Four Questions Focus Your Future

Deepak Chopra recently challenged his fans throughout the world to answer four questions about their visions for the future:

Enlightenment expert Andrew Cohen has created a special spot on his EnlightenNext website for people to post their answers and read other people’s answers. A prize is being offered for the most inspiring answers. Go see http://magazine.enlightennext.org/2010/05/26/deepaks-four-questions-think-about-this/?ecp=tat052410

 

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Dreaming Aids Learning

Science is taking us another step closer to reproducing Edgar Cayce’s feat of sleeping on a textbook to learn its contents. Recent research has shown that dreaming after studying material aids in the learning and retention of that material.

In this study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and published in the journal Cell Biology, students learned the solution to a complicated maze displayed on a computer monitor. After this learning, the students took a nap and recorded any dreams.Upon awakening, students returned to the computer to see how fast they could solve that same maze they had learned before. The results indicated that those students who recalled dreaming about the maze resolved the maze puzzle significantly faster than those students who recalled no dream about the maze. The researchers speculated that the experiment demonstrates the validity of the assumption that dreaming involves the consolidation of learning.

 

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Dreams 'Can Help With Learning'

 

Publication Date:  01:57 GMT, Friday, 23 April 2010 02:57 UK

Author:  

Source:  BBC News (U.K.)

Link:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8638551.stm

 

 

 

Napping after learning something new could help you commit it to memory - as long as you dream, scientists say.

They found people who dream about a new task perform it better on waking than those who do not sleep or do not dream.

Volunteers were asked to learn the layout of a 3D computer maze so they could find their way within the virtual space several hours later.

Those allowed to take a nap and who also remembered dreaming of the task, found their way to a landmark quicker.

The researchers think the dreams are a sign that unconscious parts of the brain are working hard to process information about the task.

Dr Robert Stickgold of Harvard Medical School, one of the authors of the paper, said dreams may be a marker that the brain is working on the same problem at many levels.

He said: "The dreams might reflect the brain's attempt to find associations for the memories that could make them more useful in the future."

Study tips

Co-author Dr Erin Wamsley said the study suggests our non-conscious brain works on the things that it deems are most important.

"Every day we are gathering and encountering tremendous amounts of information and new experiences," she said.

"It would seem that our dreams are asking the question, 'How do I use this information to inform my life?"

The research, published in the academic journal Cell Biology, could have practical implications.

The scientists say there may be ways to take advantage of this phenomenon for improving learning and memory.

For example, students might be better studying hard before bedtime, or taking a nap after a period of afternoon study.

 

 

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Mediterranean Diet Slows Cognitive Decline

A diet that emphasizes vegetables, fruits, fish, olive oil, lower meat consumption, and moderate wine and non-refined grain intake, also known as the Mediterranean diet, has proven to be helpful to maintain intellectual functioning among seniors. This important research, conducted by the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago over a fifteen year period, involved more than four thousand participants sixty five years of age or older. The researchers tested these participants at various points in time for their cognitive abilities, such as memory and perceptual skills. The study is currently still in progress, but at the fifteen year mark, the results clearly indicated that those seniors whose diets most closely approximated the Mediterranean showed significantly less cognitive decline than those other seniors. Eating a few nuts every day, the researchers noted, can keep you smarter!

 

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Eating Like the Greeks Can Improve Brain Power

 

Publication Date:  4/22/2010 3:00 PM EDT

Author:  

Source:   Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)

Link:  http://www.newswise.com/articles/eating-like-the-greeks-can-improve-brain-power?ret=/articles/list&category=latest&page=11&search[status]=3&search[sort]=date+desc&search[has_multimedia]=

 

 

 

Findings about what specific components of diets are most beneficial are frequently changing. However, an ongoing study of older adults shows evidence that one type of diet can help mitigate cognitive problems. An ongoing prospective study called the Chicago Health and Aging Project has shown that adherence to the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of cognitive decline with older age.

'This diet emphasizes vegetables, fruits, fish, olive oil, lower meat consumption, and moderate wine and non-refined grain intake,” said lead author Dr. Christy Tangney of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. 'Instead of espousing avoidance of foods, the data support that adults over age 65 should look to include more olive oil, legumes, nuts, and seeds in their diet in order to improve their recall times and other cognitive skills, such as identifying symbols and numbers.”

