Low blood levels of vitamin D may be associated with an increased risk for dementia, a British study has found.
Scientists measured blood levels of the vitamin in a representative sample of 1,766 people over 65 and assessed their mental functioning with a widely used questionnaire. About 12 percent were cognitively impaired, and the lower their vitamin D level, the more likely they were to be in that group. Compared with those in the highest one-quarter for serum vitamin D, those in the lowest were 2.3 times as likely to be impaired, even after statistically adjusting for age, sex, education and ethnicity. Men showed the effect more strongly than women.
“The cause of dementia is not vitamin D deficiency,” said David Llewellyn, a research associate at Cambridge University and the study’s lead author. “It’s a very complicated disease. But while further research is needed, vitamin D supplementation is cheap, safe and convenient, and may therefore play an important role in prevention.”
According to background information in the study, which appears online in The Journal of Geriatric Psychology and Neurology, vitamin D receptors are present in a variety of cells, including neurons and the glial cells associated with them. That suggests that the vitamin may play a role in brain development and the protection of neurons.
2/24/2009
Parents Need Help Coping, Too
Detroit Free Press -
Here is some advice for dealing with anxiety and uncertainty after job and financial losses.
-- Volunteer. Susie Kamen, a Michigan social worker, says volunteering is a way to avoid isolation, develop skills and be part of a community.
-- Network. Don't retreat. "When people feel stressed, they isolate themselves. Having a good social network is a coping mechanism," says Britta Roan, a psychologist who works as a career counselor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. "And, most people find new jobs through a contact."
-- Be a support network. When you share what you know, you feel like you're making a contribution. "You'll also feel a resilience," Roan says.
-- Get something done. Set a goal for each day. Break a big task like finding a job into smaller steps, says Roan. Try to schedule a lunch or a coffee once a week for "informational interviewing," where you approach a contact not for a job interview, but to find out about fields that interest you.
-- Take a class. In whatever you want. It can open new avenues to you, and help you feel prepared for the future - because you're aiming for tomorrow instead of stewing over the ruins of today.
-- Start a gratitude list. Count your blessings and put them on paper. "Ask yourself what's really working in your life" - and write it down, says Kamen. "When we focus on things that are working, we feel a little better. It opens us up to other opportunities. It expands our thinking."
-- Talk to someone. Talk to a friend, a pastor, a counselor, even a stranger in a coffee shop about the common anxiety we're all sharing.
-- Connect. Consider a connection to spirituality or religion, whatever appeals to you, Kamen says.
-- Exercise. Try yoga. Try meditation techniques (sign up for classes at community colleges). Go for a walk. "Stress has a physical impact on us that's not favorable," Kamen says.
-- Reflect, don't ruminate. Constantly rehashing downer events keeps us stuck in negativity, says Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan. If you revisit the bad memory, try taking a few steps back and watch the past unfold. In your mind, refer to yourself in the third person. Studies by Kross and a colleague suggested that the distance technique alleviated depressed feelings.
Here is some advice for dealing with anxiety and uncertainty after job and financial losses.
-- Volunteer. Susie Kamen, a Michigan social worker, says volunteering is a way to avoid isolation, develop skills and be part of a community.
-- Network. Don't retreat. "When people feel stressed, they isolate themselves. Having a good social network is a coping mechanism," says Britta Roan, a psychologist who works as a career counselor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. "And, most people find new jobs through a contact."
-- Be a support network. When you share what you know, you feel like you're making a contribution. "You'll also feel a resilience," Roan says.
-- Get something done. Set a goal for each day. Break a big task like finding a job into smaller steps, says Roan. Try to schedule a lunch or a coffee once a week for "informational interviewing," where you approach a contact not for a job interview, but to find out about fields that interest you.
-- Take a class. In whatever you want. It can open new avenues to you, and help you feel prepared for the future - because you're aiming for tomorrow instead of stewing over the ruins of today.
-- Start a gratitude list. Count your blessings and put them on paper. "Ask yourself what's really working in your life" - and write it down, says Kamen. "When we focus on things that are working, we feel a little better. It opens us up to other opportunities. It expands our thinking."
-- Talk to someone. Talk to a friend, a pastor, a counselor, even a stranger in a coffee shop about the common anxiety we're all sharing.
-- Connect. Consider a connection to spirituality or religion, whatever appeals to you, Kamen says.
-- Exercise. Try yoga. Try meditation techniques (sign up for classes at community colleges). Go for a walk. "Stress has a physical impact on us that's not favorable," Kamen says.
-- Reflect, don't ruminate. Constantly rehashing downer events keeps us stuck in negativity, says Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan. If you revisit the bad memory, try taking a few steps back and watch the past unfold. In your mind, refer to yourself in the third person. Studies by Kross and a colleague suggested that the distance technique alleviated depressed feelings.
Group to explore autism therapy
Detroit Free Press -
Feb. 21--Heidi Scheer was told there was nothing she could do for her son, Gannon, after he was diagnosed with autism at age 4.
But the boy, now 8, recently had his first friend sleep over and is happy and playful, said Scheer, 42, of Commerce Township. So what made the difference?
Scheer said biomedical treatments, like a gluten-free diet and cod liver oil, helped Gannon shed heavy metals like mercury in his body.
"It's not my opinion that these treatments work," said Scheer, who is also Mrs. Michigan 2008. "It's what we've lived."
Scheer is one of about 250 parents, educators and health care professionals attending the International Conference on Autism Spectrum Disorders at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Novi this weekend.
One in 150 children in the United States has autism, according to the Web site for the Autism Society of America. That figure is substantially higher from about one in every 2,500 children in the 1980s, according to several published studies.
While many doctors and researchers say the increase is due to better diagnostic methods, others -- including many of the conference's speakers and attendees -- blame the increase on vaccines.
The conference, in its first year, is the idea of Dr. Phillip DeMio, an Ohio physician who created the American Medical Autism Board to certify health care professionals and provide resources for parents seeking biomedical treatments for their children.
DeMio's son, Daniel, was diagnosed when he was about 2 years old. At one point, Daniel was losing weight, suffered one infection after another and would stare into space for hours. He also stopped speaking.
"We felt like we lost him," DeMio said.
So DeMio, who had been a faculty member at the Cleveland Clinic and had a private pain management practice, started doing research on autism. With diet changes and nutritional supplements, DeMio said Daniel-- now 8 1/2 -- is doing well. DeMio now runs a practice treating children with autism.
"Some mainstream doctors will tell you there are no treatments for autism," said DeMio. "We use what we have to make sure the body is better. And that helps the brain."
Feb. 21--Heidi Scheer was told there was nothing she could do for her son, Gannon, after he was diagnosed with autism at age 4.
But the boy, now 8, recently had his first friend sleep over and is happy and playful, said Scheer, 42, of Commerce Township. So what made the difference?
Scheer said biomedical treatments, like a gluten-free diet and cod liver oil, helped Gannon shed heavy metals like mercury in his body.
"It's not my opinion that these treatments work," said Scheer, who is also Mrs. Michigan 2008. "It's what we've lived."
Scheer is one of about 250 parents, educators and health care professionals attending the International Conference on Autism Spectrum Disorders at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Novi this weekend.
