Living Healthy: process

Showing posts with label process. Show all posts

Thursday, October 25, 2012

PMS Makes Us Different

The premenstrual syndrome changes a lot the women

For a large percentage of women worst time during the premenstrual syndrome is the constant mood swings

Menstrual cycle is a natural biological process in every woman’s life. Often this period is accompanied by pain and discomfort for women.
But some of the problems began even before the the menstrual cycle. The condition is described by the experts as premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

What causes the onset of PMS?

The exact cause of the premenstrual syndrome is not yet understood, but experts believe that one week before menstruation the estrogen levels in women’s body fall dramatically. However, the levels of progesterone continue to rise.
These two hormones are essential for balancing the important processes in the body and not just responsible for the health, but also for the mental state of the woman.
For some women the cause of the premenstrual syndrome could be a deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals.

Frequent mood swings

For a large percentage of women worst time during the premenstrual syndrome is the constant mood swings, which vary from happiness to sadness and depression and vice versa.
The appearance of anger, irritability, crying, aggression, depression, etc. can be without any apparent cause, and last from a few hours to couple of days. The changes of mood are also largely due to the hormonal changes that are happening in the body during that same time.
Some women even have problems with memory and concentration during this period of the month.

The premenstrual syndrome increases and other symptoms

Before menstruation the PMS could worsen the symptoms of some chronic diseases, including migraines, asthma, allergies, seizures, and others.
If you find out that your PMS is becoming severe you should consult with a specialist about the risks of the possible deterioration before menstruation. He will give you advices how to deal with the condition without making harm to your body.

Source : dailyhealtharticles[dot]com

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

See Why Narcissism IS Useful (part 1)

Teach your children to moderate narcissism, says famous French psychoanalyst Claude Almos

If parents fail to intelligently manage the process, which is important for emotional survival, they will prepare their successors for better life and will not let those extremes that turn into narcissism pathology.

Anger Management – Master the Anger before It Masters you

Moderate narcissism may be really good for person’s development

Narcissism is a complex concept that has acquired very negative meaning and is seen mainly as a kind of mental illness, illustrated by mythology. According to the legend of the cursed nymph that overlooked a beautiful young man sees his image in the waters of the stream and can no longer take his eyes from it. He was so attracted by his reflection that tries to kiss him, he falls into the water and drown becomes a flower bearing his name – Narcissus. This extreme form of self-love not really leads to anything good.
The term does not only cover the extremes, says Almos. Between this to think you worth nothing, and to think that you are the most important person in the world should have a happy medium – a “normal” narcissism, which is required of man. Recently told BBC writer philosopher Mark Vernon also defended this form of narcissism.
Each baby is first attached to itself. At this earliest stage of life human being is itself the center of the world. Studies show that recordings of their own crying baby to rest while recordings of crying babies do other irritable.

See How Chronic Diseases CHANGE Character!
In other studies, only 15 hours after birth, the little man began to discern the voice, face and the smell of his mother, as a part of its own body. When she runs in every sound, it begins to think that has on it the same power as the hand or foot.
This primary narcissism as Freud called it, lasts short because the child gradually realizes that his mother is not a piece of it, it has its own existence and reality out there on which his thought has no power. According to Almos this discovery has extremely important consequences, because it makes the child able to react to the outside world and start to choose the objects of love – people or objects. At the same time, it still loves itself.

Source : dailyhealtharticles[dot]com

Friday, October 19, 2012

Less sleep = less memory

Even two hours less sleep per night hamper the activity of the brain

The loss of information due to lack of sleep is an irreversible process

Even two hours less sleep per night hamper the activity of the brain in perception, processing and storage of memories, according to the latest scientific data.
Insomnia and not having enough sleep have a negative impact on alertness and ability to concentrate during the day.
Providing 8 hours of sleep is actually very important for brain function and memory, scientists detected during the annual meeting of the American Society for Neuroscience.
Research at the University of Pennsylvania found that two hours less sleep per night than the recommended may impair retention of memories of the day.
It is believed that the repetition of our memories while we sleep is essential for the proper storage in the brain, says the lead researcher Ted Abel.
The loss of information due to lack of sleep is an irreversible process, the research team also found. This means that we can not recover by sleeping more on the next night.
Sleep is important because it allows the brain to carry out tasks for which it is too busy during the day. While we sleep and rest, the brain records information, explains Neil Stanley, a leading British expert on sleep.
According to another study, published in the journal PLOS One, falling asleep shortly after receiving new information increases the chance to assimilate it successfully.
Scientists from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana believe that the best time for a final exam preparation or professional presentation is precisely little before bedtime.