The nearly 4,000 participants in this study included black and white adults aged 65 and older. They were given a battery of cognitive tests which were assigned scores and then a clinical interview. Those who ranked in the highest in terms of following such a Mediterranean-type diet were more protected from cognitive decline. The adults were given these cognitive tests every 3 years for 15 years. 'Finally, we want older adults to remember that physical activity is an important part of maintaining cognitive skills,” added Tangney.

 

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India Studies Yogic Power For Life Without Food

 

Publication Date:  Thursday, April 29

Author:  

Source:  Agence France-Presse (France)

Link:  http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100429/tap-india-science-defence-food-offbeat-5bb9277.html

 

 

 

AHMEDABAD, India -- A team of military doctors backed by India's national defence research centre is studying an 83-year-old holy man who claims to have spent seven decades surviving without food or water.

The long-haired and bearded yogi, Prahlad Jani, has been sealed in a hospital in the western city of Ahmedabad where he is under 24-hour observation by 30 doctors and will be subjected to a series of medical tests.

"The observation from this study may throw light on human survival without food and water," doctor G. Ilavazahagan, director of India's Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), told AFP.

The DIPAS is part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, India's state defence and military research institute also behind a grenade packed with chilli powder that recently hit headlines.

"This may help in working out strategies for survival during natural calamities, extreme stressful conditions and extra-terrestrial explorations like future missions to the Moon and Mars by the human race," Ilavazahagan said.

The tests on Jani include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, measuring brain and heart activity with electrodes and other neuro-physiological studies, in addition to blood tests.

The experiment started on April 22 and will take 15-20 days. Since the beginning, Jani has neither eaten nor drunk and has not been to the toilet, Ilavazahagan said.

"The exercise of taking this yogi under the medical scanner is to understand what energy supports his existence," he added, explaining that soldiers could benefit from his apparent ability to survive.

"Jani says he meditates to get energy. Our soldiers will not be able to meditate, but we would still like to find out more about the man and his body," he said.

Neurologist Sudhir Shah, who studied Jani in 2003 and is part of the new experiment, said that the extremely skinny but apparently active man faced round-the-clock observation.

"Two stationary 24-hour video cameras have been set up in his room, while a mobile video camera follows him whenever he needs to step outside," he said.

Jani, who dresses in red and wears a nose ring, grew up in Charod village in the Mehsana district in Gujarat and claims to have been blessed by a goddess aged eight, which has enabled him to survive without sustenance.

Shah said that Jani told him the key to his survival was a mystical and unexplained process by which he receives drops of water through a hole in his palate.

Analysis of data, to determine his secret or expose his fraudulence, will take at least two months, the doctors said.

Fasting is a part of Indian culture, made famous by independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, who brought himself to the brink of death on several occasions by refusing food and water to protest against colonial rule.

A monk from India's minority Jain religion -- devout followers of which undertake frequent fasts, sometimes to death -- claims to have deprived himself of food for one year, which is believed to be a record

"If you're busy with something you don't feel hunger, thirst, or the heat and cold," said Sri Sahaj Muni Maharaj, who took daily glasses of warm water during his fast which ended on May 1998.

"I'm busy contemplating the infinite," he told India's Outlook magazine one month before the end of his experiment.

 

 

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Lack of Sleep can be Deadly

Lack of sleep is becoming a top public health concern. Research is uncovering heretofore unrealized repercussions of trying to get by on less than seven to eight hours of sleep each night. In fact, a person who habitually gets less than six hours of sleep a night has a significantly greater chance of dying than folks who get at least six hours of sleep nightly.

The study, published in the journal Sleep, involved data from over one and a half million participants over a twenty five year period, and included more than one hundred thousand deaths. The sleepy die earlier.

 

 

 

Regular Lack Of Sleep Is 'Linked To Early Death'

 

Publication Date:  Wednesday, 5 May 2010

Author:  JOHN VON RADOWITZ

Source:  The Independent (U.K.)

Link:  http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/regular-lack-of-sleep-is-linked-to-early-death-1962788.html

 

 

 

Sleeping less than six hours a night increases the risk of early death, it was claimed today.

Scientists arrived at the result after analysing data from 16 studies involving more than 1.5 million participants.

They found "unequivocal evidence" of a direct link between sleeping less than six hours a night and dying prematurely.

People who regularly had this little sleep were 12% more likely to die over a period of 25 years or less than those who got the recommended six to eight hours.

An association was also seen between sleeping more than nine hours a night and early death. This was thought to be due to long-sleeping being a marker of serious underlying illness rather than any effect of sleep itself.