One in 150 children in the United States has autism, according to the Web site for the Autism Society of America. That figure is substantially higher from about one in every 2,500 children in the 1980s, according to several published studies.
While many doctors and researchers say the increase is due to better diagnostic methods, others -- including many of the conference's speakers and attendees -- blame the increase on vaccines.
The conference, in its first year, is the idea of Dr. Phillip DeMio, an Ohio physician who created the American Medical Autism Board to certify health care professionals and provide resources for parents seeking biomedical treatments for their children.
DeMio's son, Daniel, was diagnosed when he was about 2 years old. At one point, Daniel was losing weight, suffered one infection after another and would stare into space for hours. He also stopped speaking.
"We felt like we lost him," DeMio said.
So DeMio, who had been a faculty member at the Cleveland Clinic and had a private pain management practice, started doing research on autism. With diet changes and nutritional supplements, DeMio said Daniel-- now 8 1/2 -- is doing well. DeMio now runs a practice treating children with autism.
"Some mainstream doctors will tell you there are no treatments for autism," said DeMio. "We use what we have to make sure the body is better. And that helps the brain."
Eating disorders are a silent epidemic
Boston Herald -
Eating disorders are a silent epidemic - and the epidemic is spreading.
At one extreme, nearly a third of America is considered to be obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. As recently as 1990, in no state was more than 15 percent of the population obese. By 2006, at least 20 percent of the population was considered obese in all but four states.
While millions of Americans are eating themselves to death, millions more are starving themselves to death. Anorexia is not just for models and celebrities. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 1 percent of women and adolescent girls have this debilitating, potentially deadly disease. Males account for just 10 percent of all cases, but their numbers are growing.
Bulimia is even more common. Those with bulimia purge their food, abuse laxatives or exercise obsessively to control their weight. Although research suggests that up to 4 percent of college-aged women have bulimia, it is increasingly common among women and men of all ages.
Eating disorders are serious illnesses. If left untreated, an estimated 20 percent of those with anorexia will die from malnutrition and other factors. Obesity, conversely, can double a person's susceptibility to heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
In spite of these startling statistics, surprisingly little has been done to address this epidemic. National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which begins tomorrow, is a start, but eating disorders are a serious problem 52 weeks a year.
It would be hard to argue that eating disorders have not received their fair share of media attention. The problem is that media portrayals have left the impression that eating disorders mostly affect the rich and famous, and are the result of character deficiency and poor upbringing.
The number of afflicted individuals strongly suggests that these popular beliefs fall far short of explaining eating disorders. More critically, these stereotypes obscure reality and leave us all spectacularly vulnerable to the severe human suffering and excessive societal cost these conditions create.
So how can we do better?
The first step is to increase awareness of the seriousness of eating disorders and to accept, as we do with other major diseases, that there are many types of eating disorders and likely many causes.
We need to be wary of the quick fix. The science of eating turns out to be a complex subject involving the interplay of genetics, biochemistry, nutrition and psychology. There will be no "one size fits all" solution.
Lack of research funding is a major problem. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, research funding works out to $1.20 a year for each person with an eating disorder, compared with $159 for each person with schizophrenia.
As adults, we need to model healthy attitudes and habits, ignore fad diets and educate our children better. Most people can maintain a healthy weight through nutrition and exercise. It's not just about willpower, though. Some need professional assistance.
Insurers are uncertain about how best to cover eating disorders. They cover some eating disorders as mental health problems, others as medical problems and still others as both. Regardless of how eating disorders are covered, they pose a challenge, because the medical impact is so costly.
The good news is that with proper treatment, many people fully recover. If we begin to recognize eating disorders as the national epidemic that they are, a far greater percentage of patients can recover fully and enjoy happy and healthier lives.
Stuart Koman is president and CEO of Walden Behavioral Care Inc. of Waltham and Northampton.
Eating disorders are a silent epidemic - and the epidemic is spreading.
At one extreme, nearly a third of America is considered to be obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. As recently as 1990, in no state was more than 15 percent of the population obese. By 2006, at least 20 percent of the population was considered obese in all but four states.
While millions of Americans are eating themselves to death, millions more are starving themselves to death. Anorexia is not just for models and celebrities. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 1 percent of women and adolescent girls have this debilitating, potentially deadly disease. Males account for just 10 percent of all cases, but their numbers are growing.
Bulimia is even more common. Those with bulimia purge their food, abuse laxatives or exercise obsessively to control their weight. Although research suggests that up to 4 percent of college-aged women have bulimia, it is increasingly common among women and men of all ages.
Eating disorders are serious illnesses. If left untreated, an estimated 20 percent of those with anorexia will die from malnutrition and other factors. Obesity, conversely, can double a person's susceptibility to heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
In spite of these startling statistics, surprisingly little has been done to address this epidemic. National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which begins tomorrow, is a start, but eating disorders are a serious problem 52 weeks a year.
It would be hard to argue that eating disorders have not received their fair share of media attention. The problem is that media portrayals have left the impression that eating disorders mostly affect the rich and famous, and are the result of character deficiency and poor upbringing.
The number of afflicted individuals strongly suggests that these popular beliefs fall far short of explaining eating disorders. More critically, these stereotypes obscure reality and leave us all spectacularly vulnerable to the severe human suffering and excessive societal cost these conditions create.
So how can we do better?
The first step is to increase awareness of the seriousness of eating disorders and to accept, as we do with other major diseases, that there are many types of eating disorders and likely many causes.
We need to be wary of the quick fix. The science of eating turns out to be a complex subject involving the interplay of genetics, biochemistry, nutrition and psychology. There will be no "one size fits all" solution.
Lack of research funding is a major problem. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, research funding works out to $1.20 a year for each person with an eating disorder, compared with $159 for each person with schizophrenia.
As adults, we need to model healthy attitudes and habits, ignore fad diets and educate our children better. Most people can maintain a healthy weight through nutrition and exercise. It's not just about willpower, though. Some need professional assistance.
Insurers are uncertain about how best to cover eating disorders. They cover some eating disorders as mental health problems, others as medical problems and still others as both. Regardless of how eating disorders are covered, they pose a challenge, because the medical impact is so costly.
The good news is that with proper treatment, many people fully recover. If we begin to recognize eating disorders as the national epidemic that they are, a far greater percentage of patients can recover fully and enjoy happy and healthier lives.
Stuart Koman is president and CEO of Walden Behavioral Care Inc. of Waltham and Northampton.
As You Were Saying Facing a Silent Epidemic
Eating disorders are a silent epidemic - and the epidemic is spreading.
At one extreme, nearly a third of America is considered to be obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. As recently as 1990, in no state was more than 15 percent of the population obese. By 2006, at least 20 percent of the population was considered obese in all but four states.
While millions of Americans are eating themselves to death, millions more are starving themselves to death. Anorexia is not just for models and celebrities. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 1 percent of women and adolescent girls have this debilitating, potentially deadly disease. Males account for just 10 percent of all cases, but their numbers are growing.
