Author Archive

Menopause: the learning capacity temporarily affected

Monday, August 30th, 2010

The learning capacity would be temporarily reduced by the end of the premenopausal according to a study published in the journal Neurology. Gail Greendale, University of California at Los Angeles and his colleagues conducted the study with 2362 women aged 42-52 years who had at least one menstrual period during the three months preceding the study.

They passed the tests of verbal memory, working memory and speed of thinking (information processing speed) at different stages of the menopausal transition:

hormone-tratement-menopause-relief

- The premenopausal (no change in the menstrual cycle);
- The beginning of the perimenopause (irregular cycles but not in the absence of the rule for a period of three months);
- Late perimenopause (no rule for 3-11 months);
- Postmenopause (no rule for 12 months).

The performance on these tests improved with repetition. But this improvement was less significant in the perimenopause. Improving the speed of thought in late perimenopause only 28% of that of premenopausal. The improvement in verbal memory in early and late perimenopause was only 29% and 7% of that of premenopausal. “Combined, these results indicate that early and late perimenopause, women do not learn as well as during other stages of transition,” says Greendale.

“These results are consistent with the memory problems reported by 60% of women like symptoms during the menopausal transition,” she said. “The good news is that these learning effects seem to be temporary. The results show that, postmenopause, learning comes at the premenopause. ”

The results also show that hormone replacement therapy, estrogen and progesterone before menopause improve verbal memory and speed of thought. But instead, those hormones after the last menstrual period, had a negative effect postmenopausal women who took hormones did not show improvement as opposed to those who did not. “Our results suggest that the critical period for the benefits of estrogen and progesterone on the brain can be pre-menopausal, but these results should be interpreted with caution,” said Greendale.

Tags: ,
Posted in Health Care | No Comments »

How to eating with conscience

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Yes, eat quickly, finishing his meals on the run before returning to the office to prepare a meeting or end a working folder seems to be the daily lot of many people. Snacks pulled in front of the computer between two e-mails, just chewed while driving to the workplace or to a business appointment, without paying attention to what you eat because of a meeting prepare an emergency or a folder to finish quickly before picking up children at school, there are many opportunities to eat without being fully aware of what we eat.

stop-over-eating

However, eating with awareness has many health benefits, including the right to stabilize the weight, since you do not overeat. Indeed, when you eat consciously, you will eat more slowly and allow your meals last longer than 20 minutes, the time it takes for your brain to start receiving signals of satiety (so if you finish a meal less than 20 minutes you may eat too strongly).

Assess the appearance of food
Although we can drool over beautiful food advertisements in magazines or on websites, we sometimes forget the beauty of the food we’re about to eat. Take time to notice the beauty of food is directed to eat with consciousness.

You focus on each bite
Think about the flavors and textures of your food, and even the sounds they make in your mouth when you chew. Concentrate on knowing as much you love or hate the feel a particular food.

Chew
Although this may seem restrictive to chew at least 20 times with each bite (try to take small bites), make sure to order enough to break your food before swallowing. Take time to chew can give you more time to focus on each bite (see item No. 5) and eat better with awareness.

Use covered and the rest between bites
It is much easier to eat smaller portions when you use a fork and a knife. Of course, if you feel you’ll look ridiculous while eating a chocolate bar with dishes, then skip this step, but remember to rest the bar of chocolate (or any food that is eaten with the fingers ) between bites so you can stay focused on what you eat.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Food and Nutritions | No Comments »

Vitamin D deficiency linked to cognitive decline

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

vitD_SunTwo new studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, confirms previous studies indicating that vitamin D deficiency in older people is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline.

Vitamin D appears to have anti-inflammatory effects that may help keep blood vessels healthy. And the presence of vitamin D receptors in the brain suggests that it can directly affect brain tissue.

Amie Peterson of the Oregon Health & Science University and colleagues conducted the study with 150 people aged 70 and over (85 years on average) living independently.

The levels of vitamin D ranged from 9-90 nanograms per milliliter of blood. Levels of 30 or more are considered normal.

The more cognitive test scores were low, the levels of vitamin D were low. Lower levels of vitamin D were also associated with greater risk of falling.

A second study, led by Cedric Annweiler University Hospital of Angers and his colleagues, involved 752 women aged 75 and over in France. A total of 129 women had levels below 10 nanograms per milliliter. Compared to women with higher levels, they were twice as likely to have cognitive impairment.

