Comfort Foods

We are in the middle of the holiday season, and it’s the time of year when many people tend to gain a few extra pounds. Holiday parties and meals usually tempt people to stray from their traditional diet plans, if they have one. However, another cause for overeating around this time of the year is because of the season we’re in—winter.

A CNN article, “Why do I crave comfort foods now?”, talked about how people crave comfort foods during the winter time. For some people, this can be attributed to seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Less daylight and changes in the body’s biological clock affect the chemistry of the brain and this can cause an increase in appetite and “comfort food” cravings. SAD can also cause stress and, as the name suggests, sadness. These moods may cause people to search for a “quick fix” for their emotions which can come in the form of unhealthy sweet or salty foods. It’s a way of self-medicating and although it may help their mood, it isn’t good for their waistlines. Comfort foods usually do seem more satisfying on a cold, winter day, and having a selection of comfort foods at holiday parties makes it even easier to fill up on fattening foods.

However, it’s important to remember that we should still try to eat healthy during this time. The holidays and winter-time should not be excuses for eating badly. If people continue eating healthy through the holiday season, maybe they won’t have to worry so much about dealing with the consequences in the New Year.

Vanessa T.

Help for the Mentally Ill?

*This is a makeup post for not completing a Communication department Research Participation

Yesterday I read an article titled “I am Adam Lanza’s Mother”. I am sure many others in our class have also read it. The article was written by a mother of a 13 year old boy that she feels one day could possibly harm others. She feels as though there is no government support to protect herself and the public from what her son could be capable of.

This article sparked a lot of interest in me. At a time when the United States is mourning the loss of 20 innocent children and six heroic staff members of Sandy Hook Elementary school, I cannot help but think about the topic of mental illness in the United States. The question I am raising is: is it time for the United States to start focusing on mental illness as much as other diseases in the country?

My idea is that there needs to be more light shed on the topic of mental illness as a health concern. Perhaps, in years to come, there could be a campaign to help families that suffer with the constant struggle of dealing with a family member that is mentally ill. Things such as support groups, inpatient psychiatric treatment, physician support, and counseling for struggling families could be beneficial to this growing health issue. For a campaign like this, I think it is important to address the family members that deal one on one with the mentally ill brother/sister/daughter/son. Bringing this issue out into the open may make these families feel that they can express their worry for the safety of themselves and the public without being judged. This way, the surrounding community and law enforcement are aware of this person’s potentially violent behavior whether they have ever had run ins with law enforcement or not. Again, this is only my personal suggestion for years down the road. My heart goes out to all of the families affected by this tragedy and I can only hope that another community does not have to go through such a horrific loss.

Carmen Fields

Obesity Bigger Health Issue than Hunger

This article talks about the growing epidemic: obesity.  In the text it states that the so-called “western” lifestyle is accepted all around the world.  The report talks about the many varying countries like sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East who have experienced an exponential increase in obesity rates.  And now diseases such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease are at the top of the list for leading causes of illness.

I found this article to be very interesting and also very relative to our curriculum in Health Comm.  Throughout the semester we have learned about countless health campaigns that aim to implement a more healthier lifestyle.  Unfortunately, due to this reports statistics it shows that there has been very little impact made.  Regardless of the many interventions that we have learned about in class it is evident that many individuals do not dedicate enough of their attention of their health.  Reading this report was very upsetting because for so long it has been labeled that America is one of the heaviest countries in the world.  Now it seems that obesity is weighing down on many other countries as well.

I know a lot of individuals feel that involving themselves in exercise and health conscious meals is a long term effort, but what they don’t understand is so is being obese.  Those who qualify as obese have a greater risk for many varying health illnesses.  For many who have diabetes or heart disease their entire lives are altered from those diseases.  In my opinion is seems that there is much more effort dedicated to adapting to living with diabetes rather than dedicating time out of your day to engage in physical exercise.

 

Michelle LaBricciosa

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/13/health/global-burden-report/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

“Street” drugs used in real life

The medical marijuana craze that has been sweeping the United States, and other nations across the world, has started to open many doors across the medical world. More and more doctors and researchers are beginning to experiment with what were formerly known as “street drugs” to see if these substances are able to be used for other things than simple dope. I ran across an article the other day on healthnews.com about a couple in South Carolina that are using MDMA to help treat combat trauma victims. It made me think about all the different ways that doping drugs have been used in the medical world in the past. After all, cocaine was once used in everything from cough syrup to soft drinks, and now the medical marijuana trend is bouncing from state to state. I think it says volumes for our society that substances that were (and in some cases still are) considered to be harmful to the human body are now being used to help treat the human body for disease. I think awareness about these substances, and the positive things that they can do for humans, could create an interesting and eye-opening health campaign. Medical marijuana has already began its campaign for universal use, why shouldn’t other “street drugs” be considered as well?

