Slim Body Blog

Real or perceived threats can trigger the well-known "fight or flight response" in humans and other animals. Adrenaline flows, and the stressed individual’s heart pumps faster, the muscles work harder, the brain sharpens and non-essential systems shut down. The whole organism responds in concert in order to survive.
At the molecular level, it has been widely […]

The number of U.S. service members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder increased by nearly 50% from 2006 to 2007, according to Pentagon data released on Tuesday, the Washington Post reports. Nearly 40,000 soldiers who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan from 2003 to 2007 have been diagnosed by the military as having PTSD (Scott Tyson, […]

Anxiety may influence children’s metabolic health differently according to weight status, says a study presented in Indianapolis at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). After examining the relationship between anxiety and the metabolic syndrome in boys, researchers presented preliminary evidence that treatment strategies geared towards overweight youth […]

A study published in JAMA reports that adults are
more likely to have posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms if they have
been abused as a child and have variations of a gene that is related to
stress response. The investigation was conducted by Rebekah G. Bradley,
Ph.D. (Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta) and colleagues.
Providing background information, the authors write: […]

A randomized controlled trial performed by researchers of the University of Amsterdam evaluates writing therapy in posttraumatic stress disorder in the March issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
Buy zithromax pills Writing assignments have shown promising results in treating traumatic symptomatology. Yet no

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with more hospitalizations, longer hospitalizations and greater mental healthcare utilization in urban primary care patients. These findings appear in the current issue of Medical Care.
Prior

"The blood froze in my veins" or "My blood curdled" - these common figures of speech can be taken literally, according to the latest studies. Indeed, more literally than some of us would like. For it turns out that intense fear and panic attacks can really make our blood clot and increase the risk of […]

Technology can send a man to the moon, help unlock the secrets of DNA and let people around the world easily communicate through the Internet. But can it substitute for nature?
Apparently not, according to a new study that measured individuals’ heart recovery rate from minor stress when exposed to a natural scene through a window, […]

A randomized controlled trial by Lyon investigators discloses the difficulties in treating chronic posttraumatic stress disorder with psychotherapy in the March issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
To date, there have been no studies comparing cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) with Rogerian therapy in post-traumatic stress disorder.

For many residents of Lower Manhattan, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, had lasting psychological consequences. New findings, released by the Health Department’s World Trade Center Health Registry, show that one in eight Lower Manhattan residents likely had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) two to three years after the attacks. The findings show that Lower […]

Inherited variations in the amount of an innate anxiety-reducing molecule help explain why some people can withstand stress better than others, according to a new study led by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"Stress response is an important variable in vulnerability to […]

The increased beating of the heart that one experiences when in a stressful situation is just one part of the body’s response to stress, something often known as the "fight-or-flight response". Another component of the fight-or-flight response is the suppression of pain, also known as stress-induced analgesia (SIA). generic

A traumatic event is much more likely to result in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults who experienced trauma in childhood - but certain gene variations raise the risk considerably if the childhood trauma involved physical or sexual abuse, scientists have found. The research was conducted with funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, […]

Women from across the country are making their voices heard on the best ways to care for their bodies, their minds and each other. Their tips? Practice safe sex, get those yearly exams and learn to manage stress.
Through a national women’s health Web site and Brickfish, a social media advertising platform, women are sharing […]

generic levitra online buy Contrary to popular notions about what is normal or healthy, new research has found that it is okay not to express one’s thoughts and feelings after experiencing a collective trauma, such as a school shooting or terrorist attack.
In fact, people who choose not

Sepracor Inc. (Nasdaq: SEPR) announced the publication of a study of LUNESTA tablets in patients with insomnia and co-morbid generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in the May issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. This 595-patient study examined the safety and efficacy of LUNESTA co-administered with escitalopram oxalate, which is commonly used in the treatment of […]

An acute session of moderate aerobic exercise, but not heavy aerobic or moderate strength exercises, can reduce the anxiety state and improve the sleep quality of insomnia patients, according to a research abstract presented at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).
The study, authored by Giselle S. Passos, of […]

Women and men tend to have different types of stress-related psychological disorders. Women have greater rates of depression and some types of anxiety disorders than men, while men have greater rates of alcohol-use disorders than women. A new study of emotional and alcohol-craving responses to stress has found that when men become upset, they are […]

Is medicated memory manipulation ethically sound? And perhaps more importantly, who should be charged with the decision to deliver such a treatment: patient or physician? Elisa Hurley, a philosophy professor, is seeking answers to these questions in her research currently underway at The University of Western Ontario.
In the Academy Award-winning film

Some university students are drowning in psychological distress and many are not seeking specialist help as new research shows the student life is not as carefree as it might appear.
More than half the 384 students who attended one university health service at a large Queensland urban university last October, reported

With the war in Iraq in its sixth year and a new generation of veterans requiring care, Geisinger Health System will host a conference May 13 that brings together military and civilian experts to better understand and meet the unique challenges faced by rural soldiers and their families.
The goal of the conference,

This meeting will review the current challenges to managing stress, the impact of legislation and good practice advice to employers in relation to fitness for work and rehabilitation. The key areas of discussion are: addressing the obstacles to recovery and rehabilitation; ways of enabling and facilitating people to return to work, and assessing whether

Though causes of stress can be plentiful, there are multiple ways to combat stressors and the negative toll they can take on the body, says an expert at the American College of Sports Medicine’s (ACSM) 12th-annual Health & Fitness Summit & Exposition.
Christina Geithner, Ph.D., and an ACSM-certified health/fitness instructor, says people experience stress

The progression from acute stress disorder to post-traumatic stress
disorder may be prevented by exposure-based therapy, in which trauma
survivors are guided to relive a troubling event. These reults were
published in an article released on June 2, 2008 in the Archives
of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Acute stress disorder, sometimes called shock,

This study investigates the relationship between personality constructs and different anxiety types among Chinese and Caucasian college students, and found that socially-prescribed perfectionism appeared to be a more accurate predictor of anxiety for the Chinese group as compared to their Caucasian