Professor Francesco Cappucio, head of the Sleep, Health and Society Programme at the University of Warwick, said: "Whilst short sleep may represent a cause of ill-health, long sleep is believed to represent more an indicator of ill-health.

"Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take, and this pattern is more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift-work. On the other hand, the deterioration of our health status is often accompanied by an extension of our sleeping time."

The research, reported in the journal Sleep, reviewed 16 prospective studies from the UK, US, Europe and Asia which together monitored more than 1.3 people for up to 25 years.

In total, more than 100,000 deaths were recorded during the observation periods.

Pooling together data in this way, known as meta-analysis, can indicate patterns and trends that may not be obvious in individual studies.

Prof Cappucio, who worked with colleagues from the Federico II University Medical School in Naples, Italy, added: "Consistently sleeping six to eight hours per night may be optimal for health.

"The duration of sleep should be regarded as an additional behavioural risk factor, or risk marker, influenced by the environment and possibly amenable to change through both education and counselling, as well as through measures of public health aimed at favourable modifications of the physical and working environments."

 

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Hand Washing Cleans more than Hands

Lady Macbeth couldn’t seem to wash the blood from her hands. Centuries later, researchers found that hand washing is an instinctive response to guilt feelings and, surprisingly, does reduce them. New research has found that hand washing does more than simply clearing our conscience. Hand washing may be an effective ritual for removing the residual effects of previous behaviors and decisions. Hand washing might help in re-writing our personal history.

In these new studies, conducted at the University of Michigan and published in the journal Science, students first viewed CD album covers and ranked them as to likability. The researchers then gave the students each a choice of their fifth or sixth most favorite album as a gift for their participation in the study. Afterwards, half the students looked at a bottle of hand washing soap, while the other half used the soap to wash their hands.

Researchers then attempted to replicate previous findings of “post choice rationalization,” whereby a person tends to increase their favorability of a past choice as a strategy to rationalize having made that choice in the first place. They asked the students to once again rank order the CDs for their likability. The researchers correctly predicted that the control group, those who merely looked at hand soap, would now give a highr rank than previously to the CD gifted to them. The students who washed their hands, however, did not increase their likability rating of the gifted CD album.

The researchers found this effect once again using different materials. Students rated jams for likability by their smell. Half the students sniffed antiseptic wipes, while the other half actually used the wipes to clean their hands. Afterwards, when asked to guess the tastiness of the various jams, those students who merely handled the antiseptic wipes predictably increased the tastiness ratings of their chosen jam, while those students who wiped their hands showed no such effect. It is as if hand cleaning removes the usual need for us to justify our past decisions. Freeing ourselves from being beholden to our past could provide new opportunities for change and growth. We’ll look forward to more research on this new hand washing therapy.

 

Web source:

 

 

Wash Away Your Doubts When You Wash Your Hands

 

Publication Date:  7 May 2010

Author:  

Source:  Science Daily

Link:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100506141601.htm

 

SOURCE CITATION: Spike W. S. Lee, Norbert Schwarz. Washing Away Postdecisional Dissonance. Science, 2010; 328 (5979): 709 DOI: 10.1126/science.1186799

 

Washing your hands "wipes the slate clean," removing doubts about recent choices.

That's the key finding of a University of Michigan study published in the current (May 7) issue of Science.

The study, conducted by U-M psychologists Spike W. S. Lee and Norbert Schwarz, expands on past research by showing that hand-washing does more than remove the guilt of past misdeeds.

"It's not just that washing your hands contributes to moral cleanliness as well as physical cleanliness, as seen in earlier research" said Lee, a doctoral candidate in social psychology. "Our studies show that washing also reduces the influence of past behaviors and decisions that have no moral implications whatsoever."

For the study, Lee and Schwarz, who is affiliated with the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and the Ross School of Business in addition to the Department of Psychology, asked undergraduate students to browse through 30 CD covers as part of an alleged consumer survey. Participants picked 10 CDs they would like to own, ranking them by preference. Later, the experimenter offered them a choice between their 5th and 6th ranked CDs as a token of appreciation. Following that choice, participants completed an ostensibly unrelated product survey -- of liquid soap. Half merely examined the bottle before answering while the others tested the soap by washing their hands. After completing a filler task, participants were asked to rank the 10 CDs again.