Further studies are needed to determine the causal relationship between vitamin D and cognitive decline. It is possible that the cognitive decline limit the level of sun exposure by limiting activities.

Tags: ,
Posted in Body Care | No Comments »

What to eat to prepare the skin to the sun

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

Skin foodsGoing on holiday, enjoying the sun, and cultivate a good tan on the beach or the mountains are moments of relaxation and well-being that delight us. Fostering a healthy and balanced diet to give your body what it needs and prepare your skin for tanning. Here are some tips for effectively and enjoy the sun safely.

Take advantage of seasonal foods

Sun exposure generates more free radicals, oxygen molecules that can cause damage in our body. To neutralize them, we must supply a steady and sufficient antioxidants, molecules that are found in our food. In summer, the shelves are full of fruits and vegetables rich in these precious nutrients. Overuse of fresh seasonal vegetables, preferably organic quality.

On a plate, invite greedily carotenoids which give the fruit and vegetables an orange or red, often masked by chlorophyll. Among them and perhaps the best known: beta-carotene (or pro-vitamin A) which can be found in carrots, spinach, parsley, sweet potato, melon, dried apricot, yellow peach, mango, red pepper, watercress, alfalfa.
Note that beta-carotene in carrots is an advantage assimilated by the body especially when eaten raw.

Eating effective

For your eyes, strained, increase your intake of lutein present in corn, marigolds, green beans, spinach, green cabbage, lettuce, fresh pollen and cyst willow, etc. Consuming also zeaxanthin, mainly present in corn. Not forgetting the famous lycopene that is found in tomatoes (even when it is cooked and combined with lipids), watermelon, guava, pink grapefruit.

The menu also valuable antioxidant vitamins: vitamin E than is found in wheat germ oil, sunflower oil, wheat germ, almonds, hazelnuts, oil, cod liver etc.. Vitamin C is essential, it is present in the acerola, guava, goji berries, kale, kiwi, broccoli, parsley, citrus, etc.

Add two more to essential in the fight free radicals: selenium, found in fish, seafood, eggs, Brazil nuts, whole grains, legumes, brewer’s yeast, etc.., And zinc present in oysters, shellfish, herring, meat, liver, wheat germ, egg yolk, lentils, mile, etc..

Not forgetting to pay your summer salads good fatty acids omega 3 and 6 fatty fish oil, nuts, camelina, rapeseed oil for omega 3, evening primrose and borage for omega 6.

You can also opt for a dietary supplement containing a mixture of these precious elements, in this case make sure that beta-carotene and vitamin E content of both natural and not synthetic. This treatment is ideally 2-3 weeks before the show or before the summer. It is also recommended to extend it during the exposure if the skin is sensitive or reactive. Also consider urucum an Amazonian plant orange color extremely rich in beta-carotene, about 100 times more than carrots and stimulating the production of melanin.

Hydration for good tan

It is also important to drink plenty and often. In summer, we sweat twice as much as usual and lose water and minerals. Hydration is important. Eat so without moderation, water and natural fruit juices. The fruit juice industry are high in sugar but low in nutritional value.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Food and Nutritions | No Comments »

What happens during a session Sophrology?

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Need a break, calm and well-being? Regardless of your age and fitness, relaxation therapy is available to all. Through relaxation exercises dynamic and static, relaxation therapy is becoming more and more as a healthy and effective method to deal with stress.

An effective relaxation therapy session lasts about one fifteen ET must be supervised by a professional sophrologist.

Good conditions primarily

For efficiency, the environment in which occurs a relaxation therapy session should be quiet and pleasant. The sophrologists professionals generally recommend to dress in loose, comfortable and a place to lie down or sit (chair, sofa, mattress or mat). A small blanket or rug can also be used to keep warm because the body temperature decreases slightly when it relaxes.

Dialogue

Each session begins with a dialogue initiated by the relaxation therapist with his patient, how he feels physically and mentally, and to present the exercises he recommends for the meeting. This stage lasts about 10 minutes.

Relaxation dynamics

For 25 minutes, the relaxation therapist invites the patient to achieve dynamic relaxation exercises. These exercises are based on breathing, and to effect a movement of contraction and relaxation of the body. These relaxation exercises will be dynamic in early supervised by a relaxation therapist. Once the patient is formed, it can reproduce independently in daily life.

