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Ilona Meagher

MedicineNet | Stressful Social Situations May Be Harmful - 0 views

www.medicinenet.com/...art.asp

stress health immunity inflammation social mind_body

shared by Ilona Meagher on 26 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Stress caused by social situations, such as giving a speech or going to a job interview, can affect some people's immune system in ways that harm their health, researchers have found.The study included 124 volunteers who were purposely put into awkward social situations. Those who exhibited greater neural sensitivity to social rejection also had greater increases in inflammatory activity when exposed to social stress.
  • The findings provide "further evidence of how closely our mind and body are connected. We have known for a long time that social stress can 'get under the skin' to increase risk for disease, but it's been unclear exactly how these effects occur. To our knowledge, this study is the first to identify the neurocognitive pathways that might be involved in inflammatory responses to acute social stress," Slavich said.
Ilona Meagher

Los Angeles Times | Use exercise to squash killer stress - 0 views

articles.latimes.com/...la-he-fitness-stress-20110808

stress exercise health benefits studies

shared by Ilona Meagher on 15 Aug 11 - No Cached
  • Casually flipping through a 2006 copy of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, I learned that exercise is the key to combating the stress of modern life.The authors, from the University of Ioannina in Greece, first explain (in regards to the fight-or-flight response) that "stress responses can be elicited by emotional stimuli or professional and social stress."
  • It takes just one negatively worded memo handed down from on high to get the glucocorticoids and catecholamines flowing, but these adrenal hormones go unused and are stored in visceral fat deposits, and this does bad things to you.
  • these stored adrenal hormones disturb gonadal function (no wonder Viagra is such a big seller), as well as growth hormone and thyroid function. They explain how these "metabolic disturbances" lead to "comorbidities including central obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and endothelial dysfunction." In other words, unrelieved stress turns you into an artery-clogged hippopotamus with Limbaugh-like blood pressure and a lousy immune system. Oh, and it's also hard on your brain.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • the authors inform us that "accumulating evidence documents the beneficial effects of regular exercise in preventing or ameliorating the .. comorbidities induced by chronic stress."
  • Researchers at University College of London agree that exercise significantly reduces stress-induced blood pressure. The more exercise the better, according to their review published in a 2006 issue of Biological Psychology, but even just 30 minutes at only 50% of maximum effort will help.
    • Ilona Meagher
      Ilona Meagher on 15 Aug 11
       
      The American Psychological Assn. has also weighed in on the subject of exercise and stress, noting online that "physically active people have lower rates of anxiety and depression than sedentary people." This mood boost probably has nothing to do with that old myth about exercise unleashing a surge of happy-making endorphins, the statement adds, since there's really not much evidence for this popular belief. Rather, chemicals such as norepinephrine may be behind it. Still, the effect may be more than just chemical. "Exercise seems to give the body a chance to practice dealing with stress," according to the APA. "It forces the body's physiological systems - all of which are involved in the stress response - to communicate much more closely than usual."
Ilona Meagher

EurekaAlert | Exercise may help prevent brain damage caused by Alzheimer's disease - 0 views

www.eurekalert.org/...e-emh081511.php

health studies exercise brain alzheimers dementia inflammation

shared by Ilona Meagher on 15 Aug 11 - No Cached
  • Regular exercise could help prevent brain damage associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, according to research published this month in Elsevier's journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. "Exercise allows the brain to rapidly produce chemicals that prevent damaging inflammation", said Professor Jean Harry, who led the study at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the United States. "This could help us develop a therapeutic approach for early intervention in preventing damage to the brain."
  • exercise before the onset of damage modifies the brain environment in such a way that the neurons are protected from severe insults.
  • exercise could be used to affect the path of many human conditions, such as neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, as a chemical model of neuronal damage was used, it also raises the possibility that exercise could offer protection against the potentially harmful effects of environmental toxins.
Ilona Meagher

ScienceDaily: Stop And Smell The Flowers -- The Scent Really Can Soothe Stress - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...090722110901.htm

health stress studies brain scent

shared by Ilona Meagher on 28 Apr 11 - Cached
  • Feeling stressed? Then try savoring the scent of lemon, mango, lavender, or other fragrant plants. Scientists in Japan are reporting the first scientific evidence that inhaling certain fragrances alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce stress levels. 
  • people have inhaled the scent of certain plants since ancient times to help reduce stress, fight inflammation and depression, and induce sleep. Aromatherapy, the use of fragrant plant oils to improve mood and health, has become a popular form of alternative medicine today. And linalool is one of the most widely used substances to soothe away emotional stress.
  • Linalool returned stress-elevated levels of neutrophils and lymphocytes — key parts of the immune system — to near-normal levels. Inhaling linalool also reduced the activity of more than 100 genes that go into overdrive in stressful situations.
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