Milwaukee Health and Fitness Centre

Archive for the ‘Mental Health’ Category

The world today is on the fast lane. So many people, as a result, have been victimized by the rat race pace. There is nothing so destructive than living too fast. Stress is a word that is synonymous with pressure. It is a condition that causes hardship or disquiet. Inundated with an overly full schedule, some people have no time left for them to just enjoy doing things with others. Having a good time with other people can help us reduce the stress of a fast life. The problems of a fast life are so numerous that they keep us away from the abundant life that honors God, in whose image we are made.
God’s idea towards all goes beyond the idea that we merely exist or survive. It connotes that we are to live in a vigorous state of thriving and prospering. God wants us to flourish and live life in the fullest. And so He integrated the life of a flourishing person in his personal growth, family life, work, spirituality, and care for others. It is never God’s intention that His children receive nothing tangible for their labor. The problems we record are as a result of adversities and challenges, which are important ingredients in the development of a quality human being. Though adversities and challenges are there to help us build our capacities, yet healthy reciprocal relationships and contributions to the well-being of others cannot be ignored. Overburdening ourselves to bringing lasting or permanent solutions to human challenges is at the helm of our problems.
Physics sees stress as a force or system of forces that is exerted on a body which results in its deformation or strain. This goes a long way to establish our earlier definition of stress as an aberration to quietude. In this article however, we will be looking at stress as a mental, emotional, or physical strain that is either caused by anxiety or overwork. It is attaching a special emphasis, importance, or significance to something. Stress may cause such symptoms as raised blood pressure or depression. However, the faster we live, the more force is exerted until; finally, we reach the point that nothing can hold us together. The result then is predictable – disintegration!
Living in a world that has gone crazy does not mean we should also go crazy with it. We are so empty that we try to fill our emptiness with whatever the world has to offer us as a lifeline. The problem lies in us. Our calendars are usually packed full with activities and program that easily beset us. It is quite true that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop, but we get worn out and depressed without rest and a good time to play. Having an overly full schedule with no time to take a quiet work, throw a ball, read a story, pick pen and paper to write down inspiring words, or build a strong relationship, is failure on our part to properly prioritize and recognize what is good for us.
Many homes today have learned to eat on the run. Sitting down together to enjoy a well-balanced, home-cooked meal is an ideal thing for people who are poised to beat stress. The idea of being busy all the time with everyone being somewhere doing something, is not to help us get the job done properly, rather it helps to create an atmosphere of restlessness with its attendant record of poor output. The big question we must now ask ourselves is this: can there ever be a solution anywhere?
Living in a high-tech, high-speed society like ours demands a cautious approach. Engaging ourselves in group activities can be a fantastic method. The problem here is that of moderation. The absence of mental heath or positive emotion in life can be more injurious than major depressed disorder. People who are involved are likely to describe their lives as empty or hollow. They are prone to emotional distress and tend not to function well psychologically or socially. They lack confidence, find social relationships difficult and hold little hope for the social order. Whenever we focus excessively on work or dominate our lives with the accumulation of more things, no matter how important, we get listless and over-demanding.
The awareness that every individual life is part of a larger story of humanity helps us in this work of adjustment. Also finding something to do with our life is to have positive emotion toward life, which includes happiness and life satisfaction. We can succeed in our effort to beat stress only when our lives are truly having meaning and purpose – regularly in good spirits, cheerful, calm, peaceful, and in positive relations with others. When we are able to see the need for a relaxed mind; when we are determined to get rid of the incidentals, and then get our directions from God, something positive will happen.

Depression can be defined as a state of continuous sadness and helplessness. This condition can be developed in any person irrespective of age and sex. It may also develop in children if proper care and time is not given to them. Similarly the young people and old people may also be the victim of this mental condition. There are many triggers or causes of depression. Following are some of the very common causes or triggers that are responsible of the depression development in most of the patients.

• The physical damage, injury, accident or a prolonged disease can make a person depressed.
• The loss in business, termination of job or any other financial problem may lead to depression.
• The death of your loved one, best friend or a close family member is also a common cause of this condition.
• The rude behaviour of teachers and parents can develop depression in children. Also if proper time, care and love is not given to children, this condition may be developed in them.
• The continuous failure in exams can make the students depressed.
• The over use of alcohol and other drugs is also a common trigger of depression.
• The rape or an attempt of rape can cause depression in women.
• Any physical issue like acne, obesity, small height, grey teeth etc can be the cause of depression in some of the patients.
• This condition may also be due to the genetic reasons. If your parents are suffering from this condition, then this may also be transmitted to you. But this does not happen every time.

Mindfulness is the Western version of Eastern meditation techniques that has become one of the key elements of the “third generation” of cognitive therapy.
The mindfulness focuses on learning to monitor the continuing feelings and thoughts more closely, both in meditation and yoga exercises.
Prove that the left brain area is located happiness

• Meditation control that emotion

Many years ago, when still a graduate student in psychology, I conducted an experiment to assess how meditation might work as an antidote to stress.
My professors were skeptical, my measures were weak and my patients were mostly second-year colleagues. Not surprisingly, my results were inconclusive. But today I feel vindicated.
Over the years there have been scores of studies that have studied meditation, some suggesting its powers to alleviate the adverse effects of stress. But only last month took shape what I consider a definitive study that confirms my hypothesis, once loose, revealing the brain mechanism that may explain the ability to relax.
The data emerged as one of many experimental results of an unusual research collaboration: the Dalai Lama, Tibetan religious and political leader in exile, and some of the leading psychologists and neurologists from the United States. The scientists met with the Dalai Lama for five days in Dharamsala, India, in March 2000 to discuss how people might better control their destructive emotions.
One of my personal heroes in this rapprochement between science and ancient wisdom is Dr. Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the, University of Wisconsin. Davidson did in a recent investigation to identify an index to establish the center in the brain of moods.
Magnetic resonance imaging revealed that when people are anxious, angry, depressed parts of the brain converge on the amygdala and right prefrontal cortex, a brain region important for hiperdefensa typical of people under stress. By contrast, when people have a positive spirit, enthusiasm and energy, those sites are quiet and increases the activity of the left prefrontal cortex.
Davidson reported the discovery during a meeting with the Dalai Lama and scientists in India. But the finding, while interesting, raised more questions than answers. Was it just coincidence or a common feature among the monks? Was there something about the training of a blade that could lead to a state of perpetual bliss? And if so, could this wonder be shared by all?
A tentative answer to this last question comes from a study that Davidson held in collaboration with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts.
This clinic teaches meditation in patients with chronic illnesses to help them better manage their symptoms. In an article, Drs Davidson and Kabat-Zinn report on the effects of training in this kind of meditation, a method extracted from its Buddhist origins and now taught to patients in hospitals and clinics in many countries. Read the rest of this entry »

The importance of collecting, processing and using data in campaign to improve health cannot be stressed enough. Much of progress in extending and improving the quality of human life is due to technical progress, including advances in knowledge about diseases and about appropriate, cost effective responses. To the extent that the generation and application of information and knowledge can be facilitated and became more systematic, accelerating progress in improving human health and eliminating health inequities should be possible.