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Another Reason to Love the Med Diet: It Fights Depression
We've been touting the benefits of the Mediterranean diet for a while now — it reduces allergy symptoms, helps with weight control, supports longevity, and is good for vision and heart health. A new study gives us yet another reason to go the way of Mediterranean: it may protect against depression.
Researchers studied a pool of 11,000 Spanish adults over a four-and-a-half-year period and found that those who stuck closely to a Mediterranean diet were 30 percent less likely to develop depression than those that didn't.
Yoga Proven to Ease Back Pain
If you suffer from chronic back pain, grab a mat and head to the nearest yoga studio. New research funded by the National Institute of Health found taking regular yoga classes helps reduce pack pain and improves your mood and your ability to move. After 12 weeks, those in the study who took 90-minute yoga classes twice a week experienced a 42 percent reduction in pain and also reduced their intake of pain medication.
Healthy To-Do: Volunteer For a Cause You Love
Doing community service is good for the world, but did you know it can also be good for your health? Giving your time to a worthy cause can increase your overall happiness.
Fittingly, I learned this while reading a story in Woman's Day entitled "What Doctors Wish You'd Do" — while waiting for a doctor's appointment.
Fights the Blues With Fish
When thinking of food as medicine, we have gotten a little reductive. By trying to find the one active ingredient that makes a food healthy, we have forgotten about the food itself. Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish have been found to fight inflammation and reduce depression.
DrSugar Answers: What Is DHEA?
DrSugar is in the house and he's answering your health questions.
Dear DrSugar,
My mom was very fatigued most days, having to take naps between basic activities like shopping and putting away the groceries, until she started taking a DHEA supplement. Now she has more energy and makes it through multiple activities with no naps.
Smoking Pot Linked to Heart Attack and Stroke Risk
We all know that smoking pot regularly just isn't good for our health. It can impair learning, affect memory retention and retrieval, and cause perceptual abnormalities (where you think you hear or see something that isn't there). The smoke from marijuana is also linked to lung cancer, and now research shows that chronic pot smoking can raise a person's risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Spring Cleaning, Good for Your Health?
If you're dreading Spring cleaning, here's something to lift your spirits.
Not only does Spring cleaning boost how many calories you burn, as little as 20 minutes of any kind of physical activity (including cleaning and gardening) a week helped mental health significantly, say researchers. So no, this is not to suggest that you should replace your endorphin boosting exercise routine with scrubbing toilets and floors, but to remind you that every little bit of physical activity counts — cleaning or otherwise.
Singulair Linked to Suicide?
If you take the allergy and asthma medication Singulair (which I do, by the way), you'll want to know that the FDA is investigating its link to depression and suicidal tendencies. Used by both children and adults, possible side effects can also include tremors and anxiety. It's been reported that at least three people who were taking Singulair have committed suicide.
Substance Abuse State by State
I am always fascinated by the national surveys that rank cities and states, like the recent rankings of healthy and unhealthy cities for women done recently by Self Magazine and the safest place to raise a child by Safe Kids USA. Well, now it looks like Uncle Sam has released the new report ranking states by the sordid issue of drug use, and its occasional counterpart mental health. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a report of substance abuse and mental health based on a survey of 136,110 people completed in 2005 and 2006.
Cell Phone Use Linked to Insomnia
I admit it. I love my cell phone because it makes me feel safe. I know if I ever need anything, help is just a phone call away.
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