Posts Tagged ‘Boston Health Psychology’

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2011 Stress in America Report: 1 in 5 Stressed, Caregivers More Stressed.

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

The 2011 annual report from the American Psychological Association (APA) was released recently. The findings show that 20% of Americans feel significantly stressed and that caregivers are especially stressed. The report also discusses the relationship between health and stress.

Stress management counseling and biofeedback training can be effective interventions for managing stress in our daily lives.

Check out the excerpts below and click the link below to view the report.

Since 2007, the American Psychological Association has commissioned an annual nationwide survey as part of its Mind/Body Health campaign to examine the state of stress across the country and understand its impact.

The Stress in America™ survey measures attitudes and perceptions of stress among the general public and identifies leading sources of stress, common behaviors used to manage stress and the impact of stress on our lives.

The results of the survey draw attention to the serious physical and emotional implications of stress and the inextricable link between the mind and body.

via Stress in America Press Room.

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7 Foods You Should Never Eat. Boston Nutritionist Can Help.

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Food scientists are shedding light on items loaded with toxins and chemicals–and simple swaps for a cleaner diet and supersized health.

Clean eating means choosing fruits, vegetables, and meats that are raised, grown, and sold with minimal processing. Often theyre organic, and rarely if ever should they contain additives. But in some cases, the methods of todays food producers are neither clean nor sustainable. The result is damage to our health, the environment, or both. So we decided to take a fresh look at food through the eyes of the people who spend their lives uncovering whats safe–or not–to eat. We asked them a simple question: “What foods do you avoid?” Their answers don’t necessarily make up a “banned foods” list. But reaching for the suggested alternatives might bring you better health–and peace of mind.

Excerpts From List. To view more info about each one, visit the link below to read the full article.

1. The Endocrinologist Wont Eat:  Canned Tomatoes

2. The Farmer Won’t Eat:  Corn-Fed Beef

3. The Toxicologist Won’t Eat:  Microwave Popcorn

4. The Farm Director Won’t Eat:  Nonorganic Potatoes

5. The Fisheries Expert Won’t Eat:  Farmed Salmon

6. The Cancer Researcher Won’t Drink:  Milk Produced With Artificial Hormones

7. The Organic-Foods Expert Won’t Eat:  Conventional Apples

If you would like to learn more about eating healthy and improving your health, working with a nutritionist and registered dietitian can help. Laura Foresta, RD, LDN, is a nutritionist at CPA, who offers nutrition counseling and coaching services in Boston and Newton, MA. Call today to schedule a consultation or to learn more.

via 7 Foods You Should Never Eat | Fox News.

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Laughter Produces Endorphins, Feel-good Brain Chemistry.

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Laughing with others makes us all feel better – we experience a momentary elevation in our mood and our sense of feeling relaxed. But, scientists have long wondered why that is so. A recent series of psychological studies has illuminated some of the reasons laughter is good for us. And, our brains are behind it all.

Check out this excerpt from the NY Times. Link to full article is below.

Laughter is regularly promoted as a source of health and well being, but it has been hard to pin down exactly why laughing until it hurts feels so good.

The answer, reports Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at Oxford, is not the intellectual pleasure of cerebral humor, but the physical act of laughing. The simple muscular exertions involved in producing the familiar ha, ha, ha, he said, trigger an increase in endorphins, the brain chemicals known for their feel-good effect.

His results build on a long history of scientific attempts to understand a deceptively simple and universal behavior. “Laughter is very weird stuff, actually,” Dr. Dunbar said. “That’s why we got interested in it.” And the findings fit well with a growing sense that laughter contributes to group bonding and may have been important in the evolution of highly social humans.

Social laughter, Dr. Dunbar suggests, relaxed and contagious, is “grooming at a distance,” an activity that fosters closeness in a group the way one-on-one grooming, patting and delousing promote and maintain bonds between individual primates of all sorts.

