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Support Groups Can Help During Tough Economic Times

self improvementYou would be hard pressed to find someone who is not experiencing some level of stress and anxiety because of the current world financial situation.

A number of support groups have begun which exist especially to help people with this particular type of stress.

Economic anxiety may emerge as feelings of despair, anxiety, and being overwhelmed. These feelings may affect your relationships or your job performance.

You may also find you have difficulty sleeping. Your appetite may have changed: you may find yourself less hungry than usual, or you find yourself making frequent, unhealthy choices.

You may have difficulty recognizing these symptoms in yourself; sometimes a talk with a trusted spouse or friend can help you recognize potential problems.

A number of support groups allow you to attend in anonymity. Most are available at no charge to you. It can be very helpful to be in a group setting as you attempt to address your feelings: it helps to know that others are experiencing the same concerns.

There are also a number of support groups established to help with specific needs that are related to the economy. For example, there are support groups for people who are out of work and looking for a job.

If you are attending a support group but your symptoms are not improving, or are worsening, consider one-on-one counseling.

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How To Manage Your Anger Through Your Diet?

dietStress is closely related to anger, and where there is one, the other will follow immediately behind.

It is imperative to one’s health and well being that one learns to control one’s stress and the anger caused by the stress, so that one is able to develop the much coveted ability to let go of everything and relax and thereby become more productive members of society.

Anger may cause all or several of these symptoms: change in appetite, either an increase or a decrease, fatigue, breathlessness, nightmares, muscle pain, stress and the related symptoms of feelings of helplessness and vulnerability, feelings of rejection, and feeling that one is not being appreciated, general irritability and temper, being late for work regularly, neglecting one’s appearance, taking drugs of all kinds to counteract these feelings.

Experts recommend that anger and stress can be managed relatively easily if one were to talk and share these feelings with someone, either a close friend or relative, or a counselor who would help him see the way through the tension and achieve happy results at the end.

In addition, certain diets allow one to achieve some form of control over anger, and since this is a good way to start managing one’s anger, it would help to read these tips:

  • Avoid eating fatty foods, and instead, opt for high fiber foods that provide you with the required amount of energy to work and perform efficiently during the day. Evidence has proved that when an individual is on a high fat diet, and undergoes a lot of stress, then he may be inadvertently paving the way towards developing arteriosclerosis.
  • Eat healthy and balanced nutritious meals at least three times a day. If possible, try to include more complex carbohydrates in your diet, and remember, never skip a meal, especially never skip breakfast, which is in fact that most important meal of the day.
  • Eat plenty of fresh fruits. They will provide you with enough sweet and energy to last you through the day.
  • Eat lots of fresh green and leafy vegetables in whatever forms you prefer everyday.
  • Avoid eating too much of sugar in whatever form you prefer it, and instead, drink fruit juices.
  • Avoid consuming too much caffeine.
  • Drink plenty of water through the day. This will keep you fresh and hydrated at all times, and when you feel fresh, you will find it difficult to let anger control you. You will, instead, learn to control and manage your anger so that you are able to function efficiently in your workplace and at home.

Worrying Tendencies May Lead To Earlier Mortality

stressful traitsRecent studies found that personality traits associated with worries and stress can lead to hazardous health problems.

Having worrying tendencies or stressful behaviors can also lead to earlier death because people with stressful personality traits are more likely to engage themselves in unhealthy habits such as smoking or drugs.

Daniel K. Mroczek, a professor of child development and family studies in Prude University, says that extreme levels of neuroticism can lead to earlier death.

The reason behind it was found as having worrying tendencies or being kind of a person with stressful behavior develops unhealthy behaviors like alcohol or smoking and hence raises their risk of earlier mortality.

Read full report on Eurekalert

Addiction Treatment With Heroin Injections Seems Possible

heroin injectionCanadian research suggest that for heroin addiction treatment, injections with heroin as active ingredient work effective than oral methadone.

But, researchers warned that such kind of treatment carries a risk of seizures and overdose. So, it is recommended that the injections should only be given in a medical setting.

Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes of the University of British Columbia and colleagues reports that oral methadone provided according to best practice guidelines should remain as treatment of choice for patients. When it doesn’t work, heroin injections appears to be an effective option.

Oviedo-Joekes and colleagues studied 226 addicts in Montreal and Vancouver. Only 54 percent of those who got methadone stayed in treatment for a year, they found.

But 88 percent of those who got diacetylmorphine shots did. And those who got diacetylmorphine cut back on illicit drugs by 67 percent, compared to 48 percent who got methadone.

Read full report on Reuters

A Different Perspective On Problem Solving

goalWhen you are faced with a problem, remember that the problem you are facing can help you grow stronger.

Just as physical exercise helps your body grow stronger, solving problems can help your mind grow stronger.

Your ultimate goal when solving a problem should not be just finding a quick answer, or even a perfect answer.

Your ultimate goal should be to work through the problem solving process, and develop your problem solving abilities.

The activities you perform to arrive at the problem are what help you and your mind grow. If you view the problem solving process as valuable, you are more likely to feel empowered and accomplished, regardless of how the situation ultimately resolves itself.

Similarly, in attempting to solve one problem, you develop abilities and skills that will serve you well when you are faced with other problem situations. You can also be confident that you can solve a similar problem should it arise, or that if your current solution begins to falter, you can find a new workable solution.

This only works, however, if you value the problem solving process. Any result you work to achieve makes you feel more accomplished, and builds your problem solving abilities.

When you are faced with a problem, view it not just as an obstacle to overcome. View it as an opportunity to develop some mental muscle.

How You Can Solve The Conflicts In Your Marriage?

conflictWhen two people live together in a marriage, there is bound to be any number of disagreements and open conflicts, and it may be up to the partners to try to bring about a solution to the conflicts, or just ignore them and keep on living a life of tension and unease.

Although there may be any number of solutions offered for the couple to bring an end to the tensions, eventually it is up to them to resolve to live peacefully with each other.

Here are some tips to resolve conflicts

  • Both the partners must be wiling and able to consider the marriage as a life long commitment to each other, with no need to get out in the middle.
  • Earlier in the marriage, both the partners must form a sort of pact that states that all disagreements within the marriage will be shared equally, that is, fifty/fifty by both of them. This will prevent them from laying blame squarely for any disagreement on one partner, while leaving the other free and clear. This will never work, and if on the other hand, responsibility is shared equally, there will be a reason to work out the conflicts amicably.
  • Both the partners must be willing and ready to listen to the other’s point of view, even if they do not agree with it fully. Acceptance is a part and parcel of married life, and if both the partners are willing to accept opinions that they do not completely agree with, but will still agree to listen to and consider seriously because it is their partner’s opinion, then they are on the strong and sure path towards bringing an end to their conflicts.
  • If there is a burgeoning argument, it would help a great deal if both the partners must sit down and consider carefully what they want to say to the other person before launching angrily into a full fledged quarrel. Also, it would help if both the partners were to agree to bring up only the issue at hand, and not bring in all the past arguments and resentments into this one present argument.
  • Both the partners must learn to focus fully and only on the current issue, instead of using any tension to attack each other personally.
  • Most importantly, both the partners must agree that all conflicts must be resolved at least to some extent before bedtime. This can in fact be one of the golden rules of keeping a marriage alive and well and healthy, because it forces the partners to come to an agreement before going to bed.

Remember, the partners have to try to resolve the conflicts, not win or lose!