her and make her aware of what she is doing to her body.
Your legs are an important part of your musculoskeletal system. When you stand bare-footed you have the best opportunity to balance yourself. Your hamstring muscles along the back of your legs are taut and both parts of the pelvis are stabilized. But by raising your heel, you shorten and actually weaken these crucial support muscles.
Aside from all the stress you place on your spine by wearing high heels, they can also cause damage to your feet, such as corns, calluses and bunions that can last for a lifetime. They can even change the shape of your foot!
The solution? Wear flat shoes or lower heels with the proper arch support as often as possible. And if you’re concerned about the long-term effects that wearing heels may have had on your spine, mention it on your next visit.

Flax Seeds and Menopause

Several studies looked at the consumption of flax seeds and its effect on menopausal symptoms. One study
published in the Journal for the Society for Integrative Oncology (2007Summer; 5(3): 106-12) involved 30
women having at least 14 hot flashes each week. The subjects were given 40 grams of crushed flax seeds each day. Over a six week period, the women experienced a mean 57% decrease in the number of hot flashes. Subjects receiving the flax seed also experienced less joint and muscle pain, a reduction in sweating and chills, and a general improvement in the quality of life.

Another study, appearing in Family Practice News (February 1, 2005:48), was double-blind and placebo
controlled. It involved 85 women who were experiencing at least 5 episodes of either hot flashes or night sweats per day. They were randomly assigned to receive either 40 grams per day of flax seed or a placebo for three months. After the initial three month therapy, the subjects switched roles, with the placebo group receiving therapy and the initial therapy group receiving a placebo (crossover). There was a 38%
decline in the median number of hot flashes when a group was receiving the flax seed. Occurring with the decline in symptoms was an increase in enterodiol, enterolactone and other lignans found in the urine.

Other Flax Seeds and Menopause research appearing in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Preview
(October 2000;9:1113-1118) also found an increase in urinary lignans when women were supplemented
with flax seed. The flax seeds may affect estrogen levels. A study that appeared in Cancer Epidemiology
Biomarkers Preview (July 2000;9:719-725) found that supplementation with flax seed increased the ratio of the urinary excretion of 2-hydroxyestrogen and 16 alpha-hydroxyesterone. A study appearing in Gynecology
and Obstetrics Investigation (2007; 64(4): 204-207) looked at the effect vitamin E supplementation had on
hot flashes. The double-blind, placebo-controlled study involved 51 female subjects who were given
either 400 IU of vitamin E or a placebo for a period of four weeks. They were taken off of the
supplement for a week and given it again for another four weeks. The vitamin E supplementation produced
statistically significant reduction in the number of hot flashes experienced by the group receiving the therapy.