Hiding Cigarettes in Stores Might Keep Kids From Smoking

This article studies both the effects of where cigarette cartons are placed and the presence of tobacco advertising in stores, on U.S. teen’s likelihood to purchase them. The study that was conducted tracked the purchases made by 1,200 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17, both smokers and non-smokers, in several virtual convenience stores that contained different cigarette sale scenarios. There were six different virtual convenience store situations as to where the teens were given free rein to what they clicked and purchased. The results were that there was minimal impact on cigarette shopping habits. But, when teens were shopping in stores where the tobacco products were hidden, 32% appeared to be aware of the availability of cigarettes. While 85% of those who shopped in stores where cigarettes were openly on display knew that purchasing cigarettes was one of their options. Also, 9% of teens shopping in the hidden display scenario bought cigarettes while 24% of those who virtually shopped in a store where cigarettes were present did not purchase them. Ultimately, by storing tobacco products behind enclosed cabinets and out of the view from adolescents, it could have a positive public health impact discouraging kids from purchasing cigarettes.

I found this study interesting because it examined the impact of the theory of planned behavior and the social cognitive theory, through electronic health. By creating these virtual scenarios, the theory of planned behavior was tested because tobacco advertisement was removed. This showed adolescents that the subjective norms were to not walk into a convenience store and immediately make that tobacco purchase. It reinforced the perceived behavioral control of non-smokers to not test their curiosity and purchase a packet of cigarettes. Secondly, the social cognitive theory was tested in this virtual convenience store shopping experiment when the personal inputs of both smoking and non-smoking adolescents were selected and when six different environmental scenarios were presented. By taking both of these influential factors, the study examined how they affected ones self-efficacy, and action to purchase a pack of cigarettes.

Surgeon General Calls Teen Smoking\

Rebecca Flora

Flu Shots Unpopular Amongst College Students

A recent study done in North Carolina showed that only 1 in 5 students on college campuses actually get a flu shot. Influenza is a very widespread virus, most commonly found on college campuses due to the tight living quarters and from not eating as healthfully as students should. Staying up late and not getting adequate sleep are also factors that may cause getting the virus.

After analyzing the research findings, it was determined that new tactics and strategies should be brainstormed to promote the students to receive the free shots from school-sponsored places, instead of outside sources where payment is usually required. 

One of the ideas that was brought up was to offer the influenza vaccines at public school events, such as sporting events or day-long ‘campaigns’. 

While this has yet to be implemented, it is definitely being considered. Flu vaccinations need to be taken seriously and done before the flu season begins to prevent serious illnesses that could potentially lead to further complications.

 

SA

 

House of the real world…. -Keri Sink

Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal is considered one of the most skillful clinical diagnosticians in practice today. Dhaliwal is an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Dhaliwal’s talent is a special one. He can diagnose his patients like the I.B.M. project the Deep blue chess program.

Since medical school, he has been an greedy reader of case reports in medical journals, and case conferences from other hospitals. At work, he occasionally uses a diagnostic checklist program called Isabel to make certain he hasn’t forgotten something. The program though has yet to offer a diagnosis that Dhaliwal hasn’t missed.

Dr. Dhaliwal receives cases from physicians who are stumped by a set of symptoms. At medical conferences, he is presented with one difficult case and is given 45 minutes to solve it. Doctors apparently sit on the edge of their seat while he figures out the case, and he rules out all of the facts and wrong diagnoses. More often than not, Dr. Dhaliwal is right. While working on a difficult case in front of an audience, Dr. Dhaliwal puts his entire thought process on display. He believes this is becoming more important because physicians are being assessed on whether they gave the right medicine to a patient, or remembered to order a certain test.

