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Archive for the ‘Stress and Deppression’ Category

The fight against neurodegenerative diseases has become a priority. This is confirmed by the efforts of researchers around the world in the field of research for preventing or at least mitigate the development of a group of diseases that still have no cure. Spanish scientists involved in this effort. In the past month, we have witnessed three publications team reveals findings of our country and in addition to possible new avenues of treatment.

Three pioneering studies with good results
A few weeks ago, the scientific journal Cell Stem Cell echoed the work of a group of researchers from the Institute de Salud Carlos III, by which these scientists have identified the signal that stops them from growing stem cells in the brain, specifically in the hippo campus. This signal “protect” the brain of an over-proliferation that could lead to tumors, while maintaining a reserve of stem cells throughout life. Once known, gives clues about how the future might activate latent reserve of stem cells exist in the brain to try to stop the development of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. A first major step in cell therapy.

A few weeks later, he succeeded in finding two new publications. Thus, a new study led by researchers from the Biosciences Research Centre, CIC bioGUNE, has opened a way forward in the understanding and prediction of neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as published in the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Through this study, led by a group of Basque researchers have discovered how mutations in a protein called Vps54 results in the degeneration of motor neurons. That is, ALS is not just a consequence of the mutation on a specific protein-thesis that had been held so far, based on previous studies, “but there is a domino effect in which low levels of the mutant protein exert a destabilizing effect
above the rest.

Almost simultaneously, a group of researchers from the Universidad Carlos III, University Clinic of Navarra and the Public University of Navarra in Madrid presented a new algorithm that analyzes information from the electroencephalogram in a novel way to detect and neurodegenerative diseases epilepsy through bioelectrical signals of the brain. An algorithm for extracting the most relevant characteristics of the signal that is associated with epilepsy in order to detect and classify more quickly seizures, as well as determine which parts or areas of the brain are most affected. A new way to apply these studies to the analysis of various diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s or epilepsy.

For 10 years, workers have had initially expressed a high level of job strain and then said to perceive their jobs as less stressful had the same risk of developing depression than those with low-level tasks of tension.

“This suggests that interventions aimed at reducing job strain significantly reduce the risk of depression,” the team writes Jianli Wang, University of Calgary, Alberta, in American Journal of Epidemiology.

In a period of 30 days, the researchers found that 4.4% of American workers develop severe depression and stress (or tension) labor is associated with the risk of developing depression.

To investigate how changing the level of job strain in time changes the probability of a person to suffer from depression, the researchers looked at 4,866 participants in the Population Health Survey.

All participants had responded to the level of job strain in 1994-1995 and 2000-2001. The team was divided into four groups: people with low job stress in both periods, those with high job strain in both periods, people with low stress in the first period of high stress in the second and who had high stress initial work on the end.

8% of participants with high job strain had suffered permanent major depressive episode during the study, versus 4% of those with low permanent stress.

In people with less stressful jobs, the risk of developing major depression was 4.4%, as opposed to 6.9% of the group with increasingly stressful occupation.

The researchers also found that in the group with high job strain constant, only those who rated their health as good or excellent at baseline had an increased risk of developing depression. In those who had fair or good, that risk had not changed.

“These participants have accepted the reality of having poor health and being exposed to several risk factors for health,” the authors suggest. Given that the way in which employees evaluate the stress level of their work varies with frequency, the researchers say more studies are needed to measure job stress in shorter periods to better understand how stress in the workplace is associated with depression.

The courage, excessive competition of our time plus the amount of stress can affect the arteries of those with hostile personalities are manipulative and aggressive behaviors.

Studies conducted in Italy found that people with hostile aggressive behavior or personality may have a thickening of the walls of the arteries in the neck. A greater thickness of the walls is increased risk that the artery from narrowing raising the risk of cardiovascular disease, a heart attack or stroke.

The report, which was published in the online edition of the August 16 issue of the journal Hypertension, collected data on more than 5000 600 people in four villages of Sardinia (Italy).

Relevant results:

- The researchers found that those with high scores on traits of antagonism and hostility showed greater thickening of the arteries of the neck (carotid), compared with people more complacent.

- After three years, people who scored higher on antagonism or low-compliance, especially those who were manipulative or angry quickly, continued to thickening of arterial walls. These features also predicted higher blood thickening, found the research group.

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Here are some ideas to prevent or combat stress. Stress is inevitable but it is controllable and you can do.

Visualize your day. Imagine getting up before your day will be like, imagine that all activities were successful and enjoyable. Think that would make your day was better, as you can do better. If you think that the day will attract more stressed.

Personal Journal. Every week or every day write in your journal the experiences of this time. This helps desahogarte and really read what you write behavioral patterns that are repeated. This way you can identify when you stress and if it’s worth.

Art. The paint or play an instrument helps to channel our energy and stay relaxed. The same applies to crafts.

Sport. Go back to your swim team, basketball, football and so on. Sport also helps channel our energy.

Learn to forgive. If you let other people occupy your mind alone are creating more stress and negative thoughts and this does not solve anything. Someone said that resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person dies.

Practice meditation. Meditation relaxes and brings clarity to the mind. There are many meditation techniques, try to find an easy one. With just a few minutes a day you will see results.

Massages and facials. And other spa treatments, all help to relax. Read about these treatments in our Spa section

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Aromatherapy helps to overcome mild depressive states and assists in recovery from severe depression, is not the remedy to cure the problem but more aid out of the depressive crisis.
The principle of Aromatherapy is that aromas can influence our moods and health in general, the smells that come in through the nose send signals to the brain that identifies it and in turn sends these signals to the whole organism.