"People who merely examined the soap bottle dealt with their doubts about their decision by changing how they saw the CDs: As in hundreds of earlier studies, once they had made a choice, they saw the chosen CD as much more attractive than before and the rejected CD as much less attractive. But hand-washing eliminated this classic effect. Once participants had washed their hands, they no longer needed to justify their choice when they ranked the CDs the second time around," Schwarz said.

The researchers replicated the findings in a study using a different task -- taste expectations of jars of fruit jams and ostensibly unrelated surveys of antiseptic wipes. "Participants who merely examined an antiseptic wipe after choosing a jar of fruit jam expected the taste of the chosen jam to far exceed the taste of the rejected one. This difference was eliminated when participants tested the antiseptic wipe by cleaning their hands," said Lee.

According to the authors, the results show that as much as washing can cleanse us from traces of past immoral behavior, it can also cleanse us from traces of past decisions, reducing the need to justify them.

This "clean slate" effect may be relevant to many choices in life. Does washing away the urge to justify one's choice of one car over another, or even one partner over another, result in less rosy evaluations of them in the long run? If so, does this increase buyer's remorse because buyers are less likely to convince themselves that they made the best choice possible?

 

 

 

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Six Month Old Babies Recognize Evil!

Although we assume that all morality is learned, recent research suggests that babies may have an inborn sense of good and evil. In a series of experiments conducted at Yale University with six month old infants, researchers found that the babies preferred puppets who acted friendly and helpful to puppets that appeared to be naughty.

The babies watched a puppet show involving a toy character attempting to climb a hill. One puppet comes along to help. Another puppet tries to push the toy back. After the show is over, the puppet characters are displayed for the baby while they track the infant’s eye movements. The results indicated that the infants spent signficantly more time looking at the helpful puppet than the bad one. Most all the babies reached out for the helpful puppet, but none reached for the bad one. The researchers set up several morality plays involving puppets who either were helpful or hindering, and the results were always the same.

Although some urge caution in interpreting these results, the researchers themselves believe their studies provide evidence for a built-in, biological basis for morality.

 

 

 

Babies Know The Difference Between Good And Evil At Six Months, Study Reveals

 

Publication Date:  7:30 AM on 10th May 2010

Author:  DAVID DERBYSHIRE

Source:  Mail (U.K.)

Link:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1275574/Babies-know-difference-good-evil-months-study-reveals.html

 

 

 

At the age of six months babies can barely sit up - let along take their first tottering steps, crawl or talk.

But, according to psychologists, they have already developed a sense of moral code - and can tell the difference between good and evil.

An astonishing series of experiments is challenging the views of many psychologists and social scientists that human beings are born as 'blank slates' - and that our morality is shaped by our parents and experiences.
baby

Good rabbit, bad rabbit: Simple experiments involving babies have shown that we have a strong morality instinct from an early age

Instead, they suggest that the difference between good and bad may be hardwired into the brain at birth.

In one experiment involving puppets, babies aged six months old showed a strong preference to 'good' helpful characters - and rejected unhelpful, 'naughty' ones.

In another, they even acted as judge and jury. When asked to take away treats from a 'naughty' puppet, some babies went further - and dished out their own punishment with a smack on its head.

Leading research: Professor Paul Bloom, of Yale University, said a series of morality tales featuring puppets were shown to babies of varying ages

Professor Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale University in Connecticut, whose department has studied morality in babies for years, said: 'A growing body of evidence suggests that humans do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life.

'With the help of well designed experiments, you can see glimmers of moral thought, moral judgment and moral feeling even in the first year of life.

'Some sense of good and evil seems to be bred in the bones.'

For one study, the Yale researchers got babies aged between six months and a year to watch a puppet show in which a simple, colourful wooden shape with eyes tries to climb a hill.

Sometimes the shape is helped up the hill by a second toy, while other times a third character pushes it down.

After watching the show several times, the babies were shown the helpful and unhelpful toys. They showed a clear preference for the helpful toys - spending far longer looking at the 'good' shapes than the 'bad' ones.

'In the end, we found that six- and ten-month-old infants overwhelmingly preferred the helpful individual to the hindering individual,' Prof Bloom told the New York Times.

'This wasn't a subtle statistical trend; just about all the babies reached for the good guy.'

Two more tests found the same moral sense.

In one, the researchers devised a 'one-act morality play', in which a toy dog tries to open a box. The dog is joined by a teddy bear who helps him lift the lid, and a teddy who stubbornly sits on the box.