Ecstasy Used to Help PTSD- Catherine Klein

The drug, MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, is being studied as a treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 2003 Dr. Michael Mithoefer, the psychologist conducting the study, convinced the DEA to green-light a study of Ecstasy as an adjunct to psychotherapy. Mithoefer tried this drug on 19 patients. After a three year period 14 of the 19 said their horrible symptoms have significantly decreased. They do not refer to the drug as Ecstasy, but call it MDMA in all medical settings. Mithoefer has tried conventional methods of treatment, therapy and medication, but they don’t seem to ever fully work.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/03/health/ecstasy-ptsd-3/index.html?hpt=he_t
“It’s not that people just have a blissed-out experience and feel great about the world,” he cautioned. “A lot of the time it’s revisiting the trauma, and it’s a painful, difficult experience. But the MDMA seems to make it possible for them to do it effectively.”
For Hope, the seventh patient on this study said that 80% of her symptoms were gone after the first MDMA-assisted session. “It allowed me to rewire my brain,” she said. Another 10% of her symptoms went away over the next few weeks, she said.
After reading this story I was shocked that the DEA approved this study and that it actually helped people. It makes me think back to the video we watched with the war-veteran simulator. The simulator was a hands-on physical experience that made the patients of PTSD re-live their traumatic experience.
It makes me think that the Ecstasy use for medical purposes might actually be good, even as bizarre as it sounds.
To re-live a rape would be a weird and uncomfortable experience to simulate. But also the simulators are rare and very expensive. Producing and using the MDMA drug for therapy would be less-expensive and more convenient, and overall help to reach a lot more people suffering with PTSD.

Why People Continue to Play the Lottery

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/15/health/psychology-playing-lottery-powerball/index.html?hpt=he_bn2

I found this article to be particularly interesting for a few different reasons.  Particularly because this is something very current.  Also, because I think the discussion about why people play the lottery can actually be intertwined into a lot of what we have learned throughout the semester in our Health Comm class.

The article says that the odds of winning the lottery are much less than the likes of dying by bee sting, a shark attack, or getting struck by lightening.  When you think of it that way it’s kind of amusing to think how many are so hopeful to win the lottery when you stack it against those odds.  People are more hopeful to win the lottery but have a better chance of being attacked by a shark.

So, the questions lies: Why do people continue to play the lottery?  The article says that people initially play into because they are in love with being hopeful.  Especially in times where the economy is worse people love to buy into the concept that a small investment has the potential to win big– it ties into the perfect American Dream concept.

Another interesting aspect of this article is that studies have revealed that people in poverty who made less than $12,500 spent 5% of their income on lottery tickets.  That was a hard statistic for me to grasp simply because one would think someone with nothing to spare wouldn’t waste their time trying to win something that they had less of a chance winning than dying by bee sting– the odds are not in your favor.

I think this concept of buying lottery tickets is related to self-efficacy.  We know we have the ability to win the lottery.  So why not us? Why couldn’t we be the one to win it? We play on this self-efficacy and in turn act and buy a lottery ticket.  If we win once, we’re likely to keep playing- despite the fact we have lost 5 times and only won once. 

I thought that the article was pretty thought provoking in the sense it made me think about what other behaviors we might be doing that really probably aren’t the best for us but since we know a positive outcome is possible we do it anyways.  I also found it riveting that we are so hopeful for certain outcomes that have less likelihood of happening, and yet less worried about things that have a much greater potential of happening. 

Under Similar Stress, Rich Live Longer — Isaac Rife

An article published on MSN.com Monday discussed a British study that found that stressed-out rich people live longer than stressed-out poor. The lead author, Dr. Antonion Ivan Lazzarino, who is a clinical research associate at University College London, said that the combination of poverty and stress “is a bomb” and that “those people have really higher mortality, more than you would expect by just adding the two separate effects.” It’s already known that stress and poverty can affect longevity, but this study is aiming to study how their combinations (low-low, low-high. high-low, high-high) affect mortality.

However, the research design doesn’t specify how much longer someone may live if they’re rich and stressed than poor and stressed. It is also not understood why wealthier people may tolerate stress better biologically. The study found only an association with wealth, stress and mortality; not proving a cause-and-effect.

The 10-year study examined more than 66,500 people in England who were 35 years or older. They were questioned about their jobs and if they had symptoms of various things (anxiety, depression, etc.). The statistics were adjusted so they wouldn’t be thrown off my factors such as age or gender, and the researchers found that poor and stressed-out people died earlier.

A professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the University of Bristol in England wasn’t surprised. Glyn Lewis stated that poorer people have fewer ways to combat stress.

The authors did state that the study didn’t document how stress levels changed over time, which was a limitation of their study. However, the authors think that the findings may help researchers refine tools for stress management.

This article goes along with a lot of what we’ve discussed in class. There are barriers to health which can affect a person’s health in the long run. Also, it’s possible that the lower income people have lower health literacy, which may play a part in their handling of stress.