AU Blogspot

                 Thanks to inajeep for permission to use this Photo.

For many moms, going back to work after spending so much time with their newborn is one of the most difficult things they will ever have to do. Here are some ideas to make the transition just a little easier.

Before You Return To Work  

Decide when you want to return to work

Discuss with your employer how much time you can take for maternity leave. You might not have the luxury of deciding whether or not to return to work, but you can take as much time as you’re allowed.

Find dependable child care

Leaving your newborn in someone else’s care can be very stressful. Finding a reliable child-care provider whom you trust will ease your worries considerably. Your child-care options range from individual in-home care to a creche. Give yourself time to find the best facilities in your area.

Talk to your boss

Discuss your duties and schedule so you’ll know what’s expected of you when you return. Ask about flexible hours or working from home on occasion.

Once You’re Back At Work

Manage your time well

Balancing family and work responsibilities demands good time management and organizational skills. You need to plan a system to make sure everything gets done. If you are overwhelmed with demands, allow the less important ones to slide.

Stay connected

Find ways to stay connected with your baby when you’re away. Make regular phone calls to see how your baby’s doing or keep photos on your desk. (more…)

                Thanks to Lina Nunez for permission to use this Photo.

A study conducted by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami suggests that Massage Therapy can help with migraine headaches.  A group of randomly assigned participants received twice-weekly massage for 30 minutes.  A second group was not treated.  The group receiving massage reported fewer headaches than those in the second group.  In fact, almost 60% of them went the entire month without a headache!

Massage has also been known to alleviate tension headache pain for some time now.  Massage relieves muscle tension, which plays a large part in making the pain worse. 

Prevention is key to beating headache and migraine pain.  Regular massage can help keep you and your muscles relaxed and loosened, which leads to fewer, less-intense episodes.

Just one more reason to have a massage!

Kristy Carter
Massage Techniques Program Instructor
Ashworth University

Photo courtesy of Jo Guldi

It is truly alarming the number of people around the world who are overweight these days, and it is really no wonder. After all, we as a people have become so lazy and so dependent on sugary, fatty foods and beverages. There are also other reasons why people are overweight however, such as to control their emotions or make themselves feel better. Emotional eating is perhaps one of the most dangerous problems in terms of your weight, especially if you live a very emotional or hectic life.

Sometimes the strongest longings for food happen when you are at your weakest point emotionally. If you are sad or lonely, angry or depressed, you may notice that you begin craving certain foods, perhaps some of which you never even really considered before. Eating as a way to suppress your feelings, such as stress, anxiety, boredom and even confusion, can really sabotage your weight loss efforts. The good news is that if you are someone who is prone to emotional eating, there are things that you can do to get over these habits and get back to eating healthy and looking and feeling your very best.

Find the Problem

It is important that you take the time to try and determine the actual root cause of your emotional eating. Sure you know that you are eating as a way to help yourself deal through the tough times, but there must be a more significant underlying cause. Major live events such as unemployment and health problems, for instance, may have triggered the onset of your emotional eating problem and this is what you are going to have to deal with.

Also know that there are certain foods which seem to have particularly addictive qualities. These are the foods that most people tend to crave when they are down or upset, and which you should be especially careful with. This includes chocolate and candy, and when you eat these foods what happens is that your body releases trace amounts of mood hormones which is why the foods seem like a sort of reward, because you think that they are making you feel better. They may help temporarily to relieve the feelings of tension or stress that you are experiencing, but even just a few moments after you eat them you will feel even worse than you did to begin with. (more…)

                Thanks to Sarah G for permission to use this Photo.

April is National Humor Month, so get your laugh on!! Although it may not be the best medicine, it does have some great benefits. Laughter improves your daily mood and makes a significant contribution to your health. It helps you keep a positive frame of mind when life’s problems come your way, it promotes physical, mental and spiritual health.

Laughter reduces stress hormones in the blood and research has shown that muscle relaxation results from a good belly laugh. Next time you have a good laugh, ask yourself, “What changes in my body do I notice?” Do you feel more relaxed and at ease?

So the next time you’re trying to hold in that boisterous, “Go ahead and let it rip!” Your mind and body will thank you for it.

Carla Hardy MS, CSCS
Fitness and Exercise Instructor
Ashworth University

              Thanks to Lee Gillen for permission to use this Photo.

A recent episode of 60 Minutes featured a timely report on the possible link between lack of sleep and obesity.  I describe the report as timely because it’s been widely documented that human beings are getting less sleep than ever, a particularly troubling fact when you consider that we’re also working more intensive schedules, and balancing this imbalance with drive through diet practices.  The resultant obesity effect is simply another in a long line of health problems related to sleep deprivation; the most dangerous being heart disease and diabetes.  Alright, so this isn’t the sunniest subject to discuss at the dinner table, but it’s a dialogue that must begin between families if this crisis is to be scaled back before reaching the epidemic stage.  Check out the following “Science Of Sleep” video to learn more about the implications of your potentially harmful sleep patterns.  Go to bed early tonight!  Take a nap tomorrow!

