Zhiqiao Guest Blogs: Mineral Diet Associated with PMS

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This Guest Blog Post is from Zhiqiao Dong, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:

Diet and nutrition are significant factors in the overall function of the body, and dietary supplements of various minerals have become increasingly popular with consumers. This new article on a women’s health study suggests some minerals, including iron and potassium, have been linked to the development of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The 10 year study on over 3000 women was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and found that iron may reduce the risk of PMS while potassium may increase the risk. In the study, women with the highest intake of iron were 40% less likely to be clinically diagnosed with PMS compared to women with the least intake of iron. Potassium, however, had the opposite effect. Women with the most intake of potassium were 43% more likely to be diagnosed with PMS than those with the least. On the other hand, researchers noted that too much iron or too little potassium may also harm the body. Therefore, a balanced diet with a variety of food, vitamins and minerals is still key to health!

Ji Sun Guest Blogs: Religion’s Influence on Mental Health

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This Guest Blog Post is from Ji Sun Lee, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:

In this study, researchers investigated religious coping behaviors among medically ill hospitalized adults and compared their health to those without religious coping behaviors. There were two types of religious coping behaviors: the negative, which considers God as punishing and forceful, and the positive, which considers God as benevolent and supporting. The results indicated that negative religious coping behaviors led to poorer physical health, decreased quality of life, and more depression, while positive religious coping behaviors led to better mental health outcomes.

Connie Guest Blogs: Breaking Myths on Dieting and Obesity

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This Guest Blog Post is from Connie Liu, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:

There have been countless statements made about obesity that society has believed in, when in reality, these “facts” are merely just myths not backed up by reliable medical evidence. One myth, which you may be familiar with, is that eating less or exercising more will lead to massive weight loss over time. This assumption is based on the idea that “3,500 calories are equal to one pound” (so if a person eats 100 calories less than normal every day for one year, they would mathematically lose at least 10 pounds by the end of the year). However, this equation was only used for short-term experiments and therefore, does not apply to long-term conditions. Another myth dieters believe in is that setting up attainable, gradual goals results in weight loss. However, studies have actually found that dieters who set the most ambitious goals lost more weight, which suggest that psychological attitudes play a prominent role in successful weight loss. These are just two out of several weight loss mythbusters. For more, you can read on over here.

Brandon Guest Blogs: Consciously Unconscious

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This Guest Blog Post is from Brandon Rokos, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:
Waking up midway through the procedure isn’t something most people think about before going under the knife. But for a small group whose senses remain active throughout the surgery, this is the reality. These patients report being able to hear the equipment buzzing around them as they lay on the operating table unable to move. Even worse is that anesthesiologists cannot reliably test to see whether a patient is fully unconscious or not. However, a recent neuropsychological study at Massachusetts General Hospital used electrical signals to detect the brain function of subjects in hopes of monitoring their level of sedation and understand what really constitutes being fully unconscious. Researchers administered a general anesthetic called propofol and tracked electrical signals while the subjects performed a task to test their consciousness. It is hoped that the usage of distinct electrical signals can reveal more about the brain and its relationship to the psychological behaviors of consciousness and unconsciousness, and furthermore, fuel research that ensures patients are properly sedated before medical procedures.

Neuropsychiatric Disorders Linked to Stress During Puberty and Prenatal Insult

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This study on mice revealed a relationship between prenatal infection and peripubertal stress, both previously shown in their respective ways to have a significant contribution to psychiatric disorders. Researchers found that mice with the combined environmental factors of both prenatal infection in the form of prenatal immune activation and an exposure to peripubertal stress, eventually exhibited behavior abnormalities in adulthood. More specifically, when mice with prenatal infectious histories, encountered stress during puberty, the stress was shown to have an increase on the pubescent mice’s vulnerability to changes in the brain immune functions. As a result, peripubertal stress seemed to have an effect in uncovering the neuropsychiatric and neuropathological impact and diseases associated with prenatal immune challenge. These findings suggest the powerful influence of prenatal infection and peripubertal stress on developmental mental illnesses and disorders that are so prominent within the human population.