They also made the babies watch a puppet cat play ball with two toy rabbits. When the cat rolled the ball to one rabbit, it rolled the ball straight back. But when the cat rolled it to the second rabbit, it picked up the ball and ran off.

'In both studies, five-month-old babies preferred the good guy - the one who helped to open the box; the one who rolled the ball back - to the bad guy,' said Professor Bloom.

When the same tests were repeated with 21-month-old babies, they were given a chance to dish out treats to the toys - or take treats away.

Most toddlers punished the 'naughty rabbit' by taking away treats. One even gave the miscreant a smack on the head as a punishment.

Although the studies appear to show that mortality is hard-wired into babies brains, some psychologists urged caution.

Dr Nadja Reissland, of Durham University, said babies started to learn the difference between good and bad from birth.

'Everything hinges on who decides what is normal,' she said. 'By saying pushing the ball up the hill is helpful, the researchers are making a moral judgement. The babies might just prefer to see things go up rather than down.

'In the other test, perhaps the bear closes the box to prevent the dog from getting in there because there is something dangerous inside. It is like a mother keeping children out of an area where there is something harmful.'

 

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Say “Nuts!” to Cholesterol

Eating a handful of nuts every day keeps the cholesterol away, according to new research published in the Archives of General Medicine. This comprehensive review of 25 studies involving 583 people found that those who ate an average of 67grams of nuts a day (a handful) had bad cholesterol levels that were seven per cent lower than those who hardly ate the snacks. Nuts are a whole food containing healthy fat, fiber and vitamin E. Have some today!

 

Packet Of Nuts A Day 'Can Reduce Cholesterol Levels'

 

Publication Date:  7:30AM BST 11 May 2010

Author:  KATE DEVLIN

Source:  Telegraph (U.K.)

Link:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7705466/Packet-of-nuts-a-day-can-reduce-cholesterol-levels.html

 

It is amazing how simple life style choices can have extraordinary consequences. The findings are published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

 

Eating a small packet of peanuts a day can cut cholesterol levels reducing the risk of hearty disease, researchers have found. Researchers recommend consuming nuts regularly to keep cholesterol levels healthy.

The fatty substance can clog arteries and increase the risk of suffering a heart attack.

But researchers found that those who ate plenty of nuts, of all varieties, had lower cholesterol levels than those who rarely ate them.

Nuts are rich in so-called "healthy" fats, as well as fibre and vitamin E.

The latest research, a comprehensive review of 25 studies involving 583 people, found that those who ate an average of 67g of nuts a day had 'bad” cholesterol levels that were seven per cent lower than those who hardly ate the snacks.

"Nuts are a whole food that have been consumed by humans throughout history," said Dr Joan Sabaté, from Loma Linda University, in California, who led the review.

"Increasing the consumption of nuts as part of an otherwise prudent diet can be expected to favourably affect blood (cholesterol) … and have the potential to lower coronary heart disease risk.

"Dietary interventions to lower blood cholesterol concentrations ... are the cornerstone of prevention and treatment plans for coronary heart disease."

That advice was echoed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

Ellen Mason, a senior cardiac nurse with the BHF, said: 'Apart from salted peanuts at the pub, nuts in sugary cereals or the traditional Christmas selection, nuts have been largely lacking in our diets in the UK.

'What we eat is extremely important to our overall health, and adding nuts back into our diet in place of saturated fats could help to improve cholesterol levels for many people.

'Lowering cholesterol is important as it reduces your risk of developing heart disease.

'However, too much salt isn't good either so go for unsalted nuts in small amounts.”

 

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'Starving Yogi' Astounds Indian Scientists

 

Publication Date:  May 10 01:23 PM US/Eastern

Author:  

Source:  Agence France-Presse (France)

Link:  http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.ce6e076d355a498ef621bad2bbef1a32.f1&show_article=1

 

Here is the latest update on the Indian yogi who is being studied under controlled conditions to ascertain whether it is true he does not eat, drink, or go to the bathroom. They report he appears to be the real deal, and an extraordinary example of what psychophysical self-regulation can achieve.

 

An 83-year-old Indian holy man who says he has spent seven decades without food or water has astounded a team of military doctors who studied him during a two-week observation period.

Prahlad Jani spent a fortnight in a hospital in the western India state of Gujarat under constant surveillance from a team of 30 medics equipped with cameras and closed circuit television.

During the period, he neither ate nor drank and did not go to the toilet.