Static relaxation

For 25 minutes, the relaxation therapist invites the patient to move into a position most comfortable (sitting or lying). The patient closes his eyes and lulled by the sound of his voice that leads him on a path of total relaxation, to the edge of sleep (but not sleep). Then once the patient is in a state of deep relaxation, the relaxation therapist invites him to see a positive and fun (all defined at the beginning of dialogue meeting or not) to encourage and appreciate more the benefits of relaxation.

Back on the course of the meeting

A relaxation therapy session always ends with another dialog 10 minutes during which the patient can share with his sophrologist sensations felt during the session. It is also an opportunity for relaxation therapist to recommend to the patient an exercise program to achieve alone everyday. A good relaxation therapist will give it to he can practice independently until its next meeting.

A training day, even 10 minutes is recommended: it is the key to achieve results more quickly and sustainably.
Example of dynamic relaxation exercise

- Relaxation therapist invites the patient to be placed upright, feet in the width of the basin;

- He asks her to take a deep breath through the abdomen;

- Retention in lungs full of air, the patient should shrug from top to bottom and from bottom to top (more or less energetically, shrugging about a dozen);

- Then the patient should blow by releasing good shoulders, hands down to your fingertips. To help create a vacuum in his head, he can imagine, when he releases the arms and hands to lay on the ground that clutters her mind and wants to evacuate (stress, tensions, frustrations, fears , fear …)

- Finally, the relaxation therapist invited him to take a time to welcome the sensations due to the stimulation and to resume its natural breathing.

The exercise should be repeated two or three times, with small breaks between each repetition to feel the relaxation move gradually.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Therapy | No Comments »

Spanking promotes aggression in children

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Children receiving regular spankings to three years are more aggressive at the age of five years, according to a U.S. study published in the journal Pediatrics.

children

Catherine Taylor of Tulane University (New Orleans) conducted the study with 2,500 mothers of children under 3 years. Nearly half (45.6%) reported to have failed to spank their child during the previous month, 27.9% had one or two times and over a quarter (26.5%) had done more twice.

The researchers took into account in data analysis, other factors that may affect the development of aggression in children, such as neglect, drug or alcohol, stress and Maternal depression.

Children who regularly received the spanking showed aggressive behavior at age five. They were proof of “insolence, screams, cruelty, viciousness, vis-à-vis others. Some children were fighting, threatening and destroying things.

“There are ways to discipline children effectively without hitting them and this can reduce their chances of being aggressive later,” says the researcher.

“Parents do not have to resort to spanking to get what they want. If they avoid spanking, but use non-physical means, their child is more likely to perform well later.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly opposes spanking for some reason.

In 2008, the Council of Europe has called on its member states to ban spanking. A call to which the French in particular are resisting.

Tags:
Posted in Environment | No Comments »

Google is an intrusion into the results of research to prevent suicide

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Google is testing a trespass in the results of research to contribute to the prevention of suicide. In response to research “means to commit suicide” or “suicidal thoughts”, U.S. Internet are now show a number of emergency anti-suicide highlighted by a red phone icon.

The search engine can not read minds, several studies such as “I want to end my life” does not show the preventive message.

google_logo

The search engine displays already for several months the number of national poison control center for U.S. research related to poisoning, told the New York Times, Dr. Roni Zeiger, head of Google’s health issues

This practice goes against the normal functioning of Google, which claims not to intervene manually in the ranking of its results is completely determined by algorithms.

Specialized blogs are questioning the possible implications of this intrusion into the search results. The ReadWriteWeb site speculates on possible interventions: “Looking for cheap cigarettes? Are you sure it is not rather patches of weaning you’re looking for? McDonald’s? Look, here are some suggestions of plans and tips to feed healthy. ‘

It is possible, says the site, a search engine to act on its results “for the greater good. But who will define what is good?”

Tags: ,
Posted in Environment | No Comments »

New criteria for diagnosis of fibromyalgia

Monday, August 9th, 2010

fibromyalgia_01New criteria for diagnosis of fibromyalgia, which the American College of Rheumatology endorsed, could lead to an increase in diagnosed cases, according to a study published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

The current diagnostic criteria are the tenderness of 11 or more points 18 and generalized pain in all four quadrants of the body for three months. But this method is not safe, “said Robert Katz of Rush University (Chicago). The doctors, he said, are not comfortable with the examination of sensitive points and these points fluctuate over time.