Bulimia is even more common. Those with bulimia purge their food, abuse laxatives or exercise obsessively to control their weight. Although research suggests that up to 4 percent of college-aged women have bulimia, it is increasingly common among women and men of all ages.
Eating disorders are serious illnesses. If left untreated, an estimated 20 percent of those with anorexia will die from malnutrition and other factors. Obesity, conversely, can double a person's susceptibility to heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
In spite of these startling statistics, surprisingly little has been done to address this epidemic. National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which begins tomorrow, is a start, but eating disorders are a serious problem 52 weeks a year.
It would be hard to argue that eating disorders have not received their fair share of media attention. The problem is that media portrayals have left the impression that eating disorders mostly affect the rich and famous, and are the result of character deficiency and poor upbringing.
The number of afflicted individuals strongly suggests that these popular beliefs fall far short of explaining eating disorders. More critically, these stereotypes obscure reality and leave us all spectacularly vulnerable to the severe human suffering and excessive societal cost these conditions create.
So how can we do better?
The first step is to increase awareness of the seriousness of eating disorders and to accept, as we do with other major diseases, that there are many types of eating disorders and likely many causes.
We need to be wary of the quick fix. The science of eating turns out to be a complex subject involving the interplay of genetics, biochemistry, nutrition and psychology. There will be no "one size fits all" solution.
Lack of research funding is a major problem. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, research funding works out to $1.20 a year for each person with an eating disorder, compared with $159 for each person with schizophrenia.
As adults, we need to model healthy attitudes and habits, ignore fad diets and educate our children better. Most people can maintain a healthy weight through nutrition and exercise. It's not just about willpower, though. Some need professional assistance.
Insurers are uncertain about how best to cover eating disorders. They cover some eating disorders as mental health problems, others as medical problems and still others as both. Regardless of how eating disorders are covered, they pose a challenge, because the medical impact is so costly.
The good news is that with proper treatment, many people fully recover. If we begin to recognize eating disorders as the national epidemic that they are, a far greater percentage of patients can recover fully and enjoy happy and healthier lives.
Stuart Koman is president and CEO of Walden Behavioral Care Inc. of Waltham and Northampton.
At one extreme, nearly a third of America is considered to be obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. As recently as 1990, in no state was more than 15 percent of the population obese. By 2006, at least 20 percent of the population was considered obese in all but four states.
While millions of Americans are eating themselves to death, millions more are starving themselves to death. Anorexia is not just for models and celebrities. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 1 percent of women and adolescent girls have this debilitating, potentially deadly disease. Males account for just 10 percent of all cases, but their numbers are growing.
Bulimia is even more common. Those with bulimia purge their food, abuse laxatives or exercise obsessively to control their weight. Although research suggests that up to 4 percent of college-aged women have bulimia, it is increasingly common among women and men of all ages.
Eating disorders are serious illnesses. If left untreated, an estimated 20 percent of those with anorexia will die from malnutrition and other factors. Obesity, conversely, can double a person's susceptibility to heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
In spite of these startling statistics, surprisingly little has been done to address this epidemic. National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which begins tomorrow, is a start, but eating disorders are a serious problem 52 weeks a year.
It would be hard to argue that eating disorders have not received their fair share of media attention. The problem is that media portrayals have left the impression that eating disorders mostly affect the rich and famous, and are the result of character deficiency and poor upbringing.
The number of afflicted individuals strongly suggests that these popular beliefs fall far short of explaining eating disorders. More critically, these stereotypes obscure reality and leave us all spectacularly vulnerable to the severe human suffering and excessive societal cost these conditions create.
So how can we do better?
The first step is to increase awareness of the seriousness of eating disorders and to accept, as we do with other major diseases, that there are many types of eating disorders and likely many causes.
We need to be wary of the quick fix. The science of eating turns out to be a complex subject involving the interplay of genetics, biochemistry, nutrition and psychology. There will be no "one size fits all" solution.
Lack of research funding is a major problem. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, research funding works out to $1.20 a year for each person with an eating disorder, compared with $159 for each person with schizophrenia.
As adults, we need to model healthy attitudes and habits, ignore fad diets and educate our children better. Most people can maintain a healthy weight through nutrition and exercise. It's not just about willpower, though. Some need professional assistance.
Insurers are uncertain about how best to cover eating disorders. They cover some eating disorders as mental health problems, others as medical problems and still others as both. Regardless of how eating disorders are covered, they pose a challenge, because the medical impact is so costly.
The good news is that with proper treatment, many people fully recover. If we begin to recognize eating disorders as the national epidemic that they are, a far greater percentage of patients can recover fully and enjoy happy and healthier lives.
Stuart Koman is president and CEO of Walden Behavioral Care Inc. of Waltham and Northampton.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Welcome to the happiness frenzy, now peaking at a Barnes & Noble near you: Last year 4,000 books were published on happiness, while a mere 50 books on the topic were released in 2000. The most popular class at Harvard University is about positive psychology, and at least 100 other universities offer similar courses. Happiness workshops for the post-collegiate set abound, and each day "life coaches" promising bliss to potential clients hang out their shingles.
In the late 1990s, psychologist Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania exhorted colleagues to scrutinize optimal moods with the same intensity with which they had for so long studied pathologies: We'd never learn about full human functioning unless we knew as much about mental wellness as we do about mental illness. A new generation of psychologists built up a respectable body of research on positive character traits and happiness-boosting practices. At the same time, developments in neuroscience provided new clues to what makes us happy and what that looks like in the brain. Not to be outdone, behavioral economists piled on research subverting the classical premise that people always make rational choices that increase their well-being. We're lousy at predicting what makes us happy, they found.
It wasn't enough that an array of academic strands came together, sparking a slew of insights into the sunny side of life. Self-appointed experts jumped on the happiness bandwagon. A shallow sea of yellow smiley faces, self-help gurus, and purveyors of kitchen-table wisdom have strip-mined the science, extracted a lot of fool's gold, and stormed the marketplace with guarantees to annihilate your worry, stress, anguish, dejection, and even ennui. Once and for all! All it takes is a little gratitude. Or maybe a lot.
But all is not necessarily well. According to some measures, as a nation we've grown sadder and more anxious during the same years that the happiness movement has flourished; perhaps that's why we've eagerly bought up its offerings. It may be that college students sign up for positive psychology lessons in droves because a full 15 percent of them report being clinically depressed.
There are those who see in the happiness brigade a glib and even dispiriting Pollyanna gloss. So it's not surprising that the happiness movement has unleashed a counterforce, led by a troika of academics. Jerome Wakefield of New York University and Allan Horwitz of Rutgers have penned The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder, and Wake Forest University's Eric Wilson has written a defense of melancholy in Against Happiness. They observe that our preoccupation with happiness has come at the cost of sadness, an important feeling that we've tried to banish from our emotional repertoire.
Horwitz laments that young people who are naturally weepy after breakups are often urged to medicate themselves instead of working through their sadness. Wilson fumes that our obsession with happiness amounts to a "craven disregard" for the melancholic perspective that has given rise to our greatest works of art. "The happy man," he writes, "is a hollow man."