"We still do not know how he survives," neurologist Sudhir Shah told reporters after the end of the experiment. "It is still a mystery what kind of phenomenon this is."

The long-haired and bearded yogi was sealed in a hospital in the city of Ahmedabad in a study initiated by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the state defence and military research institute.

The DRDO hopes that the findings, set to be released in greater detail in several months, could help soldiers survive without food and drink, assist astronauts or even save the lives of people trapped in natural disasters.

"(Jani's) only contact with any kind of fluid was during gargling and bathing periodically during the period," G. Ilavazahagan, director of India's Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), said in a statement.

Jani has since returned to his village near Ambaji in northern Gujarat where he will resume his routine of yoga and meditation. He says that he was blessed by a goddess at a young age, which gave him special powers.

During the 15-day observation, which ended on Thursday, the doctors took scans of Jani's organs, brain, and blood vessels, as well as doing tests on his heart, lungs and memory capacity.

"The reports were all in the pre-determined safety range through the observation period," Shah told reporters at a press conference last week.

Other results from DNA analysis, molecular biological studies and tests on his hormones, enzymes, energy metabolism and genes will take months to come through.

"If Jani does not derive energy from food and water, he must be doing that from energy sources around him, sunlight being one," said Shah.

"As medical practitioners we cannot shut our eyes to possibilities, to a source of energy other than calories."

 

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Yoga Improves Life After Cancer

Treating cancer often involves side effects that interfere with quality of life. New research indicates that the practice of hatha yoga reduces these side effects and improves quality of life.

The study, conducted at the University of Rochester Medical Center with over four hundred cancer survivors, provided a four week training program in the slow moving hatha yoga. The researchers worked with yoga instructors to determine the most appropriate exercises for these patients. The researchers kept tabs on the participants’ daily experiences and challenges. Compared to a control group, the yoga group experienced better quality of sleep, less use of sleep medication, and less fatigue during the day.

 

Web source:

Study: Yoga Improves Quality of Life After Cancer

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1990540,00.html#ixzz0pF3i0mMb

Once the hard decisions have been made about how to treat a patient's cancer, doctors face an even trickier question: how do you help patients deal with the side effects of treatment?

The issue is a challenge for physicians because, unlike with cancer therapies, there are few scientific studies on the most effective ways to handle the side effects — including common symptoms such as poor sleep or fatigue. But addressing these seemingly mundane complications is crucial for helping patients maintain their regular lifestyle, which in turn may even encourage the success of their cancer treatment

That's why Dr. Karen Mustian of the University of Rochester Medical Center decided to put a favorite practice of cancer survivors — yoga — to the test. In a paper she will present at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in June, Mustian designed a standardized program based on hatha yoga — a slow-moving form of the discipline — and tested its effect on improving the quality of life for cancer survivors.

Called YOCAS, the four-week program involved sessions of hatha and restorative yoga twice a week for 75 minutes each, in combination with breathing exercises and meditation. Among the 410 participants, who were divided into yoga and traditional follow-up care groups, those practicing yoga recorded nearly double the improvement in sleep quality and reduction of fatigue compared to those not practicing yoga. They also reported better quality of life overall, Mustian says. "And the yoga group had all of these benefits while reducing their use of sleep medication," she says.

Volunteers answered detailed questionnaires to assess changes in their sleep, fatigue and quality of life at the start and end of the three-month study. They rated the accuracy of statements such as "My legs feel weak," or "I feel pooped," and recorded how long it took them to fall asleep once they went to bed.

For cancer physicians, the findings will be a welcome addition to their discussions with patients. "Many patients ask about complementary therapies, whether they are exercise or meditation or yoga or St. John's wort," says Dr. Douglas Blayney, medical director of the comprehensive cancer center at University of Michigan and president of ASCO. "I often don't know what to tell them because there isn't a lot of science on these complementary therapies. Here is a scientific study showing benefit, so at least we can have some assurance in telling women that here is a yoga program, here are its characteristics and it has been shown to have beneficial effects on sleep and quality of life."

Mustian points out that not all yoga programs may necessarily have the same effect as those that the study discovered. She worked with yoga experts to generate a series of specific yoga exercises and postures that are targeted to address fatigue and sleep issues. But, she says, "clinicians could recommend to their patients that they might want to try taking gentle hatha yoga or restorative yoga classes, or one that combines these two techniques along with breathing exercises and mindfulness." Now, she says, there is scientific proof that the benefits are worth the effort of seeking these programs out.