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University Health Care Program

Photo courtesy of Okko_Pyykko

There’s one issue that hasn’t seen much airtime during the Presidential election, and you probably didn’t even realize its absence. That issue is crime, and it hasn’t come up because it’s just not as scary as it was in the past. In one of the great mysteries of criminology, crime began to fall in 1993 and continued to plummet throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century.

Experts have offered explanations ranging from higher incarceration rates to more cops on the streets to the legalization of abortion (this last theory, put forth by economist Steven Levitt in the best-selling Freakonomics, has since been disproved). But ultimately no one can pinpoint exactly what happened, mostly because no one really knows what causes crime as a broad, social phenomenon. If we can’t explain what causes it, we can’t understand what causes it to decline—and thus politicians can’t take credit for it or offer solutions.

But for all the head-scratching, there is one promising line of inquiry that’s only now beginning to see scholarly attention: the link between peoples’ health as children and their criminal activity as adults. Believe it or not, there’s been relatively little empirical work done to link childhood mental disorders and adult offenses. That’s changing. In November, The American Journal of Psychiatry published a study that asked whether “the national crisis in child community mental health services” contributes to “delinquency,” and whether more robust, timely responses to “youths with mental disorders” can reduce adult crime. The answers were “yes” on both points. (more…)

                           Image courtesy of Sharyn Morrow.

Since I’ve gotten into running, I wanted to learn about everything I could and needed to know about it. I ordered this book, “The Complete Book of Running for Women” and so far, it’s great! Right now, I’m on the part of the book which is about Running for the Body - which explains the benefits of running for your body, and Running for the Mind, which explains the benefits of running mentally. I totally agree that running is a positive thing for both body and mind, because after a run, I not only feel great, but I feel my mind is more at ease after a run. I don’t feel as stressed mentally after a run. So the book so far is great because it’s not a bunch of fluff. I think any woman who enjoys running should read this book. It’s geared towards women because they also get into running while pregnant, and other related womanly issues.

(more…)

           Thanks to Kevin Trotman for permission to use this Photo.

I wrote a blog entry on this topic yesterday, then deleted it, as it wasn’t very nice. Kevin, MD’s Dr. Pho has covered 75% of what I wanted to say on his blog today (nicely), here; read his blog entry then come back here for the rest of what I wanted to say:

Glenn Beck’s hospital horror story is getting some attention. Apparently, he had a surgical procedure with marked post-op pain. As physicians tried to control his pain with increasing doses of narcotics, he suffered adverse reactions as a result.

This is one of those amazing occurrences in medicine that makes all of us in Emergency Medicine alternately furious and incredulous, the “Just go to the ER” from a physician who knows the patient much better than the EM doc will, knows what outcome they want, what the patient will need, but cannot be bothered with the 10 minutes of administrative time it’d take for the direct admit to happen. This is what Mr. Beck should have had in the first place, and then a lot of his problems / complaints wouldn’t have happened. He didn’t need the ED, he needed his doctors to take care of their patient.

Mr. Beck was operated on that day in the same facility he was sent back to for re-admission, after having clearly been identified by the anesthesiologist on the case as having significant problems with pain control. (more…)

 
                   Thanks to Akuan for permission to use this Photo.

You’ve probably heard countless times how exercise is “good for you.” But did you know that it can actually help you feel good, too? Getting the right amount of exercise can rev up your energy levels and even help improve your mood.

Rewards and Benefits

Experts recommend that teens get 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. Here are some of the reasons:

Exercise benefits every part of the body, including the mind.

Exercising causes the body to produce endorphins, chemicals that can help a person to feel more peaceful and happy. Exercise can help some people sleep better. It can also help some people who have mild depression and low self-esteem. Plus, exercise can give people a real sense of accomplishment and pride at having achieved a certain goal — like beating an old time in the 100-meter dash.

Exercising can help you look better.

People who exercise burn more calories and look more toned than those who don’t. In fact, exercise is one of the most important parts of keeping your body at a healthy weight.

Exercise helps people lose weight and lower the risk of some diseases.

Exercising to maintain a healthy weight decreases a person’s risk of developing certain diseases, including type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. These diseases, which used to be found mostly in adults, are becoming more common in teens. (more…)

Many parents have said yes. David Healy, a Scottish psychiatrist, prompted by those stories, did a small experiment in which undepressed persons took anti-depressants. About 10% of them started having suicidal thoughts. Drug companies and the University of Toronto (where Healy had been offered a job) reacted very badly to this information, as Healy describes in Let Them Eat Prozac. An article in the latest issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry by David Leon, a biostatistician on the FDA oversight panel, describes why he voted to extend a warning about this from children (< 18 years old) to young adults (18-24 years old). This was the main data:

What’s shown is the odds ratio for a report of suicide ideation or behavior, comparing those who got anti-depressants with those who got placebos. (more…)