Both the happiness and anti-happiness forces actually agree on something important—that we Americans tend to grab superficial quick fixes such as extravagant purchases and fatty foods to subdue any negative feelings that overcome us. Such measures seem to hinge on a belief that constant happiness is somehow our birthright. Indeed, a body of research shows instant indulgences do calm us down—for a few moments. But they leave us poorer, physically unhealthy, and generally more miserable in the long run—and lacking in the real skills to get us out of our rut.
Psychology Today Magazine, Jan/Feb 2009
In the late 1990s, psychologist Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania exhorted colleagues to scrutinize optimal moods with the same intensity with which they had for so long studied pathologies: We'd never learn about full human functioning unless we knew as much about mental wellness as we do about mental illness. A new generation of psychologists built up a respectable body of research on positive character traits and happiness-boosting practices. At the same time, developments in neuroscience provided new clues to what makes us happy and what that looks like in the brain. Not to be outdone, behavioral economists piled on research subverting the classical premise that people always make rational choices that increase their well-being. We're lousy at predicting what makes us happy, they found.
It wasn't enough that an array of academic strands came together, sparking a slew of insights into the sunny side of life. Self-appointed experts jumped on the happiness bandwagon. A shallow sea of yellow smiley faces, self-help gurus, and purveyors of kitchen-table wisdom have strip-mined the science, extracted a lot of fool's gold, and stormed the marketplace with guarantees to annihilate your worry, stress, anguish, dejection, and even ennui. Once and for all! All it takes is a little gratitude. Or maybe a lot.
But all is not necessarily well. According to some measures, as a nation we've grown sadder and more anxious during the same years that the happiness movement has flourished; perhaps that's why we've eagerly bought up its offerings. It may be that college students sign up for positive psychology lessons in droves because a full 15 percent of them report being clinically depressed.
There are those who see in the happiness brigade a glib and even dispiriting Pollyanna gloss. So it's not surprising that the happiness movement has unleashed a counterforce, led by a troika of academics. Jerome Wakefield of New York University and Allan Horwitz of Rutgers have penned The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder, and Wake Forest University's Eric Wilson has written a defense of melancholy in Against Happiness. They observe that our preoccupation with happiness has come at the cost of sadness, an important feeling that we've tried to banish from our emotional repertoire.
Horwitz laments that young people who are naturally weepy after breakups are often urged to medicate themselves instead of working through their sadness. Wilson fumes that our obsession with happiness amounts to a "craven disregard" for the melancholic perspective that has given rise to our greatest works of art. "The happy man," he writes, "is a hollow man."
Both the happiness and anti-happiness forces actually agree on something important—that we Americans tend to grab superficial quick fixes such as extravagant purchases and fatty foods to subdue any negative feelings that overcome us. Such measures seem to hinge on a belief that constant happiness is somehow our birthright. Indeed, a body of research shows instant indulgences do calm us down—for a few moments. But they leave us poorer, physically unhealthy, and generally more miserable in the long run—and lacking in the real skills to get us out of our rut.
Psychology Today Magazine, Jan/Feb 2009
Death and Dying
Definition
Death is the one great certainty in life. Some of us will die in ways out of our control, and most of us will be unaware of the moment of death itself. Still, death and dying well can be approached in a healthy way. Understanding that people differ in how they think about death and dying, and respecting those differences, can promote a peaceful death and a healthy manner of dying.
The primary course of action when death is near is to fulfill the dying person's wishes. If the person is dying from an illness, ideally, they will have participated in decisions about how to live and die. If the requests made do not seem practical to the caregiver, options should be raised with the dying individual to try to accommodate his request and still provide adequate care. If the dying individual has not been able to participate in formulating final plans, you should strive to do what this person would want.
If the individual is in a hospice, he may most likely desire a natural death. In this situation, the aim will be for the final days and moments of life to be guided toward maintaining comfort and reaching a natural death.
Symptoms
Cardiopulmonary criteria have traditionally been used to declare death. When breathing ceased and the heart no longer beats, the person is said to have died.
Brain death
Brain death is another standard for declaring death that was adopted by most countries during the 1980s. The brain death standard was originally recommended in 1968 by a Harvard panel of experts that studied patients in irreversible coma. They concluded that once a patient's whole brain no longer functions and cannot function again, the brain is dead. Cardiorespiratory death invariably follows.
Dying
If an individual is dying from a chronic illness as he is nearing death, each day the person may grow weaker and sleep more, especially if his pain has been eased.
Near the very end of life, the person's breathing becomes slower—sometimes with very long pauses in between breaths. Some pauses may last longer than a minute or two. The final stage of dying is death itself. You will know death has happened because the individual's chest will not rise and you will feel no breath. You may observe that the eyes are glassy. When you feel for pulse, you will not feel it.
The individual dying and facing eventual death may go through two main phases prior to actual death. The first stage is called the pre-active phase of dying and the second phase is called the active phase of dying. The pre-active phase of dying may last weeks or months, while the active phase of dying is much shorter and lasts only a few days, or in some cases a couple of weeks.
Pre-active Phase
Person withdraws from social activities and spends more time alone
Person speaks of "tying up loose ends" such as finances, wills, trusts
Person desires to speak to family and friends and make amends or catch up
Increased anxiety, discomfort, confusion, agitation, nervousness
Increased inactivity, lethargy or sleep
Loss of interest in daily activities
Increased inability to heal from bruises, infections or wounds
Less interest in eating or drinking
Person talks about dying, says that they are going to die or asks questions about death
Person requests to speak with a religious leader or shows increased interest in praying or repentance
Active Phase
Person states that he is going to die soon
Has difficulty swallowing liquids or resists food and drink
Change in personality
Increasingly unresponsive or cannot speak
Does not move for longs periods of time
The extremities—hands, feet, arms and legs—feel very cold to touch.
Not all people show these signs. These signs of death are merely a guide to what may or often happens; some may go through few signs and die within minutes of a change being noticed
Causes
Treatment
As a family member or friend of a dying individual, you may aim to do the following:
Help with comfort and rest (back rubs, holdings hands, reading and background music can be very comforting and help decrease a person's sense of being alone)
Prepare for physical problems (lip balm or salve prevent chapped lips, for example)
Welcome visitors and children, or ask the person whom he would like to see and invite those people
Prepare a list of people to call near the time of death
Talk with a friend about your feelings
Feel free to say good-bye at the place of death
Avoid calling 911 or an emergency team
Guidelines are also suggested for the person who is dying. Foremost is taking care of himself. Other suggestions are to think ahead about what could happen—and about how you will deal with problems if they do occur—and to create a better quality of life for yourself and for the people who love and care about you. Ideally, death and dying should be peaceful and healthy for you, the dying person and for the people who love and care about the dying individual. Helping friends and family deal with your death may help you find peace and comfort. If you are not at peace with death, you should seek advice from your health care provider.
More specific guidelines for the dying individuals include:
Be grateful and accept help
Don't be afraid to ask to be alone, time to be by yourself is necessary
Be your own counsel—no one, including your physician, religious counselor, spouse or friends can understand 100 percent what you want and need
Some people may treat you differently after learning that you are dying. Be patient; they may be more bearable after a brief adjustment period
Slow down, and ask your family and friends to slow down: There may not be a lot of time, but there is sufficient time, except in the most extreme cases, to think, plan and prepare
Search for, and then trust in, a single individual. This does not mean you should not listen to and follow reasonable directions and advice. But focus on one individual as the final helper. When you do, make certain that your family doctor knows whom you've appointed to serve in that role.