The new criteria avoid sensitive issues and review. They rely instead on an index of generalized pain, consisting of a list of 19 elements, combined with a scale of severity of symptoms. The person indicates the number of body parts when she experienced pain during the previous week. The scale of symptoms includes sleep, not recovery, fatigue and cognitive problems, which are three characteristics of the disease. Symptoms are rated on a severity scale of 0-3.

According to Katz, this new set of criteria “casts a wider net” and the number of diagnoses could double or even triple.

The researchers developed and tested the new criteria with 829 people with the disease and a group of people with other disorders such as painful syndrome affecting the neck and back as well as osteoarthritis. The new criteria allow to identify 88% of people with fibromyalgia without physical examination or consideration of sensitive issues.

With these new criteria, all physicians, not only rheumatologists should find it easier to diagnose, “said Katz.

Daniel J. Clauw University of Michigan at Ann Arbor who has worked on the development of new criteria was that the old criteria based on sensitive issues were not intended to diagnose initially, but looking.

This study was funded by the Lilly laboratory that produces the antidepressant Cymbalta (duloxetine) used for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Clauw said receiving consulting fees from Pfizer, Lilly, Forest, Cypress Biosciences, Pierre Fabre, UCB and AstraZeneca.

Tags: ,
Posted in Body Care | No Comments »

The dangers of Dukan diet (high protein) for weight loss

Friday, August 6th, 2010

A high-protein diet for weight loss, such as the system Dukan (also called system beak) which is currently very popular, is dangerous “says Dr. Alain Golay has asked the journalist Marie-Christine Petit-Pierre for the newspaper Le Temps. Dr. Golay is medical director of the Education therapeutic for chronic diseases, diabetes and obesity, University Hospitals of Geneva.

dukan-diet

The scheme, says it leads to a great hunger and a resumption of normal weight when food is gradually reintroduced.

Recall that the high-protein diet by Dr. Pierre Dukan method, which excludes carbohydrates or carbohydrates (starches, cereals, rice, pasta), consists of four phases: a relatively short attack phase where only the animal proteins are permitted, a cruise phase which are gradually added vegetables except starchy foods (potatoes, corn, peas, lentils, …) and finally a consolidation phase where carbohydrates are gradually reintroduced and a stabilization phase that is a return to normal diet with protein a day per week.

Some twenty years ago, said Dr. Golay, the high-protein diet had the support of hospitals, which is no longer the case, its deleterious effects have been shown by an abundant literature. He himself has tested the scheme in its practice. “Three groups followed six weeks of diet. The first with a balanced diet, the second separated, and the third protein diet. The weight loss was similar in all three categories. But those fed diets high protein were separated and taken over many more weight than the others later. ”

The high-protein diet allows the first phase without carbohydrates, not too hungry. But, he said, as soon as they are reintroduced, “the body screams with hunger. It “remembers that he was deprived of carbohydrates, and when he gets back, it stores all the better. And he’ll ask for more, for fear of missing”, which is gaining weight.

He advises those who have already started a fast-protein diet to reintroduce carbohydrates in moderate amounts. They will be very hungry at first, but the more they take their high-protein diet, the longer it will be difficult, “he said.

To lose weight, he advises the government “everybody knows”: half plate of vegetables, one quarter protein, one quarter of flour (potato, rice, pasta …), limiting fats sweets. “Nothing should be prohibited as it is a source of frustration.” This is not a diet, people need to achieve a balanced diet they can lose weight in normality. ”

20% of calories from the diet should come from protein (meat, fish, eggs, cheese) and 50% carbohydrates (from starchy, fruit, vegetables, dairy products), says he.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Weight Loss | No Comments »

The link between testosterone and financial risk in women

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Happy-Business-WomanThe level of testosterone may influence the career choices of women according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago and colleagues studied the link between testosterone levels in 500 MBA students (MBA) and aversion to financial risk and the choice of career.

Initially, students could choose, in a computer simulation of situations, among receive fixed payments or play the lottery in situations involving different levels of risk. Those who had the lowest levels of risk aversion chose the option of the lottery more often.

Among women, those who had higher levels of testosterone were more likely to take risks. Whereas among men, testosterone levels had no influence.

Two years later, when these students have entered the labor market, people with high levels of testosterone and low risk aversion were more likely to have chosen careers in finance risky.

“This study has important implications for how the effects of testosterone may have an impact on the actual risk-taking in financial markets,” believes Zingales. “Moreover, it can illuminate the differences between the sexes in career choices. Future research should explore the mechanisms by which this sex hormone affects the brain. “

Tags: ,
Posted in Environment | No Comments »