Posts Tagged ‘Boston Health Psychology’

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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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Posted in Boston Psychotherapists, Boston Therapists, Counseling Newton, Counseling Services Boston, Health Psychology, Memory & Dementia Evaluations, Neuropsychological Testing, Neuropsychological Testing Boston, Psychological Testing Boston, Psychological Testing Newton, Psychotherapists Newton MA, Psychotherapy Boston, Psychotherapy Newton MA, Stress Management, Therapy Newton | No Comments »

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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Sleep, Depression, and Stress Influence Weight Loss: Newton Health & Wellness Support Group Can Help.

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

April 5, 2011 — A new study suggests that sleep, depression, and stress are key components of an interventional weight loss program. The study was published online March 29 in the International Journal of Obesity.

The current US obesity epidemic is believed to have a number of contributing elements, including genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, such as disordered sleep patterns. Multiple studies have demonstrated an inverse association between sleep duration and weight gain.

To better understand the effects of sleep, screen time, depression, and stress on weight loss success, the researchers, led by Dr. Charles Elder of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland, Oregon, conducted a 2-phase randomized clinical trial. Phase 1 included a nonrandomized, 6-month behavioral weight loss intervention that included 472 adults with obesity body mass index, 30 – 50 kg/m2. Phase 2 incorporated weight loss maintenance. The current study focuses on phase 1 results.

The phase 1 intervention included 22 group sessions, led by a behavioral counselor, during the course of 26 weeks. Participants were given recommendations to reduce food consumption by 500 calories per day, adopt the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension pattern, and participate in at least 180 minutes of exercise per week.

Mean weight loss during phase 1 was 6.3 ± 7.1 kg, and 285 participants 60% who lost a minimum of 4.5 kg were randomly selected into phase 2. Participants attended an average of 73.1% ± 26.7% of sessions. They filled out 5.1 ± 1.9 daily food records per week and reported 195.1 ± 123.1 minutes of exercise per week.

Stress and sleep time were revealed to be important factors in qualifying for phase 2. A 1-point change in the Perceived Stress Scale had an associated odds ratio of 0.966 increased success associated with less weight loss, 95% confidence interval, 0.937 – 0.995; P = .024. Participants with a quadratic trend in sleep time had an odds ratio of 0.797 95% confidence interval, 0.649 – 0.978; P = .030. Participants who slept 6 to 7 hours or 7 to 8 hours were more likely to qualify for phase 2 than those with other sleep times.

At entry into the program, lower stress was associated with greater ensuing weight loss slope, 0.132; SE, 0.054; t = 2.42; P = .021.

Changes in baseline predictors during the program had significant impacts on success. Reduction in stress between entry and a post weight-loss follow-up visit as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale were associated with improved weight loss r = 0.159; P = .048. A similar trend was seen in depression as measured by the Personal Health Questionnaire—Depression Subscale r = 0.223; P = .035.

The researchers found no correlation between screen time and weight loss success. Session attendance correlated positively with weight loss success r = −0.621, as were exercise r = −0.361 and food records r = −0.501; all P < .001.

“[These] results suggest that clinicians and investigators might consider targeting sleep, depression and stress as part of a behavioral weight loss intervention,” the study authors conclude.

Commonwealth Psychology Associates is now offering a 13-week health & wellness support group in Newton, MA.

This work was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health. The study authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.Int J Obesity. Published online March 29, 2011. Abstract

via Sleep, Depression, and Stress Influence Weight Loss.

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