Ask your health care provider to explain what is being done to you so that you can understand why things are being done and what benefits you can expect. Call the health professional if you are concerned or uncertain and need more explanation.
You should be aware that nurses and other hospital staff may not know that you are dying. This fact may not be written in your chart—and can lead to conflicts between families and hospital staff. It's OK for your family to tell the hospital staff that you are dying.
Pre-planning will give your loved ones both assurance that your wishes are being followed and peace of mind from the knowledge that decisions have already been made.
Consider getting a durable power of attorney in which you name one or two people to make decisions or choices on your behalf if you should become incompetent or incapable of making decisions. Read the Do Not Resuscitate policies of your hospital. Under the U.S. Patient Self-Determination Act, every U.S. state must have a mechanism for allowing people to express their wishes for their death and dying, and healthcare providers are obligated to follow their patient's instructions.
Use resources that are available from the health care community. These include social services and psychological, financial and religious counseling, as well as hospital financial counseling.
Sources
The Significance of Dying Well. Illness, Crisis & Loss
British Medical Journal
You Cannot Die Alone, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Death and Dying: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences
A Dying Person's Guide to Dying, Roger C. Bone, M.D. The American College of Physicians
American College of Physicians; What to Do Before and After the Moment of Death.
Hospice Patients Alliance
Harvard Adhoc Committee on Brain Death
Death is the one great certainty in life. Some of us will die in ways out of our control, and most of us will be unaware of the moment of death itself. Still, death and dying well can be approached in a healthy way. Understanding that people differ in how they think about death and dying, and respecting those differences, can promote a peaceful death and a healthy manner of dying.
The primary course of action when death is near is to fulfill the dying person's wishes. If the person is dying from an illness, ideally, they will have participated in decisions about how to live and die. If the requests made do not seem practical to the caregiver, options should be raised with the dying individual to try to accommodate his request and still provide adequate care. If the dying individual has not been able to participate in formulating final plans, you should strive to do what this person would want.
If the individual is in a hospice, he may most likely desire a natural death. In this situation, the aim will be for the final days and moments of life to be guided toward maintaining comfort and reaching a natural death.
Symptoms
Cardiopulmonary criteria have traditionally been used to declare death. When breathing ceased and the heart no longer beats, the person is said to have died.
Brain death
Brain death is another standard for declaring death that was adopted by most countries during the 1980s. The brain death standard was originally recommended in 1968 by a Harvard panel of experts that studied patients in irreversible coma. They concluded that once a patient's whole brain no longer functions and cannot function again, the brain is dead. Cardiorespiratory death invariably follows.
Dying
If an individual is dying from a chronic illness as he is nearing death, each day the person may grow weaker and sleep more, especially if his pain has been eased.
Near the very end of life, the person's breathing becomes slower—sometimes with very long pauses in between breaths. Some pauses may last longer than a minute or two. The final stage of dying is death itself. You will know death has happened because the individual's chest will not rise and you will feel no breath. You may observe that the eyes are glassy. When you feel for pulse, you will not feel it.
The individual dying and facing eventual death may go through two main phases prior to actual death. The first stage is called the pre-active phase of dying and the second phase is called the active phase of dying. The pre-active phase of dying may last weeks or months, while the active phase of dying is much shorter and lasts only a few days, or in some cases a couple of weeks.
Pre-active Phase
Person withdraws from social activities and spends more time alone
Person speaks of "tying up loose ends" such as finances, wills, trusts
Person desires to speak to family and friends and make amends or catch up
Increased anxiety, discomfort, confusion, agitation, nervousness
Increased inactivity, lethargy or sleep
Loss of interest in daily activities
Increased inability to heal from bruises, infections or wounds
Less interest in eating or drinking
Person talks about dying, says that they are going to die or asks questions about death
Person requests to speak with a religious leader or shows increased interest in praying or repentance
Active Phase
Person states that he is going to die soon
Has difficulty swallowing liquids or resists food and drink
Change in personality
Increasingly unresponsive or cannot speak
Does not move for longs periods of time
The extremities—hands, feet, arms and legs—feel very cold to touch.
Not all people show these signs. These signs of death are merely a guide to what may or often happens; some may go through few signs and die within minutes of a change being noticed
Causes
Treatment
As a family member or friend of a dying individual, you may aim to do the following:
Help with comfort and rest (back rubs, holdings hands, reading and background music can be very comforting and help decrease a person's sense of being alone)
Prepare for physical problems (lip balm or salve prevent chapped lips, for example)
Welcome visitors and children, or ask the person whom he would like to see and invite those people
Prepare a list of people to call near the time of death
Talk with a friend about your feelings
Feel free to say good-bye at the place of death
Avoid calling 911 or an emergency team
Guidelines are also suggested for the person who is dying. Foremost is taking care of himself. Other suggestions are to think ahead about what could happen—and about how you will deal with problems if they do occur—and to create a better quality of life for yourself and for the people who love and care about you. Ideally, death and dying should be peaceful and healthy for you, the dying person and for the people who love and care about the dying individual. Helping friends and family deal with your death may help you find peace and comfort. If you are not at peace with death, you should seek advice from your health care provider.
More specific guidelines for the dying individuals include:
Be grateful and accept help
Don't be afraid to ask to be alone, time to be by yourself is necessary
Be your own counsel—no one, including your physician, religious counselor, spouse or friends can understand 100 percent what you want and need
Some people may treat you differently after learning that you are dying. Be patient; they may be more bearable after a brief adjustment period
Slow down, and ask your family and friends to slow down: There may not be a lot of time, but there is sufficient time, except in the most extreme cases, to think, plan and prepare
Search for, and then trust in, a single individual. This does not mean you should not listen to and follow reasonable directions and advice. But focus on one individual as the final helper. When you do, make certain that your family doctor knows whom you've appointed to serve in that role.
Ask your health care provider to explain what is being done to you so that you can understand why things are being done and what benefits you can expect. Call the health professional if you are concerned or uncertain and need more explanation.
You should be aware that nurses and other hospital staff may not know that you are dying. This fact may not be written in your chart—and can lead to conflicts between families and hospital staff. It's OK for your family to tell the hospital staff that you are dying.
Pre-planning will give your loved ones both assurance that your wishes are being followed and peace of mind from the knowledge that decisions have already been made.
Consider getting a durable power of attorney in which you name one or two people to make decisions or choices on your behalf if you should become incompetent or incapable of making decisions. Read the Do Not Resuscitate policies of your hospital. Under the U.S. Patient Self-Determination Act, every U.S. state must have a mechanism for allowing people to express their wishes for their death and dying, and healthcare providers are obligated to follow their patient's instructions.
Use resources that are available from the health care community. These include social services and psychological, financial and religious counseling, as well as hospital financial counseling.