Web link: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1990540,00.html

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Brushing Teeth Reduces Heart Disease Risk

Dental health affects more than the mouth, as previous research has linked it to other health issues. A recent study showed that the less frequently the teeth are brushed, the higher the risk for developing heart disease. The study, conducted in England with over eleven thousand participants, with the results published in the British Medical Journal, involved interviewing people about their teeth brushing habits. More than half the respondents reported seeing a dentist twice a year and almost three fourths reported brushing their teeth twice a day. After adjusting the data for cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, smoking, social class, and family heart disease history, the researchers found that people who admitted to brushing their teeth less frequently had a seventy per cent extra risk of heart disease. Blood tests also indicated that among infrequent brushers there was significantly higher levels of bloodstream inflammatory markers such as fibrinogen and C-reactive protein. It pays to brush!

 

 

 

web source:

Brushing Teeth May Keep Away Heart Disease

Study Shows People Who Brush Teeth Less Frequently Are at Higher Risk for Heart Disease

By Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC

May 27, 2010 -- Brushing your teeth is not only good for your pearly whites, it also decreases your chances of suffering a heart attack, a new study indicates.

Researchers in England analyzed data from more than 11,000 people taking part in a study called the Scottish Health Survey. They examined lifestyle habits such as smoking, overall physical activity, and oral health routines.

Patients were asked whether they visited a dentist at least once every six months, every one to two years, rarely, or never. They were also asked how often they brushed their teeth -- twice daily, once a day, or less than every day.

The researchers found that:

·         62% of participants said they went to a dentist every six months.

·         71% said they brushed their teeth twice a day.

After adjusting the data for cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, smoking, social class, and family heart disease history, the researchers found that people who admitted to brushing their teeth less frequently had a 70% extra risk of heart disease.

People who reported poor oral hygiene also tested positive for bloodstream inflammatory markers such as fibrinogen and C-reactive protein.

"Our results confirmed and further strengthened the suggested association between oral hygiene and the risk of cardiovascular disease," Richard Watt, DDS, of University College London, says in a news release. "Furthermore, inflammatory markers were significantly associated with a very simple measure of poor oral health behavior."

He says more studies are needed to confirm the findings and to determine whether oral health and cardiovascular disease are causal or simply risk markers.

The findings of the study were not necessarily shocking, the researchers say, because scientists have increasingly wondered about a possible connection between dental disease and cardiovascular health.

"Inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, and markers of low grade inflammation have been consistently associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease," they write.

Poor oral hygiene is the major cause of periodontal disease, a chronic infection of the tissues surrounding the teeth. Thus, gum infections seem to add to the inflammatory burden on individuals, increasing cardiovascular risk, the researchers say.

Oral infections are common, so doctors should be alert to infections in the mouth as signs of increased inflammation, and tell patients to brush their teeth and maintain good oral hygiene, the researchers conclude.

The study is published in the journal BMJ.

 

Web link: http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/news/20100527/brushing-teeth-may-keep-heart-disease-away

 

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Seeing Auras Correlated with Psychic Experiences

People who see auras are more likely than other people to report a wide variety of psychic experiences. The studies, conducted by Nancy L. Zingrone and Carlos S. Alvarado (then of the University of Virginia and now working at Atlantic University) and published in the Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, were conducted in a wide variety of circumstances. English and Spanish speaking people participated, as well as both college students, persons interested in the occult, and the general population, providing a wide spectrum of respondents.

In these surveys, the participants were asked, “Have you ever seen a light or lights, a glow or an ‘energy field’ around a person or parts of their body that could not be explained by physical causes or any other explanation?” The survey also contained questions regarding a wide variety of psychic experiences. The results indicated that, regardless of subject population, those who reported seeing auras also reported having more mystical experiences, special dreams, out-of-body experiences, and ESP events.

The researchers believe that these results warrant further investigation of the perception of auras. The perceptual processes involved will likely provide insights into the mechanisms underlying other paranormal sensitivities.

 

Link:

http://creativespirit.net/psiresearch/AJCEH2009.pdf

 

Want an Out-of-Body Experience? Lie Down and Relax!

Although one might suppose that an out-of-body experience (OBE) is possible regardless of the position of the body, recent research indicates that most spontaneous OBEs occur while the person is lying down and relaxed.

