Anxiety disorders make up one of the most common groups of psychiatric conditions in the world. It has been reported in the National Comorbidity Study that one out of four persons will meet the diagnostic criteria for at least one anxiety disorder. Women have a 30.5 percent lifetime prevalence as compared to men who have a 19.2 percent lifetime prevalence. (more…)
Diabetes patients grapple with the demands of self-management (home blood sugar testing, diet and exercise requirements, medicine intake, and so forth) over and above their other concerns (work, finances, family and other relations). Living with diabetes day in and day out can really shoot one’s stress levels through the roof. If one is unable to cope, then a “nervous breakdown” may ensue. (more…)
Hip-hop, street dance, jazz… All of these could help you sweat the stress out. But here, we say ballet could top all that.
Swan Lake. Don Quixote. The Nutcracker. These are just three of the classical ballet performances that Filipino audiences have come to love. Watching ballet has always had a calming effect, and audiences who have seen these ballet performances have walked out of the theater more relaxed. (more…)
Are you a diabetic and in search of a good mental stress? Swiss investigators say that the blood sugar levels of individuals with type 1 diabetes stay normal when exposed to short-term mental stress. In this case, they used a roller-coaster ride to attain this short-term mental stress, and to see how it can affect blood sugar levels.
Twenty type 1 diabetic patients were asked to monitor their blood sugar levels while riding two different roller-coasters within 15 minutes. A day before the actual experiment took place, the patients’ blood pressure, heart rate and levels of salivary cortisol, a hormonal response to stress, were measured.This was to check for any difference at rest and during the stress-testing experiment.
A device from Medtronic called the MiniMed continuous glucose monitoring system, was used to monitor blood sugar concentrations in five-minute intervals. During the roller-coaster ride, half of the participants did not eat anything while the others fasted 75 minutes after they had a meal with 50 grams of carbohydrates. According to Dr. Peter Wesli of the University Hospital in Zurich, “during the rides, heart rates rose from 82 beats per minute at the start of the ride up to a maximum of 158 beats per minute. Also that the average blood pressure increased from 124/79 to 160/96 mm Hg between the two rides, and salivary cortisol concentrations increased from 6.3 to a maximum of 19.3 nanomoles per liter per 60 minutes after the ride .”
Despite the apparent mental stress, researchers conclude that there was little significant results on glucose levels for the 10 patients who fasted on the stress-testing day when compared to the rest period. As for the other 10 subjects, the sugar level in their blood merely responded to the meal they took during the control and stress-test day, and returned to normal within three hours of the meal. This was also associated with the patients’ good metabolic control over their disease.
However, the results may vary for those type 1 diabetics who have poor control over their blood sugar even when faced with short-term or chronic mental stress.
A finished painting—be it on canvas or a mere wall—certainly wouldn’t reflect all the hard work put into it for the average eye. Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Pablo Picasso’s Guernica are just two monumental art works that have managed to capture a worldwide following. Both have wowed audiences in their respective displays. (more…)
Anger is a fact of life. Each of us, at some point experiences that feeling of irritation or rage for a certain individual or situation which harmed us or posed a threat to our well-being. If not managed well, anger may result in domestic abuse, road rage, workplace violence and addictions. Long term, it is linked to chronic headaches, sleep disorders, digestive problems, high blood pressure, and even heart attack. On the other hand, properly managed anger can lead to positive change. (more…)