Sources
The Significance of Dying Well. Illness, Crisis & Loss
British Medical Journal
You Cannot Die Alone, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Death and Dying: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences
A Dying Person's Guide to Dying, Roger C. Bone, M.D. The American College of Physicians
American College of Physicians; What to Do Before and After the Moment of Death.
Hospice Patients Alliance
Harvard Adhoc Committee on Brain Death
Why I Hate Beauty
Why I Hate Beauty
Men are barraged with images of extraordinarily beautiful and unobtainable women in the media, making it difficult for them to desire the ordinarily beautiful.
Poets rave about beauty. Brave men have started wars over beauty. Women the world over strive for it. Scholars devote their lives to deconstructing our impulse to obtain it. Ordinary mortals erect temples to beauty. In just about every way imaginable, the world honors physical beauty. But I hate beauty.
I live in what is likely the beauty capital of the world and have the enviable fortune to work with some of the most beautiful women in it. With their smooth bodies and supple waists, these women are the very picture of youth and attractiveness. Not only are they exemplars of nature's design for detonating desire in men, but they stir yearnings for companionship that date back to ancestral mating dances. Still, beauty is driving me nuts, and although I'm a successful red-blooded American male, divorced and available, it is beauty alone that is keeping me single and lonely.
It is scant solace that science is on my side. I seem to have a confirmed case of the contrast effect. It doesn't make me any happier knowing it's afflicting lots of others too.
As an author of books on marketing, I have long known about the contrast effect. It is a principle of perception whereby the differences between two things are exaggerated depending on the order in which those things are presented. If you lift a light object and then a heavy object, you will judge the second object heavier than if you had lifted it first or solo.
Psychologists Sara Gutierres, Ph.D., and Douglas Kenrick, Ph.D., both of Arizona State University, demonstrated that the contrast effect operates powerfully in the sphere of person-to-person attraction as well. In a series of studies over the past two decades, they have shown that, more than any of us might suspect, judgments of attractiveness (of ourselves and of others) depend on the situation in which we find ourselves. For example, a woman of average attractiveness seems a lot less attractive than she actually is if a viewer has first seen a highly attractive woman. If a man is talking to a beautiful female at a cocktail party and is then joined by a less attractive one, the second woman will seem relatively unattractive.
The contrast principle also works in reverse. A woman of average attractiveness will seem more attractive than she is if she enters a room of unattractive women. In other words, context counts.
In their very first set of studies, which have been expanded and refined over the years to determine the exact circumstances under which the findings apply and their effects on both men and women, Gutierres and Kenrick asked male college dormitory residents to rate the photo of a potential blind date. (The photos had been previously rated by other males to be of average attractiveness.) If the men were watching an episode of Charlie's Angels when shown the photo, the blind date was rated less desirable than she was by males watching a different show. The initial impressions of romantic partners—women who were actually available to them and likely to be interested in them—were so adversely affected that the men didn't even want to bother.
Since these studies, the researchers have found that the contrast effect influences not only our evaluations of strangers but also our views of our own mates. And it sways self-assessments of attractiveness too.
Men are barraged with images of extraordinarily beautiful and unobtainable women in the media, making it difficult for them to desire the ordinarily beautiful.
Poets rave about beauty. Brave men have started wars over beauty. Women the world over strive for it. Scholars devote their lives to deconstructing our impulse to obtain it. Ordinary mortals erect temples to beauty. In just about every way imaginable, the world honors physical beauty. But I hate beauty.
I live in what is likely the beauty capital of the world and have the enviable fortune to work with some of the most beautiful women in it. With their smooth bodies and supple waists, these women are the very picture of youth and attractiveness. Not only are they exemplars of nature's design for detonating desire in men, but they stir yearnings for companionship that date back to ancestral mating dances. Still, beauty is driving me nuts, and although I'm a successful red-blooded American male, divorced and available, it is beauty alone that is keeping me single and lonely.
It is scant solace that science is on my side. I seem to have a confirmed case of the contrast effect. It doesn't make me any happier knowing it's afflicting lots of others too.
As an author of books on marketing, I have long known about the contrast effect. It is a principle of perception whereby the differences between two things are exaggerated depending on the order in which those things are presented. If you lift a light object and then a heavy object, you will judge the second object heavier than if you had lifted it first or solo.
Psychologists Sara Gutierres, Ph.D., and Douglas Kenrick, Ph.D., both of Arizona State University, demonstrated that the contrast effect operates powerfully in the sphere of person-to-person attraction as well. In a series of studies over the past two decades, they have shown that, more than any of us might suspect, judgments of attractiveness (of ourselves and of others) depend on the situation in which we find ourselves. For example, a woman of average attractiveness seems a lot less attractive than she actually is if a viewer has first seen a highly attractive woman. If a man is talking to a beautiful female at a cocktail party and is then joined by a less attractive one, the second woman will seem relatively unattractive.
The contrast principle also works in reverse. A woman of average attractiveness will seem more attractive than she is if she enters a room of unattractive women. In other words, context counts.
In their very first set of studies, which have been expanded and refined over the years to determine the exact circumstances under which the findings apply and their effects on both men and women, Gutierres and Kenrick asked male college dormitory residents to rate the photo of a potential blind date. (The photos had been previously rated by other males to be of average attractiveness.) If the men were watching an episode of Charlie's Angels when shown the photo, the blind date was rated less desirable than she was by males watching a different show. The initial impressions of romantic partners—women who were actually available to them and likely to be interested in them—were so adversely affected that the men didn't even want to bother.
Since these studies, the researchers have found that the contrast effect influences not only our evaluations of strangers but also our views of our own mates. And it sways self-assessments of attractiveness too.
2/10/2009
Actor Hector Elizondo knows how difficult it can be to care for a loved one who has Alzheimer's disease.
When Bernard Madoff's huge Ponzi scheme burst, the New York Post reported, in its typical cut-to-the-jugular style, that suicide hotlines were lighting up in Greenwich, Connecticut, home to many of the financial high-rollers snared by the alleged $50 billion scam. But the deadly fallout from it was no joking matter. Only a couple of weeks after Madoff's mischief was revealed, French financier Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet killed himself in his New York City office, apparently distraught by his having lost more than a billion of his clients' (and his own family's) money to the unprecedented fraud.
The Madoff case is just one example of the terrible news gripping the economy and financial markets of late, news that in extreme cases can drive people to take their own lives. Two prominent businessmen, one in Germany and another in England, recently threw themselves in front of speeding trains after grappling with the wreckage of their beaten-down companies. And late last month, a Los Angeles area man despondent over his faltering finances murdered his wife and five children before killing himself.
Suicide experts say there is a strong correlation between acute financial strains and depression, often a prelude to substance abuse and suicides. While people jumping out of buildings during the Great Depression was not nearly as common as Hollywood and cartoonists had everyone believe, suicide definitely spiked during that dark period in the nation's history. Suicides in the U.S. reached a peak in 1933 (increasing to 17 per 100,000, from 14 per 100,000 in 1929), around the same time unemployment had swollen to 25%. By contrast, more recent recessions have not had a marked effect on suicide rates, which in the U.S have been running at about 11 per 100,000 (and shown a slight overall decline during the last two decades of relative prosperity). (See pictures of the stock market crash of 1929.)
