Health & Wellness
The Daunting Statistics on Depression & Suicide: More Awareness = Less Stigma
According to recent depression statistics, amongst Americans one out of ten claim to be suffering from depression. Nationally, out of all those who suffer only 20 percent actually get treated. In other words, 80 percent of clinically depressed individuals aren’t being treated at all. And the number of depressed individuals increases by 20 percent annually.
Why are so many individuals not receiving treatment for clinical depression? Perhaps the stigma, fear of what family, loved ones, and friends might think or say? Perhaps clinically depressed or the 80 percent that have symptoms of clinical depression are too proud or even embarrassed. Most people do not say that they really enjoy being around someone who is feeling down, especially if the “low days” tend to be often. When depression takes a hold of people susceptible to the illness, it can be situational where the depression is more or less seasonal. Read the rest of this entry »
How Well Do You Handle Stress?
Studies have shown that stress can wreak havoc not only on the body but also almost every area of your life. Unaddressed stress can cause sleep disturbances, poor eating habits, health problems, acne break outs, angry outbursts and even addictive behaviors.
One of the healthiest ways to combat stress is through exercise. When you exercise, natural endorphins are released that are said to be as potent as taking Prozac. That is right. According to a London research conducted in 2007, Mycobacterium vaccae, which is a bacteria found in soil, stimulates the precise neurons in the brain that Prozac does. So when out running trails, for instance, our feet kick up the soil and we absorb particles to provide our brains with a positive mood booster similar to that of antidepressant, psychotropic medication. Who would have ever thought? According to the article, when serotonin levels are low in our brains it can cause a number of mental ailments such anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia.
Work Out Your Positive Attitude Muscle
Have you ever known a body builder? When they are training for a competition, their bodies are at their best. They’re at their leanest, as they’ve dieted down to muscle striations at their peak visibility. However, these professional athletes don’t always look the way that they do before a competition. During their “off season” they are rarely lean. This doesn’t mean that they’re not in shape; they’re just not as shredded as they usually are during a competition, and they generally eat whatever they want. Needless to say, their six packs go out the window. But bodybuilders are so disciplined that they always rediscover the rip. Read the rest of this entry »
Movie Therapy: Laugh Away the Blues
I find it interesting how comedy can make the most dramatic situations humorous. What could very easily be executed as a drama, comedy writers take a twisted approach to making the situation funny as hell.
Take a look at some of the funniest movies. In reality, most comedies wouldn’t be viewed as funny if it happened in reality. In As Good as it Gets, you’ve got Jack Nicholson playing Melvin Udall. Udall is a rude, angry and mentally unstable individual who also happens to degrade almost everyone around him. He is racist and sexist yet ironically a romance novelist. When his gay neighbor Simon Bishop is beaten nearly to death and robbed, Udall doggy sits Verdell. Udall is an anti-social, selfish jerk who winds up warming up to the Brussels Griffon and then unexpectedly falls in love with his favorite waitress, Carol Connelly, played by Helen Hunt. Read the rest of this entry »
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Writing With Hope 