Reporting in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Nancy Zingrone and Carlos Alvarado (then of the University of Virginia and now at Atlantic University), noted that of the almost one hundred people claiming out of body experiences, the majority of them occurred while the person was lying down and relaxed. The results also indicated that people who had OBEs while lying down experienced more of the features of OBEs (sounds, physical sensations, etc.) than did those who had OBEs while sitting or standing. The researchers commented that the results provide evidence useful for examing the brain functions needed for OBEs to occur.

 

 Link: http://creativespirit.net/psiresearch/ JNMD2010.pdf

 

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Experience, not Stuff, Creates Happiness

Your new iPad may make you happy, but the glow won’t last. Your summer vacation will also make you happy, and will provide happy memories for years to come. This distinction is an important result from some recent research on what makes us happy.

This research, conducted at Cornell University and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, indicated that some of the reason for this difference lies in the different nature of experiences and things and how we think about them. When contemplating past purchases of things, people tended to compare their choices with other available options, and often would doubt the correctness of their choice. When contemplating past experiences, people tended not to compare them with other experiences, but instead to remember them on their own terms, thus reducing a basis for second-guessing.

 

 

Web source:

Study: Happiness Is Experiences, Not Stuff

 

Publication Date:  05 March 2010 08:11 am ET

Author:  RACHEL RETTNER

Source:  LiveScience.com

Link:  http://www.livescience.com/culture/purchase-happiness-experience-100304.html

 

 

 

If you're trying to buy happiness, you'd be better off putting your money toward a tropical island get-away than a new computer, a new study suggests.

The results show that people's satisfaction with their life-experience purchases - anything from seeing a movie to going on a vacation - tends to start out high and go up over time. On the other hand, although they might be initially happy with that shiny new iPhone or the latest in fashion, their satisfaction with these items wanes with time.

The findings, based on eight separate studies, agree with previous research showing that experience-related buys lead to more happiness for the consumer. But the current work provides some insight into why.

Among the reasons:

* People are more likely to mull over their material purchases than they are experiential ones, second-guessing themselves about whether they really made the best choice.
* We tend to think of experiences more on their own terms, rather than in comparison with other things.
* It's easier for us to decide on an experiential purchase than a material one.
* We're more upset if we learn that someone else got a better deal, or that a better option exists, for a material purchase than for an experience-related one.

Satisfaction with a purchase could also come down to mindset. When participants in one study thought of material purchases, such as a music CD, as an experience (many hours of enjoyable listening), they were more satisfied than those who viewed the purchase as just a material item.

In another study, 142 participants were asked to think about either a material or experience-related purchase they had made that cost at least $50. Then, they answered questions about: how difficult the decision was to make; how concerned they were that they made the right choice; and how satisfied they were with the purchase initially and at present.

The people who thought of a material purchase were significantly more likely to report feeling concerned about the buy and less satisfied with their choice at present than those who had recalled an experiential purchase.

A third study involved 164 participants who were asked how they felt about a hypothetical situation in which they had made a purchase, but later found out that other, superior choices existed. They imagined either buying a material good, such as a wristwatch, laptop, MP3 player or a pair of jeans, or an experience, including a meal at a restaurant, a movie viewing, a New York City show, or an island vacation.

Subjects who imagined a material purchase were more likely to be disturbed by the availability of better options, and in turn, reported diminished satisfaction with the buy, than those who imagined an experiential purchase.

And participants were more likely to be jealous of a rival's superior purchase if the item in question was a possession rather than an experience.

Since materials are more easily compared with other things than experiences are, material buys bring more concern and less happiness than experiential ones, the researchers from Cornell University say.

The results were published in the January issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

 

Link: http://www.livescience.com/culture/purchase-happiness-experience-100304.html 

 

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Phone Call from Mom is a Good Hug

When moms hug their kids, it releases the love hormone, “oxytocin.” A recent study suggests that a phone call from mom might have the same effect. In this study, described in Scientific American, researchers stressed adolescent girls by having them make a speech in front of strangers. Afterwards, some girls got a hug from mom, some received a phone call from mom, and some watched a movie. The researchers took blood samples to evaluate stress levels in the three groups before and after the post-speech treatment.

The results indicated that having to give a speech significantly elevated stress hormones. Those girls who watched a movie after their speech continued to evidence elevated stress levels. The girls who received mom’s hug or mom’s phone call evidenced stress levels that had returned to normal. That a phone call from mom would be as effective as an actual hug was the surprising result from this study. Students, call home!

 

Source: The Week, May 28, 2010, p. 21.