In five sets of studies in the laboratory and one field study at comedy performances, Dr. Dunbar and colleagues tested resistance to pain both before and after bouts of social laughter. The pain came from a freezing wine sleeve slipped over a forearm, an ever tightening blood pressure cuff or an excruciating ski exercise.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, eliminated the possibility that the pain resistance measured was the result of a general sense of well being rather than actual laughter. And, Dr. Dunbar said, they also provided a partial answer to the ageless conundrum of whether we laugh because we feel giddy or feel giddy because we laugh.

“The causal sequence is laughter triggers endorphin activation,” he said. What triggers laughter is a question that leads into a different labyrinth.

Robert R. Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the author of “Laughter: A Scientific Investigation,” said he thought the study was “a significant contribution” to a field of study that dates back 2,000 years or so.

via Laughter Produces Endorphins, Study Finds – NYTimes.com.

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Why Summer Vacations and the Internet Make You More Productive.

Monday, September 5th, 2011

Enjoy this long Labor Day weekend – research shows that the time off will not only make you more productive at work but also improved mental health. Small breaks at work or long vacations – either way it’s good for you and good for business. Check out the interesting article below (while you are on vacation).

Excerpt:

Just as small breaks improve concentration, long breaks replenish job performance. Vacation deprivation increases mistakes and resentment at co-workers, Businessweek reported in 2007. “The impact that taking a vacation has on ones mental health is profound,” said Francine Lederer, a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles specializing told ABC News. “Most people have better life perspective and are more motivated to achieve their goals after a vacation, even if it is a 24-hour time-out.”

The bottom line is that breaks are better for our brains than overtime. Where you get your break — from an hour on blogs, a day in the park, or a week golfing at Marthas Vineyard — doesnt matter so much as that you get it. If you care about your own productivity, dont be afraid to goof off online. And if you care about decision-making at the national level, tune out the critics and root for your presidents golf game.

via Why Summer Vacations and the Internet Make You More Productive – Derek Thompson – Business – The Atlantic.

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Chocolate Might Be Good for the Heart and Brain.

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

A new study suggests that consuming chocolate might have health benefits including reduced cardiac problems and lower risk of stroke. While the findings are positive, more research needs to be done. And, eating too much chocolate with corresponding high caloric intake probably wouldn’t be good for people. But, for all of you chocolate lovers out there, this might be good news for your health.

If you would like to learn to eat healthier, CPA recently added nutrition counseling services. We believe nutrition and physical health are an important part of good mental health. Check out information on our new nutritionist, Laura Foresta.

Excerpts from Article:

In a city renowned for its love of food, it is only fitting that researchers presented the results of a new study in Paris, France, showing that chocolate is good for the heart and brain. In a presentation at the European Society of Cardiology ESC 2011 Congress, British investigators are reporting that individuals who ate the most chocolate had a 37% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 29% lower risk of stroke compared with individuals who ate the least amount of chocolate.

In the study, published online August 29, 2011 in BMJ to coincide with the ESC presentation, Dr Adriana Buitrago-Lopez University of Cambridge, UK and colleagues state: “Although overconsumption can have harmful effects, the existing studies generally agree on a potential beneficial association of chocolate consumption with a lower risk of cardiometabolic disorders. Our findings confirm this, and we found that higher levels of chocolate consumption might be associated with a one-third reduction in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.”

Read full article: Chocolate Good for the Heart and Brain.

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Obesity in America Projected to Affect 164 Million by 2030

Friday, August 26th, 2011

Obesity is associated with deadly illnesses including diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Unfortunately, Western diets and lifestyles that include little exercise are causing alarming increases in obesity. Help is available. One can work with a nutritionist to learn healthier eating habits and can work with psychologists and health psychologists to change behaviors and habits that contribute to an unhealthy lifestyle. If you need help living a healthier life, don’t wait another day, get help and start feeling better.

Excerpt from article:

If rates of obesity continue to follow the current trends, half of the United States population will suffer from obesity within the next two decades. With projections that the number of obese people in America will climb from 99 million in 2008 to 164 million by 2030, obesity-related diseases and health care costs are expected to soar. The disturbing information come from a new report recently published in the journal The Lancet.