"If indeed this recession mirrors in some respects more the Great Depression than the other intervening much briefer recessions, then obviously we have reason for greater concern," says Dr. Alan L. Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology.
There are some clear differences between today's conditions and those in the 1930s, which fomented key reforms, including the introduction of welfare and social security. Today people are more willing to acknowledge and are better prepared to address mental illness, though many states' current budget woes will undoubtedly mean some cuts in social services and counseling. And at the Depression's nadir, 34 million Americans had no income at all, which is not likely to happen today. Still, if poverty levels approached anywhere near those levels, the psychological toll could be greater because of the intervening erosion in family and community cohesion.
"What you find is that suicides happen because of the total burden the person is feeling, how much they feel things can't get better and they can't tolerate the psychological pain they are experiencing," says Dr. John L. McIntosh, a psychologist and suicide expert at Indiana University. "Sometimes it takes years for the effect of economic downturn or instability to trickle down to the level of the psyche or penetrate the psyche, to get under the skin to produce some of the negative outcomes such as suicides."
There are roughly 32,000 suicides every year in the U.S., almost twice the 18,000 homicides recorded each year. Even these figures are just a hint of the nation's psychic pain. There are an estimated 800,000 attempted suicides every year, with the elderly and teenagers or college-age kids the most vulnerable. And survivors — currently numbering somewhere between 10 and 20 million — are at a higher risk for subsequent attempts.
What's more, only about a third of people in need of treatment are getting any. "If we were in the professional world in advertising and marketing we'd all be fired because we are not reaching the majority of our audience," says Alan Ross, executive director of the New York chapter of the Samaritans, an international counseling organization. Last year his center fielded 58,000 calls, which in the last couple of years have been increasing at double previous annual growth rates. He attributes this to a tremendous increase in stress levels due to things like economic insecurities exacerbated by globalization.
The particular nature of the current crisis is also a cause for concern. "For most Americans, our homes are our primary investment and the locus of our identities and social support systems," notes the American Association of Suicidology. "When combined with the loss of job, home loss has been found to be one of the most common economic strains associated with suicides."
Warning signs are already erupting in parts of the U.S. hard hit by the housing crisis. In Los Angeles, calls into the suicide prevention call center run by the Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center spiked 65% in the second half of 2008 over the previous year. There has also been a surge of training requests from fire and police departments from throughout Los Angeles County — even from a mortgage counseling company — to help deal with an upsurge in suicide risk. "The reality is we are already overwhelmed," says Dr. Kita S. Curry, the center's executive director. With any publicity about her center, calls spike, suggesting unmet need.
For all the advances the mental health community has made in recent decades, including pharmacological treatment, the biggest factors influencing suicides rates seems far beyond its reach. "Suicide rates appear to be quite strongly associated with broad sweeping cultural trends rather than more minor things such as a treatment," notes retired Colonel David Litts, who played a key role in reducing suicide within the Air Force by 60% in five years. (The overstretched Army, by contrast, is still experiencing historically high rates.) "So in the face of this economic turmoil perhaps the most important thing we can do is relieve the financial strains on individuals because research has shown that financial strain is the link between unemployment and depression and suicide."
The Madoff case is just one example of the terrible news gripping the economy and financial markets of late, news that in extreme cases can drive people to take their own lives. Two prominent businessmen, one in Germany and another in England, recently threw themselves in front of speeding trains after grappling with the wreckage of their beaten-down companies. And late last month, a Los Angeles area man despondent over his faltering finances murdered his wife and five children before killing himself.
Suicide experts say there is a strong correlation between acute financial strains and depression, often a prelude to substance abuse and suicides. While people jumping out of buildings during the Great Depression was not nearly as common as Hollywood and cartoonists had everyone believe, suicide definitely spiked during that dark period in the nation's history. Suicides in the U.S. reached a peak in 1933 (increasing to 17 per 100,000, from 14 per 100,000 in 1929), around the same time unemployment had swollen to 25%. By contrast, more recent recessions have not had a marked effect on suicide rates, which in the U.S have been running at about 11 per 100,000 (and shown a slight overall decline during the last two decades of relative prosperity). (See pictures of the stock market crash of 1929.)
"If indeed this recession mirrors in some respects more the Great Depression than the other intervening much briefer recessions, then obviously we have reason for greater concern," says Dr. Alan L. Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology.
There are some clear differences between today's conditions and those in the 1930s, which fomented key reforms, including the introduction of welfare and social security. Today people are more willing to acknowledge and are better prepared to address mental illness, though many states' current budget woes will undoubtedly mean some cuts in social services and counseling. And at the Depression's nadir, 34 million Americans had no income at all, which is not likely to happen today. Still, if poverty levels approached anywhere near those levels, the psychological toll could be greater because of the intervening erosion in family and community cohesion.
"What you find is that suicides happen because of the total burden the person is feeling, how much they feel things can't get better and they can't tolerate the psychological pain they are experiencing," says Dr. John L. McIntosh, a psychologist and suicide expert at Indiana University. "Sometimes it takes years for the effect of economic downturn or instability to trickle down to the level of the psyche or penetrate the psyche, to get under the skin to produce some of the negative outcomes such as suicides."
There are roughly 32,000 suicides every year in the U.S., almost twice the 18,000 homicides recorded each year. Even these figures are just a hint of the nation's psychic pain. There are an estimated 800,000 attempted suicides every year, with the elderly and teenagers or college-age kids the most vulnerable. And survivors — currently numbering somewhere between 10 and 20 million — are at a higher risk for subsequent attempts.
What's more, only about a third of people in need of treatment are getting any. "If we were in the professional world in advertising and marketing we'd all be fired because we are not reaching the majority of our audience," says Alan Ross, executive director of the New York chapter of the Samaritans, an international counseling organization. Last year his center fielded 58,000 calls, which in the last couple of years have been increasing at double previous annual growth rates. He attributes this to a tremendous increase in stress levels due to things like economic insecurities exacerbated by globalization.
The particular nature of the current crisis is also a cause for concern. "For most Americans, our homes are our primary investment and the locus of our identities and social support systems," notes the American Association of Suicidology. "When combined with the loss of job, home loss has been found to be one of the most common economic strains associated with suicides."
Warning signs are already erupting in parts of the U.S. hard hit by the housing crisis. In Los Angeles, calls into the suicide prevention call center run by the Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center spiked 65% in the second half of 2008 over the previous year. There has also been a surge of training requests from fire and police departments from throughout Los Angeles County — even from a mortgage counseling company — to help deal with an upsurge in suicide risk. "The reality is we are already overwhelmed," says Dr. Kita S. Curry, the center's executive director. With any publicity about her center, calls spike, suggesting unmet need.
For all the advances the mental health community has made in recent decades, including pharmacological treatment, the biggest factors influencing suicides rates seems far beyond its reach. "Suicide rates appear to be quite strongly associated with broad sweeping cultural trends rather than more minor things such as a treatment," notes retired Colonel David Litts, who played a key role in reducing suicide within the Air Force by 60% in five years. (The overstretched Army, by contrast, is still experiencing historically high rates.) "So in the face of this economic turmoil perhaps the most important thing we can do is relieve the financial strains on individuals because research has shown that financial strain is the link between unemployment and depression and suicide."