Julie Guest Blogs: Manage Your Meal Times

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Julie Nam, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students, guest blogs again!:

For those who seek weight loss in order to acquire a healthy weight, the timing of meals seems to impact their progress. Often, when people diet, they focus on the amount of calories they eat rather than on the time of day they eat. A recent study found that the timing of meals have a significant influence in weight loss. One group ate their main meal, lunch, before 3 p.m. and the second group ate their meal after 3 p.m. The two groups had similar caloric intakes, energy expenditures, and sleep. Researchers found that compared to the early-eaters, the late-eaters lost less weight and revealed a lower insulin sensitivity, a risk factor for diabetes type 2. These findings suggest that when dieters eat is an important contributor for effective weight loss.

Rishi Guest Blogs: The Threat of Ceaseless Pandemics

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This Guest Blog Post is from Rishi Menon, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:

With today’s scientific and medical advancement, populations across the globe are steadily becoming less wary of airborne disease. After all, chances are you’ve already gotten the vaccine to fight it. While most are aware that different strains have varying levels of strength and resistance to drugs, the emergence of entirely drug-resistant diseases could send countries worldwide in national panic. This article, for instance, presents a dangerous situation in which widespread tuberculosis, one that is completely resilient to drugs, would be incurable. With the knowledge of the presence of such a disease strain, governments may feel encouraged enforce preventative action. This includes nationwide mandates for citizens to receive vaccinations, screening for possible disease infection, etc. Yet the emergence of an drug-resistant strain could also shake society’s confidence in the medical system – can our cutting-edge research keep up with the ever-growing diseases? Will we need to find a new way to eliminate disease within our populations? Vaccines are artificial immune systems that cannot pass down through posterity – can we find a more permanent solution to diseases? These are important questions still lingering.

Amy Guest Blogs: The best type of medicine…

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This Guest Blog Post is from Amy Trang, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:

Many of us have heard that laughter is the best medicine. Fortunately, this is no joke! This research from the Mayo Clinic reveals that laughing can help relieve stress leading to both short-term and long-term benefits. Not only does it alleviate mental exhaustion, it also stimulates organs throughout the body, such as your heart, lungs, and muscles. When this happens, endorphins are released by your brain, producing an overall feeling of well-being. Laughing soothes tension by relaxing muscles and also activates and deactivates your stress response, leaving you in a relaxed state. The long-term effect from laughing includes improving your immune system by having positive thoughts manifest to release certain chemicals that fight off stress and other illnesses.

Jacqueline Guest Blogs: Just a spoon full of sugar?

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This Guest Blog Post is from Jacqueline Ip, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:

Do you believe sugar can heal your wounds? Professor Murandu from University of Wolverhampton recently tested sugar therapy with three types of sugar to see the effect on bacterial growth. Participants in his study had different wound types, such as leg ulcers and surgical wounds, and results show that greet sugar and cane sugar have an antimicrobial and an analgesic (pain relief) effect. This research suggests that underlying sugar therapy is the principle that  bacteria needs water to survive. Since sugar has high osmolar action, sugar “takes away” the water in the wound thus inhibiting bacteria reproduction and causing the bacteria to die. So while a spoonful of sugar may be bad in our food, it may work great under our band-aids.

Benefits of a Mediterranean Diet

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The findings of this study suggest that incorporating a Mediterranean diet could cut back the risk of getting a cardiovascular disease by up to 30%! The study was originally intended to compare those on a Mediterranean diet to those on a low-fat diet, but researchers found that people on a low-fat diet had a difficult time lowering their amount of fat intake. On the other hand, participants of the Mediterranean diet, which included vegetables, fruit, fish, olive oil, nuts, and legumes, maintained their diet and did not resort to eating commercial food products. The results proved astonishing in that over the course of 5 years, for those on a Mediterranean diet, the rate of heart attacks, strokes, and death caused by heart disease was significantly reduced.