According to Claire Wang, assistant professor of health policy and management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and lead author of the study “At the rate we’re looking at right now, it’s a dire prediction. Something has to be done.”

The report, second in a series of articles on obesity published in the journal, projects that the number of obese people in the United Kingdom will rise to almost double from 15 million to 26 million in the next 19 years. Rates of obesity in both the U.S. and U.K. have already become the highest among all 34 member nations of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation OECD.

Read More: Obesity in America Projected to Affect 164 Million by 2030.

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Friendly Workplace Linked to Longer Life.

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Making friends at work and having a friendly, supportive workplace can help you live longer. Where you work and who you work with can have significant effects on your overall health and well-being, according to a recent study published in “Health Psychology.”  Check out the excerpt below to learn more. And, if you’re stressed out from an unfriendly workplace, stress management counseling might also be helpful.

Excerpts:

Researchers at Tel Aviv University found that people who felt that they had the support of their colleagues and generally positive social interactions at work were less likely to die over a 20-year period than those who reported a less friendly work environment. Over all, people who believed they had little or no emotional support in the workplace were 2.4 times as likely to die during the course of the study compared with the workers who developed stronger bonds with their peers in other cubicles.

[Between 1998 and 2008], 53 of the [820] workers taking part [in the study] had died; most of them had cast their work support networks in a negative light. Though correlation doesn’t equal causation and it is difficult to tie the causes of those deaths to specific factors in such a study, the researchers discovered some findings that surprised them.

One thing they noticed was that the risk was only affected by a person’s relationship with his or her peers, and not with that person’s supervisors. The way people viewed their relationships with their bosses had no impact on mortality.

In an age in which many people interact with colleagues only through electronic communication, Dr. Toker said she believed many companies could foster more socially supportive workplaces by encouraging face-to-face exchanges. Among the ways of doing that, she said, are holding regular social outings for employees, designating “coffee corners” where people can chat over breaks and creating peer-assistance programs that allow workers to discuss issues or problems in confidence.

To view the full article visit: Friendly Workplace Linked to Longer Life – NYTimes.com.

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Lifestyle Changes Might Prevent Millions of Cases of Alzheimer’s disease.

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

New research shows that living a healthier lifestyle may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. We already know that lifestyle choices can have a significant impact on our health and emotional well-being. This study shows that there are things we can do in our daily lives to prevent deterioration in our brain functioning later in life.

If you need help making lifestyle changes to improve your health and psychological well being, health psychologists may able to help. Or, if you are worried that you or a loved one might have Alzheimer’s disease, neuropsychological testing might be helpful. Contact us today to learn more.

Excerpt about research:

More than half of Alzheimers cases globally could be prevented if modifiable risk factors such as depression, obesity and smoking were eliminated, either with lifestyle changes or treatment of underlying conditions, new research suggests.

Even reducing the level of risk factors by a modest amount could prevent millions of cases of the memory-robbing illness, the researchers said. For example, a 25 percent reduction in seven common risk factors — including low education, obesity and smoking — could prevent up to 3 million Alzheimers cases around the world and up to half a million in the United States alone, the study found.

Click here to read: Lifestyle Changes Might Prevent Millions of Cases of Alzheimers – US News and World Report.

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Is Sitting a Lethal Activity? Boston Health & Wellness Center Offers Help.

Sunday, April 17th, 2011

Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?

By JAMES VLAHOS

Published: April 14, 2011

DR. LEVINE’S MAGIC UNDERWEAR resembled bicycle shorts, black and skintight, but with sensors mounted on the thighs and wires running to a fanny pack. The look was part Euro tourist, part cyborg. Twice a second, 24 hours a day, the magic underwear’s accelerometers and inclinometers would assess every movement I made, however small, and whether I was lying, walking, standing or sitting.