5 Ways to Fight Alzheimer's Disease
The Dallas Morning News - February 09, 2009
Actor Hector Elizondo knows how difficult it can be to care for a loved one who has Alzheimer's disease. When the stage and screen star's mother was diagnosed with the progressive form of dementia, his father insisted on becoming her sole caretaker. But her care proved so stressful that his father died a month before she did in 1974.
"It was a time when we were in the dark about what was occurring," says Mr. Elizondo, who lives in Los Angeles and began traveling across the country in June, teaming with local experts as part of an Alzheimer's disease awareness campaign.
An estimated 5.2 million Americans suffered from it in 2008, according to the 2008 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures published by the Alzheimer's Association.
Here are Dr. David W. Crumpacker's, assistant chief of psychiatry at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas suggestions for helping to prevent Alzheimer's disease, along with tips from the Alzheimer's Association.
1. Exercise: Walk or do something physical most days of the week.
2. Eat right: Choose a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, particularly deep green and orange vegetables; low in saturated and trans fats and sugars; and high in whole grains and legumes; include fish.
3. Reduce weight, blood pressure and high cholesterol: Following the first two tips (above) should help.
4. Stay mentally engaged and optimistic: Do puzzles, play music, learn a new language, volunteer, start a hobby, create a strong circle of friends.
5. Don't be in denial: Starting at age 60, ask for a memory test at your annual checkup. Because early treatment can be most effective, seek help at the first signs: forgetting recently learned material, forgetting simple words, putting things in odd places, paying bills twice or not at all, losing track of steps in making a call or playing a game.
SOURCES: Alzheimer's Association: www.alz.org
Actor Hector Elizondo knows how difficult it can be to care for a loved one who has Alzheimer's disease. When the stage and screen star's mother was diagnosed with the progressive form of dementia, his father insisted on becoming her sole caretaker. But her care proved so stressful that his father died a month before she did in 1974.
"It was a time when we were in the dark about what was occurring," says Mr. Elizondo, who lives in Los Angeles and began traveling across the country in June, teaming with local experts as part of an Alzheimer's disease awareness campaign.
An estimated 5.2 million Americans suffered from it in 2008, according to the 2008 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures published by the Alzheimer's Association.
Here are Dr. David W. Crumpacker's, assistant chief of psychiatry at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas suggestions for helping to prevent Alzheimer's disease, along with tips from the Alzheimer's Association.
1. Exercise: Walk or do something physical most days of the week.
2. Eat right: Choose a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, particularly deep green and orange vegetables; low in saturated and trans fats and sugars; and high in whole grains and legumes; include fish.
3. Reduce weight, blood pressure and high cholesterol: Following the first two tips (above) should help.
4. Stay mentally engaged and optimistic: Do puzzles, play music, learn a new language, volunteer, start a hobby, create a strong circle of friends.
5. Don't be in denial: Starting at age 60, ask for a memory test at your annual checkup. Because early treatment can be most effective, seek help at the first signs: forgetting recently learned material, forgetting simple words, putting things in odd places, paying bills twice or not at all, losing track of steps in making a call or playing a game.
SOURCES: Alzheimer's Association: www.alz.org
Diet could cut risk of dementia
USA TODAY - A new study suggests a diet laden with fish, olive oil, vegetables and other foods common in Mediterranean-style cuisine may help ward off mild cognitive impairment, sometimes called borderline dementia. The study also suggests that such a diet reduces the chance of the transition from mild cognitive decline to Alzheimer's disease.
"We know from previous research that a healthy diet like this is protective for cardiovascular risk factors like cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes. Now this current study shows it may help brain function, too," says Nikolaos Scarmeas, assistant professor of clinical neurology at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center.
Scarmeas and other researchers at Columbia examined, interviewed and screened 1,393 people with healthy brains and 482 patients with mild cognitive impairment. Study participants were questioned about their eating habits.
The study, which is published in this month's Archives of Neurology, reports that over an average of 4 1/2 years of follow-up, 275 of the 1,393 study participants who did not have mild cognitive impairment developed the condition. Those who had the highest adherence to a Mediterranean diet -- a menu rich in vegetables, legumes and fish, low in fat, meat and dairy, and high in monounsaturated fats like those in olive oil -- had a 28% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment than the one-third of participants who had the lowest scores for Mediterranean diet adherence. The middle one-third group had a 17% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment than those who ate the fewest Mediterranean foods.
Of the 482 study participants who had mild cognitive impairment at the beginning of the study, 106 developed Alzheimer's disease roughly four years later. The one-third of participants with the highest scores for Mediterranean diet adherence had a 48% less risk of developing Alzheimer's than the one-third with the lowest diet scores.
Previous research has found a similar association for subjects with Alzheimer's disease, but the new report is the first to connect a Mediterranean diet with decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment, says Scott Turner, program director of the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University. "The findings are important and intriguing."
Scarmeas says clinical studies that randomly assign people to a Mediterranean diet or another diet are needed to prove that a Mediterranean diet protects against cognitive decline.
But beginning more healthful eating habits earlier than the golden years may be the key, says Duke University Medical Center aging expert Murali Doraiswamy: "Since Alzheimer's changes may start in the brain decades before memory loss occurs, what you eat starting in your midlife may be crucial."
"We know from previous research that a healthy diet like this is protective for cardiovascular risk factors like cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes. Now this current study shows it may help brain function, too," says Nikolaos Scarmeas, assistant professor of clinical neurology at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center.
Scarmeas and other researchers at Columbia examined, interviewed and screened 1,393 people with healthy brains and 482 patients with mild cognitive impairment. Study participants were questioned about their eating habits.
The study, which is published in this month's Archives of Neurology, reports that over an average of 4 1/2 years of follow-up, 275 of the 1,393 study participants who did not have mild cognitive impairment developed the condition. Those who had the highest adherence to a Mediterranean diet -- a menu rich in vegetables, legumes and fish, low in fat, meat and dairy, and high in monounsaturated fats like those in olive oil -- had a 28% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment than the one-third of participants who had the lowest scores for Mediterranean diet adherence. The middle one-third group had a 17% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment than those who ate the fewest Mediterranean foods.
Of the 482 study participants who had mild cognitive impairment at the beginning of the study, 106 developed Alzheimer's disease roughly four years later. The one-third of participants with the highest scores for Mediterranean diet adherence had a 48% less risk of developing Alzheimer's than the one-third with the lowest diet scores.
Previous research has found a similar association for subjects with Alzheimer's disease, but the new report is the first to connect a Mediterranean diet with decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment, says Scott Turner, program director of the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University. "The findings are important and intriguing."
Scarmeas says clinical studies that randomly assign people to a Mediterranean diet or another diet are needed to prove that a Mediterranean diet protects against cognitive decline.
But beginning more healthful eating habits earlier than the golden years may be the key, says Duke University Medical Center aging expert Murali Doraiswamy: "Since Alzheimer's changes may start in the brain decades before memory loss occurs, what you eat starting in your midlife may be crucial."
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