Source : dailyhealtharticles[dot]com

Lead Poisoning Risk From Venison

The reason animal products trigger inflammation in the body within hours of consumption is thought to be due to the residual bacterial toxins that survive the cooking process. This is all detailed in my Care2 article Why Meat Causes Inflammation. The saturated animal fat then helps ferry these endotoxins across the gut wall into our bloodstream. As concluded in a 2012 review, “while the most obvious solution to metabolic endotoxemia appears to be to reduce saturated fat intake, the Western diet is not conducive to this mode of action, and it is difficult for patients to comply with this request.” Thus, researchers have looked to wild animals for less inflammatory meat options.

Wild pheasants, for example, have been found to have significantly less saturated fat than farmed pheasants, so one would assume wild pheasant meat would trigger less inflammation. This concept wasn’t put to the test until recently. In my 3-min. video, Modern Meat Not Ahead of the Game, I profile a study performed by a group of Australian researchers that compared the amount of inflammation triggered by domesticated animal meat to wild kangaroo meat.

They found that eating kangaroos did trigger an inflammatory response, but not as much as the store-brought meat. This would suggest that venison, for example, would cause less inflammation than chicken, but the way in which the deer is killed makes a difference. See my NutritionFacts.org video pick above for the results of a study that raised food safety concerns about conventional ammunition. Note, lead has also been found in protein powder supplements, ayervedic medicine supplements, and other animal products. Like mercury in tuna, no level of lead consumption can be considered safe.

For more depth, the inflammatory effects of animal foods are explored in my 3-part video series:

Most whole plant foods are anti-inflammatory–see:

In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.

PS: If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here and watch my full 2012 presentation Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death.

Image credit: LouisvilleUSACE / Flickr

Source : care2[dot]com

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Female and Minority Farmers Demand Equality

Earlier this year, the USDA updated the process by which female and Hispanic farmers may file discrimination claims. This was largely a response to a number of claims over the last decade filed by farmers claiming they had been denied farm loans due to their gender or ethnicity. One significant case is Love v. Vilsack, a class action lawsuit filed by a group of female farmers against the USDA. The case was filed in 2000 and has yet to be finally resolved. Another class action case, Pigford v. Glickman, claimed that the USDA discriminated against African-American farmers in a similar fashion. In 2010, after some confusion regarding farm bill funds that could be made available as compensation for the farmers involved, the claimants were ultimately awarded $1.15 billion. Similar claims have been filed by Native American farmers, as well.

The updated claims process increases the maximum compensation for female and Hispanic farmers from $50,000 to $250,000 and provides a streamlined litigation process. This is a step in the right direction, but does not address the root of the problem.

In the United States, farming is predominantly the province of white men. In the corporate, corporate organic, and small-scale organic food systems, white men run the show. As a result, female and minority farmers are often not taken seriously.

Why does it matter who grows our food? There are many reasons. The most obvious is that, as with any profession, no one should be discriminated against on the basis of gender or ethnicity. It is simply unconstitutional.

But it goes deeper than that. Food is one of the most basic necessities of life. Knowing how to grow food gives a person or group considerable independence. That is one reason that many people enjoy gardening – it is satisfying to know how to grow one’s own food and know that it is not absolutely necessary to rely upon the grocery store, or even the farmers’ market.

Giving power over this basic, life-giving necessity to one group is an act based – at least partially – in a desire for control and an attempt to maintain the status quo. By making it difficult for women and minorities to do something as fundamentally important as growing and selling food, the USDA is making a powerful statement about where it feels the power in this country lies.

What’s more, granting control of farming primarily to white men leads to a groupthink mentality. There is much that needs to be reformed in our food system. We need to promote the effective methods of farming without chemicals and in concert with nature that are found on small, organic farms. We need to support local farming and strengthen local food systems. Perhaps, if the nation’s farming population were more diverse, we would enjoy a more productive conversation on how to accomplish these goals. That is not to assume that all white men think alike. But surely opening a dialog with individuals whose experiences are more varied would be more likely to produce new ideas.

Organizations like the National Black Farmers Association are working to address this problem. The non-profit community organization works to educate the public about the discrimination experienced by minority farmers and to mobilize African-American farmers with the goal of increasing awareness about the issue. Similarly, non-profits like People’s Grocery in Oakland, California are educating urban residents about discrimination against female and minority farmers.

With the work of non-profits like the National Black Farmers Association and People’s Grocery, as well as the efforts of the USDA to redress discrimination claims, it appears that progress is being made. However, there is still much that needs to be done if attitudes toward female and minority farmers are going to truly change.

Source : care2[dot]com