James Levine, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., has an intense interest in how much people move — and how much they don’t. He is a leader of an emerging field that some call inactivity studies, which has challenged long-held beliefs about human health and obesity. To help me understand some of the key findings, he suggested that I become a mock research trial participant. First my body fat was measured inside a white, futuristic capsule called a Bod Pod. Next, one of Dr. Levine’s colleagues, Shelly McCrady-Spitzer, placed a hooded mask over my head to measure the content of my exhalations and gauge my body’s calorie-burning rate. After that, I donned the magic underwear, then went down the hall to the laboratory’s research kitchen for a breakfast whose calories were measured precisely.

A weakness of traditional activity and obesity research is that it relies on self-reporting — people’s flawed recollections of how much they ate or exercised. But the participants in a series of studies that Dr. Levine did beginning in 2005 were assessed and wired up the way I was; they consumed all of their food in the lab for two months and were told not to exercise. With nary a snack nor workout left to chance, Dr. Levine was able to plumb the mysteries of a closed metabolic universe in which every calorie, consumed as food or expended for energy, could be accounted for.

To keep reading the article, click the link below. For help learning to lead a healthier lifestyle, visit Commonwealth Psychology Associates’ Health Psychology & Wellness page. We can help you make better lifestyle choices and improve your overall sense of wellbeing.

Read full article at:  Is Sitting a Lethal Activity? – NYTimes.com.

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Working Long Hours Bad for Heart. Change Your Lifestyle with Boston Health & Wellness Services

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) – People who regularly work long hours may be significantly increasing their risk of developing heart disease, the world’s biggest killer, British scientists said Monday.

Researchers said a long-term study showed that working more than 11 hours a day increased the risk of heart disease by 67 percent, compared with working a standard 7 to 8 hours a day.

They said the findings suggest that information on working hours — used alongside other factors like blood pressure, diabetes and smoking habits — could help doctors work out a patient’s risk of heart disease.

However, they also said it was not yet clear whether long working hours themselves contribute to heart disease risk, or whether they act as a “marker” of other factors that can harm heart health — like unhealthy eating habits, a lack of exercise or depression.

“This study might make us think twice about the old adage ‘hard work won’t kill you’,” said Stephen Holgate, chair of the population and systems medicine board at Britain’s Medical Research Council, which part-funded the study.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal, followed nearly 7,100 British workers for 11 years.

“Working long days is associated with a remarkable increase in risk of heart disease,” said Mika Kivimaki of Britain’s University College London, who led the research. He said it may be a “wake-up call for people who overwork themselves.”

“Considering that including a measurement of working hours in a (doctor’s) interview is so simple and useful, our research presents a strong case that it should become standard practice,” he said.

Cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes are the world’s largest killers, claiming around 17.1 million lives a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Billions of dollars are spent every year on medical devices and drugs to treat them.

The findings of this study support previous research showing a link between working hours and heart disease.

But the scientists said hard workers should not necessarily be alarmed about their heart health.

“Current evidence on (heart disease) prevention emphasizes the importance of focusing on the total risk, rather than single risk factors,” Kivimaki told Reuters Health in an email.

“People who work long hours should be particularly careful in following healthy diets, exercising sufficiently and keeping their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood (sugar) within healthy limits.”

The research used data from a study called Whitehall II which has followed the health and wellbeing of more than 10,000 civil service workers in Britain since 1985.

For this study, men and women who worked full time and had no heart disease were selected, giving 7,095 participants.

The researchers collected data on heart risk factors like age, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and diabetes and also asked participants how many hours they worked — including work during the day and work brought home — on an average weekday.

During the 11-year study, 192 participants had heart attacks. Those who worked 11 hours or more a day were 67 percent more likely to have a heart attack than those with fewer hours.

Psychologists can help people make behavioral changes that can lead to healthier lifestyles. Commonwealth Psychology Associates offers Health Psychology & Wellness services that teach people ways to improve overall health – both physical and mental. Call today to learn more about our services.

(Additional reporting by Amy Norton of Reuters Health in New York, editing by Susan Fenton)

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