How the Depression aromatherapy

Certain smells can make you secrete substances that produce energy inside and welfare, in much the same way they do antidepressant drugs.

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Anyone over your life can suffer trauma by an event that affects him in a special way. It is necessary to confront and overcome as soon as possible, otherwise harm him for life and change his personality and way of being.

1. What is a trauma?
Trauma. His shadow mark the afterlife and creates emotional distress. A psychic trauma is an injury suffered by some people as a result of an event or set of negative events in their lives, affecting them dramatically causing pain and emotional distress.

These negative events leave their mark on the person who suffers. They change their personality and also affect their attitude and behavior to future similar situations. They also try to avoid or flee from these situations as a defense mechanism, not having been able to assimilate or to have adjusted psychologically to the new situation.

It is important to clarify that trauma is sometimes the result of what was seen and not what really happened. May occur, for example, that a person during his childhood he felt rejected or did not feel loved, but this does not mean it actually has been. However, having lived as if it were, will suffer all the consequences of emotional trauma.

2. Who can suffer trauma and why?
A trauma can occur at any age. However, in childhood and adolescence when people are most vulnerable and are more strongly marked by what happens to them. At these ages do not have a definite personality and is unresponsive to address events that adversely affect people.

There are events that mark childhood forever and leave their mark depending mainly on the severity of the event and how often it occurred.

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Alcohol, obesity and depression abuse seem to go together in many women, revealed the first study of how these three disorders are interrelated over time in young adults.

Men and young women participants had followed since 1985, when they were in fifth grade. The team analyzed the results of interviews conducted when participants were 24, 27 and 30 years to understand the interrelationships between depression, obesity and alcohol abuse.

At age 21, 8 per cent of women and 12 per cent of men had at least two of these three problems. At the time, having more than one of those problems was more common in women but less common in men.

The only relationship observed in the obese men was for 27 years, they were less likely to be depressed at 30. But the 27 depressed women were three times more likely at 30 years to meet the clinical criteria that define alcohol abuse.

Women with alcohol problems at 24 were four times more likely to be obese at age 27, while being obese to 27 doubled the risk of having depression at age 30.

Meanwhile, people of both sexes on low incomes had an increased risk of depression and obesity.

The tendency to have a style for which the person becomes obsessed with playing and negative experiences would be one of the problems attached to alcohol abuse, obesity and depression.

Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksma, a psychologist at Yale, called the “toxic triangle” of “eat, drink and think too much,” they add. She showed that women-and men-with this style are more depressed and more likely to binge drink or food to cope with emotional problems.

There are interventions for the three legs of the toxic triangle, such as exercise, mental training and stress management.

Strategies to treat depression, excessive alcohol consumption and obesity are problems with the “reward system” brain should help people to find alternatives autorrecompensa to food and alcohol.

Do not enter the vicious cycle of eating because you’re nervous. Learn to control your diet and stress.

If you are on a diet to lose some weight, keep in mind that stress is an important factor in the way that will lead to success or failure of the diet.

Diet and stress

Stress accompanies the changes in routine, whether good or bad. Our body and mind become accustomed to a state and get them out of that state causes internal stresses that result in stress.

When we begin a diet, we changed our way of life: food, exercise, mindset meals. These changes, though beneficial to their health and quality of life can lead to stress.

And the stress of every day

The stress of starting a diet adds to the stress that we have everyday in our work and home, which leads to the so common “and anxiety”.

What results in a vicious circle in which increased stress involves an increase in the food we eat, so we must work harder to follow the diet and this causes more stress.

And people under stress are likely to take a defeatist attitude and self-pity: eating without hunger, drinking, smoking, etc..

Added to this are studies indicating that people under stress gain weight faster. When a person is stressed, the ¨ ¨ stress hormone (cortisol) is secreted in greater quantity and causes the sensation of hunger.

Cortisol Control

The stress management techniques can lower levels of cortisol, a key to a diet to succeed.

Physical exercise, in addition to burning calories, raising the level of functioning of our metabolism and help keep our figure, also reduce the level of cortisol in the blood.

Relaxation techniques and meditation help to reduce levels of cortisol and stress.

It is essential to be surrounded by people who provide emotional support and where you can download anxieties.

The many changes that have occurred in the current organization of work has created new problems in the health and safety of workers, one of these is the stress at work, reflecting a growing concern in the world of work.

This situation is conceptualized as the set of phenomena that occur in the body of the worker with the participation of harmful stressors arising directly from work or in connection with this, can affect the health of the worker.

“Work-related stress has increased in incidence in the field of work and is a major cause of absenteeism, improper influences decisions, misjudgments and low staff morale. On the physical level also has negative effects or diseases causing disorders ranging from irritability, depression, anxiety, to more complex diseases such as ulcers, asthma, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, “says Claudia Contreras, professor in the School of Nursing at the Universidad Andres Bello, Chile.

“However, despite all these negative effects that stress has yet to receive proper care and companies and institutions invest sufficient resources to develop programs that help prevent and address this issue,” he warns.

Psychosocial Factors
According to the nurse, psychosocial factors at work represent the perceptions and experiences of workers, some are individual in nature, others refer to economic prospects and personal development and more to human relationships and emotional aspects.

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